Documenting reality

The very first films could be considered documentaries. Founders of the moving image, like Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers, captured shorts of real life, called ‘actuality films’, at the turn of the 20th century. In the decades since, documentary has evolved from educational newsreels and public service announcements to the experimental cinéma vérité (‘truthful cinema’), docuseries and online videos. Documentary films have provided insight into others, revealed distant locations and forged deep connections between audiences and stories. But they have also been used to spread propaganda and influence society, projecting interpretations of the truth that highlight the problematic relationship between cinema and reality.