Cinema Vérité: Defining the Moment

by Katherine Speller
Katherine Speller is a documentary filmmaker (Maverick) and regular contributor to the online documentary journal, documenter.com.




The cinéma vérité revolution opened a window onto real life and real issues. It freed the documentary from stilted, staged shots.( Peter Wintonick )

"It's all art. There is no reality. It is all constructed" according to Peter Wintonick when interviewed at the 1999 Adelaide International Documentary Conference about his latest documentary, Cinema Vérité: Defining the Moment (1999). Throughout this interview, he traversed the debates and discussions central to the development of the documentary and the role of cinema vérité as a technique to closer approximate the recording of 'truth'. Cinema Vérité: Defining the Moment is a comment on such historical documentary debates over time, including the more recent revolutionary development of new technologies and the wider changes in film language. This new film by Peter Wintonick can be seen as an extension of his earlier films and multi-media work, focusing on the contribution of cinema vérité to contemporary documentary and film culture.