The Philosophy of Documentary Film

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The spirit that founded the volume and guided its development is radically inter- and transdisciplinary. Dispatches have arrived from anthropology, communications, English, film studies (including theory, history, criticism), literary studies (including theory, history, criticism), media and screen studies, cognitive cultural studies, narratology, philosophy, poetics, politics, and political theory; and as a special aspect of the volume, theorist-filmmakers make their thoughts known as well. Consequently, the critical reflections gathered here are decidedly pluralistic and heterogeneous, invitingnot bracketing or partitioningthe dynamism and diversity of the arts, humanities, social sciences, and even natural sciences (in so far as we are biological beings who are trying to track our cognitive and perceptual understanding of a nonbiological thingnamely, film, whether celluloid-based or in digital form); these disciplines, so habitually cordoned off from one another, are brought together into a shared conversation about a common object and domain of investigation. This book will be of interest to theorists and practitioners of nonfiction film; to emerging and established scholars contributing to the secondary literature; and to those who are intrigued by the kinds of questions and claims that seem native to nonfiction film, and who may wish to explore some critical responses to them written in engaging language.

Reviews

The Philosophy of Documentary Film undoubtedly bears witness to the complexity and the density of its subject matter. The texts included in the volume cover a wide range of topics and approaches, and they raise multiple philosophical questions inherent to documentary films. * Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image *
This anthology is a gem! Bringing together documentary filmmakers, philosophers, and film theorists, this volume will be an important resource for all those interested in this important genre of filmmaking, be they students, professors, scholars, or just serious film viewers. Get it for yourself and see! -- Thomas E. Wartenberg, Mount Holyoke College
With the pervasive and facile use of digital manipulation of images in public and private communications, few questions are more important than the question raised by this richly rewarding bookWhat is real and what is fake In 1960 my executive producer at NBC warned us to be careful of what we put on the screen because he said people will believe it. David LaRocca in his fulsome and well-articulated introduction reminds us that a critical mind has never been more essential to acquire a fuller, truer, experience of reality. As a successful documentarian for over 60 years, I know of no other book that is more useful in the pursuit of that goal. -- Bill Jersey, winner of two Peabodys, Emmys, and Oscar nominations
This is the collection of essays on documentary film that I have been waiting for. It brings together many of the best classic pieces on documentary theory and practice, and a trilling assortment of new essays by philosophers, filmscholars devoted to aesthetic issues and close reading, and documentary filmmakers who teach. The writing throughout is of the highest order, and the promise of genuine (as opposed to tinker toy) philosophical inquiry is amply kept. David LaRocca has done an exemplary job of editing, and his lengthy overview essay which serves as the volume's Introduction is incisive and indispensable. -- George Toles, University of Manitoba
As far as documentary film and philosophy are concerned, David LaRocca has summoned a cloud of reliable witnesses and all the usual suspects, or so it seems. Once readers enter the critical conversations that these estimable writers provoke and sustain, the criteria for reliability and suspicion themselves become productively volatile, and that volatility will lead readers to surprising insights and reflections. From considerations of Plato to Cavell and well beyond, thesememorableessays fruitfully explore both truth and make believe in documentary film, as well as the manifold challenges of discerning the elusive differences between them. -- Lawrence Rhu, University of South Carolina
Timely. Vital. Engaging. An essential companion to any thinking about documentary cinema. LaRocca is especially attuned not just to the voices at the heart of theoretical debates but, to my liking, also to those who push out into the practice and craft of documentary filmmaking. -- Paul Cronin, School of Visual Arts
At the center of many of these observations and discussionsnow receiving new and expert engagements in The Philosophy of Documentary Filmhas been the taunting power of cinematic reality, nowhere more concentrated than in the quintessential art of the real, the provocative revelator of truth, documentary cinema. . . . These works in hand are contemporary perspectives on, for me, the most vibrant practice in contemporary cinema. They call us to think carefully and seriously not only about the truth claims and strategies of specific documentary films but also about why documentaries are so central to our age. -- Timothy Corrigan, University of Pennsylvania
An impressive selection, including some of the most interesting voices in documentary thought. -- Jonathan Kahana, University of California, Santa Cruz
A marvelous collection that promises to inform the teaching of nonfiction film for years to come. -- J.P. Sniadecki, Northwestern University, director of Chaiqian/Demolition, Foreign Parts, and The Iron Ministry and co-director of El Mar La Mar
The Philosophy of Documentary Film is a welcomed addition to the scholarly study of a mischievous praxisone that continues to expand, contract, merge, and mangle in its attempts to explore versions of real life on film. Periodic, thoughtful reflection on this rogue form is necessary, and this book provides it. The leading lights of nonfiction film scholarship are well represented, and especially pleasing to me, as a documentary filmmaker, is the fact that documentarians have also been enlisted to write about our craft. Furthermore, just for good measure, The Dogma 95 Manifesto is included as both a beacon and dangerous shoal to filmmakers exploring the choppy waters around the fiction/nonfiction whirlpool. Great idea! -- Ross McElwee, Director, Shermans March, Bright Leaves, Professor of the Practice of Filmmaking, Harvard University

Author Bio

David LaRocca is visiting assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at the State University of New York College at Cortland.