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.
Because it is impossible to survey the entire history of documentary film in a single semester, we will be focusing on two broad themes in pre–World War II era and in the post-World War II era.
- In the years leading up to World War II in the 1940s, most documentary films were nationalistic in tone and in scope. Documentary films were often produced by governmental agencies that promoted the nation to its own people and to others around the world. They focused on the “big stories” of the nation. Part of this was due to the expensive nature of producing films. But it was also a function of the sociopolitical environment in the West and beyond. One could argue that this nationalistic fervor contributed to World War II and 70 million deaths. We cover this in modules 1–6.
- After World War II, filmmaking technology became less expensive to procure and less cumbersome to use. There were also new venues for exhibiting documentary films. And perhaps most importantly, there was a recognition that a progressive, cooperative spirit could realize peace among nations, although the Cold War would challenge that project. Documentary film in this era told many more stories than it ever had before. These films gave voice to communities and peoples who never could speak before. We cover this in modules 7–12.
The midterm exam divides the modules and our coverage of these broad themes.
Remote Online Course
This course will be conducted remotely over the Internet.
Most learning activities will be asynchronous, meaning that you will complete these on your own time. 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
Office hours will be held remotely on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Sign up for an appointment at https://juanmonroy.com/prattofficehours.
After you sign up, I will email you a 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.
Karen Gocsik, Dave Monahan, and Richard Barsam. Writing About Movies, 5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2019.
Reading Quizzes
Each week, I will post a reading quiz on Canvas. The quiz will consist of true-false and multiple choice questions.
Complete each quiz by the dates noted on Canvas.
- Ten of twelve quizzes are required
- Weight: 20%
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.
All films produced prior to 1930 are silent and are identified as such. Any music or other sounds was added years later. The soundtrack you might hear should not be considered part of the original filmmakers’ work.
Some titles are available to stream from commercial services, such as The Criterion Channel, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Kanopy, and others. Where available, I have linked to Just Watch, a service that aggregates the availability of online streaming for most movie titles.
I also have a Letterboxd list of relevant films for our course, including lists of eligible films for the Documentary Film Research and Analysis Essay
Live Discussion Sessions
We will have an hourlong, weekly discussion session on Zoom, at the following time:
- Section 1: Tuesdays, 9:00–10:15 AM on Zoom
- Section 2: Tuesdays, 2:00–3:15 PM on Zoom
In these sessions, we will review the major issues relating to that week’s module on the history of documentary film and closely examine how the films we studied represent reality in an innovative way.
Students will be assigned to a breakout room to analyze an excerpt from a film we have studied for this module. The excerpts (“clips”) are posted in Canvas under the respective module.
These sessions will be recorded and made available only to students in our class upon request.
Writing about Movies Assignments
Using the textbook, Writing About Movies, we will develop your writing skills through a series of exercises throughout the semester, culminating in a film research and analysis essay (detailed below).
- Summarize and Evaluate
- Narrative Documentary
- Experimental Documentary
- Shot Analysis
- Formal Analysis
- Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources
- Cultural Analysis
- Organizing and Outlining
- Composing Thesis and Topic Sentences
Each exercise will be available on Canvas. All exercises are required—except that I will drop your lowest Summarize and Evaluate score—and will be worth 30% of your final grade.
Documentary Film Research and Analysis Essay
A 1,200-word film research and analysis essay that analyzes the formal and cultural elements of a suitable, historically important documentary film that is listed in the Letterboxd list for this assignment. This is the culmination of the Writing about Movies assignments you’ve done throughout the semester. Your research should include the film itself and primary and secondary historical sources.
Exam 1
The first exam, covering our study of documentary film through World War II, will consist of two parts:
- Identification of film stills from films screened in class, requiring you to identify and 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
- Due: see due date on Canvas
- Weight: 20%
Exam 2
The second exam, covering our study of documentary film after World War II, will consist of two parts:
- Identification of film stills from films screened in class, requiring you to identify and 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
- Due: see due date on Canvas
- Weight: 20%
Course Schedule
Complete each assigned activity—readings, quizzes, and screenings—by the date listed for each module.
Module 0: Introduction
In this introductory session, we will meet each other on Zoom, at the time noted below. 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
Module 2: Experimental Film and Modernity
- 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.) Silent film.
