Communicating Justice in Film: The Limitations of an Unlimited Field

Abstract

Against a common adage that “judgments speak for themselves”, the Outreach Programme of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has produced a plethora of visual communication features, which present the Tribunal’s work in a succinct, consumable and understandable manner. Conducting such pioneering and sensitive work, however, meant entering uncharted territory. The imperatives of maintaining the neutrality of the court, ensuring absolute accuracy in presentation of legal matters and managing ethical considerations often collided with the need for appealing visual presentation and effective storytelling. Such unique use of visual materials in communicating justice created challenges and limitations in all phases of the production of the court’s documentary films. This chapter provides an overview of how the ICTY Outreach tackled these issues to produce a visual legacy for the first modern, international war crimes tribunal.