Challenging the Narrative

This book serves as a counterpoint to traditional hierarchical filmmaking and extractive practices while still undertaking the delicate work of collaborative storytelling in communities outside of the filmmaker’s own. It provides a helpful analysis of filming in the challenging circumstances of conflict through the lens of participatory practice with an ethics-based approach. - Journal of Film and Video

“McLaughlin radically listens to stories of trauma most people do not want to hear. His exploration into these liminal spaces is an extensive study on participant-led mitigation of colonial violence and documentary hierarchy. It occupies a risky territory, between governments, terrorists, and political waves with innocent people at its core.” —Soumyaa Behrens, Director, Documentary Film Institute, Faculty, School of Cinema, San Francisco State University, USA.

“This timely book is valuable in its discussion of ethical issues and subject participation in documentary films where survivors of violence and trauma, generally excluded from public discourse, return to the locations of their traumatic experiences. The book challenges the notion of a one-size-fits-all ethical protocol for subject trust and collaboration.” —Dr Jill Daniels, Senior Lecturer Film, University of East London, UK.