Animated documentary, recollection, 're-enactment' and temporality

The chapter examines how animated documentaries represent temporality in relation to their subject matter, with a particular focus on the concepts of 'recollection' and 're-enactment' and how they structure animated nonfictional forms. In particular, the term 're-enactment' is more complex than it might first appear and, on closer inspection, raises all sorts of questions about temporality, viewer positioning, performance and agency. The discussion will focus on two main examples - 'Andersartig' (and animated short) and 'Children of the Holocaust' (a television documentary that includes live-action 'talking head' interviews and animated sequences) - and examine these in relation to notions of the 'fantasmatic' and 'atavistic' dimensions of the animation.