Political cinema
Encyclopedia
Political cinema in the narrow sense of the term is a cinema which portrays current or historical events or social conditions in a partisan way in order to inform or to agitate the spectator. Political cinema exists in different forms such as documentaries
, feature films, or even animated and experimental film
s.
. The difference to other films is not that they are political but how they show it.
Even ostensibly "apolitical" escapist films, which promise "mere entertainment" as an escape from everyday life, however, fulfill a political function. The authorities in Nazi Germany knew this very well and organized a large production of deliberately escapist movies.
In other entertainment movies, for example western
s, the ideological bias is evident in the distortion of historical reality. A "classical" western would rarely portray black cowboys, although there were a great many of them. Hollywood Cinema, or more generally speaking so called Dominant Cinema, was often accused of misrepresenting black, women, gays and working class people.
More fundamentally not only the content of individual films is political but also the institution
of cinema itself. A huge number of people congregate not to act together or to talk to each other but, after having paid for it, to sit silently, to be spectators separated from each other. (Of course the behaviour of the public is not always the same in all countries.) Guy Debord
, a critic of the society of the spectacle, for whom "separation is the alpha and omega of the spectacle" was therefore also violently opposed to Cinema, even though he would make several movies portraying his ideas.
. Ever since it has dominated world film production not only economically but has transformed cinema into a means to disseminate American values.
In Germany the Universum Film AG
, better known as UFA, was founded to counter the perceived dominance of western propaganda. During the Weimar Republic many films about Frederick II of Prussia
had a conservative nationalistic agenda, as Siegfried Kracauer
and other film critics noted.
Communists like Willi Münzenberg
saw the Russian cinema as a model of political cinema. Soviet films by Sergei Eisenstein
, Dziga Vertov
and others combined a partisan view of the bolshevist regime with artistic innovation which also appealed to western audiences.
has never been able or willing to face her responsibility as a chief propagandist for National Socialism. Almost unlimited resources and her undeniable talent led to results which despite their hideous aims still fascinate some film aficionados. There is much controversy around her work, but it is generally accepted that Riefenstahl's main commitment was to moviemaking, rather than to the Nazi party. Proof of that might be seen by the portrayal of Jesse Owens
' victory on the movie Olympia
(about the Olympic games in Germany
) and in her later work, mostly on her photographic expeditions to Africa.
The same is certainly not true of the violently antisemite films of Fritz Hippler. Other Nazi political films made propaganda for so-called euthanasia
.
, Costa Gavras, Ken Loach
, Oliver Stone
, Spike Lee
or Lina Wertmüller
preferred to work within mainstream cinema to reach a wider audience.
The subversive tradition dates back at least to the French avant-garde
of the 1920s. Even in his more conventional films Luis Buñuel
stuck to the spirit of outright revolt of L’age d’or. The bourgeoisie had to be expropriated and all its values destroyed, the surrealists believed. This spirit of revolt is also present in all films of Jean Vigo
.
, slavery
and disasters such as the Chernobyl disaster
to be their political and moral duty.
, AIDS
and other health-care concerns, issues pertaining to the environment
, such as world energy resources and consumption
and climate change
, and other complex matters pertaining to terrorism
, war
, peace
, religious and related forms of intolerance
, and civil and political rights and other human rights
.
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...
, feature films, or even animated and experimental film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
s.
The notion of political cinema
Political Cinema in the narrow sense of the term refers to political films which do not hide their political stance. This does not mean that they are necessarily pure propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. The difference to other films is not that they are political but how they show it.
Even ostensibly "apolitical" escapist films, which promise "mere entertainment" as an escape from everyday life, however, fulfill a political function. The authorities in Nazi Germany knew this very well and organized a large production of deliberately escapist movies.
In other entertainment movies, for example western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
s, the ideological bias is evident in the distortion of historical reality. A "classical" western would rarely portray black cowboys, although there were a great many of them. Hollywood Cinema, or more generally speaking so called Dominant Cinema, was often accused of misrepresenting black, women, gays and working class people.
More fundamentally not only the content of individual films is political but also the institution
Institution
An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community...
of cinema itself. A huge number of people congregate not to act together or to talk to each other but, after having paid for it, to sit silently, to be spectators separated from each other. (Of course the behaviour of the public is not always the same in all countries.) Guy Debord
Guy Debord
Guy Ernest Debord was a French Marxist theorist, writer, filmmaker, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International . He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie.-Early Life:Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931...
, a critic of the society of the spectacle, for whom "separation is the alpha and omega of the spectacle" was therefore also violently opposed to Cinema, even though he would make several movies portraying his ideas.
Cinema, World War I and its aftermath
Before World War I French cinema had a big share of the world market. Hollywood used the collapse of the French production to establish its hegemonyHegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
. Ever since it has dominated world film production not only economically but has transformed cinema into a means to disseminate American values.
In Germany the Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
, better known as UFA, was founded to counter the perceived dominance of western propaganda. During the Weimar Republic many films about Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
had a conservative nationalistic agenda, as Siegfried Kracauer
Siegfried Kracauer
Siegfried Kracauer was a German-Jewish writer, journalist, sociologist, cultural critic, and film theorist...
and other film critics noted.
Communists like Willi Münzenberg
Willi Münzenberg
Willi Münzenberg was a communist political activist. Münzenberg was the first head of the Young Communist International in 1919-20 and established the famine-relief and propaganda organization Workers International Relief in 1921...
saw the Russian cinema as a model of political cinema. Soviet films by Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
, Dziga Vertov
Dziga Vertov
David Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
and others combined a partisan view of the bolshevist regime with artistic innovation which also appealed to western audiences.
Film and national socialism
Leni RiefenstahlLeni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
has never been able or willing to face her responsibility as a chief propagandist for National Socialism. Almost unlimited resources and her undeniable talent led to results which despite their hideous aims still fascinate some film aficionados. There is much controversy around her work, but it is generally accepted that Riefenstahl's main commitment was to moviemaking, rather than to the Nazi party. Proof of that might be seen by the portrayal of Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprints and the long jump. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the...
' victory on the movie Olympia
Olympia (1938 film)
Olympia is a 1938 Nazi propaganda film by Leni Riefenstahl documenting the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. The film was released in two parts: Olympia 1. Teil — Fest der Völker and Olympia 2. Teil — Fest der Schönheit . It was the first documentary feature...
(about the Olympic games in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) and in her later work, mostly on her photographic expeditions to Africa.
The same is certainly not true of the violently antisemite films of Fritz Hippler. Other Nazi political films made propaganda for so-called euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
.
Forms of political cinema
Form has always been an important concern for political film makers. While some argued that radical films, in order to liberate the imagination of the spectator, have to break not only with the content but also with the form of Dominant cinema, the falsely reassuring clichés and stereotypes of conventional narrative film making, other directors such as Francesco RosiFrancesco Rosi
Francesco Rosi is an Italian film director. He is the father of actress Carolina Rosi.-Biography:After studying Law, but hoping to study film, Rosi entered the industry as an assistant to Luchino Visconti on La Terra trema...
, Costa Gavras, Ken Loach
Ken Loach
Kenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
, Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
, Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
or Lina Wertmüller
Lina Wertmüller
Lina Wertmüller is an Italian film writer and director of aristocratic Swiss descent. In 1976, she became the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing with the film Seven Beauties.-Biography:...
preferred to work within mainstream cinema to reach a wider audience.
The subversive tradition dates back at least to the French avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
of the 1920s. Even in his more conventional films Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
stuck to the spirit of outright revolt of L’age d’or. The bourgeoisie had to be expropriated and all its values destroyed, the surrealists believed. This spirit of revolt is also present in all films of Jean Vigo
Jean Vigo
Jean Vigo was a French film director, who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s and was a posthumous influence on the French New Wave of the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:...
.
Remembrance and reflection
Especially in the last decades of the twentieth century, many film makers considered focusing on remembrance of and reflection upon major collective crimes such as The HolocaustThe Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and disasters such as the Chernobyl disaster
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
to be their political and moral duty.
Globalization and related world issues
Political cinema of the twenty-first century seems to focus on controversial topics such as globalizationGlobalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and other health-care concerns, issues pertaining to the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
, such as world energy resources and consumption
World energy resources and consumption
]World energy consumption in 2010: over 5% growthEnergy markets have combined crisis recovery and strong industry dynamism. Energy consumption in the G20 soared by more than 5% in 2010, after the slight decrease of 2009. This strong increase is the result of two converging trends...
and climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
, and other complex matters pertaining to terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
, religious and related forms of intolerance
Religious intolerance
Religious intolerance is intolerance against another's religious beliefs or practices.-Definition:The mere statement on the part of a religion that its own beliefs and practices are correct and any contrary beliefs incorrect does not in itself constitute intolerance...
