230639 Documentary (S) (SoSe 2026)

U.S. Realities, Documented

Pioneering English documentary filmmaker John Grierson famously called the documentary “the creative treatment of actuality,” a phrase that continues to resonate with the genre’s paradoxical premise: on the one hand, its claim to realism and authenticity, on the other, the inevitability of arrangement, curation and even manipulation on part of the filmmaker when using their source material in order to make meaning and craft a story. Keeping this in mind, and equipped with theoretical readings, we will look at a number of critically acclaimed documentaries, some of them classics, some more recent productions, all of which have engaged with life in the U.S. We will ponder their propensity to enrich our understanding of U.S. everyday life, culture(s), history and politics – and the ways they have challenged us into new ways of seeing.

Literaturangaben

To be announced. Please keep an eye out for updates.