The Ethics of Anonymous Testimony in Documentary
When a documentary built entirely on silhouetted, voice-altered testimony wins the Special Jury Prize at Venice, the ethical questions don't stay on the red carpet. This week we work through a listener's three-part question about anonymity in documentary filmmaking: must filmmakers verify and corroborate what anonymous sources say? Must they know who those sources actually are, even while protecting them publicly? And if neither duty is settled, how does anyone avoid being manipulated into spreading propaganda? We lay out what the film alleges, what the IDF's ten-page response argues back…
The skinny
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