About the Book
This fascinating book from veteran film journalist Ian Haydn Smith, with a foreword from award-winning director Asif Kapadia, explores 100 of the most compelling documentaries, each with the power to radically change our perceptions and challenge the way we see the world.
Every so often a documentary comes along with the power to change the way you think, to share alternative perspectives, to make you furious about injustice or warm your heart.
Contained in this book are documentaries that fulfil these criteria and astound viewers around the world; real-life stories to stop you in your tracks, bring tears to your eyes and put your heart in your mouth.
From Barbara Kopple's Oscar-winning gritty depiction of working class America in Harlan County, USA to James Marsh's breathtaking Man on Wire, from powerful sporting tales such as Touching the Void to stories of true crimes and their repercussions such as Making a Murderer, this book delves deep into how these films were made, what makes them great, and also what other films you might like if you loved these ones.
From Oscar winners to unseen gems from the Netflix vaults, international filmmakers to true crime, sport and culture stories, every documentary featured will make you think,make you feel and make you tell people, “You NEED to see this film.”
Veteran film journalist Ian Haydn Smith writes with passion and knowledge about these masterpieces, and illustrations bring these films off the page. A foreword from BAFTA and Grammy-winning director Asif Kapadia helps situate this book as one of the invaluable works on cinema today.
Table of Contents:
Foreword
Introduction
PEOPLE & PLACES
Man with a Movie Camera, Araya, Chronicle of a Summer, The Up Series, Tokyo Olympiad, Portrait of Jason, Titicut Follies, Salesman, An American Family, Grey, Gardens, News from Home, Sherman’s March, Paris is Burning, SPOTLIGHT ON: City Symphonies, The Belovs, To Be and To Have, Touching the Void, Murderball, Dreams of a Life, Stories We Tell, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Dick Johnson is Dead, A Secret Love
POLITICS & SOCIETY
Primary, Minamata: The Victims and Their World, El Sopar, Harlan County, USA, A Grin Without a Cat, Roger & Me, SPOTLIGHT ON: Propaganda, Hoop Dreams, When We Were Kings, West of the Tracks, Nostalgia for the Light, The Queen of Versailles, How to Survive a Plague, Citizenfour, 13th, Fire at Sea, I Am Not Your Negro, Maiden, Infinite Football, Crip Camp
ART & CULTURE
Don’t Look Back, F for Fake, Amazing Grace, A Bigger Splash, Burden of Dreams, The Quince Tree Sun, Geri, The Gleaners and I, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, SPOTLIGHT ON: The Concert Film, Rize, Man on Wire, The Beaches of Agnès, The September Issue
Exit Through the Gift Shop, Pina, Amy, Further Beyond, Dawson City: Frozen Time, The Beatles: Get Back
HISTORY & CONFLICT
The War Game, The Sorrow and the Pity, The World at War, The Battle of Chile, Hearts and Minds, Shoah, The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On, Lessons of Darkness, The Power of Nightmares, SPOTLIGHT ON: The War on Terror, Waltz with Bashir, Five Broken Cameras, The Act of Killing, State Funeral, For Sama, Exterminate All the Brutes
SCIENCE & NATURE
Nanook of the North, Life on Earth, Cosmos, Koyaanisqatsi, For All Mankind, SPOTLIGHT ON: A Fragile World, Grizzly Man, Manufactured Landscapes, Into Eternity, The Dust Bowl, Leviathan, Cow
CRIME & INJUSTICE
The Thin Blue Line, Close-Up, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, 4 Little Girls, Bus 174, Capturing the Friedmans, SPOTLIGHT ON: Serial Crimes, Sisters in Law, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Making a Murderer, O.J.: Made in America, Louis Theroux: Dark States, Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation, Collective, A Cop Movie
SHORT FILMS
À Propos de Nice, Land Without Bread, Night Mail, Listen to Britain, Blood of the Beasts, Daybreak Express, The Mad Masters, Night and Fog, The House is Black, LBJ, Powers of Ten, Ten Minutes Older, Gallivant, The Train Stop, Lift, Svyato, The Solitary Life of Cranes, Atlantics, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)
Index
Picture Credits
About the Author & Acknowledgements
About the Author :
Ian Haydn Smith is a UK-based writer and editor. As a journalist he has written on film and the arts for numerous media outlets, both print and broadcast. From 2007 to 2012 he was editor of International Film Guide. He has spoken at film festivals and cultural events around the world, both as a critic and as a representative of the British Council. He has interviewed a variety of filmmakers and artists, including Ralph Fiennes, Clint Eastwood, Isabelle Huppert, Alan Bennett, Ang Lee, Agnès Varda, Terry Gilliam and Anton Corbijn. Recent publications include FilmQuake, Selling the Movie, and editing the updated edition of 1001 Movies to See Before You Die. He lives in London.
