Cinema verite: defining the moment [Widescreen]

A major retrospective of some of the century’s finest non-fiction films, and a celebration of the contemporary legacy of the cinema verite revolution of the late ‘50s and ‘60s. The revolution had many names—Free Cinema, Direct Cinema, Candid Eye, Cinema Verite— and it broke out simultaneously in England, France, the US and Canada. Wherever it appeared, the form marked a completely new way of understanding film, the audience and the world. Rich in footage from verite classics, ‘Defining the Moment’ looks at some of the most exciting and influential films made in the 20th century. Films like ‘Primary’ (JFK on the campaign trail), ‘Lonely Boy’ (Canadian superstar Paul Anka in Vegas), ‘Jane’ (Fonda, before her Broadway debut), ‘Don’t Look Back’, ‘Salesmen’ (door-to-door with Bible hustlers), ‘Pour la suite du monde’ (For Generations to Come, on beluga fishermen in Quebec) and ‘Chronique d’un ete’ (‘Chronicle of a Summer’, the story of one summer in Paris). From music videos, to ‘The Blair Witch Project’, to docu-soaps, Webcams, the influence of verite is everywhere these days. We meet two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple, who has directed episodes of ‘Homicide’ bearing a strong verite influence; Floria Sigismondi, one of the world’s most sought-after music video directors; and Gillian Caldwell of Witness, an organization that promotes use of digital technology and the Internet to document human rights abuses around the world. The documentary features interviews with the following filmmakers: Michel Brault, Robert Drew, Jennifer Fox, William Greaves, Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor, Richard Leacock, Terence Macartney-Filgate, Albert Maysles, Donn A. Pennebaker, Pierre Perrault, Karel Reisz, Jean Rouch, Hope Ryden, Fred Wiseman. Reference: National Film Board of Canada. http://www.nfb.ca/cinemaverite In English and French with English subtitles.