Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary

This web companion of the documentary of the same name that premiered at IDFA last year is much more than your average film site. The project, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, shows Pepita Ferrari interviewing 38 leading documentary filmmakers about their profession. Interviewees include Albert Maysles, Kim Longinotto, and Werner Herzog. What is documentary? Why do they make documentaries? What is the relationship between documentary and "the truth?" Whereas the film version presented talking heads in a linear, narrative sequence, the website allows the user to construct his or her own story from 163 film clips not contained in the film. The main screen is a grid of links to all the clips, leading the user into a selection based around the filmmaker or one of nine key themes, each with its own subthemes. Unlike the film, the site includes only a small handful of excerpts from original works, but it does contextualize the documentary filmmakers with short biographies and filmographies. \par \par nfb.ca/capturing-reality