In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• v i i writing can be a solitary experience, but the work on a project involves many people, and I am grateful for all of them and their input. New York University provided a fruitful starting ground for this book. To begin, I must thank Toby Miller and Robert Stam from Cinema Studies. Crucial help came from Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (of Performance Studies) and Faye Ginsburg (of Anthropology) whose generosity with their time, contacts, and information made this project possible the entire way, from early research to its completion and publication. Through Faye I came to participate in the Working Group on Human Rights, Religion and Media in the inaugural year of the Center for Religion and Media at NYU and had the good fortune to workshop earlier versions of this book with Meg McLagan,Tom Keenan, Elizabeth Castelli, Allen Feldman, Angela Zito, Anne Cubilé, and Sam Gregory, who has been most generous with his time and contacts at WITNESS. Early research and writing was also made possible by a Fellowship at the International Center for Advanced Studies at NYU during the second year of their three-year project, the Authority of Knowledge in the Global Era. Participating in the session entitled “The Politics of the Unprivileged” afforded me numerous insights as well as the friendship and support of Nivedita Menon and Arzoo Osanloo. The materials ofWITNESS, the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum, and the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota enhanced this study. I am grateful for their generosity and their collections. Since then, Frances Guerin, Roger Hallas, Mette Hjort, Jeffrey Shandler, LiesbetVan Zoonen, Barbie Zelizer, and Patty Zimmermann have provided ideas, critiques, conversations, and other forms of support that have bolstered this project. The preparation of the manuscript was significantly A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S 00 Front_Torchin 9/10/2012 1:46 PM Page vii aided by the feedback of Patricia Speyer and Mick Broderick; by the guidance of my University of Minnesota Press editor, Danielle Kasprzak, who tolerated my many questions; by Sue Breckenridge, who carefully looked over the manuscript with a keen eye and heartening engagement; and by a grant from The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. Thanks also go to my colleagues at the Department of Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, and to Dina Iordanova in particular for her guidance and support. Friends and colleagues who have provided ears, guest rooms, food, drinks, conversation, and company over the years—all of which are necessary to the completion of any project—cannot be forgotten. To that end I thank Mariana Johnson, Sky Sitney, Grant Pezeshki, Kate Collignon, Christine Chen, Kelly Britt, Heather Hubbart Murray, Rahul Hamid, Ragan Rhyne, Doug Dibbern, ChelseaWessels, Matt Holtmeier,Will Brown, Liz Ashford, Michael McCluskey, AlaynaWaldrum, and Eliane Corrin (in whose studio I write this now). Social utility networks deserve a measure of credit for their capacity to keep me connected to friends whose virtual support I have felt in actual ways: Sally Bachner, Alice Crawford, Julien Devereaux, and Chris Roth. Finally, I am grateful for the support of my family. In particular, I wish to thank my grandmother, Molly Torchin, and my great-uncle, Abraham Schneider, who have looked after me throughout the years. Their willingness not only to support me but also to read what I produced is a staggering demonstration of love. v i i i • A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S 00 Front_Torchin 9/10/2012 1:46 PM Page viii ...

Share