by valerie.schwarz -

The Journey of Documenting – Fundraising

Equipped with unwavering confidence in your idea, a solid plan for your documentary and a proposal that would make Shakespeare jealous, you are now ready to embark on the, often long and strenuous journey to get your documentary funded. Even if you have done your due diligence with planning and preparing your film, it can still often be a mountainous task to convince the right people that your idea is worth investing in.

Who do you approach?
The first and most important step is to find funders that are just the right fit for your documentary plans. You need to find that one in a million broadcaster, company or investor whose program, interests or convictions match up perfectly with your ideas. All the while you always need to double and triple check that your exact idea has not been done yet by the very broadcaster you’re trying to approach. If the match seems too perfect, chances aren’t low that someone else might have pitched the same film to them before. So to avoid that embarrassing moment of pitching their own movie to them by doing your research beforehand.
While you’re at it you might also want to figure out whether your film would be a good fit for them. Does the topic fit within their usual program? Is the playing time one that is already being broadcasted and would fit into the schedule? All of these are questions you want to ask yourself when looking for investors.
Compared to investors in the UK, US or Australia, European broadcasters often allow for a more creative and individual approach to your documentary. This is also due to the fact that in Europe it is possible to get funded by multiple different broadcasters from different countries at the same time, leading to less financial commitment and thus influence by each individual one. It also helps to convince other investors if you already have someone backing your project.
However, this also makes finding funding in Europe a lot more complicated, as you have to navigate the complex world of broadcasters in different countries all across the continent. Knowing your way around commissioning editors and broadcasting agencies all across Europe will be essential in successfully getting your film funded. Not only is it important to know who to approach, but also how you should do it (Glynne, 2007).

How to approach them
Once you have decided which companies or agencies would be the perfect fit for your project, you need to carefully plan how you will approach them in order to convince them of your idea. There are a few different ways of getting your film funded, each of them coming with their own sets of advantages and drawbacks. Before starting your communication with potentials funders it is essential that you familiarise yourself with the different terms and know what it is you are looking for.

  • Commission:
    The funder, often a broadcaster, pays you, the filmmaker, money to create your documentary. This funder pays 100% of the costs and usually get a say in the production as well.
  • Co-production:
    – From a broadcasters perspective: Multiple different broadcasters become involved in funding one film.
    – From a producer’s perspective: Multiple production companies cooperate in creating one film.
  • Pre-Buy:
    A funder buys your film in advance for use in their area once it is done. They don’t have a say in the production of your film and pay a lot less than commissions do.
  • Acquisition:
    Broadcasters or distributors buy the finished film, which might have been funded by someone else beforehand.

Once you know what you want, it is time to start thinking about what you can offer that they want. What makes your idea special? What will your film have that nobody else does? What will make it stand out from the countless other pitches those companies get each month?
Maybe the characters in your documentary are unique and special, maybe you yourself can provide input for your film that no-one else could, or maybe you, for some reason, have special access to people, areas or organisations that will make you invaluable to the broadcasters out there (Glynne, 2007).

Although getting your film funded might seem impossible at some points during your journey when you receive one rejection after the other, keep in mind that there are many different ways to get your passion project funded. Whether that be through various broadcasting agencies, different companies wanting to support the cause or maybe even relevant NGOs. And there is always the last resort of funding your film yourself or with the help of family and friends and hoping to make back the money with the finished product.
Wherever the funding for your film will come from, you have to keep in mind, that you will never be fully independent of the opinions of certain “gatekeepers” in the business. After all the end goal to producing a documentary will always be to get it out there and have as many of the right people as possible get to experience it. In order to achieve that goal, you will always have to appease those who are in charge of deciding whether your film gets played as well as those who should watch it.
The tricky part here is to find a balance between staying true to your vision and convictions while still appealing to as many viewers as possible (Glynne, 2007).

Literature

by valerie.schwarz -

The Journey of Documenting – Writing a Proposal

Once you have successfully answered the questions of why you want to create your documentary, what it should be about at its core and how you want to convey the message, the next, often tedious, step is to figure out who you want to finance the endeavour and who you want your target audience to be.

Proposal
Writing a proposal will not only be quintessential for convincing funders of your idea, but it will also help you figure out whether you have spent enough time on the topic and on your plans for the documentary to be able to concisely and clearly explain what the film will be about in one to two pages. It is a good test to see whether someone else will be able to see your vision and understand the film from your description. Moreover, a proposal can help you gain access to people or organisations by making your intentions appear more credible (Glynne, 2007).

Your project description should include aspects like the approximate outline of your story, so where it begins and how it should develop, some background information, whether that be historic or any other context, your visual approach for the film, a short introduction to your characters, your unique selling points, motivations and reason for the film, and what kinds of access you need and ideally have for filming your documentary (IDFA, 2025).

Structuring your proposal in a way that is informative and enticing is crucial to make sure the reader’s interest will be caught. Here are some of the things to keep in mind when structuring your text:

  • The Title:
    It should be catchy and informative in order to attract attention while at the same time making sure viewers know what to expect from your film. During the last years, the trend has gone towards using sensationalised, almost “clickbait-y” titles for documentaries, however especially European documentaries still often go for rather poetic names, like the Finnish film “3 Rooms of Melancholia” (2004) about the Second Chechen War (The 3 Rooms of Melancholia – Wikipedia, 2025).
    Next to the title you might want to put the approximate length of your documentary. If you are looking to get funded by broadcasters it is especially important to ensure that the film you have planned is suited for their schedule, both content-wise and duration-wise, so make sure to do your research before pitching your idea (Glynne, 2007).
  • The Opening Paragraph:
    As you will probably one among many applying for funding, commissioning editors will often only skim through your proposal to determine whether they deem it worthy of further attention. This means that your opening paragraph has to be able to convince its readers within the first couple of sentences to keep reading the rest of the proposal. In this paragraph you should outline who or what the subject of your documentary is going to be and what is specific to your film. Ideally these two make sense together and bring across a cohesive image of your vision for the project. Your proposal should not sound too academic, whilst still staying professional. One good way to see whether your opening paragraph is convincing enough is to read it as though you were a potential viewer, deciding whether you would want to watch the described documentary or not (Glynne, 2007).
  • Character and Narrative:
    Your readers should get an idea of who the characters of your story are and what will happen to them over the course of the film. If your documentary relies on a few main characters, describe them briefly and explain what makes their stories so special and why you believe, that they belong in front of a camera, your camera to be specific. Make sure your readers can already form an emotional connection to the subjects and get them invested in the stories you want to tell (IDFA, 2025).
  • The Style:
    Which style you chose for your documentary (as explained in the previous blogpost) should already be clear from how your first paragraph is written. This can be another good way of checking whether you have been precise enough in your writing, to see whether readers can unmistakably tell which type of documentary they can expect from reading just the opening paragraph of your proposal (Glynne, 2007).
  • The Cost:
    Potential investors want to get an idea of what costs they might expect. While you don’t need to have a fully planned out budget at this stage, this might be the opportunity to justify seemingly high future costs to your potential funders (Glynne, 2007).
  • You:
    Write a few sentences about who you are and what connects you to the topic of the documentary. Ask yourself “Why me?” and convince your readers why you should be the one to tell this story. This is also where you should list any relevant experience or expertise on the topic in order to assure potential future investors of your competence (Glynne, 2007).
  • Company and Executive Producer:
    Working with a production company and having an executive producer on board will give potential sponsors the assurance they might need to invest in your endeavour. Being backed by a production company and having an executive producer who will make sure you deliver high-quality results increases your credibility and makes your more trustworthy to potential funders (Glynne, 2007).

Proposal versus Treatment/Sript

Although many terms in the field are frequently used interchangeably, it can generally be said that while a proposal is around 1 to 2 pages long and is often the first step to catching the attention of a commissioning editor or funding organisation, a treatment or script is a much longer document, outlining the narrative in detail and might include the director’s statement about why they want to make the film (Glynne, 2007).

Conclusion
A proposal is the most important piece of text for getting your idea noticed and funded. The reader should get a clear image of what the documentary will look like and become emotionally invested in seeing you succeed and in witnessing your idea becoming a reality.

Literature

by valerie.schwarz -

The Journey of Documenting – Research and Preparation

Once you have found your “why” and “what” of your documentary you will have to figure out the “how”. What information do you need to tell the story you want to tell and how do you want to tell it?

Research
While nobody expects you to become the leading expert on the subject of your documentary, it is important to learn as much as you possibly can about it. Not only will it allow you to focus on the right things with your documentary and maybe change directions in the process, it is also necessary in order to be able to properly communicate with your subjects and to ask the right questions during interviews.
Being knowledgeable about your topic is also essential when pitching your idea to possible funders. No broadcasting company will support you if they feel like your documentary might only superficially treat the topic of interest (Glynne, 2007).
Through research you can begin to plan out your film and start thinking about how exactly you want to tell the story and what your storyboard and shortlist will look like (MasterClass, 2021).

Researching for a documentary film often starts with archival research. You will look through various archives, collecting anything that could relate to your topic of choice. You might find old photos and videos, newspaper articles, paintings or sketches, letters and diaries, any official documents, newsreels and unaired footage. All of this can either help you get a better understanding of the subject or event you are researching or can even be used in your documentary (MasterClass, 2021).
Another important part of your research will be finding the right people for your documentary, whether that be experts on the topic or citizens directly affected by social injustices or witnesses to certain events. Here you have to find a balance between finding people suited for the specific idea you have in mind and the ones audiences will want to watch and listen to. You might find experts or witnesses perfect for the job, but if they are not able to convey their expertise or charisma on film, you might have to rethink your options (Glynne, 2007).

In the article “Learn About Documentary Filmmaking: How to Research a Documentary Film With Tips and Advice From Ken Burns” on the website “MasterClass”, filmmaker Ken Burns is cited giving a few pieces of advice for researching your documentary. He states for example that when it comes to archival research you should always collect way more than you think you’ll need, at least 40 times as much. This way you can choose from all the possible directions your film might head into. Burns also advised to treat research like a detective following a lead, you have to dig deep and look in places that might not be obvious to get the best results. Last but not least he states that you have to be persistent, because you never know when you will find that perfect piece that will complete your story (MasterClass, 2021).

Further Developing your Idea
Another important factor that might greatly influence your research is the style of your documentary. How do you want to approach the topic you have chosen and which style will be best suited to convey the intended message? Sometimes this questions will be very easy and intuitive to answer, other times you might have to dig a bit deeper and get a bit further in your research before you know (Glynne, 2007).

The following are some of the different types of documentaries you might choose from:

  1. Observational
    This documentary style has its origin in the “cinéma vérité” movement and is defined by the fact that filmmakers neither comment nor intervene in what they document. In this type of documentary film there are no actors re-enacting the scenes after the fact, events are recorded as they are happening with as little manipulation and influence as possible (Glynne, 2007).
    A famous example of an observational documentary, also called “direct cinema” is the film “Titicut Follies” (1967) by Frederick Wiseman showing the abysmal treatment of inmates in a facility for mentally ill criminals called “the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane”. The conditions shown in the facility were so bad with inmates’ hygiene being neglected and guards mistreating them, that the state of Massachusetts banned the film from being shown until the ban was lifted in 1991 (Titicut Follies – Wikipedia, 2025).
  2. Authored
    Opposed to observational documentary, authored documentaries are highly subjective and often either include the filmmaker themself or are about the filmmaker’s life (Glynne, 2007).
    Some example of this style of documentary are “Fahrenheit 9/11” (2004) by Michael Moore where he himself talks about and comments, among other things, on the presidency of George W. Bush, the Iraq War and the media’s role in it (Fahrenheit 9/11 – Wikipedia, 2025) and “Supersize Me” (2004) by Morgan Spurlock, where Spurlock even went one step further and did the self-experiment of allegedly only eating food from McDonald’s for 30 days (Super Size Me – Wikipedia, 2024).
  3. Archive-based
    These documentaries are specifically planned around archive materials. Many historical documentaries fall under this category as it is impossible to create new authentic footage, thus many rely on archived documents, images and videos. One thing filmmakers should avoid is creating archive-based documentaries of current characters just because they don’t have access to them (Glynne, 2007). An example of an archive-based documentary is the documentary series “The Power of Nightmares” (2004) by Adam Curtis which compares the rise of the neoconservative movement in the US to the rise of the radical Islam. The documentaries consist mostly of archive footage underlined by narration of Curtis himself (The Power of Nightmares – Wikipedia, 2025).
  4. Reconstructed, Re-enactment and Drama-Documentary
    These types of documentaries recreate an actual event due to the lack of footage or because it was too far in the past. In this genre of documentary, the lines between documentaries and fictional films often get blurred leading to so-called “factions” or “docudramas” (Glynne, 2007). An example of this style would be various true-crime series or any other pieces that use a dramatised style to tell ‘true’ stories like “The Secretary who stole $4 Million” (2005) by the BBC, a drama documentary about a secretary who stole huge amounts of money from her boss and spent it all on her lavish lifestyle (Davis, 2005).
  5. Animation
    Sometimes filmmakers choose to not go for life-action footage at all in their documentaries or at leat not only. They might use the voices of real characters but animate their story, making it easier to deal with sensitive subjects without burdening the subjects or viewers (Glynne, 2007). One example Glynne mentioned was his own series of short, animated documentations called “Animated Minds” (2003), where real testimonies on different social and psychological topics are visualised through animations (Glynne, 2003).

