MIT Film Studies Course: Documenting Culture
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23 titles
- DirectorMarlon FuentesBridget YearianStarsMarlon FuentesJordan PorterNicole AntonioA unique fusion of rare archival images, and carefully orchestrated visual sequences shot in the present, Bontoc Eulogy is an original and innovative investigation of memory and the spectacle of the "Other" in turn-of-the-century America.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorGregory BatesonMargaret MeadStarsMargaret MeadA Bali ritual depicting the struggle of good (dragons) versus evil (witches) with dancers falling into and being revived from trances.
- DirectorRobin AndersonBob ConnollyStarsJoe Leahy
- DirectorRobin AndersonBob ConnollyStarsJoe LeahyJoe Leahy is the half-caste son of one of the first explorers of the Papua New Guinean interior. His relations with the local Ganiga tribe who work his coffee plantation on their land are difficult at times. However he has successfully managed to get them to agree to open a second plantation in partnership with him. Things are looking up until the international coffee market hits rough times and conflict seems imminent between the Ganiga and their neighbouring traditional enemies.
- DirectorEdgar MorinJean RouchStarsAngeloNadine BallotCatherineA documentary about the everyday lives of ordinary Parisians, done in the style of cinéma vérité.
- DirectorJean RouchStarsDamouré ZikaLam Ibrahim DiaIllo GaoudelThe adventures of three young men who leave their homeland Savannah, Niger, and go looking for fortune in Ghana.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Paul BelmondoJean SebergVan DoudeA small-time crook, hunted by the authorities for a car theft and the murder a police officer, attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsJean-Pierre LéaudAlbert RémyClaire MaurierA young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
- DirectorRobert DrewStarsRobert DrewHubert H. HumphreyMuriel Buck HumphreyCinéma vérité feature that follows presidential hopefuls John F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey during the 1960 Wisconsin primary.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanDocumentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside Northeast High School as a fly on the wall to observe the teachers and how they interact with the students.
- DirectorD.A. PennebakerStarsBob DylanAlbert GrossmanBob NeuwirthDocumentary covering Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, which includes appearances by Joan Baez and Donovan.
- DirectorChris BoebelNick PoppyContainment: Life After Three Mile Island examines the legacy of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident through the lens of the nearby community of Middletown, Pennsylvania. The film explores the political, environmental, and psychological effects of the accident on area residents.
- DirectorMira NairIndia Cabaret (1985) is a documentary by Mira Nair exploring the "respectable" and "immoral" stereotypes of women in Indian society told from the point of view of 2 strip-tease dancers in a cabaret house in Bombay. There are no voice-overs by either the cabaret dancers nor the men who were interviewed who frequented the cabaret club. Nair explores the marginalized quite often in her films, male and female. This time it is the marginalized women in Bombay who have been cast out because of the 'nature' of their jobs. The women themselves are not ashamed of what they do for a living; what they prize more is the fact that they do not have to be at the mercy of the men in their lives [husbands, brothers, fathers or lovers] as their female peers. They earn their own living, 'decently' ; they are free to come and go as they please and do not have to follow the rules imposed by men or worse society. One of the dancers is offered the opportunity to end her stint at the club and 'clean up' her act; she's offered the 'love' by a man, who promises to take her away, but she refuses. She is content to having her independence and earning her keep. The film also portrays the parallelism of the men who go to see these 'dirty' women dance for their pleasure; the men who pretend o be happily married and decent upright citizens, and who, when interviewed have no qualms about telling the camera how worthless these type of women are. The film explores "the double standards of an essentially patriarchal society."
- DirectorJennie LivingstonStarsBrooke XtravaganzaAndré ChristianDorian CoreyA chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsDave HooverGeorge MendonçaRodney BrooksAn exploration of the careers of four unrelated professionals: a lion tamer, a robotics expert, a topiary gardener, and a naked mole rat specialist.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorDaniel B. GoldJudith HelfandStarsWilliam BaggettCharlie CrayDaniel B. GoldThe hazards of bio-accumulation, pollution, and the makeup of what we commonly hope are benign plastics are tackled in this documentary.
- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsPatrice LumumbaDocumentary about African political leader Patrice Lumumba, who was Prime Minister of Zaire (now Congo) when he was assassinated in 1961.
- DirectorJudith HelfandStarsJudith HelfandHealing at her parents' home after a radical hysterectomy from a cervical cancer related to a drug DES she was exposed to when her mother was given it to prevent a miscarriage, Helfand uses her camera as a diary to document complex issues of science,and corporate greed,and in the process awakens as a political activist.
- DirectorOrson WellesGary GraverOja KodarStarsOrson WellesOja KodarFrançois ReichenbachA documentary about fraud and fakery.