28th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL
5 MARCH → 15 MARCH 2026
Tributes: Peter Wintonick
CINEMA VERITE: DEFINING THE MOMENT
Canada 1999 110 DigiBeta Color-B&W
i There are no scheduled screenings.
Film description
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 ’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 Braulty, Robert Drew, Wolf Koenig, Richard Leacock, the Maysles brothers, 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
Awards
Special Jury Prize – Banff Television Festival, Canada
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury (Forum) – Berlin IFF Germany 2000
Best Documentary Feature (Special Mention) – Vancouver IFF 2000, Canada
Print Source
National Film Board of Canada, Canada
T. +1 800 267 7710
www.nfb.ca
i There are no scheduled screenings.