Conclusion
Thorough research is the backbone of every documentary and will not only help you work out your storyline and the content of your film in the best way possible, but also allow you to communicate confidently with experts and potential funders. One important aspect to think about before starting to plan out your documentary is what style would be best suited for the topic you chose.

Literature

by valerie.schwarz -

The Journey of Documenting – The Idea

Introduction into the series
In preparation for creating my own documentary film at the end of my master’s, I’ve set out to find somewhat of a step-by-step guide on what it takes to succeed in this endeavour. During my research I found one book that promises to provide just that, called “Documentaries …and how to make them” (Glynne, 2007) by Andy Glynne. In the book Glynne leads (future) documentary filmmakers through the whole process, offering his own expertise and experience as well as that of various other renowned filmmakers such as Alma Har’el, Kim Longinotto, Marc Isaacs and many more. My idea for the next couple of blog entries is to create a more easily digestible and accessible collection of the information provided in the book, I can come back to during the process of creating my documentary. I will also try to find and add more information from other sources where I find it necessary, but I will mostly be basing my texts on the content provided within the book.

Part 1 – The Idea behind the Documentary

Finding your “Why”
Maybe even more important than finding out what your documentary should be about is the question of why you want to create it in the first place. Being able to answer this question passionately and with personal conviction will not only help you convince others of your idea but will also get you through the inevitable rough patches in the journey to creating your documentary. Being certain of your “why” will ensure you don’t lose your focus and drive when things might get hard (Solberg, 2024).

The reasoning for creating a documentary film can be very different depending on the person. Sometimes ideas for documentaries arise from deeply personal topics and issues, sometimes the films are used to raise or create social awareness of certain problems. Many filmmakers even chase the ultimate goal of changing the world with their creations. Although one could argue that documentaries themselves won’t change anything, their ability to instil the desire for change in their viewers make them incredibly powerful.
Some examples of when documentaries actually affected real change are the two films; “The Dying Rooms” (1995) by Kate Blewett and Brian Woods, and “A Complaint of Rape” (1982) by Roger Graef. “The Dying Rooms” shone a light on the tragic dark side of China’s one-child policy, where children were deliberately left to die because no-one wanted them. The outrage created by the film led, amongst other things, to the creation of a charity to improve the lives of orphaned and abandoned Chinese children (Whewell, 2025).
The other film Glynne mentioned, “A Complaint of Rape” was part of a documentary series on the police in the UK and showed, how rape victims are treated poorly during questioning and how police officers did not believe the women at all. After its publication on BBC, the video caused worldwide outrage and has led to a thorough reexamination of the procedures in place up until that point (BBC, 2021).


Both of these examples show how documentaries can have a real-world impact on social and political issues. However, there are also plenty of other reasons for creating a documentary film. While many filmmakers do have a political interest in mind or want to uncover social injustice, others that were cited in Glynne’s book stated that the reason they got into documentaries at all was just being nosy and liking to ask questions about other people’s lives (Glynne, 2007).
Whatever your reason might be, it is important to make sure your aim is clear enough to be able to inspire others to fund your project or watch the finished product, and also to be able to continually inspire yourself to keep going.

