Description
Jürgen Böttcher and Documentary Film introduces the reader to this east-German filmmaker who, despite having made 40 films from the east side of the Berlin Wall, is practically unknown.
Through the comparison of films made in the same year, one by an American and one by Böttcher, the author places him as ahead of his time in regards to technology, content, and style, and neck-and-neck with contemporary American filmmakers in cinéma vérité/direct cinema. The book moves beyond Böttcher’s dramatic biography to explore his role in the history of film. Was it actually the Germans who created sync sound for documentary? When and how were women featured?
Offering a concise journey through the history of documentary film within this cultural context, but also a deep-dive into specific case-studies that show the nuances and complexities of classifying film texts, this volume will interest students and scholars of film studies, German cinema, cinéma vérité, film production, film theory, and world cinema.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Biography of Jürgen Böttcher, Filmmaker, and STRAWALDE, Artist
Chapter 3: Dramaturgy and Structure in Observational Documentary in 1962 — Jürgen Böttcher’s Ofenbauer (Furnace Builders) and Robert Drew and Richard Leacock’s The Chair
Chapter 4: The Representation of Women in Observational Cinema — Richard Leacock and Joyce Chopra’s Happy Mother’s Day (Director’s Cut) and Jürgen Böttcher’s Stars, 1963
Chapter 5: Jürgen Böttcher and Frederick Wiseman — Institutions and Workplace in Observational Documentary Films in 1984
Chapter 6: Jürgen Böttcher and Barbara Kopple and Reform in Participatory/Reflexive Documentary in 1990
Chapter 7: Conclusion — Documentary Contrasts in Structure, Subject, Place, and Change in Group Identity, and an Expanded Definition of Documentary Modes
