Synopses & Reviews
Tracing the history of the documentary from the first Lumiere films to Michael Moores Fahrenheit 9/11, Chanan addresses topics such as the documentary before documentary, how documentary film language works, the veracity of the image, the problems of the soundtrack, the migration of documentary to television, political documentary, censorship, first-person film-making, and the relations of the archives to history and memory. Focusing on the vital contribution of documentary to the public sphere--the space in which ideas are debated, public opinion is formed and those in authority are held to account--Chanan argues that, without documentary, the public sphere is unable to function.
Synopsis
Thiswide-ranging studytraces the history of the documentary from the first Lumiere films to Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11'. Chanan argues that documentary makes avital contributionto the public sphere - where ideas are debated, opinionformed and those in authority are held to account.
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Synopsis
Governing Visions of the Real traces the emergence, development, and techniques of Griersonian documentary—named for pioneering Scottish filmmaker John Grierson—in New Zealand throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Paying close attention to the productions of the National Film Unit in the 1940s and ’50s, Lars Weckbecker follows the shifting practices and governmentality of documentary’s “visions of the real” as New Zealand and its population—particularly workers and its indigenous population—came to be envisioned through NFU film for an ensemble of political, pedagogic, and propagandistic purposes.
About the Author
Michael Chanan is a documentary film-maker and Professor of Film and Video at Roehampton University. His books include Cuban Cinema (University of Minnesota Press 2003) and Repeated Takes: A Short History of Recording and its Effects on Music (Verso 1995).