Finding Ideas
Whether your idea comes to you through something you already know or something you want to learn more about, something that enrages or excites you, a person our group of people you find particularly interesting or even a personal story from your own life or that of someone close to you, the most important thing you need is passion.
However, being passionate alone is not enough. You also have to check, whether your idea will actually make a good documentary. You need to ask yourself, whether there is a story behind it. Does it have an arc to it? Is there a clear goal and obstacles that have to be overcome in order to achieve it? Will your audience be intrigued enough to keep watching (Solberg, 2024)?
If you use characters in your documentary to tell the story you’ll also have to ask yourself whether they are interesting enough for the camera, what your relationship to them is and whether you have clearly and openly communicated your plans for the documentary with them.
Another important question to ask yourself early on is whether the story you have in mind is actually one that can best be told visually, so do you already have images in mind that will convey your idea?
But after all, even the best idea about the most captivating story is worth nothing if you do not have the possibility to actually create the documentary. So you have to ask yourself whether you even have the access needed for your project. Do the people you plan to tell a story about even want to be filmed? Is it save for them to be exposed like that?
Last but definitely not least, you have to ask yourself questions about the future of the documentary you want to create. Will it be commercially successful? Will audiences want to watch it and will broadcasting companies want to fund it? Has it been done before or are you the first one?
All of these questions and many more, you’ll have to ask yourself before you can turn your ideas into projects. Doing so will also help you dive deeper into the topic and familiarise yourself with it.

While there are countless different types and topics of documentaries, there are some general themes one usually better avoids when coming up with ideas. You should never try creating a documentary about experiences that you don’t know yourself and that cannot be directly viewed.
And although many filmmakers draw from personal experiences when looking for ideas, it is never a good idea to create a project about an ongoing, unresolved personal problem that might hold you back. Filmmakers should also avoid giving moral advice and preaching about a topic within their documentaries, cover problems which already have a solution or try to deal with issues they’re not able to fully grasp or understand (Glynne, 2007).

Conclusion
To sum up what is important in the process of finding the idea for a documentary, you always have to keep in mind, what it is you’re aiming at with your work. You should choose a topic that can inspire you as well as your audience and sponsors. Make sure your idea has a strong enough core, an intriguing storyline and the potential to make a visually interesting film before moving on to the next stages of your documentary.

Literature

by valerie.schwarz -

What is Overtourism?

While the term itself only emerged in recent years, the problem itself is almost as old as tourism itself (Dodds et al., 2019). So how come that in recent years we seem to have reached a tipping point?

To start from the very beginning, what even is overtourism? As the name suggests, it describes the phenomenon of excessive numbers of tourists at a specific location, which can cause various different problems for the local population. Those problems can range from increased competition on the housing market from companies acquiring short-term rentals via i.e. AirBnB, ignorant and disrespectful behaviour towards residents and simply overcrowding of public spaces (Dodds et al., 2019).

While antagonism of local populations towards tourist crowds is no new phenomenon either, in recent years residents have become more vocal about their dissatisfaction. In summer of 2024 local protestors have made an effort to “reclaim” their hometown of Barcelona , spraying graffiti demanding “Tourists go home!” or even targeting individual tourists with water guns. The citizens of Barcelona, however are not the only ones feeling like this and public attention has been drawn to the topic (Guy, 2024).

Now to understand why the issue of overtourism is seemingly reaching a boiling point as of late, one has to take a step back and look at all of the current developments fuelling mass tourism in our current society. Not only is there an ever increasing number of tourists globally, travel is also becoming more affordable with low air fares and cheap accommodations, causing more and more tourists to be able to travel more widely and more frequently. Another contributing factor is the digitalisation taking place in recent decades. Arranging travels is becoming easier, faster and more flexible with people not having to rely on third party travel agencies anymore (Dodds et al., 2019).

Not only the organisation of specific journeys but also the marketing for countless destinations has been radically changed by digitalisation. Nowadays social and popular media are some of the strongest influences for travellers. While in an age before social media, tourist destinations had to be marketed specifically and under significant financial effort, social media has now taken over and it does not matter anymore whether a place is small or big, as long as it is “instagramable”, the masses will follow (Jang et al., 2020).
However, not only social media but other forms of mass media such as movies or series contribute significantly to the promotion of certain locations. Shows such as “The Game of Thrones” for example have brought the town of Dubrovnik into the public’s eye and turned it into a popular tourist destination.(Dodds et al., 2019).

The influence of media attention has led to unexpected, unpredictable rise in tourist numbers to certain destinations and has made it even harder to control the masses, leading to the phenomenon of overtourism. Tourist numbers increase rapidly, while facilities and services find it impossible to adapt in time, worsening the problems arising with overtourism. While overtourism used to mainly affect cities, in recent years many non-urban travel destinations such as the Mount Everest have started to suffer under the sheer amount of visitors as well (Dodds et al., 2019).

