Suzanne originally posted this on CINEMA-L, but I think she might have meant it as a response to a question Chris posted here on SCREEN-L. Or maybe I'm suffering from list-omania (not to be confused with Ken Russell's LISZTOMANIA). Sorry about any duplication this causes. ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I am currently taking a documentary film class, so heres a few suggestions from our syllabus: Readings: Jack Ellis: _The_Documentary_Idea_ (a good small text with overall background info on documentary film making and theory) Names to look for articles on documentary film theory: Dziga Vertov Nichols (dont remember his first name, sorry!) Trinh T. Minh-ha (a doc.filmmaker who has done published interviews on her unique theory) *I meant to bring my reader to give you specifics on articles written by these people. If you, or anyone, would like a listing of what my professor included specifically please just let me know. Films: Nanook of the North - Robert Flaherty Las Hurdas (Land Without Bread) - Luis Bunuel (for a surrealist view of doc.) The Man With a Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov Kenya Boran - David MacDougall & James Blue Takeover - Judith & David MacDougall Reassemblage - Trinh T. Minh-ha Daughter Rite - Michelle Citron Vernon, FL - Earl Morris *I highly recommend, available in video stores-funny. Harlan County, USA I realize this listing may not mean anything more than a bunch of names, so if anyone wants me to go into one or another in detail let me know. The class is organized into different aspects of documentary - how they communicate - narrative documentaries (Nanook) - dada and surrealism (Las Hurdas) - montage (Vertov) - ethnography (Kenya Boran/Takeover/Reassemblage) - home movies (Daughter Rite) - oppression, crime, social decay (Vernon, FL/Harlan County) - war documentaries (War at Home - done on WUniversity/Madison film department) - propaganda (Are We Winning the War Mommy?/ Atomic Cafe) Hope that helps some, lemme know if specifics are needed. suzanne [log in to unmask]