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1981
Volume 22, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 1651-6826
  • E-ISSN: 2040-3801

Abstract

This article explores the archival cinema of Sergei Loznitsa as a critical site where history, memory and power converge. Through films such as and , Loznitsa reconfigures found footage to interrogate the ideological structures embedded in official narratives. Drawing on Derrida’s concept of archive fever and Foucault’s theory of genealogy, the analysis situates Loznitsa’s work within a broader critique of how archives shape historical consciousness. His aesthetic strategies – minimal narration, immersive sound design and deliberate pacing – transform the archive into a space of counter-memory. Rather than confirming historical truths, his films reveal the instability and multiplicity of historical meaning. They foreground the tensions between personal memory and collective ideology, urging viewers to reflect on the politics of remembrance. In doing so, Loznitsa’s cinema becomes a philosophical engagement with the visual remnants of trauma, authoritarianism and resistance. The archive, here, is not a passive container of the past but a generative force shaping the ethical and political dimensions of the present.

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2025-06-18
2026-04-17

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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): archival footage; history; ideology; memory; narratives; power; representation
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