SEMINAR PROFILE

A04 -
Bearing Witness: Documentary Film and the Presumption of Authenticity

In the era of reality television and YouTube, questions about how documentary images record, mediate, and manipulate the world are more timely and urgent than ever. The film camera not only chronicles but inevitably shapes what it witnesses. This seminar will consider the consequences of the trust that we put in images and the power of film to represent as well as construct the historical record. Participants will be introduced to the history and theory of documentary film and will confront questions about documentary strategy, selectivity, and subjectivity. We will view feature length as well as short documentaries including works by Frederick Wiseman, Elizabeth Barret, Liane Brandon, Errol Morris, and Ngozi Onwurah.

Scholar:

Julie Levinson

Location:

Harvard Hillel

Dates:

3/3/2011, 3/10/2011, 3/15/2011

For a complete listing of our courses, download our complete course catalog in PDF format.

A04 -	Bearing Witness: Documentary Film and the Presumption of Authenticity

	In the era of reality television and YouTube, questions about how documentary images record, mediate, and manipulate the world are more timely and urgent than ever. The film camera not only chronicles but inevitably shapes what it witnesses. This seminar will consider the consequences of the trust that we put in images and the power of film to represent as well as construct the historical record. Participants will be introduced to the history and theory of documentary film and will confront questions about documentary strategy, selectivity, and subjectivity. We will view feature length as well as short documentaries including works by Frederick Wiseman, Elizabeth Barret, Liane Brandon, Errol Morris, and Ngozi Onwurah.

		Scholar:	Julie Levinson
		Location:	Harvard Hillel
		Dates:	3/3/2011, 3/10/2011, 3/15/2011