Documentary Film I

Documentary Film Studies
5 ECTS; 2º Ano, 1º Semestre, 45,0 T + 30,0 TP + 3,0 OT


Not applicable.

A. To problematize the concept of documentary and its transformation throughout the history of cinema.
B. To know the decisive turning points in the history of the documentary cinema from its origins up to the rise of Direct Cinema.
C. Enable the analysis of the different documentary modes.

1. Documentary as a cinematographic genre: origin and problematization of the definition of documentary.
2. From the desire of the real in early cinema to the "invention" of the documentary in the 1920s: Robert Flaherty and the travel film, the European avant-garde cinema.
3. Political and social concerns in the documentary of the years 1930 to 1950: the documentary in the service of political causes; Institutionalization of the documentary in the United Kingdom and the United States; The use of the documentary of propaganda and counterpropaganda in World War II; European poetic documentary.
4. The emergence of the observational documentary in the late 1950s: Free Cinema, Direct Cinema and Cinema Vérité.

Evaluation Methodology
Ongoing assessment: 1 critical review (30% of the final mark).
1 test (70% of final mark).

- Barnow, E. (1974). Documentary - A History of the Non-Fiction Film. (Vol. 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press
- Barsam, R. (1992). Non-Fiction Film - A Critical History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press
- Rothman, W. (1997). Documentary Film Classics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Method of interaction
a. Conventional lectures.
b. Film analysis in class.

Software used in class
Not applicable.