Why remember? Representations of the past in non-fiction films: fabrication, re-construction and interpretation of the collective memory(s)

ABSTRACT Interpretations of the past in audiovisual texts have increased exponentially in recent years, giving rise to the need to analyse a context saturated by visual representations of history that are replacing oral storytelling and traditional narratives. This article offers a reflection on the visual uses of memory and the representation of the past, focusing on documentary cinema at three different historical moments, based on the analysis of representative films from each period: first, the WWII propaganda documentary as the basis for propaganda film rhetoric in the transmission of history; second, the contemporary non-fiction film, in its self-reflexive, subjective essay form; and third, the web documentary as a more recent manifestation of a hybrid multimedia format that is essentially interpretative.