The Evolution of Documentary Film in the 20th Century: From Document to Falsification

The course focuses on the questions of nonfiction film scenarios and patterns, various modes of documentary representation, influence of different media on the evolution of nonfiction film, the notion of an "author" within a documentary, etc. The course is centered around the problem of correlation between empirical and film realities as well as attempts to answer the question of how veracious and truthful a nonfiction film is. Where are the borders of fiction within a documentary film, and is there a place for fiction in a documentary? The evolution of nonfiction film in the XX century exemplifies the process of rethinking the notions of truth and fiction, subjectivity and objectivity in cinema, and representation of an event in film. The course is based on a large number of both Russian and foreign nonfiction films, as well as key theories of documentary representation. Key directors discussed within the course include R. Flaherty, J. Grierson, B. Wright, Dz. Vertov, E. Shub, L. Riefenstahl, R. Karmen, J. Ivens, P. Lorenz, F. Capra, R. Drew, R. Leacock, L. Anderson, Maysles brothers, J. Rouch, E. Morin, A. Resnais, C. Marker, F. Wiseman, E. Morris, A. Peleshian, G. Reggio, A. Sokurov, S. Loznitsa, V. Mansky, S. Dvortsevoy, P. Kostomarov, V. Kossakovsky, A. Rastorguev, M. Moore, U. Seidl, and the Dardenne brothers.