The first nonfiction feature by Robert Flaherty in 1922 was a surprising box-office success and was included in the Library of Congress National Film Registry for preservation. The Maysles Brothers created a masterpiece with their cinema verite documentary on traveling salesmen. Michael Apted’s renowned Up series documenting the lives of children every seven years until age sixty-three is a landmark series. And Eleanor Coppola was the eyes and ears to her husband’s Francis Ford Coppola’s famously troubled production of Apocalypse Now. Her behind-the-scenes experience garnered several awards including the National Board of Review for Best Documentary.
In this 4-week course, we’ll explore documentaries that are poetic, profound, and entertaining. We’ll discuss different ways of filming including docufiction, observational, interview, and personal narrative styles.
Films:
4/5: Nanook of the North (1922)
4/12: Salesman (1969)
4/19: 21 Up (1977)
4/26: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
This course will be presented by Jenny Lee whose previous MMU classes include Wong Kar Wai, Yasujiro Ozu, Korean Cinema, and Satyajit Ray. Jenny Lee is a 2024 Oregon Literary Arts Fellow in Drama.
Films will be screened at the Movie Madness Miniplex, followed by an instructor-led discussion. Classes will begin on Friday afternoon, April 5th, and be held each Friday afternoon through the 26th, at 1pm.
Class size will be limited to 18.
Email us at education@moviemadness.org if you have any questions.