Documentary Practice as Radical Process in Challenging Dominant Media and State Narratives

A critical appraisal of the work of Migrant Media within radical documentary film making from Britain’s Black Legacy (1991) to Burn (2014). Exploring the works in relation to the political concerns during the periods of the time of practice, the notion of an uncompromising ‘documentary of force’ develops throughout the portfolio. A praxis using documentary film to utilise strategies of political, cultural, and cinematic interventions to build on latent militancy and challenge dominant media and state narratives on the core issues of race, class and state violence in the UK. In defining a ‘documentary of force’ it posits a form of resistance using film as a tool to force debate and political change, as demanded by the films participants.