How Can We Define Documentary Film?
Abstract
This text is a first chapter of Bill Nichols famous book Introduction to Documentary which has become the most widely used introductory textbook in the field. It explores some of the ways in which commonsense definitions of documentary can be refined, with the reference to the corpus of classical or important works, to give a sense of how different films find at least slightly different solutions to common problems. The exploration of this problems helps us understand how a documentary tradition arose and evolved and what it has to offer us today.
- The text is a translation of the chapter How Can We Define Documentary Film? from the book Introduction to Documentary by Bill Nichols, Indiana University Press, Bloomington – Indianapolis 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Indiana University Press.
Due to copyright restrictions the article is available in the print version only.
Keywords:
documentary film, definition of documentary, documentaryismReferences
Europejskie manifesty kina, wybór, wstęp i opracowanie A. Gwóźdź, Wiedza Powszechna, Warszawa 2002, s. 53-57.
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Goffman Erving, Człowiek w teatrze życia codziennego, tłum. H. Datner-Śpiewak, P. Śpiewak, oprac. i wstęp J. Szacki, PIW, Warszawa 1977.
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Authors
Bill Nicholskwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
San Francisco State University United States
Profesor filmoznawstwa na uniwersytecie stanowym w San Francisco (USA). Jest autorem m.in. Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary (1992), Blurred Boundaries: Question of Meaning in Contemporary Culture (1995), Engaging Cinema (2010) oraz Introduction to Documentary (2010).
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