Description:
Contemporary Documentary includes chapters on some of the best known mainstream documentary producers and directors of the twenty first century. It also includes chapters on recent innovations and different ways of studying the genre, including a chapter on crowdsourced films consisting of interviews with producers, a chapter on video activism concentrating on questions of distribution and exhibition, and a chapter on web-based documentaries. The editors situate this contemporary work within the history of documentary, and within industrial, political, and technological contexts. Each chapter will also include a reading list for further study and images to illustrate the films discussed.
Review Quotes:
"The expanded, inter-generic spaces of 'documentary' encompass a diverse aesthetics and new modes of viewing and involvement. The contributors here connect with international innovation and future possibilities from a firm base in established scholarship, continuing the renewal of critical thinking that is now required."
John Corner, Professor in Communication Studies, University of Leeds, UK
"A lively blend of emerging scholars and the usual suspects, Contemporary Documentary takes on the long and growing list of sub-genres that will either expand or explode what we have so comfortably referred to as 'documentary'. The best of its arguments add new depth to cinema's adventures with reality."Seth Feldman, Professor of Film and Television Studies, York University, Canada
"Bottom line: this should be required reading for those interested in documentary film in all its manifestations. Summing Up: Essential. All readers."
L. M. Anderst, Queensborough Community College - CUNY in CHOICE