The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film

Ian Aitken

Jan 2013 · Routledge

About this ebook

The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film is a fully international reference work on the history of the documentary film from the Lumière brothers' Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (1885) to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 (2004).

Previously published in three volumes, entries have been edited and updated for the new, concise edition and three new entries have been added on: India, China and Africa.

The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film:

• Discusses individual films and filmmakers including little-known filmmakers from countries such as India, Bosnia, China and others
• Examines the documentary filmmaking traditions within nations and regions, or within historical periods in places such as Iran, Brazil, Portugal, and Japan
• Explores themes, issues, and representations in documentary film including human rights, modernism, homosexuality, and World War I, as well as types of documentary film such as newsreels and educational films
• Elaborates on production companies, organizations, festivals, and institutions such as the American Film Institute, Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board, Hot Docs (Toronto), and the World Union of Documentary
• Describes styles, techniques, and technical issues such as animation, computer imaging, editing techniques, IMAX, music, and spoken commentary

Bringing together all aspects of documentary film, this accessible concise edition provides an invaluable resource for both scholars and students. With film stills from key films, this resource provides the decisive entry point into the history of an art form.

About the author

Ian Aitken is Professor, in the Department of Cinema and TV, Hong Kong Baptist University. He is the author of Film and Reform: John Grierson and the British Documentary Film Movement (Routledge, 1990, 1992), The Documentary Film Movement: An Anthology (Edinburgh University Press, 1998), The Cinema of Alberto Cavalcanti: Realism, Surrealism and National Cinemas (Flicks Books, 2000) and The Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film, three-volume set (Routledge, 2006).