Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind reality. It is sometimes called observational cinema, if understood as pure direct cinema: mainly without a narrator's voice-over. There are subtle, yet important, differences between terms expressing similar concepts. Direct cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence: operating within what Bill Nichols, an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the "observational mode", a fly on the wall. Many therefore see a paradox in drawing attention away from the presence of the camera and simultaneously interfering in the reality it registers when attempting to discover a cinematic truth.
Robert Frank was a Swiss American photographer and documentary filmmaker. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled The Americans, earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and nuanced outsider's view of American society. Critic Sean O'Hagan, writing in The Guardian in 2014, said The Americans "changed the nature of photography, what it could say and how it could say it. [ ... ] it remains perhaps the most influential photography book of the 20th century." Frank later expanded into film and video and experimented with manipulating photographs and photomontage.
Ronald Mann, credited professionally as Ron Mann, is a Canadian documentary film director.
Ebrahim Taghavi Shirazi, known as Ebrahim Golestan, was an Iranian filmmaker and literary figure. Golestan was closely associated with Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad, whom he met in his studio in 1958, until her death. He was said to have inspired her to live more independently. It could also be said that she inspired him in his artistic vision. He lived in Sussex, United Kingdom from 1975 until his death.
Paulus Henrique Benedictus Cox, known as Paul Cox, was a Dutch-Australian filmmaker who has been recognised as "Australia's most prolific film auteur".
Ondi Doane Timoner is an American filmmaker and the founder and chief executive officer of Interloper Films, a production company located in Pasadena, California.
Otar Iosseliani was a Georgian film director, known for movies such as Falling Leaves, Pastorale and Favourites of the Moon. Iosseliani received a lifetime achievement honor – the CineMerit Award at the Munich International Film Festival in 2011 for his career accomplishments.
Donigan Cumming is an American-born Canadian multimedia artist who uses photography, video, drawing, sound, and text in experimental documentary films, collages, installations, and books based in Montreal, Quebec. Since 1983, Cumming's work has contributed to Canadian and international festivals and exhibitions dealing with themes of the body, truth/fiction, taboos of representation, and social engagement.
Laemmle Theatres is a group of family-run arthouse movie theaters in the Los Angeles area. It was established in 1938 and is owned and operated by Robert Laemmle and his son Greg Laemmle.
James Crump is an American film director, writer, producer, art historian and curator. His films include Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe; Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art; and Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco.
Dawoud Bey is an American photographer, artist and educator known for his large-scale art photography and street photography portraits, including American adolescents in relation to their community, and other often marginalized subjects. In 2017, Bey was named a fellow and the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and is regarded as one of the "most innovative and influential photographers of his generation".
Mark Cousins is an English-born, Northern Irish director and writer. A prolific documentarian, among his works is the 15-hour 2011 documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey.
Collage film is a style of film created by juxtaposing found footage from disparate sources. The term has also been applied to the physical collaging of materials onto film stock.
Cinema of Sudan refers to both the history and present of the making or screening of films in cinemas or film festivals, as well as to the persons involved in this form of audiovisual culture of the Sudan and its history from the late nineteenth century onwards. It began with cinematography during the British colonial presence in 1897 and developed along with advances in film technology during the twentieth century.
Rosine Mbakam is a Cameroonian film director based in Belgium. She has directed many short films and full-length documentaries. Les deux visages d'une femme Bamiléké/The Two Faces of a Bamiléké Woman (2016) and Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) won a number of international prizes. Les prières de Delphine/Delphine’s Prayers (2021) gained international attention, including reviews in The New York Times, The New Yorker, LA Times, Variety, and NPR. With Mambar Pierrette, Mbakam made her feature film debut in 2023.
Jay Rosenblatt is an American experimental documentary filmmaker known for his work in the field of collage film since 1980.
Gerald Fox is a director, producer and artist. He has directed numerous arts documentary films and programs which were broadcast in the UK, South Africa and the US. His moving image artworks have been showcased in solo and group exhibitions across a variety of galleries and museums, including Zabludowicz 176 Gallery.
Juke: Passages from the Films of Spencer Williams is a 2015 documentary film by film essayist Thom Andersen featuring selected excerpts from the films of African American director Spencer Williams Jr.
