In this 2-hour seminar, we will explore the different modes documentary filmmakers use to shape reality on screen — from the authoritative "voice of God" of expository film to the raw immediacy of direct cinema, the self-aware provocations of reflexive work, and the visual poetry of the experimental mode. Since the term "documentary" in 1926 was coined as the "creative treatment of actuality," filmmakers have been negotiating the tension between truth and construction — and every choice of style is also a choice about how you relate to your subject, your camera, and your audience.

This session challenges participants to move beyond instinctively imitating the documentaries they've grown up watching, and instead to consciously identify which mode — or combination of modes — actually serves the story they want to tell, through concrete film examples and case studies drawn from key movements in documentary history.

Whether you are a filmmaker, student, or simply curious about how nonfiction storytelling really works, this workshop invites you to rethink how you look at — and make — documentary film.