Page - 73 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/01

Activist Citizenship, Film and Peacebuilding | 73www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/1, 73–89 Milja Radovic Activist Citizenship, Film and Peacebuilding: Acts and Transformative Practices ABSTRACT In this article I explore film as a socio-political and artistic-transformative cultural prac- tice through which acts and activism are performed. I am interested in how film em- beds acts of peacebuilding and how this scene of imagery/imaginary is transformed by those acts, with the filmmakers transformed into activist citizens whose activism questions ideologies that surround them. I argue that acts of citizenship and activ- ism, as a creative practice, do not solely involve the analysis of how activism has been represented in films, but also the understanding of what is beyond these representa- tions and narratives. I look at a) how film auteurs emerge as activists through the narratives and the created scenes 1 in film; b) how these acts consequently represent the “answerability to Others” 2 and c) the link between (cinematic) performativity and activism. KEYWORDS acts, activism, film, religion, transformative practices BIOGRAPHY Dr. Milja Radovic works within the interdisciplinary field of theology, media and cul- ture, and her research has spanned across the fields of transnational cinema, religion, ideology, citizenship, activism, nationalism, conflict and peace-building. She has most recently collaborated on three projects: CITSEE Project (The Europeanisation of Citi- zenship in the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia), School of Law, University of Edinburgh; Peacebuilding through Media Arts, and Religion and Ethics in the Mak- ing of War and Peace projects. Milja is the author of the book: Transnational Cinema and Ideology: representing religion, identity and cultural myths (Routledge, July, 2014). Her current work focuses on radicality of freedom through acts of citizenship, otherness, and the issue of radicalization. 1 Engin 2008, 38. 2 Ibid., 19.