3 February
–
23 April 2006
Films:
Section 1: Defining DocumentaryAlberto Cavalcanti 1897-1982
Coalface 1935
© Royal Mail Film Archive
The documentary film movement of the 1930s encompassed a broad range of approaches to filmmaking. Coalface by Cavalcanti exemplifies his non-naturalistic approach to factual cinema blending poetry and realism, while other films made at this time such as Housing Problems had a more directly sociological intent. Even so, Housing Problems broke new ground by allowing the working class inhabitants of the slums to speak directly to camera about the appalling conditions in which they lived. Norman McLaren's Hell Unltd combines politics with formal experimentation. This agitational, anti-fascist film criticises the armaments industry. McLaren here combines animation, dramatised sequences, and archival footage.