T H E P E R F O R M A T I V E D O C U M E N T A R Y

Harrison Golden

The Story of a Rebel and His Mike

Bill Nichols

Introduction to Documentary, 2001

Nichols’s Approach“The performative mode raises questions about what

knowledge actually amounts to. What counts as understanding or

comprehension? What besides factual information goes into our

understanding of the world?”

“The world as represented by performative documentaries

becomes, however, suffused by evocative tones and

expressive shadings that constantly remind us that the world is

more than the sum of the visible evidence we derive from it.”

“[This] calls for an emotional responsiveness from that

acknowledges how understanding this event within any

preestablished frame of reference is an utter impossibility.”

Performative vs. Participatory

Participatory mode engages the filmmaker

to the story but attempts to describe

universalized truths.

Performativemode engages the filmmaker

to the story but constructs the filmmaker’s

openly subjective truths.

Stella Bruzzi

New Documentary, 2000

Bruzzi’s Approach

“Within such a realist aesthetic, the role of performance

is, paradoxically, to draw the audience into the reality

of the situations being dramatized.”

“The traditional concept of documentary as striving to

represent reality as faithfully as possible is predicated

upon the realist assumption that the production

process must be disguised, as was the case with

direct cinema.”

Bruzzi’s Approach

“Culminating in the recent work of

filmmakers… documentary has an

established tradition of the performer

director.”

Who is the Performer-Director?

An auteur filmmaker who combines personality

and technology. From both sides of the

camera, the stories he/she tells are deeply

personal and incorporate outlook and voice in

ways never before seen in the world of cinema.

The performer-director exemplifies the notion

that life is one of those things that is greater than

the mere sum of its parts.

“What is a documentary but a dialogue

between a filmmaker, a crew, and a

situation that… has irrevocably been

changed by that arrival?”

“The films of

Broomfield, Moore, and others

have sought to accentuate, not

mask, the means of production

because they realize that such a

masquerade [of finding one

universal truth] is impossibly

utopian.”- Stella Bruzzi

Michael Moore

Roger & Me, 1989

Roger & Me

After a major General Motors plant closes in his

hometown of Flint, Michigan, filmmaker Michael Moore

travels around the country to meet with then-CEO

Roger Smith in order to find out his thoughts on how the

shutdown will affect working families.

He chronicles his search for Smith and his dream to

confront him in person.

In the process, he finds men, women, and children

caught in a storm of debt, unemployment, and

hardship.

Kurt & Courtney, 1998

Nick Broomfield

Kurt & Courtney

Following the death of Nirvana lead singer, Kurt Cobain, many

sought to make sense of the ambiguities associated with the April

1994 tragedy.

Many are still unsure whether Cobain committed suicide or if his

wife, Hole frontwomanCourtney Love, murdered him.

Director Nick Broomfield not only creates a portrait of the

musical legends, but also opens up about his own

personality, one of curiosity and hunger for confrontation.

With his signature boom micand a mind full of questions, he is

not afraid to open up about his own thoughts and his methods

of production.

Concluding Thoughts…

The key element

is honesty.

In a world flooded with information

(Internet, TV, print, radio), filmmakers and viewers alike must

stop and analyze how the news affectsinteractions with

people.

The only way to do that is to interact with people and listen

to their words, their instincts, and what they are feeling.

Our minds must continue navigating. We must continue

listening to our own beliefs and the very connections that

define our outlook.

Embrace the journey!

Concluding Thoughts…