André Bazin on documentary : cinema's urge to explore / André Bazin ; edited by Dudley Andrew.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bazin, André, 1918-1958, author.

Contributor:

Andrew, Dudley, 1945- editor.

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Documentary films--France--History and criticism--20th century.

Documentary films.

Documentary films--History and criticism.

Genre:

Translations

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2026]

Summary:

Documentary is at the core of André Bazin's powerful views of cinema. This collection, curated by renowned film scholar Dudley Andrew, brings to English-language readers sixty-two articles in which Bazin interrogated films about geography, history, animals, painting, and, especially, distant lands and peoples. Both an advocate and critic of popular science and exotic travelogues, Bazin applauded the creativity of impure forms like docu-fiction and the genre he baptized the "essay film." Engaging minor short subjects, as well as classic works by Robert Flaherty, Jean Rouch, Alain Resnais, and Chris Marker, Bazin's incisive prose is at once intricately beautiful and playfully entertaining--and his brilliant reflections on both the morality and the aesthetics of documentary remain compelling and urgent today, when spectacles sold as reality flood our screens.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Exploring Bazin on Documentary

Part One: Films of Exploration

1. The Evolution of the Exploration Film

2. Kon-Tiki

The Grandeur and Servitude of Filmed Reportage

3. Scott of the Antarctic: Ice Without Eskimos

4. Le Monde De Silence (dir. Jacques Cousteau)

5. A Terrific Program: Annapurna, Water Birds, Le Grand Méliès

6. Spiritual Adventures: Naufragé Volontaire and La Forêt Sacrée

7. La Forêt Sacrée (The Sacred Forest)

8. Iawa: Man, the Unknown

9. Now Showing: Lost Continent

10. Lost Continent

11. A Mock Documentary: Lost Continent

12. Naked Amazon, "Dressed Up" Just a Bit

13. Empire in the Sun

14. The Last Paradise

15. Will Italian Cinema Abandon . . . Neorealism For Neo-exoticism

16. The Flute and the Arrow at Cannes

17. Hunters, Learn to Hunt!

18. Paysans noirs (Black farmers)

19. A Teacher in Africa: La Plus Belle Des Vies

20. Les Maîtres Fous (dir. Jean Rouch)

Part Two: Documentary Subjects

A. Environment and the Humans Within It

21. Landscape in Cinema

22. The Tour De France of Cinema

23. Farrebique, the Paradox of Realism

24. Long Live Farrebique!

25. Louisiana Story

26. A Great Film: Flaherty's Louisiana Story

27. Crin Blanc (White Mane)

B. Animals in The Lead

28. The Science Film: Accidental Beauty

29. Animal Films Reveal the World of Cinema

30. The Great Adventure

31. The Perils of Perri

32. In the Sands of Central Asia, an Admirable Documentary

33. Pity For the Animals

34. Toro: A Revolution in Realism

35. Afternoon of the Bulls: Ninety Minutes of Truth

36. Death Every Afternoon: La Course De Taureaux

C. The Extraordinary Within the Ordinary

37. Here's Proof That the Short Is a Spectacle

38. Sports Reporting in Televised News.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from digital title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed October 2, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Bazin, André, 1918-1958, Andre Bazin on documentary.

ISBN:

9780520399440

0520399447

OCLC:

1584454472

Publisher Number:

CIPO000374243

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license