ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews secondary literature on how historical narratives have been translated into films (i.e., sets of moving images) to be shown in cinemas or on television and, more recently, online video streaming. This review does not have the ambition to be exhaustive. Instead, it aims to start a discussion about producing films with the same (or even higher) level of reliability if compared to traditional bookish historiographical scholarship. After a brief overview beginning in the 1930s, the chapter outlines several moving images most often associated with communicating historical content (i.e., documentaries, docudramas, feature films, historical dramas, compilation films, and user-generated content). A central point is how the animated picture can be a privileged medium to screen historical narratives in films. Finally, this chapter discusses challenges and computational tools that could potentially share with the audience the historical sources used by filmmakers. The goal is to allow the audience to benefit fully, take a position, or argue about the use and interpretation of primary historical sources and secondary literature in filmic adaptations.
