Course Description
History of Documentary Film surveys the major developments from the first factual films of 1895 to the present. The course covers major movements within the film genre, including factual film; ethnography, war, propaganda, documentary, and compilation films; films on art, direct cinema, cinema verité; films from the third world, and films from emerging social movements.
Remote Online Course
This course will be conducted remotely over the Internet.
Most learning activities will be asynchronous, meaning that students will complete these on their own time during the assigned week. This includes readings, screenings, quizzes, essays, and exams.
In addition, there will be a certain number of synchronous activities, including a weekly discussion session on Zoom where we discuss the major issues relating to that week’s module on the history of documentary film.
Instructor
Juan Monroy
Office Hours
I will be available for individual meetings on Mondays and Wednesday, between 12:00 – 1:00 PM, US Eastern Time. Sign up for an appointment at least one day in advance at:
https://juanmonroy.com/prattofficehours
After you sign up, I will email you a Zoom Meeting link for you to join the meeting.
Assignments
Please complete all of the assignments by the date noted on the course schedule
Assigned Readings
Assigned readings are listed in the course schedule below and available from the following sources:
Grant, Barry Keith and Jeannette Marie Sloniowski. Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings on Documentary Film and Video, new and expanded ed. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2014.
McLane, Betsy. A New History of Documentary Film, 2nd ed. New York and London: Continuum, 2012.
Reading Quizzes
Each Thursday morning, I will post a reading quiz on Canvas. The quiz will consist of true-false and multiple choice questions.
Complete each quiz by the day before our class meeting, as noted below.
- Quiz 1 and 2, due September 8
- Quiz 3, due September 15
- Quiz 4, due September 22
- Quiz 5, due September 29
- Quiz 6, due October 6
- Quiz 7, due October 20
- Quiz 8, due October 27
- Quiz 9, due November 3
- Quiz 10, due November 10
- Quiz 11, due November 17
- Quiz 12, due December 1
Screenings
Watch each of the films listed in the course schedule below. You will need to authenticate with your Pratt One Key credentials to access these screenings.
Some titles are available to stream from commercial services, such as The Criterion Channel, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Kanopy. Where available, I have linked to Just Watch, a service that aggregates the availability of online streaming for most movie titles.
Live Discussion Sessions
All students must participate in the weekly discussion session held on Zoom. The live discussion session will last about 45 minutes.
In these sessions, we will discuss the major issues relating to that week’s module on the history of documentary film.
Essay 1: Prewar Documentary Film and National Identity
An analytic paper on at least one documentary film, made prior to the end of World War II, screened in class that addresses how national identity is articulated.
Essay 2: Documentary and The Archive
An analytic paper that compares how the past is resurrected through the use of archival footage in contemporary documentary films.
- Guidelines
- Length: 1,200 words
- Due: Friday, December 4, 11:59 PM, on Canvas
- Weight: 20%
Midterm Exam
The midterm exam will consist of two parts:
- Analysis of film stills from films screened in class, requiring you to explain the clip in the context of the film.
- Short answer questions, requiring you to engage the screenings and readings related to the major movements and trends in documentary film we covered in class.
Details:
- Available on Canvas, beginning on Monday, October 12
- Due on Sunday, October 18, at 11:59 PM, on Canvas
- Weight: 20%
Final Exam
The final exam will consist of two parts:
- Analysis of film stills from films screened in class, requiring you to explain the clip in the context of the film.
- Short answer questions, requiring you to engage the screenings and readings related to the major movements and trends in documentary film we covered in class.
Details:
- Available on Canvas, beginning on Thursday, December 3
- Due on Wednesday, December 9, at 5:00 PM, on Canvas
- Weight: 20%
Course Schedule
Complete each assigned activity—readings, quizzes, and screenings—by the date listed for each module.
Module 0: Introduction, August 26
In this introductory session, we will meet each other on Zoom, at the time noted below for your session. I will discuss the format of the course, our approach to studying documentary, and our goals for understanding the history of non-fiction filmmaking.
Module 1: Beginnings, September 2
Module 2: Avant-Garde and Modernity, September 9
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “The European Avant-Garde Experimentation, 1922–1929,” 57–72.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “Synthetic Vision: The Dialectical Imperative of Luis Buñuel’s Las Hurdes.”
- Read MacDonald, Scott. “Avant-Doc: Eight Intersections.” Film Quarterly 64, no. 2 (December 2010): 50–57.
- Watch Rhythmus 21 (Hans Richter, Germany, 1921, 3 min.) Available on Vimeo.
- Watch Manhatta (Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand, USA, 1921, 12 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Taris (Jean Vigo, France, 1931, 10 min.). Find where to stream. Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan [Land without Bread] (Luis Buñuel, Spain, 1932, 27 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Walter Ruttman, Germany, 1927, 62 min.) Find where to stream. Available on Google Drive.