Unfortunately, none of these issues will resolve themselves without any of the underlying factors changing. Limiting the amount of tourists to cities and destinations, as straightforward as it might seem, is a lot more complicated than what meets the eye. There has to be a consensus as to how many visitors are too many visitors, reducing air travel is a question of international relationships and lastly, and maybe most importantly, tourism is still a greatly profitable sector. While there is an increasing number of unhappy citizens, tourism also is an important pillar to many economies and there are many powerful people benefitting from it. Moreover, the influence of social media will most likely increase in the future, making it increasingly harder to regulate which destinations get which amount of attention (Dodds et al., 2019).

In conclusion, overtourism is merely a new name given to an old problem, which has been fuelled by social media, movies, series and the global economic development. Whilst there is a global consensus among experts that it poses a significant problem and a danger to many cultural sites, there has not yet been found a solution to combat the negative effects of overtourism.

While this blog post was merely a brief introduction into what overtourism is and which factors contribute to it, I would like to dive deeper into the influence of (social) media on the issue and maybe also explore what possibilities there are for future developments and improvements.

Literature:

by valerie.schwarz -

Defining Documentaries

“docere”
– meaning “to teach” in Latin is the root of the word “document”, leading to “documentary”, a term John Grierson first used in 1926 (Jack, 2005). And although he already provided a definition for this new film genre almost 100 years ago when he described it as “a creative treatment of actuality”, there has been a continuous effort to find a more precise, less vague definition ever since (Plantinga, 2005).

But why do we so desperately need to define what makes a documentary? Why do we keep searching?
Well, names carry meanings. They build expectations and they create responsibility.
This is especially impactful for the documentary genre where many movies communicate a – either very obvious or rather subtle – call to action to their viewers (Aufderheide, 2007).
The label “documentary” suggests to the viewers a certain level of accuracy, truthfulness and trustworthiness. How issues and topics are portrayed in documentaries can significantly shape the public’s perception of reality and impact how they act (Aufderheide, 2007).

And while many might just define documentaries as a genre simply “documenting reality”, this is not and can never be the case. Not with any type of medium, because as soon as we try to capture reality, we inherently change it. And this also rings true for documentaries. They are not real life, they merely use real life as a basis, from which they construct a story they intend to tell. During the process of selectively recording certain scenes, then editing them, arranging them and sorting through the footage, the documentary’s creators already manipulate the story at heart and thus change our perception of reality (Juel, 2006).

Now that we know that stories can never be told without manipulating them to a certain extent, an important question arises: How much manipulation is allowed in documentaries? This question has been around since the first American feature-length documentary movie “Nanook of the North”. In the movie created by Robert Flaherty, the portrayed Inuit were in fact directed heavily by Flaherty, like actors in a fiction movie. They were portrayed acting naive and ignorant about things they actually knew and they were shown acting in ways they no longer did in real life. At some point during the movie “Nanook”, which also was not his real name, bites into a gramophone record, pretending to not understand such modern technology, even though he routinely helped Flaherty with his camera equipment. Moreover, the Inuit in the movie were often compared to animals, living closed off from civilisation when that was far from the truth (Wikipedia – Nanook of the North, 2024). It remains difficult to determine, how much manipulation is acceptable, especially because some form of manipulation is already happening through the mere presence of a camera team which will influence people’s behaviour one way or another.

What remains important though is that documentaries have the responsibility to fulfil viewers’ expectations concerning truthfulness. Issues do not have to be portrayed objectively, as that is nearly impossible, and documentaries do not have to show the whole truth, but what viewers do expect is an honest and fair representation of real life. This agreement made with the audience is one that every film maker has to keep in the back of their mind (Aufderheide, 2007).

Another important aspect in defining documentaries is the purpose they follow. Unlike many fiction movies, documentaries aim to achieve something. That something might be a change in how the audience views certain topics or acts on certain issues. This is where the aforementioned “call to action” comes into play. Many documentaries aim to bring difficult topics to light. They want to show the public sides of a story they had not seen before and thus make them change their view. This brings incredible power and influence to documentaries but also comes with a lot of responsibility (Jack, 2005).

Now, all of these aspects of documentaries mostly focus on ethics, content and purpose. There are of course also a lot of technical aspects that play into making and defining documentaries. I will however, get back to the technicalities of documentaries at a later point.

To briefly conclude what we know about documentaries and their definition: not very much, but also quite a lot at the same time. Documentaries can be described as portraying reality without claiming to be real, they promise truthfulness without having to tell the whole truth and they may or may not openly admit to wanting to change and influence their audience.
As one can see, trying to define this genre will remain complicated and confusing, but at the same time incredibly important.

Literature:

by valerie.schwarz -

The Origins of (Travel) Documentaries

The history of documentaries has always been tightly intertwined with the history of cinema itself. When the Lumière Brothers first shared their groundbreaking invention – the Cinématographe – with the world in the late 19th century, the first films which ever saw the light of day were what would now be considered documentaries.
One of the first films the two brothers showcased was aptly titled “La Sortie de l’Usine Lumière à Lyon” or “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory in Lyon” and showed just that (Kaganovski et al., 2019).
According to Geva’s definition of a documentary (Geva, 2021) this film not only made history as the first piece of cinema but also as the first ever documentary.
However defining what constitutes as a documentary in the first place is not as straightforward as one might assume. Ever since the Scottish filmmaker John Grierson first coined the term “documentary” in 1926 and defined it as “the creative treatment of actuality”, experts and enthusiasts alike have tried to define what makes a documentary and keep coming to different conclusions (Plantinga, 2005).
I will however focus on the definition of documentaries at a later point and stick to analysing how they developed for now.

The Lumière brothers not only created documentaries showing ordinary events like workers leaving a factory, but they also toured the world to on one hand showcase their work, but on the other hand also to collect more of the variety the world had to offer. One thing that drew viewers into the Lumières’ screenings was a promise of “The Other”, the unknown, the faraway. Wherever they went with their shows, “the Other” meant something different, but the films were always presented in a way as to make it seem as different as possible from what people were used to. However, everywhere these films were showed and enjoyed, there was one consensus as to which place on earth was the most different and foreign to all of these viewers – The Arctic. A place incredibly hard to reach and even harder to document, the Arctic was later compared to the moon in its potential to fascinate millions of people. The public was entertained and captured by the many brave crews setting out to reach and explore the North as well as the South Pole in the early 20th century (Kaganovski et al., 2019).

Auguste and Louis Lumière were no exception. Their fascination even went so far that they financed the fourth French Antarctic expedition under Jean-Baptiste Charcot, who in turn named a mountain on the Antarctic Peninsula after them – the Lumière Peak, or Sommet Lumière in French (Wikipedia, 2024).

As one can see, the Lumière brothers, and with them cinema as a whole, can neither be separated from the Arctic expedition movement of the early twentieth century nor from the principle of documentaries as a whole and especially travel documentaries. Because that is what these early movies created by traveling the world with their Cinématographe were – the very first travel documentaries.

Between the nineteenth century and the present day, many things have changed, and just as everything else, film has evolved and adapted to phenomena such as industrialisation and globalisation.
Nowadays, travel documentaries are no longer the only way viewers are able to experience certain places, as reaching them has become a lot more realistic throughout the last couple of decades. Travel documentaries have thus shifted from bringing the destinations to the people toward bringing the people to the destinations. The tourism industry has seized the chance to use travel documentaries to their advantage and often employ them to promote their products (Lopriore, 2015).

However, one major issue that keeps gaining significance throughout the last couple of years, partly due to the rise of travel content on social media, is so-called “Overtourism” (Dodds et al., 2019).
I will discuss the term, its origins as well as potential consequences and solutions in future blog entries, but for now I want to focus on what this development might mean for the future of travel documentaries.

Documentaries will, a lot of the time, also try to make the viewers see certain, sometimes global, issues and urge them to take action towards a better world (Jack et al., 2005).
I believe that travel documentaries of the future have some responsibility to address certain problems that are closely connected and partly caused by travelling, such as climate change and overtourism. Moreover, travel documentaries should also aim to treat local culture and people with respect and to portray them as accurately and unbiasedly as possible to avoid spreading stereotypes like movies such as “Nanook of the North” did in the beginning of documentaries (Kaganovski et al., 2019).

With this short overview of the origins and history of documentary cinema as well as a brief outlook into the potential future, I wanted to give a very broad introduction into my research topic, narrowing it down as I keep writing more blog entries.

Literature: