Les Nouvelles Egotistes
Encyclopedia
Les Nouvels Egotistes is a grouping of documentary film
makers who make films where they themselves are featured. This is against the grain of more traditional documentary film which is mainly voyeuristic observation.
Usually the filmmakers are 'faux-naïf', pretending to be less knowing than they really are in order to 'trap' the subject, however amongst the key names both Michael Moore
and Nick Broomfield
can be very aggressive when necessary.
s Sherman's March: A Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South during an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation. For much of this film, McElwee was talking to camera, giving accounts of how he thought the production was going.
It was in the same year that Nick Broomfield
was making a film about Lily Tomlin and realised that all of the best bits - the dead ends, the arguments, the mistakes - were being left out. For his 1988 feature Driving Me Crazy and subsequent features, then, Broomfield perfected this new style, 'reinventing' documentary film.
Following this, more documentary makers followed Broomfield's example - key examples are Michael Moore
, Jon Ronson
(who was responsible for naming the movement in a 2002 issue of Sight & Sound
), and Louis Theroux
.
It is important to bear in mind how recently the movement was named, and that this is an informal assertion made by Jon Ronson
which happens to have been adopted by many film journalists.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
makers who make films where they themselves are featured. This is against the grain of more traditional documentary film which is mainly voyeuristic observation.
Characteristics
Films in the style of 'Les Nouvels Egotistes' are reflexive, insofar as there are two subjects of the film - the filmmaker and the 'reality' which he is filming.Usually the filmmakers are 'faux-naïf', pretending to be less knowing than they really are in order to 'trap' the subject, however amongst the key names both Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
and Nick Broomfield
Nick Broomfield
Nicholas "Nick" Broomfield is an English documentary film-maker. He is the son of Maurice Broomfield, a photographer.Broomfield works with a minimal crew, recording sound himself and using one or two camera operators...
can be very aggressive when necessary.
History
This style of filmmaking showed presence in 1986, with Ross McElweeRoss McElwee
Ross McElwee is an American documentary filmmaker and cinematographer, and Harvard professor, known for his autobiographical films about his family and personal life, usually interwoven with an episodic journey of some sort. Many cultural aspects of his southern upbringing are present in his...
s Sherman's March: A Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love in the South during an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation. For much of this film, McElwee was talking to camera, giving accounts of how he thought the production was going.
It was in the same year that Nick Broomfield
Nick Broomfield
Nicholas "Nick" Broomfield is an English documentary film-maker. He is the son of Maurice Broomfield, a photographer.Broomfield works with a minimal crew, recording sound himself and using one or two camera operators...
was making a film about Lily Tomlin and realised that all of the best bits - the dead ends, the arguments, the mistakes - were being left out. For his 1988 feature Driving Me Crazy and subsequent features, then, Broomfield perfected this new style, 'reinventing' documentary film.
Following this, more documentary makers followed Broomfield's example - key examples are Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
, Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson is a Welsh journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter and nonfiction author, whose works include The Men Who Stare At Goats. His journalism and columns have appeared in British publications including The Guardian newspaper, City Life and Time Out magazine...
(who was responsible for naming the movement in a 2002 issue of Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
), and Louis Theroux
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux is an English broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism on the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met.... His career started off in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family such as his father, Paul Theroux and...
.
It is important to bear in mind how recently the movement was named, and that this is an informal assertion made by Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson is a Welsh journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter and nonfiction author, whose works include The Men Who Stare At Goats. His journalism and columns have appeared in British publications including The Guardian newspaper, City Life and Time Out magazine...
which happens to have been adopted by many film journalists.
Key Films
- Driving Me Crazy by Nick BroomfieldNick BroomfieldNicholas "Nick" Broomfield is an English documentary film-maker. He is the son of Maurice Broomfield, a photographer.Broomfield works with a minimal crew, recording sound himself and using one or two camera operators...
, 1988 - The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's WifeThe Leader, His Driver and the Driver's WifeThe Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife is a 1991 British feature-length documentary film set during the final days of the apartheid regime in South Africa, particularly centering on Eugène Terre'Blanche, founder and leader of the far-right, white supremacist political organisation AWB. The...
by Nick BroomfieldNick BroomfieldNicholas "Nick" Broomfield is an English documentary film-maker. He is the son of Maurice Broomfield, a photographer.Broomfield works with a minimal crew, recording sound himself and using one or two camera operators...
, 1991 - Louis Theroux's Weird WeekendsLouis Theroux's Weird WeekendsLouis Theroux's Weird Weekends is a television documentary series, in which Louis Theroux gives viewers the chance to get brief glimpses into the worlds of individuals and groups that they would not normally come into contact with or experience up close...
by Louis TherouxLouis TherouxLouis Sebastian Theroux is an English broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism on the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met.... His career started off in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family such as his father, Paul Theroux and...
, 1995 - Kurt & CourtneyKurt & CourtneyKurt & Courtney is a 1998 documentary film by Nick Broomfield investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Kurt Cobain, and allegations of Courtney Love's involvement in it...
by Nick BroomfieldNick BroomfieldNicholas "Nick" Broomfield is an English documentary film-maker. He is the son of Maurice Broomfield, a photographer.Broomfield works with a minimal crew, recording sound himself and using one or two camera operators... - Bowling for ColumbineBowling for ColumbineBowling for Columbine is a 2002 documentary film written, directed, produced, and narrated by Michael Moore. The film explores what Michael Moore suggests are the causes for the Columbine High School massacre and other acts of violence with guns...
by Michael MooreMichael MooreMichael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
, 2002 - Fahrenheit 9/11Fahrenheit 9/11Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film by American filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the news media...
by Michael MooreMichael MooreMichael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
, 2004