Introduction

The plight of migrants has long been a subject of documentary film, as filmmakers try to capture the seemingly endless environmental and political crises that displace large groups of people. The liminal state of forced migration presents many challenges to filmmakers and journalists alike, including the balancing act of representing the losses of the displaced with the danger of objectifying and commodifying that loss. Visual representations of refugees, for example, often depict women and children in vulnerable states, playing on a long established discourse of helplessness and infantilization and eliciting pity or guilt in Western audiences (Chouliaraki, 2006, pp. 89–90). While the goal of representing the displaced is usually to prompt identification and empathy, the result is often to further dehumanize sufferers for the spectator, who is usually presumed to be not only Western but also homogenous in terms of race, class, and gender (Ong, 2014, pp. 189–190). In addition, many documentary projects simplify refugee narratives to the point of suppressing the complex economic and sociopolitical causes of forced migration (Sou, 2018, p. 512).

As immersive, stereoscopic 3D technologies become more accessible to filmmakers and consumers alike, more artists and journalists have attempted to provide an all-encompassing experience, breaking the established codes of visual representation by expanding the sensorium of the viewer. By eliciting a more profound sense of verisimilitude, they hope to sharpen a sense of empathy. The promise of virtual reality (VR) documentary lies in its ability to erase the cinematic frame, hiding the representational interface and providing a sense of bodily presence.