IMAGINING REALITY

The Faber Book

of Documentary

Kevin Macdonald and Mark Cousins

ff faber and faber

LONDON • BOSTON

Contents

LIST Ol ' I L L U S T R A T I O N S , IX

I N T R O D U C T I O N XI

PART I

i The Kingdom of Shadows Introduction 3 The Kingdom of Shadows by Maxim Gorky 6 George Melies and the Illusion of Reality 10 1896: Censorship of News Footage in Imperial Russia by

Francis Doublier 11 Boleslaw Matuszewski and the Documentary Idea 13 Taking the Camera to War by Albert E. Smith 14

2 Going to Extremes Introduction 17 A Woman at War by Jessica Borthwicke 19 In the Land of the Head Hunters by Edward S. Curtis 21 Pancho Villa Fights for the Camera by Terry Ramsaye 22 The Worst Location in the World: Herbert G. Ponting in the

Antarctic by Dennis Lynch 25 Genuine War Films by W Stephen Bush and Captain F. E.

Kleinschmidt 27 Filming Death by Bela Baläzs 29 Lowell Thomas and 'Lawrence of Arabia' by Kevin Brownlow 32 Robert Flaherty Talking 36 Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life by Merian С Cooper 43

3 Kino Eyes and Agit Trains Introduction . 48 Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Camera 50 Esther Shub and the Art of Compilation by Jay Leyda 56

Agit Trains and Mobile Laboratories by Roman Karmen 61 A Kinok Speaks: Mikhail Kaufman in Interview 65

4 Documentary and the Avant-Garde Introduction 70 Haxan/Witchcraft through the Ages by Tom Milne 71 Ruttman's Berlin 73 The Failings of Berlin by Siegfried Kracauer 75 Making Rain by Joris Ivens 76 Jean Painlcvc by Raymond Durgnat 80 A Propos de Nice by Boris Kaufman 81 Luis Bunuel Discusses I .as Hurdes 85

PART 2

5 The British Movement Introduction 93 Gricrson's Background and the Origins of his Ideas 95 Hirst Principles of Documentary by John Grierson 97 Song of Ceylon: An Interview with Basil Wright by Gecile Starr 102 BBC: The Voice of Britain by Graham Greene 1 1 1 The Role of Alberto Cavalcanti by Elizabeth Sussex т Т2 Night Mail by Dai Vaughan г i8 Tackling Social Problems 122

6 Battling for Minds Introduction 126 News Films by Bela Balazs 127 Leni Riefenstahl, Art and Propaganda by Manohla Dargis 1 29 The Spanish Earth by Joris Ivens 1 34 The Wandering Jew by Erwin Leiser 141 John Huston at War by Scott Hammen 146 Only Connect: Some Aspects of the Work of I lumphrey

Jennings by Lindsay Anderson 1 5 1

INTERLUDE 7 Aspects of Asia

Introduction 163 Moments of Creation by Arun Khopar 164 Worlds of Command by Tom Waugh 169

On the Rebound: Hoop Dreams and its Discontents by Paul Arthur and Janet Cutler 303

и Diversity Introduction 31T The Unique Role of Documentaries by Krzysztof Kieslowski 312 Shoah: Witness to Annihilation by J. Hobcrman 316 The Being of Nothingness: An Interview with

Claude I.anzmann 322 Appearance and Reality: Cabriele Annan on Maximilian

Schell's Marlene 325 The Thin Blue Line by Terrence Rafferty 332 When Documentary is not Documentary by Lizzie Francke 338 Nick Broomficld: The Fly in the Ointment by Allison Pearson 343 Hearts of Darkness: A Film-maker's Apocalypse by

Roger F.bert 350 The Rise of Camcorder Culture by Paul Barker 352 Drawing it Out by Michael Eaton 357

12 The Burning Question Nick Broomfield 364 Molly Dincen 365 Nicholas Fräser 366 Clive Gordon 370 Mike Crigsby 370 Michael Jackson 372 Claude Lanzmann 373 Richard Leacock 377 Kim Longinotto 379 Philippa Lowthorpe 379 Chris Marker 381 Albert Maysles 381 Peter Moore 383 Marcel Ophiils 385 Pawel Pawlikowski 389 D. A. Pennebakcr and Chris Hegcdus 392

APPENDIX: A Response to Pauline Kael 393 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 9 6

INDEX 3 9 8