The life of Joris Ivens (1898-1989) coincides roughly with the history of the film. His own place of prominence in that history was earned by his pioneering work in the documentary film, which combined a striking aesthetic with intense personal and political involvement. This book places his life and work in the context of twentieth-century history and the development of the documentary film. Articles by film scholars, historians, former co-workers, and by Joris Ivens himself present a complex portrait of this outstanding filmmaker, illuminating the social, political, and aesthetic facets of his life and work, as well as of the documentary film in general.

The Conscience of Cinema is not only a history of a rich and varied personal oeuvre by a prolific documentary maker who worked on every continent and through seven decades, from the 1920s to the 1980s: it is also the history of the aspiration to use documentary film to change the world by a committed leftist, as well as a microcosmic history of documentary form, technology and culture, and its place within world cinema as a whole throughout the twentieth century. Ivens worked in almost every genre of documentary, including the essay, compilation, hybrid dramatization, direct cinema, social observation, the solidarity film, socialist realism, and agitprop activism. In this book, detailed filmic analysis is enriched by a profound historical understanding of the contexts in which Ivens carried out his vision, from his native Netherlands to the Soviet bloc, USA, France, Latin America, Vietnam, and finally China. Everywhere, Joris Ivens left an indelible artistic and political mark, critically relevant to a 21st century in which documentary has reclaimed its cultural and political centrality.

This volume offers a new and expanded history of the documentary form across a range of times and contexts, featuring original essays by leading historians in the field In a contemporary media culture suffused with competing truth claims, documentary media have become one of the most significant means through which we think in depth about the past. The most rigorous collection of essays on nonfiction film and media history and historiography currently available, A Companion to Documentary Film History offers an in-depth, global examination of central historical issues and approaches in documentary, and of documentary's engagement with historical and contemporary topics, debates, and themes. The Companion's twenty original essays by prominent nonfiction film and media historians challenge prevalent conceptions of what documentary is and was, and explore its growth, development, and function over time. The authors provide fresh insights on the mode's reception, geographies, authorship, multimedia contexts, and movements, and address documentary's many aesthetic, industrial, historiographical, and social dimensions. This authoritative volume: Offers both historical specificity and conceptual flexibility in approaching nonfiction and documentary media Explores documentary's multiple, complex geographic and geopolitical frameworks Covers a diversity of national and historical contexts, including Revolution-era Soviet Union, post-World War Two Canada and Europe, and contemporary China Establishes new connections and interpretive contexts for key individual films and film movements, using new primary sources Interrogates established assumptions about documentary authorship, audiences, and documentary's historical connection to other media practices. A Companion to Documentary Film History is an ideal text for undergraduate and graduate courses covering documentary or nonfiction film and media, an excellent supplement for courses on national or regional media histories, and an important new resource for all film and media studies scholars, particularly those in nonfiction media.

The work, entitled "The Poetic Documentary: From Joris Ivens to Nonny de la Peña", documented the poetic documentary from the first public film projection made on December 28th, 1895, fighting the dominance of the consumption area fueled by the desire to mature, the maturity of the genre itself, as well as the future trends towards which this kind of documentary film directs itself, as well as the appearance of new technologies such as virtual reality or the concept of cloud filmmaking. The research focuses on the diegetic world of the documentary film, both from the historically point of view and from specialized criticisms, in order to highlight the current theoretical knowledge and a few research perspectives, for the future, in order to test the applicability of the aesthetic elements (as an universal aspect) in the construction of the poetic documentary.

Highly prized biography of one of the Netherlands' most famous and controversial filmmakers.

The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film is a fully international reference work on the history of the documentary film from the Lumière brothers' Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1885) to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 (2004). Previously published in three volumes, entries have been edited and updated for the new, concise edition and three new entries have been added on: India, China and Africa. The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film: Discusses individual films and filmmakers including little-known filmmakers from countries such as India, Bosnia, China and others Examines the documentary filmmaking traditions within nations and regions, or within historical periods in places such as Iran, Brazil, Portugal, and Japan Explores themes, issues, and representations in documentary film including human rights, modernism, homosexuality, and World War I, as well as types of documentary film such as newsreels and educational films Elaborates on production companies, organizations, festivals, and institutions such as the American Film Institute, Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board, Hot Docs (Toronto), and the World Union of Documentary Describes styles, techniques, and technical issues such as animation, computer imaging, editing techniques, IMAX, music, and spoken commentary Bringing together all aspects of documentary film, this accessible concise edition provides an invaluable resource for both scholars and students. With film stills from key films, this resource provides the decisive entry point into the history of an art form.