, and civil and political rights and other human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.
Selected filmography
- 1915 – The Birth of a NationThe Birth of a NationThe Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay , and co-produced the film . It was released on February 8, 1915...
. Director: D. W. GriffithD. W. GriffithDavid Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
. - 1924 – Stachka (Strike). Director: Sergei EisensteinSergei EisensteinSergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
, Russian. - 1925 – Bronenosets Potyomkin (The Battleship PotemkinThe Battleship PotemkinThe Battleship Potemkin , sometimes rendered as The Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm...
). Director: Sergei EisensteinSergei EisensteinSergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
, Russian. - 1927 – The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Director: Esfir ShubEsfir ShubEsfir Ilyichna Shub , also referred as Esther Shub, was a pioneering Soviet filmmaker.Born in Surazh, Chernigov Governorate, part of Left-bank Ukraine within the Russian Empire, Shub began her career in film as a re-editor for Goskino; she edited several Western films according to Goskino...
. - 1929 – Chelovek s kino-apparatom (Man with a Movie CameraMan with a Movie CameraMan with a Movie Camera , sometimes called The Man with the Movie Camera, The Man with a Camera, The Man With the Kinocamera, or Living Russia is an experimental 1929 silent documentary film, with no story and no actors, by Russian director Dziga Vertov, edited by his wife Elizaveta...
). Director: Dziga VertovDziga VertovDavid Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
. - 1931 – Mädchen in Uniform (Girls in uniform). Director: Leontine SaganLeontine SaganLeontine Sagan was an Austrian actress and theatre director.Born in Budapest, Sagan trained with Max Reinhardt. The first and most widely known of her two films is Mädchen in Uniform...
. - 1932 – Kuhle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt? (To Whom Does the World Belong?). Director: Slatan Dudow.
- 1933 – Misère au BorinageMisère au BorinageMisère au Borinage is a 1933 Belgian documentary film directed by Henri Storck and Joris Ivens.The film opens with these words: Crisis in the Capitalist World. Factories are closed down, abandoned...
. Directors: Joris IvensJoris IvensJoris Ivens was a Dutch documentary filmmaker and committed communist.-Early life and career:...
and Henri StorckHenri StorckHenri Storck was a Belgian author, film-maker and documentarist.In 1933, he directed, with Joris Ivens, Misère au Borinage, a film about the miners in the Borinage area. In 1938, with Andre Thirifays and Pierre Vermeylen, he founded the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique...
. - 1935 – Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the WillTriumph of the WillTriumph of the Will is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of...
). Director: Leni RiefenstahlLeni RiefenstahlHelene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
, Germany. - 1940 – Der ewige Jude. Ein Filmbeitrag zum Weltjudentum (The Eternal Jew (1940 film)). Director: Fritz HipplerFritz HipplerFritz Hippler was a German filmmaker who ran the film department in the Propaganda Ministry of the Third Reich, under Joseph Goebbels. He is most famous as director of the propaganda film Der ewige Jude ....
. - 1948 – Strange Victory. Director: Leo HurwitzLeo HurwitzLeo Hurwitz was an American documentary filmmaker. Among the films he directed were Native Land and Verdict for Tomorrow . He was blacklisted during the McCarthy period.- Source :* *...
. - 1953 – Salt of the EarthSalt of the EarthSalt of the Earth is an American drama film written by Michael Wilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics....
. Director: Herbert BibermanHerbert BibermanHerbert J. Biberman , was an American screenwriter and film director. He may be best known for having been one of the Hollywood Ten as well as directing Salt of the Earth, a 1954 film about a zinc miners' strike in Grant County, New Mexico.He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Joseph and...
. - 1954 – Ernst ThälmannErnst ThälmannErnst Thälmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944...
(Sohn seiner Klasse. Ein Farbfilm der DEFA). Director: Kurt MaetzigKurt MaetzigKurt Maetzig is an East German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in the GDR. He is one of the most respected filmmakers of East Germany. He currently lives in Wildkuhl, Mecklenburg, and has three children....
. - 1956 – On the BoweryOn the BoweryOn the Bowery is a 1956 American documentary film directed by Lionel Rogosin. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....
. Director: Lionel RogosinLionel RogosinLionel Rogosin was a maverick independent American filmmaker who helped pioneer a form of non-fiction filmmaking influenced by the traditions of Robert Flaherty and Italian neorealism.-Early life:...
. - 1964 – The Cool World. Director: Shirley ClarkeShirley ClarkeShirley Clarke was an American independent filmmaker.-Early life:Born Shirley Brimberg in New York City, Shirley Clarke was the daughter of a Polish-immigrant father who made his fortune in manufacturing. Her mother was the daughter of a multimillionaire Jewish manufacturer and inventor. Her...
. - 1965 – Obyknovennyy fashizm (Ordinary FascismOrdinary FascismOrdinary Fascism is a 1965 documentary film by Mikhail Romm about the German society, Nazi Germany government and Holocaust during World War II....
). Director: Mikhail RommMikhail RommMikhail Ilych Romm was a Soviet film director.He was born in Irkutsk. His father was a social democrat of Jewish descent who had been exiled there. He graduated from gymnasium in 1917 and entered the Moscow College for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture...
. - 1966 – The Battle of Algiers. Director: Gillo PontecorvoGillo PontecorvoGillo Pontecorvo was an Italian filmmaker. He worked as a film director for more than a decade before his best known film La battaglia di Algeri was released...
. - 1967 – La ChinoiseLa ChinoiseLa Chinoise is a 1967 French political film directed by Jean-Luc Godard about young revolutionaries in Paris.-Plot summary:La Chinoise is a loose adaptation, if not parody, of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1872 novel, The Possessed...
. Director: Jean-Luc GodardJean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
. - 1967 – Titicut FolliesTiticut FolliesTiticut Follies is a 1967 American documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman, about the treatment of inmates/patients at Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane, a Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The title is taken from a talent show put on by...
. Director: Frederick WisemanFrederick WisemanFrederick Wiseman is an American documentary filmmaker. He came to documentary filmmaking after first being trained as a lawyer...
. - 1968 – La Hora de los hornos: Acto para la liberación: notas, testimonios y debate sobre las recientes luchas de liberación del pueblo argentino (The Hour of the FurnacesThe Hour of the FurnacesThe Hour of the Furnaces is a 1968 film directed by Octavio Getino and Fernando Solanas. It addresses the politics of the 'Third worldist' films and Latin-American manifesto of the late 1960s.- Reception :...
). Director: Fernando SolanasFernando SolanasFernando Ezequiel 'Pino' Solanas is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and politician....
. - 1968 – In the Year of the PigIn the Year of the PigIn the Year of the Pig is a 1968 American documentary film about the origins of the Vietnam War, directed by Emile de Antonio. It was nominated for an Academy award for best documentary....
. Director: Emile de AntonioEmile de AntonioEmile de Antonio was a director and producer of documentary films, usually detailing political or social events circa 1960s–1980s...
. - 1968 – Teorema. Director: Pier Paolo PasoliniPier Paolo PasoliniPier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...
. - 1968 – if..... Director: Lindsay AndersonLindsay AndersonLindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
. - 1969 – ZZ (film)Z is a 1969 French language political thriller directed by Costa Gavras, with a screenplay by Gavras and Jorge Semprún, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek...
. Director: Costa Gavras. - 1969 – Yawar mallku (Blood of the Condor). Director: Jorge SanjinésJorge SanjinésJorge Sanjinés is a Bolivian film director and screenwriter. He founded the production group Groupo Ukamau. He won the ALBA Prize for Arts in 2009.-Film career:...
. - 1969 – SalesmanSalesman (film)Salesman is a 1969 direct cinema documentary film directed by brothers Albert and David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin.-Synopsis:The documentary follows four salesmen as they travel across New England and Southeast Florida trying to sell expensive Bibles door-to-door in low-income neighborhoods and...
. Directors/Editors: Albert and David MayslesAlbert and David MayslesAlbert and David Maysles were a documentary filmmaking team whose cinéma vérité works include Salesman , Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens . Their 1964 film on The Beatles forms the backbone of the DVD, The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit...
and Charlotte ZwerinCharlotte ZwerinCharlotte Zwerin was a documentary film director and editor best known for work concerning artists or musicians, although she also made films concerning other subjects....
. - 1970 – Le chagrin et la pitié (The Sorrow and the PityThe Sorrow and the PityThe Sorrow and the Pity is a two-part 1969 documentary film by Marcel Ophüls about the French Resistance and collaboration between the Vichy government and Nazi Germany during World War II. The film uses interviews with a German officer, collaborators, and resistance fighters from...
). Director: Marcel Ophuls. - 1970 – Warum läuft Herr R. Amok? (Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? is a 1970 German drama film directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Michael Fengler. It was entered into the 20th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Lilith Ungerer - Frau R.* Kurt Raab - Herr R....
). Director: Rainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
. - 1971 – Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt (It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He LivesIt Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He LivesIt Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives is a 1971 German camp film directed by Rosa von Praunheim...
). Director: Rosa von PraunheimRosa von PraunheimRosa von Praunheim , in Riga, Latvia. His given name is Holger Mischwitzky. He is a German film director, author, painter and gay rights activist. Openly gay, he is one of the initiators of the gay rights movement in Germany....
. - 1971 – The Woman's Film. Directors: Louise Alaimo and Judy Smith.
- 1971 – L'aggettivo donna. Director: Annabella Misuglio, Italy.
- 1971 – WandaWanda (film)Wanda is an independent 1970 drama film that was written and directed by Barbara Loden, who also stars in the title role. It is set in the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania.-Plot:...
. Director: Barbara LodenBarbara LodenBarbara Loden was an American film and stage actress and film director.... - 1971 – La classe operaia va in paradiso (The Working Class Goes to HeavenThe Working Class Goes to HeavenThe Working Class Goes to Heaven is a 1971 film directed by Elio Petri. It depicts a factory worker's realisation of his own condition as a simple "tool" in the process of production and, implicitly, his struggle with the trade unions...
). Director: Elio Petri. - 1972 – Il Caso Mattei (The Mattei AffairThe Mattei AffairThe Mattei Affair is a 1972 film directed by Francesco Rosi. It depicts the life and mysterious death of Enrico Mattei, an Italian businessman who in the aftermath of World War II managed to avoid the sale of the nascent Italian oil and hydrocarbon industry to US companies and developed them in...
). Director: Francesco RosiFrancesco RosiFrancesco Rosi is an Italian film director. He is the father of actress Carolina Rosi.-Biography:After studying Law, but hoping to study film, Rosi entered the industry as an assistant to Luchino Visconti on La Terra trema...
. - 1972 – SambizangaSambizanga (film)Sambizanga was a 1972 film produced by Sarah Maldoror on the Angolan War of Independence. It was first released in Portugal after the carnation revolution in October 1974.-Awards:* Maldoror won a Tanit d'or at the 1972 Carthage Film Festival...
. Director: Sarah MaldororSarah MaldororSarah Maldoror, born Sarah Ducados in Gers, France, is a French film director.Maldoror choose her artist's name in remembrance of The Songs of Maldoror by Lautréamont. She attended a drama school in Paris. Together with her companion Mário Pinto de Andrade she received a scholarship and studied...
. - 1973 – La Société du spectacle (Society of the Spectacle). Director: Guy DebordGuy DebordGuy Ernest Debord was a French Marxist theorist, writer, filmmaker, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International . He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie.-Early Life:Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931...
. - 1974 – Angst essen Seele auf (Ali: Fear Eats the SoulAli: Fear Eats the SoulAli: Fear Eats the Soul is a 1974 West German film written and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Brigitte Mira and El Hedi ben Salem. The film won two awards at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival and is considered to be one of Fassbinder's most powerful works...
). Director: Rainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner FassbinderRainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...
. - 1975 – Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Everyday Life of a Housewife). Director: Chantal AkermanChantal AkermanChantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director, artist, and professor of film at the European Graduate School. Akerman's best-known film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles , exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema.-Early life:Akerman was born to...
. - 1976 – Harlan County, USAHarlan County, USAHarlan County, USA is an Oscar-winning 1976 documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike" or "Bloody Harlan", an effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1973...
. Director: Barbara KoppleBarbara KoppleBarbara Kopple is an American film director, primarily known for her work in documentary film.-Biography:She grew up in Scarsdale, New York, the daughter of a textile executive and studied psychology at Northeastern University, after which she worked with the Maysles Brothers.Kopple has won two...
. - 1977 – Yarinsiz AdamYarinsiz AdamYarınsız Adam is a Turkish political film by Remzi Aydın Jöntürk, the first in his trilogy. It was succeeded by Satılmış Adam and Yıkılmayan Adam , both filmed in 1977. The film is about the story of Murat, portrayed by Cüneyt Arkın. Murat helps his friend, Kemal, when they are escaping from the...
, (The Man without Tomorrow), TurkeyCinema of TurkeyTurkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....
. Director: Remzi Aydın JöntürkRemzi Aydin JöntürkRemzi Aydın Jöntürk was a prominent Turkish film director, actor, screenwriter, producer as well as a sculptor and a paint artist...
. - 1977 – Yıkılmayan AdamYikilmayan AdamYıkılmayan Adam is a Turkish political film by director Remzi Aydın Jöntürk, is the final film of his "Adam Trilogy". It comes after Yarınsız Adam of 1976 and Satılmış Adam of 1977. Cüneyt Arkın plays the leading role...
, (Indestructible Man), TurkeyCinema of TurkeyTurkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....
. Director: Remzi Aydın JöntürkRemzi Aydin JöntürkRemzi Aydın Jöntürk was a prominent Turkish film director, actor, screenwriter, producer as well as a sculptor and a paint artist...
. - 1978 – Baara (Work). Director: Souleymane CisséSouleymane Cissé-Biography:Raised in a Muslim family, Souleymane Cissé was a passionate cinephile from childhood. He attended secondary school in Dakar, and returned to Mali in 1960 after national independence....
. - 1978 – Yıkılmayan AdamYikilmayan AdamYıkılmayan Adam is a Turkish political film by director Remzi Aydın Jöntürk, is the final film of his "Adam Trilogy". It comes after Yarınsız Adam of 1976 and Satılmış Adam of 1977. Cüneyt Arkın plays the leading role...
(Indestructible Man). Director: Remzi Aydın JöntürkRemzi Aydin JöntürkRemzi Aydın Jöntürk was a prominent Turkish film director, actor, screenwriter, producer as well as a sculptor and a paint artist...
, TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. - 1981 – Reds. Director: Warren BeattyWarren BeattyWarren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
. - 1984 – Before StonewallBefore StonewallBefore Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community is a 1984 American documentary film about the LGBT community prior to the 1969 Stonewall riots. It was narrated by author Rita Mae Brown, co-produced by John Scagliotti and Robert Rosenberg, and co-directed by Rosenberg and Greta Schiller...
. Director: Greta Schiller. - 1986 – ShoahShoah (film)This page is about the film by the name of Shoah. For other uses, see Shoah Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann about the Holocaust...
. Director: Claude LanzmannClaude LanzmannClaude Lanzmann is a French filmmaker and professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.-Biography:Lanzmann attended the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. He joined the French resistance at the age of 18 and fought in Auvergne...
. - 1989 – Camp de Thiaroye. Director: Ousmane SembèneOusmane SembèneOusmane Sembène , often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer...
. - 1991 – American DreamAmerican Dream (film)American Dream is a cinéma vérité documentary film directed by Barbara Kopple and co-directed by Cathy Caplan, Thomas Haneke, and Lawrence Silk....
. Director: Barbara KoppleBarbara KoppleBarbara Kopple is an American film director, primarily known for her work in documentary film.-Biography:She grew up in Scarsdale, New York, the daughter of a textile executive and studied psychology at Northeastern University, after which she worked with the Maysles Brothers.Kopple has won two...
. - 1995 – Land and FreedomLand and FreedomLand and Freedom is a 1995 film directed by Ken Loach and written by Jim Allen. The film narrates the story of David Carr, an unemployed worker and member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who decides to fight for the republican side in the Spanish Civil War...
. Director: Ken LoachKen LoachKenneth "Ken" Loach is a Palme D'Or winning English film and television director.He is known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness , labour rights and child abuse at the...
. - 1998 – At the Sharp End of the Knife. Director Barbara Orton.
- 2000 – LumumbaLumumba (film)Lumumba is a 2000 film directed by Raoul Peck centred around Patrice Lumumba in the months before and after the Democratic Republic of the Congo achieved independence from Belgium in June 1960. Raoul Peck's film is a coproduction of France, Belgium, Germany, and Haiti...
). Director: Raoul PeckRaoul PeckRaoul Peck is an award-winning Haitian filmmaker, of both documentary and feature films, and a political activist. Briefly, in the 1990s, he was Haiti's Minister of Culture.-Biography:...
. - 2001 – Intimacy. Director: Patrice ChéreauPatrice ChéreauPatrice Chéreau is a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor, and producer.-Biography:Patrice Chéreau was born in Lézigné, Maine-et-Loire, and went to school in Paris. At a young age he became well-known to Parisian critics as director, actor, and stage manager of his high-school theatre...
. - 2002 – Jang aur Aman/War and Peace. Director: Anand PatwardhanAnand PatwardhanAnand Patwardhan is an Indian documentary filmmaker, known for his activism through social action documentaries on topics such as corruption, slum dwellers, nuclear arms race, citizen activism and communalism...
. - 2003 – Gujarat: A Laboratory of Hindu Rastra, Fascism. Director: Suma JossonSuma JossonSuma Josson is an Indian-American journalist and filmmaker. Her documentary film Niyamgiri, You are still alive, on the ecological and human damage done by bauxitemining, won first prize in Short Film, Environment, at the 2010 International Film Festival of India.-Life:She was born in Kerala, India...
. - 2004 – Black Panthers (in Israel) Speak Out. Directors: Eli Hamo and Sami Halom Chetrit, IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. - 2004 – Ratziti Lihiyot Gibor (On the Objection Front). Director: Shiri Tsur.
- 2004 – Memoria del saqueo (Social Genocide). Director: Fernando SolanasFernando SolanasFernando Ezequiel 'Pino' Solanas is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and politician....
. - 2004 – Darwin's NightmareDarwin's NightmareDarwin's Nightmare is a 2004 French-Belgian-Austrian documentary film written and directed by Hubert Sauper, dealing with the environmental and social effects of the fishing industry around Lake Victoria in Tanzania. It premiered at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, and was nominated for the 2006...
. Director: Hubert SauperHubert SauperHubert Sauper is a documentary filmmaker best known for the highly controversial Darwin's Nightmare which was nominated for an Academy Award....
. - 2005 - 500 Years Later500 Years Later500 Years Later is the title of an independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah, written by M. K. Asante, Jr. released in 2005. It won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary...
. Director Owen Alik Shahadah - 2005 – Un Monde Moderne. Directors: Sabrina Malek and Arnaud Soulier, France. Documentary, 84 min.
- 2006 – Atos dos Homens (Acts of Men). Director: Kiko Goifman, Brazil/Germany, 75 min.
- 2006 – The Road to GuantanamoThe Road to GuantanamoThe Road to Guantanamo, alternatively The Road to Guantánamo, is a British 2006 docudrama directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross about the incarceration of three British detainees at a detainment camp in Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba...
. Director: Michael WinterbottomMichael WinterbottomMichael Winterbottom is a prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features...
. - 2006 – The Last CommunistThe Last CommunistThe Last Communist is a 2006 Malaysian film described by director Amir Muhammad as a "semi-musical documentary". It is inspired by the leader of the disbanded Malayan Communist Party, Chin Peng and the Malayan Emergency during which more than 10,000 Malayan and British troops and civilians lost...
. Director: Amir MuhammadAmir Muhammad (director)Amir Muhammad is a writer and independent filmmaker based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was born on December 5, 1972 in Kuala Lumpur and was educated at the University of East Anglia. He has been writing for Malaysian print media since the age of 14, notably the New Straits Times.In 2000, he wrote...
, Malaysia. - 2006 – The Short Life of José Antonio GutierrezThe Short Life of José Antonio GutierrezThe Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez is a 2006 documentary film directed by Heidi Specogna about the second US Marine to die during the 2003 invasion of Iraq . Gutierrez came from Guatemala and was a so called 'green card soldier' i.e...
. Director: Heidi Specogna. - 2006 – An Inconvenient TruthAn Inconvenient TruthAn Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
. Director: Davis GuggenheimDavis GuggenheimPhilip Davis Guggenheim is an Academy Award-winning American film director and producer. His credits as a producer and director include Training Day, The Shield, Alias, 24, NYPD Blue, ER, Deadwood, and Party of Five and the documentaries An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for 'Superman...
. - 2007 – PersepolisPersepolis (film)Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...
. Directors: Marjane SatrapiMarjane SatrapiMarjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
and Vincent ParonnaudVincent ParonnaudPascal Stadler , a.k.a. Winshluss, is a French comics artist and filmmaker. He is best known for cowriting and codirecting with Marjane Satrapi the highly acclaimed animated film Persepolis , for which they received numerous awards including the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as well...
. - 2007 – Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada's Genocide. Director: Louie LawlessLouie LawlessLouie Lawless is a Canadian film actor, documentary director, and Academy Award-nominated producer. Born in British Columbia, he traveled to California at the age of 18 and soon found work as an actor in Hollywood. He soon began to become involved in the production of films and worked for over two...
. - 2007 – SickoSickoSicko is a 2007 documentary film by American filmmaker Michael Moore. The film investigates health care in the United States, focusing on its health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. The movie compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S...
. Director: 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...
. - 2007 - What Would Jesus Buy
- 2008 – The World Without USThe World Without USThe World Without US is a documentary film created by Mitch Anderson and Jason J. Tomaric. Released in 2008, the documentary explores what might happen if the United States were to leave the international arena, rescind its global reach and become an isolationist nation for the first time since the...
. Directors: Mitch AndersonMitch Anderson (director)Mitch Anderson is a Romanian born American film director, producer, writer, researcher and editor. He is the only son of former political dissidents of the Stalinist era...
and Jason J. Tomaric. 84 min. - 2008 – ReligulousReligulousReligulous is a 2008 American comic documentary film written by and starring comedian Bill Maher and directed by Larry Charles. The title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words "religion" and "ridiculous"; the documentary examines and mocks organized religion and religious...
. Director: Larry CharlesLarry CharlesLarry Charles is an American writer, director, and producer. He is best known as a staff writer for the American sitcom Seinfeld for its first 5 seasons, contributing some of the show's darkest and most absurd storylines...
. - 2008 – MilkMilk (film)Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
. Director: Gus Van SantGus Van SantGus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
. - 2009 - Capitalism: A Love StoryCapitalism: A Love StoryCapitalism: A Love Story is a 2009 American documentary film directed, written by and starring Michael Moore. The film centers on the late-2000s financial crisis and the recovery stimulus, while putting forward an indictment of the current economic order in the United States and capitalism in general...
- 2009 - American Radical: The Trials of Norman FinkelsteinAmerican Radical: the trials of Norman FinkelsteinAmerican Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein is a 2009 documentary film about the life of the American academic Norman Finkelstein, directed and produced by David Ridgen and Nicolas Rossier...
. Directors Nicolas Rossier & David RidgenDavid RidgenDavid Ridgen is an award-winning independent Canadian filmmaker. He has worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, MSNBC, NPR, TVOntario and others.Ridgen co-directed Canadian Images of Vietnam with his brother Robert Ridgen in 1990... - 2009 - The Yes Men Fix the World
- 2010 - MotherlandMotherland (film)Motherland is a 2010 independent documentary film directed and written by Owen 'Alik Shahadah. Motherland is the sequel to the multiaward winning film 500 Years Later.- Synopsis:...
. Director Owen Alik Shahadah
See also
- Political films category
- Political Film SocietyPolitical Film SocietyThe Political Film Society is a nonprofit corporation that exists to recognize Hollywood films' ability to raise awareness in political matters in the world. Film makers are the ones who are awarded by this organization...
- African cinemaAfrican cinemaThe term African cinema refers to the film production in Africa, following formal independence. Some of the countries in North Africa developed a national film industry much earlier and are related to West Asian cinema...
- Documentary filmDocumentary filmDocumentary 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...
- List of racism-related films
- Social criticismSocial criticismThe term social criticism locates the reasons for malicious conditions of the society in flawed social structures. People adhering to a social critics aim at practical solutions by specific measures, often consensual reform but sometimes also by powerful revolution.- European roots :Religious...
- Women's cinemaWomen's cinemaThe term women's cinema usually refers to films made by women. Above all, it designates the work of women film directors and, to a lesser degree, the work of other women behind the camera such as cinematographers and screenwriters...