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# Documentary film

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An incredibly broad category of cinematic expression, traditionally, the only common characteristic to all documentary films is that it is meant to be non-fiction.

The earliest "moving pictures" were by definition documentary. They were single shot, moments that were captures on film. Whether it be a train entering a station, a boat docking, or a factory of people getting off work, early film (pre-1900) was dominated by the novelty of showing an event. These short films were called "actualities." Very little storytelling took place before the turn of the century.

However, it wasn't until Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook of the North in the 1920s that documentary film making had matured.

1922?-1927? (Silent Era)

  Robert J. Flaherty
  [Merian C. Cooper]? and [Ernest B. Schoedsack]?
  [Dziga Vertov]?

1927?-present day (Early Sound Era)

  John Grierson
  [EMB Film Unit]?
  Leni Riefenstahl
  [The March of Time]?

Contemporary Documentary filmmakers:

  Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, [Vernon, Florida]?, [Fast, Cheap and Out of Control]?)
  [Michael Moore]? ([The Big One]?, [Roger and Me]?)
  [Barbar Kopple]? ([Wild Man Blues]?, [Harlan County U.S.A.]?)
  [Steve James]? ([Hoop Dreams]?)
  [Joe Berlinger]? and [Bruce Sinofsky]? ([Brothers Keeper]?, [Paradise Lost-- The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills]?

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Last edited May 11, 2001 8:49 pm (diff)
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