On Iran Vέritέ

I’m a fan of Digital Poetics. I support his (and many bloggers) committed support and relay of people-made videos coming from Iran in the face of heightening censorship and oppression.

However, I caution on his page:

“When we speak about verite images through the history (and theories) of moving images we must also remember that cinema verite and direct cinema have been challenged in relation to truth claims. As you say, this is ‘in no way intended to diminish the terrible human destruction they document,’ but to remind us to remember that these are always constructed representations of reality.”

My friend Pato and I spent the afternoon discussing what other connected forms of communication, context, analysis and image-making need to accompany verite images if we hope to use these new media with the fullest force of their emotive, indexical, and critical power.