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:''This article is about filmmaking. Cinéma Vérité is also an album by Dramarama. For the production company, see Cinema Verity.''
'''Cinéma vérité''' is a style of filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques that originated in documentary filmmaking, with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics. The name is French and means, roughly, "cinema of truth".
As Bill Nichols points out, the reality effect of a new mode of documentary representation tends to fade away when "the conventional nature of this mode of representation becomes increasingly apparent". In other words, new modes initially appear to be true, unvarnished "reality" on the screen, but as time goes by that mode's conventions become more and more obvious. Such is certainly the case with cinéma vérité whose conventions can now appear quite mannered and open for critique.

Contents

History

Filmmakers associated with cinéma vérité, free cinema or Direct Cinema

Select cinéma vérité films

Short films

Select cinéma vérité-style television shows

Quotes

See also

External links

History

The term originates in the translation of Dziga Vertov's ''Kino-Pravda'' (Russian for "cinema of truth"), a documentary series of the 1920s. While Vertov's announced intention in coining the word was to use film as a means of getting at "hidden" truth, largely through juxtapositions of images, the French term refers more to a technique influenced by Vertov than to his specific intentions.
The movement was fueled as much by technological as artistic developments. During World War II, cameras had become small enough to be portable and unobtrusive. Also important was that cameras were now quiet so that natural sound could be recorded at the same time as filming. But even more important was the development of portable sound recording devices especially the NAGRA.
The movement began in earnest in France and Quebec (particularly at the National Film Board of Canada) in the 1950s and flourished in the 1960s. The aesthetic of cinéma vérité was essentially the same as that of the mid-1950s "free cinema" in the UK and "Direct Cinema" in the US. Some filmmakers in France and Québec found the term cinema vérité to be pretentious, and called it "cinéma direct" instead.
There are however subtle yet important differences between these movements. Direct Cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence. This is essentially what is now called a "fly on the wall" documentary. Many therefore see a paradox created by drawing attention away from the reality of the camera and simultaneously declaring the discovery of a cinematic truth. Others argue that the obvious presence of the filmmaker and camera was seen by most cinema vérité filmmakers as the best way to reveal the truth in cinema. The filmmaker was then seen by these filmmakers as catalyst of a situation.
This is the case for filmmakers like Pierre Perrault who sets situations up, and who then films that, for example in ''Pour la suite du Monde'' (also known as ''The Moontrap'') where he asked old people to fish whale. The result is not a documentary about whale fishing, it is about memory and lineage. In this sense Cinéma Vérité is also concerned with anthropological cinema, and with the social and political implications of what was captured on film. How a filmmaker shoots a film, what is being filmed, what to do with what was filmed, and how that film will be presented to an audience, all were very important for filmmakers of the time.( On "lens ethic" see for example Michel Brault below)
In all cases, the ethical and aesthetic analysis of documentary form of the 1950s and '60s has to be linked with a critical look at post war propaganda analysis. The best way to describe this type of cinema is probably to say that it is concerned with notions of truth, and reality, in film. To say that it is an interrogative and highly ethical minded film form, looking mainly at the social, anthropological and political aspects of reality.
As Edgar Morin wrote in an introduction to an event held on cinéma vérité at Pompidou: "There are two ways to conceive of the cinema of the Real: the first is to pretend that you can present reality to be seen; the second is to pose the problem of reality. In the same way, there were two ways to conceive ''cinéma vérité''. The first was to pretend that you brought truth. The second was to pose the problem of truth." ^[1]
Feminist documentary films of the 1970s often used cinéma-vérité techniques but very soon this sort of 'realism' was criticized for its deceptive pseudo-natural construction of reality. In 1979 Michelle Citron released ''Daughter Rite'', a feminist pseudo-documentary which deconstructs the conventions of cinéma vérité.
In principle, the film movement Dogme 95 features similar tenets, but in practice most Dogme 95 films show far more indications of the scripting and direction than is typical for cinéma vérité.

Filmmakers associated with cinéma vérité, free cinema or Direct Cinema

★ Jon Alpert

★ John Cassavetes^[2]

★ Richard Leacock^[3]

★ Michel Brault and Gilles Groulx (''Les Raquetteurs'', 1958)

★ Robert Drew

★ Barbara KopplePlot description of ''Cinema Verite: Defining The Moment'', , accessed online on the ''New York Times'' website 23 October 2006.

★ D.A. Pennebaker

★ The Maysles Brothers (Albert and David Maysles)

★ Jean Rouch

★ Ellen Spiro


★ Frederick Wiseman^[4]

★ Joel DeMott and Jeff Kreines[1][2]

★ Alfonso Cuarón

★ Kartemquin Films

★ Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Creative Thinking International)

★ Bela Tarr

Select cinéma vérité films

The techniques (if not always the spirit) of ''cinéma vérite'' can also be seen in fiction films such as ''The Blair Witch Project'' and ''Fucking Åmål'', as well as mockumentaries such as ''A Hard Day's Night'', ''David Holzman's Diary'' and ''This Is Spinal Tap''.

★ ''À Hauteur d'homme'' (2003)

★ ''After Life'' (1999)

★ ''Bad Boys'' (1961)

★ ''C'était un rendez-vous'' (1976)

★ ''Chronique d'un été'' (1961)

★ ''Cocksucker Blues'' (1972)

★ '' (1963)

★ ''Distance'' (2001)

★ ''Dont Look Back'' (1967)

★ ''High School'' (1969)

★ ''Hoop Dreams'' (1994)

★ ''Hospital'' (1970)

★ ''Lonely Boy'' (1962)

★ ''Moi Un Noir'' (1958)

★ ''Mysterious Object At Noon'' (2000)

★ ''Near Death'' (1989)

★ ''Primary'' (1960)

★ ''Les Raquetteurs'' (1958) (French article)

★ ''Salesman'' (1969)

★ ''Seventeen'' (1983)

★ ''West 47th Street'' (2003)

Short films

★ ''A Day in the Death of Donny B'' (1969)

Select cinéma vérité-style television shows

The techniques of cinéma vérité may be observed in fiction programs such as ''The Office'', ''NYPD Blue'', ''Hill Street Blues'', ''The Thick Of It'' and ''Trailer Park Boys. Documentary series are less common, but include:

★ ''COPS''

★ ''The Real World''

Quotes

See also

★ Dogme

External links

★

★ ''Cinéma vérité'' - the documentary