100 Documentary Films

Documentary films constitute a major part of film history. Cinema's origins lie, arguably, more in non-fiction than fiction, and documentary represents the other - often submerged and barely visible - 'half' of cinema history. Historically, documentary cinema has always been an important point of reference for fiction cinema, and the two have often overlapped. Over the last two decades, documentary cinema has enjoyed a revival in critical and commercial success.

100 Documentary Filmsis the first book to offerconciseand authoritative individual critical commentaries on some of the key documentary films - from the Lumière brothers and the beginnings ofcinema through to recent films such as Bowling for Columbine and When the Levees Broke - and is global in perspective.Many different types of documentaryare discussed, as well as films by major documentary directors,including Robert Flaherty, Humphrey Jennings,Jean Rouch, Dziga Vertov, Errol Morris, Nick Broomfieldand Michael Moore.Each entry provides concise critical analysis, while frequent cross reference to other filmsfeatured helps to place films in their historical and aesthetic contexts.

Barry Keith Grant is Professor of Film Studies and Popular Culture at Brock University, Ontario, Canada.Heis the author ofFilm Genre: From Iconography to Ideology (2007), Voyages of Discovery: The Cinema of Frederick Wiseman (1992) andco-author, with Steve Blandford andJim Hillier, ofThe Film Studies Dictionary(2001).

Jim Hillieris VisitingLecturer in Film at the University of Reading. He is the author of The New Hollywood (1993),the co-author ofThe Film Studies Dictionary (2001) and, with Alan Lovell, of Studies in Documentary (1972).His edited books include American Independent Cinema (2001) and two volumesof the English translation of the selected Cahiers du cinema (1985, 1986).