- Available from the Museum of Modern Art on YouTube
- Available on Disk 1 of Avant-Garde: Experimental Films of the 1920s and ’30s on DVD at Pratt Library
- Watch Manhatta (Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand, USA, 1921, 12 min.) Silent film.
- Watch Taris (Jean Vigo, France, 1931, 10 min.)
- Watch Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan [Land without Bread] (Luis Buñuel, Spain, 1932, 27 min.)
- Watch Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Walter Ruttman, Germany, 1927, 62 min.) Silent film.
- Complete Reading Quiz 2 on Canvas
- Complete Writing about Movies assignment: Summarize and Evaluate, Experimental Documentary
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 3: Documentary and the Soviet Revolution
Module 4: British Documentary Movement
- 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.)
- Watch Housing Problems (Edgar Anstey and Arthur Elton, United Kingdom, 1935, 16 min.)
- Watch Song of Ceylon (Basil Wright for Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board, 1937, United Kingdom, 38 min.)
- Watch Night Mail (Harry Watt and Basil Wright, United Kingdom, 1936, 24 min.)
- Complete Reading Quiz 4 on Canvas
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 5: US Documentary and the New Deal
Module 6: Wartime Documentary
- 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.)
- Watch Listen to Britain (Humphrey Jennings, United Kingdom, 1942, 20 min.)
- Watch Why We Fight: A Prelude to War (Frank Capra, USA, 1942, 55 min.)
- Complete Reading Quiz 6 on Canvas
- Complete Writing about Movies assignment: Formal Analysis
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 7: Post-War Documentary and Internationalism
- 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.”
- Read Writing About Movies, “Researching Movies”
- Watch Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, France, 1956, 32 min.) Content warning: contains graphic scenes from the Nazi extermination camps that will disturb some of you.
- Watch The Wall (Walter De Hoog, USA, 1962, 9 min.). Content warning: contains some graphic scenes of military violence.
- Watch Tiré Die (Fernando Birri, Argentina, 1960, 33 min.)
- Watch Neighbours (Norman McLaren, Canada, 1952, 8 min.)
- Watch Very Nice, Very Nice (Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1961, 7 min.)
- Complete Reading Quiz 7 on Canvas
- Complete Writing about Movies assignment: Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 8: Cinéma Verité and Direct Cinema
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Cinéma verité, direct cinema, 1958–70,” 219–241.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “Ethnography in the First Person: Frederick Wiseman’s Titicut Follies”
- Read Writing about Movies, “Cultural Analysis,” 55–100
- Watch Chronique d’un étè [Chronicle of a Summer] (Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin, France, 1961, 92 min.)
- Watch Salesman (Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, USA, 1969, 91 min.)
- Watch Titicut Follies (Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1967, 84 min.) Trigger warning: graphic scenes in a psychiatric hospital, including medical procedures
- Complete Reading Quiz 8 on Canvas
- Complete Writing about Movies assignment: Cultural Analysis
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 9: Political Activism and Documentary
- 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.”
- Read Writing about Movies, “Considering Structure and Organization”
- 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
- Watch Harlan County USA (Barbara Kopple, USA, 1976, 105 min.)
- Complete Reading Quiz 9 on Canvas
- Complete Writing about Movies assignment: Outlining and Organizing
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 10: Compilation and Personal Essay
- 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.)
- Watch Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, USA, 1989, 55 min.)
- Watch History and Memory (for Akiko and Takashige) (Rea Tajiri, USA, 1991, 33 min.)
- Complete Reading Quiz 10 on Canvas
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 11: New York and Documentary
- Read A New History of Documentary Film, “Reality Bytes,” 301–329.
- Read Documenting the Documentary, “Containing Fire: Performance in Paris is Burning.”
- Read Writing about Movies, “Developing Your Thesis”
- Watch Paris is Burning (Jennie Livingston, USA, 1990, 78 min.)
- Watch Stations of the Elevated (Manfred Kirchheimer, USA, 1980, 45 min.)
- Watch The Brooklyn Bridge (Ken Burns, USA, 1981, 58 min.)
- Complete Reading Quiz 11 on Canvas
- Complete Writing about Movies assignment: Composing Thesis and Topic Sentences
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom:
Module 12: Documentary Fiction and Truth
- 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, “Cultural Learnings of Borat for Make Benefit Glorious….”
- Watch The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, USA, 1988, 103 min.)
- Watch Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles, UK and USA, 2006, 84 min.)
- Complete Quiz 12 on Canvas
- Join the Live Discussion Session on Zoom: