What’s Happening? Film Series: In Your Face: A Celebration of Direct Cinema

Documentary filmmaking was the first genre to emerge from the new medium when it was presented to the public in the late 19th century.  Termed “actualities”, these short recordings captured life as it was happening: workers leaving a factory, a family at an outdoor breakfast table, the arrival of a train at the station. And yet, simultaneously, crept in the possibility of fiction.  The family had been strategically arranged to face the camera.  The workers were instructed on how and when to leave the factory.  With the presence of the camera, and then, later, editing, came the question: is objectivity possible?  That question wouldn’t be seriously addressed until the 1960s, with the emergence of Direct Cinema. 

In this film program, we will screen a 1969 interview with members of the movement, and essential works from the Direct Cinema canon, including the groundbreaking film PRIMARY (1960), which captured the Wisconsin Democratic primary battle between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey. All films will be shown in their original 16mm format.

What's Happening is a film series dating back to 1972 that centers on new and historic films in the Reserve Film and Video Collection at the Library for the Performing Arts. Screening a selection of curated titles from the collection—including documentaries, animations, and even films never commercially released—the series provides information on timely and public topics, in order to spark conversation with the audience and with special guest panelists.

Photo Credit: Photographer unknown. Papers of John F. Kennedy. Pre-Presidential Papers. Presidential Campaign Files, 1960. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston