A
document is:
- A historical artifact, a product, such as letter, photograph,
storage inventory, journal etc. that is used to record an
event or a series of events.
- A documentary film refers to a film that depicts reality
more than a fiction
film or a drama.
The
people and events on a documentary are real, i.e. the characters
portray themselves (or tell about themselves) in events that
are happening or have happened. Yet all films are more or
less fiction, pieces of composition, and their author's interpretation
of the reality.
A
documentary film is not the truth and it should not even aim
to the one and only truth. Rather, it should open possibilities
for interpretation and viewpoints to the period that it is
depicting.
Some
genres of documentary films
- Experimental documentary
- Anthropological and ethnographic documentary
- Made-to-order production
- Follow-up documentary
- Documentary based on archives
- Cinéma
Vérité /Observational Cinema
- Subjective documentary
Based
on the CinemaSense articles and links you can deliberate upon
how meaningful (or meaningless) it is to divide films into
two main categories: fiction
and documentary.
Steps
for the Future [steps.co.za]
"Many of the best professionals in the international
field of documentary filmmaking are collaborating to create
a collection of challenging and meaningful documentaries that
will resonate throughout the region, and inform the world
about life in Southern Africa in the midst of HIV/AIDS."
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