The Greek Oral History Association, in collaboration with the Department of History and Archaeology (University of Athens) and the Anthropological Society of Athens – Ethnofest, is co-organizing the 7th International Oral History Conference under the theme “Dialogues between Oral History and Art: Oral Narratives in Film and Theatre.”

Call for Proposals

The relationship between oral history and cinema dates back to the very beginnings of the field of oral history. Claude Lanzmann’s film Shoah (1985) is one of the most notable examples of this relationship. From the very beginning of the creation of major digital collections on the history of the Holocaust, such as Steven Spielberg’s archive (VHA/USC Shoah Foundation), permission for their use in film production was secured during the collection of oral testimonies. ‍

Similarly, oral testimonies are used in theatre. Documentary Theatre, or the Theatre of Fact, which has its origins in the early 20th century, developed primarily in the 1960s, when it was linked to the widespread political mobilizations of the period as expressed in various Western European countries —in France in May 1968, the student movements in Berlin and Frankfurt, and in the U.S.  As political theatre, it sought to reconstruct historical events by incorporating alternative documents and experiences, to challenge decisions, and to overturn established notions. This particular genre has experienced a resurgence worldwide from the 1990s to the present day, giving rise to contemporary variations that fall under the broader category of what is known as the Theatre of the Real.

From the 1980s onward, cinema and theatre have converged with oral history in a trend to transcend the historical logic according to which oral testimonies are treated solely as sources of documenting the past. The focus has shifted towards subjectivity, emotions, and all the sensations and expressions embedded in people’s personal memories, shaping new narratives of the past and multiple regimes of historicity. The narrative tools available to cinema and theatre disrupt linear narratives and bring memory to the forefront. At the same time, new subjects take on an active role in the theatrical act. The interaction between oral history, cinema and theatre has brought about changes in both historiography and the arts. 

The 7th International Conference of the Oral History Association will explore these changes and initiate a substantive dialogue between researchers, film-makers and theatre artists. The aim is to highlight the various aspects of incorporating oral testimonies into cinematic and theatrical practice, and its implications for transforming historical narratives. 

The conference addresses the following questions: 

• How is oral testimony defined in film and theatre? 
• How does cinema address memory and the mediation of testimony from memory into cinematic narrative? 
• What possibilities does cinematic representation offer for dealing with the past? What possibilities does the multisensory experience and the use of multiple media (sound, image, voice, narration) open up for the representation of the past?
• What ethical issues does the editing of oral testimonies raise? 
• Does the incorporation of testimonies signal a new historicity or a shift toward realism and positivist representation?
• Do artists, through their work, challenge the creator’s authority by bridging the gap between viewer and actor, lived experience and interpretation? 
• What are the political implications of using oral testimonies in film and theatre? • What are the methodological implications of using oral testimonies in the aforementioned art forms?
• • What are the limitations of audiovisual representation? 

Proposed thematic areas: