The Voice of "The Black Box Syndrome" : representening contemporary history in a foreig reality

Summary: This thesis is a combination of practical film work and theoretical analysis. It consists of a documentary video The Black Box Syndrome and a written thesis dealing with formal problems raised by the film. The film was made in Budapest, where I stayed from 1992-1995, attending classes at the Academy of Drama and Film and collecting material for my thesis and film. My findings and views on the Hungarian media situation are portrayed in the film through a case study of a group of oppositional filmmakers (Black Box). The written thesis raises questions about documentary representation of contemporary history in a foreign reality. In this respect, questions of narrative positioning, subjectivity, rhetoric and the "voice" of the film receive particular attention. I discuss the narrative and rhetorical strategies that I employ to present the story of "Black Box" as an image of the broader Hungarian media situation. Here, questions of how the film s argument is presented through perspective and commentary are brought into light. I also investigate how my presence and "voice" - manifested as strategies of interaction and reflexivity - work to give a plausible report from a foreign society with its distinct historical and political situation. In sum, the focus of the discussion is directed toward the implications of presenting historical events through first person testimonial accounts filtered and structured by the subjective authorial voice of the filmmaker