Contemporary Documentary

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.

Contemporary Documentary offers a rich survey of the rapidly expanding landscape of documentary film, television, video, and new media. The collection of original essays addresses the emerging forms, popular genres, and innovative approaches of the digital era.

The anthology highlights geographically and thematically diverse examples of documentaries that have expanded the scope and impact of non-fiction cinema and captured the attention of global audiences over the past three decades. It also explores the experience of documentary today, with its changing dynamics of production, collaboration, distribution, and exhibition, and its renewed political and cultural relevance.

The twelve chapters - featuring engaging case studies and written from a wide range of perspectives including film theory, social theory, ethics, new media, and experience design - invite students to think critically about documentary as a vibrant field, unrestricted in its imagination and quick in its response to new forms of filmmaking.

Offering a methodical exploration of the expansive reach of documentary as a creative force in the media and society of the twenty-first century, Contemporary Documentary is an ideal collection for students of film, media, and communication who are studying documentary film.