- Complete Quiz 2 on Canvas.
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 3: Documentary and the Soviet Revolution, September 16
Module 4: British Documentary Movement, September 23
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Institutionalization: Great Britain, 1929–1939,” 73–92.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “The Art of National Projection: Basil Wright’s The Song of Ceylon.”
- Watch Industrial Britain (Robert Flaherty and John Grierson, United Kingdom, 1931, 21 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Housing Problems (Edgar Anstey and Arthur Elton, United Kingdom, 1935, 16 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Song of Ceylon (Basil Wright for Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board, 1937, United Kingdom, 38 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Night Mail (Harry Watt and Basil Wright, United Kingdom, 1936, 24 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Complete Quiz 4 on Canvas.
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 5: US Documentary and the New Deal, September 30
Module 6: Wartime Documentary, October 7
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “WWII,” 117–157.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “The Poetics of Propaganda: Humphrey Jennings and Listen to Britain.”
- Watch London Can Take It (Harry Watt and Humphrey Jennings, United Kingdom, 1940, 9 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, United Kingdom, 1942, 20 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Why We Fight: A Prelude to War (Frank Capra, USA, 1942, 55 min.) Find where to stream. Available on Google Drive.
- Complete Quiz 6 on Canvas.
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Midterm Exam, October 14
The midterm exam will be available on Thursday, October 8, and due today at 5:00 PM.
Module 7: Post-War Documentary and Internationalism, October 21
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Post-War Documentary, 1945–1961,” 159–183.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “Documenting the Ineffable: Terror and Memory in Alain Resnais’s Night and Fog.”
- Watch Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, France, 1956, 32 min.) Available on Kanopy and on Google Drive.
- Watch The Wall (Walter De Hoog, USA, 1962, 9 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Tiré Die (Fernando Birri, Argentina, 1960, 33 min.) Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Neighbours (Norman McLaren, Canada, 1952, 8 min.) Available from the National Film Board of Canada.
- Watch Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1961, 7 min.) Available from the National Film Board of Canada.
- Complete Quiz 7 on Canvas.
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 8: Cinéma Verité and Direct Cinema, October 28
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Cinéma verité, direct cinema, 1958–70,” 219–241.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, ““Don’t You Ever Just Watch?”: American Cinema Verité and Don’t Look Back”
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “Ethnography in the First Person: Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies”
- Watch Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, USA, 1966, 96 min.) Available on Google Drive. Find where to stream.
- Watch Chronique d’un étè [Chronicle of a Summer] (Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin, France, 1961, 92 min.) Available on Kanopy.
- Watch Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1967, 84 min.) Available on Kanopy and on Google Drive. Trigger warning: graphic scenes in a psychiatric hospital, including medical procedures.
- Complete Quiz 8 on Canvas.
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 9: Political Activism and Documentary, November 4
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Power to the People,” 243–270.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “The Two Avant-Gardes: Solanas and Getino’s The Hour of the Furnaces.”
- Watch Part 1, “Neocolonialism and Violence” of La Hora de los Hornos (Octavio Getino and Fernando Solanas, Argentina, 1968, 84 min.) Trigger warning: graphic scenes of animal butchering, violence, and a deceased corpse. Available on Google Drive.
- Watch Harlan County (Barbara Kopple, USA, 1976, 105 min.) Available on the Internet Archive and on Google Drive. Find where to stream.
- Complete Quiz 9 on Canvas.
- Watch the recorded video lecture on this week’s course material:
- There is no Live Discussion Session on Zoom today.
Module 10: Video and New Documentary Forms, November 11
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Video Arrives,” 271–300.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “Silence and its Opposites: Expressions of Race in Tongues Untied.”
- Watch The Atomic Cafe (Jane Loader, Kevin Rafferty, Pierce Rafferty, USA, 1982, 86 min.) Available on Google Drive and Pratt Talks. Find where to stream.
- Watch Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, USA, 1989, 55 min.) Available on Kanopy and on Google Drive.
- Complete Quiz 10 on Canvas.
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 11: Documentary, Archives, and Truth, November 18
Module 12: Documentary, Memory, and Truth, December 2
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Documentary Tradition and the Twenty-First Century,” 331–362.
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Now and When,” 363–390.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, Mirrors without Memories: Truth, History, and The Thin Blue Line.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “31 Cultural Learnings of Borat for Make Benefit Glorious….”
- Watch The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, USA, 1988, 103 min.) Available on Google Drive. Find where to stream.
- Watch Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles, UK and USA, 2006, 84 min.) Available on the Internet Archive. Find where to stream.
- Complete Quiz 12 on Canvas.
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Final Exam: December 9
The final exam will be available on Thursday, December 3, and due today at 5:00 PM.