Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives and Practices

Thomas Austin is Senior Lecturer in Media and Film at the University of Sussex, UK. He is the author of Hollywood, Hype and Audiences: Selling and Watching Popular Film in the 1990s (2002) and Watching the World: Screen Documentary and Audiences (2007).Wilma de Jong is Lecturer in Media and Film at the University of Sussex, UK. She owned an independent film company for twelve years and is co-editor of Global Activism, Global Media (2005).

• Part 1: Critical perspectives on documentary forms and concepts 'Documentary studies': dimensions of continuity and transition by John CornerThe question of evidence, the power of rhetoric and documentary film by Bill NicholsFirst-person films: some theses on self-inscription by Michael Renov 'To leave the confinements of his humanness': authorial voice, death and constructions of nature in Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man by Thomas AustinCollective subjectivity in The Children of Golzow vs. alienation in 'western' interview documentary by Silke PanseDocumentary as critical and creative research by Mike WayneReframing ethnographic film by Paul BasuTranscendental realism in documentary by Erik KnudsenFilming the 'invisible' by Michael ChananPart 2: The changing faces of documentary productionDeveloping and producing a feature documentary: the case of Deep Water by Wilma de Jong Filmmakers and their subjects by Jerry RothwellFrom eight-man crew to one-woman band: my life in television by Marilyn Gaunt'You want to know that, this is real, this is what happened': an interview with John Smithson by Wilma de Jong and Thomas Austin'The idea that there's a "truth" that you discover is like chasing the end of a rainbow': an interview with Ralph LeeWilma de Jong Rice N Peas: alternative, independent and provocative byIshmahil Blagrove, Jr'The importance of memory': an interview with Ai Xiaoming by Sue ThornhamPart 3: Contemporary documentary: borders, neighbours and disputed territoriesDrama-documentary, ethics and notions of performance: the 'flight 93' films by Paul WardMockumentary: a call to play by Craig Hight Documentary modes of engagement by Annette Hill'Ask the fastidious woman from Surbiton to hand-wash the underpants of the aging Oldham Skinhead...': Why not Wife Swap? by Su Holmes and Deborah JermynSimulating the public sphere by Jon DoveyThe work of work: reality TV and the negotiation of neoliberal labour in The Apprentice by Nick Couldry and Jo LittlerPart 4: Digital and online documentaries: opportunities and limitationsDocumentary viewing platforms by Ana VicenteOnline documentary by Danny BirchallPublic domains: engaging Iraq through experimental documentary digitalities by Patricia R. Zimmermann Documentary on YouTube: the failure of the direct cinema of the slogan by Alexandra Juhasz