Disrupting Documentary: Ecstatic Truth & Elusive Fiction

DISRUPTING DOCUMENTARY

ECSTATIC TRUTH & ELUSIVE FICTION

Shannon Walsh | 2016

OUTLINE 1. The Art of the Real

2. Ecstatic Truth3. Elusive Fiction4. Something is Happening!

Disrupting Documentary

WE CAN NEVER GET CLOSE TO THE TRUTH EXCEPT THROUGH LYING. – Abbas Kirostami

THOUGHT BLOCK

What comes to mind when you think of non-fiction films?

Can documentaries represent truth?

What do you think Kirostami meant?

CLOSE-UPAbbas Kirostami (1990)

Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn & Anonymous (2012)

THE ART OF THE REAL

Direct Cinema | ObservationalFly-on-the-wallRelationship to EthicsCanada / Quebec / US

“Up the Yangtze” Yung Chang

HIGHSCHOOLFredrick Wiseman(1968)

BUMMING IN BEIJINGWu Wenguang (1990)

THE SQUAREDuan Jinchuan, Zhang Yuan (1994)

PETITIONZhao Liang (2009)

CINEMA VERITIÉ

*Self Reflexivity*Fly-in-the-soup (Winston 1995)

Last Train Home, Lixin Fan, 2009

CHRONICLE OF A SUMMERChronique d'un été

Edgar Morin, Jean Rouche, Michel Brault 1961

Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault, 1963

POUR LA SUITE DU MONDE

“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.”

– Edward Morin

BREATHLESSJean-Luc Godard (1960)

“All images become documentary images once their original contexts are stripped away”(Catherine Russell, 1999, 271)

ECSTATIC TRUTH

“Cinema Verité confounds fact and truth, and thus plows only stones.

Fact creates norms, and truth illumination.

There are deeper strata of truth in cinema, and there is such a thing as poetic, ecstatic truth. It is mysterious and elusive, and can be reached only through fabrication and imagination and stylization.”

– WERNER HERTZOG

“ecstatic truth,”

Little Dieter Needs to Fly 1997

LITTLE DIETER NEEDS TO FLYWerner Hertzog (1997)

Reflexive | Choral

STORIES WE TELLSarah Polley (2012)

MY WINNIPEGGuy Maddin (2007)

“They make movies here. I live here”

METAFILM

“If we can appreciate documentaries for their dramatic qualities, perhaps we can appreciate fiction films for their documentary revelations.”

LET ME SEE THE REAL YOU

ELLUSIVEFICTION

AFTERNOONTsai Ming-Liang with Lee Kang-sheng (2015)

LE PETITE SOLDATJean-Luc Godard (1963)

“Photography is truth, and the cinema is truth twenty-four times a second.”

A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCEJohn Cassavetes (1974)

“My films are the truth.” - Cassavetes

SOMETHING IS HAPPENING!

MOMENT OF INNOCENCEMohsen Makhmalbaf (1996)

THOUGHT BLOCK

Do documentaries ‘work’ because we believe them?

When would it matter?

Does Objectivity matter?

Subjectivity

Objectivity

KANEHSATAKEAlanis Obomsawim (1993)

The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris, 1988

CENSORSHIP &SUPPRESSION

“Zhen” (real), “shan” (benevolence), “mei” (beauty) which represents the phases of aesthetics. “Zhen” (real) is the basis. If your art cannot even portray real emotions and real life, how can you possibly reach “mei” (beauty)? – Jia Zhangke

“Feature film and fiction are also bridges to reality.” - Jia Zhangke

I WISH I KNEWJia Zhangke (2010)

TAXIJafar Panahi (2015)

THOUGHT BLOCK

Have your ideas changed about truth & fiction in film?

Do documentaries present the truth?

Would you answer the question differently?

Truth is something unattainable. We can't think we're creating truth with a camera. But what we can do, is reveal something to viewers that allows them to discover their own truth. -Michel Brault