A lively,
compact, introduction to documentary film —its history, genres, and
controversies
Documentary film can encompass anything
from Robert Flaherty`s pioneering ethnography Nanook of the North
to Michael Moore`s anti-Iraq War polemic Fahrenheit 9/11, from
Dziga Vertov`s artful Soviet propaganda piece Man with a Movie Camera
to Luc Jacquet`s heart-tugging wildlife epic March of the Penguins.
In this concise, crisply written guide, Patricia Aufderheide takes
readers along the diverse paths of documentary history and charts the
lively, often fierce debates among filmmakers and scholars about the
best ways to represent reality and to tell the
truths worth telling.
Beginning with an overview of the
central issues of documentary filmmaking—its definitions and purposes,
its forms and founders—Aufderheide focuses on several of its key
subgenres, including public affairs films, government propaganda
(particularly the works produced during World War II), historical
documentaries, and nature films. Her thematic approach allows readers to
enter the subject matter through the kinds of films that first
attracted them to documentaries, and it permits her to make connections
between eras, as well as revealing the ongoing nature of documentary`s
core controversies involving objectivity, advocacy, and bias. Interwoven
throughout are discussions of the ethical and practical considerations
that arise with every
aspect of documentary production. A particularly useful feature of the
book is an appended list of "100 great documentaries" that anyone with a
serious interest in the genre should see.
Drawing on the
author`s four decades of experience as a film scholar and critic, this
book is the perfect introduction not just for teachers and students but
also for all thoughtful filmgoers and for those who aspire to make
documentaries themselves.
