CINEMA VERITE: DEFINING THE MOMENT

A feature documentary about documentary, Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment is 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 early 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. The world of cinema verite filmmaking was created by a group of driven, dedicated rebels who did for documentary what Cartier-Bresson did for photography. All the key players, including Michel Brault, Robert Drew, Wolf Koenig, Richard Leacock, Al Maysles, Donn Pennebaker, Pierre Perrault, Jean Rouch, Hope Ryden and Fred Wiseman, are featured in this film. Their use of lightweight, hand-held cameras and portable sound equipment, along with their unfailing commitment to recording reality as they saw it, revolutionized not only the documentary, but all forms of movie-making. Set against the stilted, lecture-style documentary that preceded them, their works are still timeless: as fresh and original today as when they were first released.