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Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment

Crisis, Lonely Boy, Chronicle of a Summer. You may not know these films, but you see their influences every day--in everything from TV news to music videos to Webcams. The cinéma vérité (or direct cinema) movement of the '50s and '60s was driven by a group of rebel filmmakers tired of stilted documentaries. They wanted to show life as it really is: raw, gritty, dramatic. Rich in excerpts from vérité classics, Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment is the first film to capture all the excitement of a revolution that changed movie-making forever. Director Peter Wintonick's Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and …
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Crisis, Lonely Boy, Chronicle of a Summer. You may not know these films, but you see their influences every day--in everything from TV news to music videos to Webcams. The cinéma vérité (or direct cinema) movement of the '50s and '60s was driven by a group of rebel filmmakers tired of stilted documentaries. They wanted to show life as it really is: raw, gritty, dramatic. Rich in excerpts from vérité classics, Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment is the first film to capture all the excitement of a revolution that changed movie-making forever. Director Peter Wintonick's Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media is one of the bestselling documentaries of all time; co-producer Éric Michel won the Cannes Palme d'or for 50 ans, by director Gilles Carle, and co-producer Adam Symansky won an Oscar for Flamenco at 5:15.

 This work deals with mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised.
Film and Video Arts History All subjects
Arts All channels
  • director
    Peter Wintonick
  • producer
    Adam Symansky
    Éric Michel
  • executive producer
    Sally Bochner
  • associate producer
    Kirwan Cox
  • script
    Kirwan Cox
  • camera
    Francis Miquet
  • sound
    Peter Wintonick
  • editing
    Marlo Miazga
    Peter Wintonick
  • sound editing
    Don Ayer
  • music recording
    Geoffrey Mitchell
  • music editing
    Jason Campbell
  • voice recording
    Patrick Viegas
  • re-recording
    Serge Boivin
  • online editing
    Denis Pilon
    Sylvain Desbiens
  • music
    Jimmy James
  • archival rights
    Elizabeth Klinck
  • music clearances
    Elizabeth Klinck
  • participation
    Jean-Pierre Beauviala
    Michel Brault
    Gillian Caldwell
    Robin Cowie
    Robert Drew
    Jennifer Fox
    William Greaves
    Gregg Hale
    Wolf Koenig
    Roman Kroitor
    Barbara Kopple
    Richard Leacock
    Douglas Leiterman
    Terence Macartney-Filgate
    Donn A. Pennebaker
    Pierre Perrault
    Karel Reisz
    Jean Rouch
    Hope Ryden
    Floria Sigismondi
    Frederick Wiseman
    Albert Maysles

Education

Ages 12 to 17

Notes

Introduce your students to the birth and development of cinéma vérité. How did it differ from traditional documentary filmmaking? Who was behind it and how did they contribute to the movement? What role did the NFB play? How has cinéma vérité evolved over time and space? Is it used more diversely nowadays? This is a great opportunity to explore one important piece of our cultural heritage in the classroom.

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Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment
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