Documentary Films after 1960

Catalog description

The year 1960 represents a pivotal moment in the history of documentary filmmaking. This significance arises not only from the emergence of two influential movements—cinéma vérité and direct cinema—but also from advancements in portable camera equipment and synchronized sound technologies. These innovations enabled filmmakers to engage more directly with unfolding events, challenging traditional boundaries between public and private spheres, observer and observed, as well as fiction and non-fiction. This course will analyze both political and ethical transformations of documentary film practice since then, while exploring the continued importance of film as a documentary medium relative to television and other mass communication platforms.