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Documentary Film, Fall 2025

Course Description

History of Documentary Film surveys the major developments from the first factual films of 1895 to the present. The course covers major movements within the film genre, including factual film; ethnography, war, propaganda, documentary, and compilation films; films on art, direct cinema, cinema verité; films from the third world, and films from emerging social movements.

Because it is impossible to survey the entire history of documentary film in a single semester, we will be focusing on two broad themes in pre–World War II era and in the post-World War II era.

  1. In the years leading up to World War II in the 1940s, most documentary films were nationalistic in tone and in scope. Documentary films were often produced by governmental agencies that promoted the nation to its own people and to others around the world. They focused on the “big stories” of the nation. Part of this was due to the expensive nature of producing films. But it was also a function of the sociopolitical environment in the West and beyond. We cover this in modules 1–5.
  2. The nationalistic fervor in the first decades of the twentieth century contributed to World War II and an estimated 70 million deaths. After World War II, filmmaking technology became less expensive to procure and less cumbersome to use. There were also new venues for exhibiting documentary films. And perhaps most importantly, there was a recognition that a progressive, cooperative spirit could realize peace among nations, although the Cold War would challenge that project. Documentary film in this era told many more stories than it ever had before. These films gave voice to communities and peoples who never could speak before. We cover this in modules 6–12.

The midterm exam divides the modules and our coverage of these broad themes.

Instructor

Juan Monroy

Office Hours

Office hours are available in-person on Tuesdays, at East Hall, Room 203, and via Zoom on other most weekdays.

Sign up for an appointment at https://juanmonroy.com/prattofficehours.

After you sign up, I will email you a meeting link for you to join the meeting.

Assignments

Please complete all of the assignments by the date noted on the course schedule

Late Policies

Late submissions are deducted 2% each day that are late, with a lowest possible grade of 50%.

Once the assignment has closed on Canvas, missing assignments receive no points.

Class Meetings

Each week, we will watch documentary films and discuss the major issues relating to that week’s module on the history of documentary film and closely examine how the films we studied represent reality in an innovative way.

Attendance is mandatory and will count towards 10% your final grade.

Assigned Readings

Assigned readings are listed in the course schedule below and available from the following sources:

  1. Grant, Barry Keith and Jeannette Marie Sloniowski. Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings on Documentary Film and Video, new and expanded ed. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2014.

  2. McLane, Betsy. A New History of Documentary Film, 2nd ed. New York and London: Continuum, 2012.

  3. Karen Gocsik, Dave Monahan, and Richard Barsam. Writing About Movies, 5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2019.

Reading Quizzes

Each week, I will post a reading quiz on Canvas. The quiz will consist of true-false and multiple choice questions.

Complete each quiz by the dates noted on Canvas.

  • Ten of twelve quizzes are required
  • Weight: 20%

Screenings

As this is a film class, we will be watching films each week.

  • In-Class Screenings: These films will be screened in class and available on Google Drive for study
  • Outside Screenings: These films are listed below to watch “on your own” using your Pratt One Key credentials to access these screenings.

All films produced prior to 1930 are silent and are identified as such. Any music or other sounds was added years later. The soundtrack you might hear should not be considered part of the original filmmakers’ work.

I also have a Letterboxd list of relevant films for our course, including lists of eligible films for the Documentary Film Research and Analysis Essay assignment.

Writing about Movies Assignments

Using the textbook, Writing About Movies, we will develop your writing skills through a series of exercises throughout the semester, culminating in a film research and analysis essay (detailed below).

  1. Summarize and Evaluate
    1. Narrative Documentary
    2. Experimental Documentary
    3. The Man with a Movie Camera
  2. Shot Analysis
  3. Formal Analysis
  4. Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources
  5. Cultural Analysis
  6. Organizing and Outlining
  7. Composing Thesis and Topic Sentences

Each exercise will be available on Canvas. All exercises are required—except that I will drop your lowest Summarize and Evaluate score—and will be worth 30% of your final grade.

Documentary Film Research and Analysis Essay

A 1,200-word film research and analysis essay that analyzes the formal and cultural elements of a suitable, historically important documentary film that is listed in the Letterboxd list for this assignment. This is the culmination of the Writing about Movies assignments you’ve done throughout the semester. Your research should include the film itself and primary and secondary historical sources.

Exam 1

The first exam, covering our study of documentary film before World War II, will consist of two parts:

  1. Identification of film stills from films screened in class, requiring you to identify and explain the clip in the context of the film.
  2. Short answer questions, requiring you to engage the screenings and readings related to the major movements and trends in documentary film we covered in class.

