Description
Abstract: Film is a source and site of agency (Harman 2019). Through film, marginalised or misrepresented groups and communities can reclaim the agency to tell their own stories about their lives. Understanding that veterans’ lives are often spoken about (by the media, academia, government, etc) the Stories in Transition project used co-produced film to explore veterans’ stories about their lives following transition to civilian life. As a two-year inter-disciplinary collaboration between academics, veterans and filmmakers, the project explored concepts of narrative and agency with three veterans’ charities using different artistic, cultural and sporting practices to support veterans in their transition. In this paper, I consider what kind of reflective space film created for veterans to interrogate and then represent their own transition experiences. I reflect on what each of the three films from Stories in Transition are doing and how/why they have been created to engage with various audiences. Lastly, I consider the limits of film as a representational practice together with the risky ethics of immersive co-produced research in veteran communities.
