Issue 42
Introduction

We Were the Scenery: Transnational Remembrance in an Age of Global Memory

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  • Amanda Weiss ,
  • Marcos Centeno-Martin,
  • Alberto Porta-Pérez
Amanda Weiss
Georgia Institute of Technology
Bio
Marcos Centeno-Martin
Universitat de València
Bio
Alberto Porta-Pérez
Universitat Jaume I
Bio
DOI: https://doi.org/10.63700/1411

Published 2026-07-31

Keywords

  • Transnational Memory,
  • Visual Culture,
  • Collective Memory,
  • East Asia,
  • Memory Studies

How to Cite

Weiss , A., Centeno-Martin, M., & Porta-Pérez, A. (2026). We Were the Scenery: Transnational Remembrance in an Age of Global Memory. L’Atalante. Journal of Film Studies, (42), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.63700/1411

Copyright (c) 2026 L'Atalante. Journal of film studies

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This article calls for decolonizing Memory Studies exploring the relationship between visual culture, memory, and transnationality in East Asia and the Pacific. Taking the documentary We Were the Scenery (Christopher Radcliff, 2025) as its point of departure, it reflects on who is remembered, who is granted visibility within historical narratives of war and its aftermath, and how audiovisual media participate in the construction, circulation, and contestation of collective memory. It argues that memories of violence cannot remain confined within national frameworks but are instead shaped through transnational processes of migration, media circulation, and cultural exchange. Resulting from the «memory battles» in the region, Asian Cinemas, shaped by histories of colonialism, war, and migration, have become central sites for negotiating traumatic pasts and forming postmemory communities. Ultimately, the article contends that films act as transformative agents that not only preserve the past but also actively contribute to the production of new forms of memory, challenging national narratives, and revealing how remembrance itself changes in an era of global media circulation.

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