Details:

  • Available on Canvas
  • Due: see due date on Canvas
  • Weight: 15%

Exam 2

The second exam, covering our study of documentary film from World War II and after, will consist of two parts:

  1. Identification of film stills from films screened in class, requiring you to identify and explain the clip in the context of the film.
  2. Short answer questions, requiring you to engage the screenings and readings related to the major movements and trends in documentary film we covered in class.

Details:

  • Available on Canvas
  • Due: see due date on Canvas
  • Weight: 15%

Course Schedule

Complete each assigned activity—readings, quizzes, and screenings—by the date listed for each module.

Module 0: Introduction, August 26

In this introductory session, we will meet each. I will discuss the format of the course, our approach to studying documentary, and our goals for understanding the history of non-fiction filmmaking.

Module 1: Beginnings, September 2

In this first module, we’ll consider what is a documentary film. The documentary form was one of the earliest uses for film upon its invention: the actuality film. In the 1920s, after narrative-driven fiction filmmaking had eclipsed non-fiction filmmaking, we see how the narrative form could be used for representing a non-fiction subject in Nanook of the North.

Module 2: Experimental Film and Modernity, September 9

In this module, we will examine the work of some artists who pushed filmmaking to move beyond storytelling. They advocated for using film in a way that analyzed the reality through manipulating space and time. These filmmakers looked for unconventional visual patterns and editing styles. Along with the narrative tradition we studied with Nanook of the North, these two filmmaking schools influenced documentary filmmakers in the 1930s and 1940s. We will begin covering those filmmakers next week.

Module 3: Documentary and the Soviet Revolution, September 16

This week we begin exploring the explicit connection between documentary filmmaking and nationalism. After the October Revolution in 1917 and the founding of the Soviet Union, film became an important instrument in advancing the goals of the revolution. Filmmakers experimented with montage—literally the word for editing—to create a new form of communication that was not available to anyone ever before.

Module 4: British Documentary Movement, September 23

This week we look at one of the most influential periods in documentary film history: when John Grierson started putting cameras in the hands of government officials to tell the story of the British (and other) people. Most of the films made in this era are nationalistic, but these also utilize experimentalist techniques that most didactic filmmaking avoids. We’ll see how Soviet Montage is particularly influential in this period, especially with films like Industrial Britain and Night Mail.

Module 5: US Documentary and the New Deal, September 30

In this module, we will see how the Soviet Union of the 1920s influenced both the revolutionary politics and experimental artistic style of documentary filmmakers who made films for the Roosevelt administration, in The Plow that Broke the Plains and causes sympathetic to antifascist champions of civil liberties, in Native Land.

Exam 1, due October 7

This exam is available on Canvas, beginning on December October 1, and covers the material from modules 1–5.

Class Holiday, October 14

Module 6: Wartime Documentary, October 21

In this module, we look at the documentary films made during World War II, particularly in Great Britain and the United States. We would call these propaganda films today, and the fact that these were produced under the organizations responsible for the war, it is not an unfair description.

Module 7: Post-War Documentary and Internationalism, Oct 28

We’re past the halfway point of the class, and with World War II behind us, we can move on to imagine a different world—one where we are more bound together than we are driven apart. Sigh…

Module 8: Cinéma Verité and Direct Cinema, November 4

This week we look at a very influential decade in documentary film. There were a variety of factors that led to documentary filmmaking this decade, including the development of lightweight cameras, faster film stock that was more sensitive to light, and 16mm film became widely available, sound equipment also got smaller and could be synchronized with a camera, thus on-location sound recording was finally practicable, and filmmakers sought to document particular stories, many of them giving voices to the voiceless. The combination led to a revolution in documentary filmmaking. Films that chronicled everyday life, particular events, and the intimate lives of ordinary and famous persons alike.

Module 9: Political Activism and Documentary, November 11

This week, we cover how the innovations we saw in cinema verité and Direct Cinema were later used for political activism: to give voice to the voiceless and to advocate for a change.

Module 10: Compilation and Personal Essay, November 18

This week’s module chronicles the changes to documentary filmmaking once videotape—a much cheaper and more versatile medium than even 16mm film—became widely available. The changes in the technology were concurrent with the rise of social and political movements in the US.

Module 11: New York and Documentary, November 25

In this module, we cover three films that document some aspect of New York City: one about the 1980s voguing scene, another about Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Ken Burns’ The Brooklyn Bridge, which aims to rally New Yorkers during a time of economic hardship.

Module 12: Documentary Fiction and Truth, December 2

In this final module, we look at two examples of documentary film that explore truth in novel ways: The Thin Blue Line freed an innocent man from prison and Borat examined American culture.

Exam 2, due December 9

This exam is available on Canvas, beginning on December 3, and covers the material from modules 6–12.