A New History of Documentary Film - Tapa blanda

"The book is homage to documentary pioneer John Grierson who coined the term documentary in 1926. Each of the 18 chapters offers a concise and useful historical overview of a particular time period, topic, or filmmaker and adds a list of relevant film titles and publications. As a carefully crafted and reader-friendly volume, this book takes its place alongside Erik Barnouw's classic Documentary ("1974)" -Humanities-Performing Arts-Film 2006" " The timing couldn't be better for a knowledgeable survey of documentary films that acknowledges (and appreciates) the work of Robert Flaherty but continues through the era of cable TV, digital video, Michael Moore and Born Into Brothels. This thoughtful appraisal will be useful to students as well as moviegoers who want to learn more about the history of nonfiction filmmaking. Leonard Maltin "It's an excellent introduction for any student wishing to understand the major trends in documentary production in the UK and North America and the major films of various eras...Overall, A New History of Documentary Film is a worthy and ambitious book. The text would be a great resource for a library or for a documentary studies class" L. Clare Bratten, Journal of Film and Video 60.1, Spring 2008--Sanford Lakoff

Major new history of a film genre that has recently been breaking box office records. This is a thorough and definitive survey/history of documentary films. Concentrating mainly on the output of the US, the UK, and Canada, the authors outline the origins of the form and then show its development over the next several decades. The book is completely up-to-date in discussing films like "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer", and in its coverage of IMAX movies and the development of cable and satellite television outlets. Written in a simple, chronological format, the text is straightforward and full of content, information, and historical perspective. (There is hardly any academic jargon or high-level theory.) Each chapter concludes with a list of the key documentaries in that particular time period or genre, and there are helpful appendices listing all the winners of the Academy Award for Best Documentary, as well as the winners of the Grierson Award.