Friday, November 29, 2013

TED'S DIGITAL JUNGLE - DIGITAL NEWSREEL #12

IV.6. The Relevance of the Vertov Legacy to the Digital Revolution:

The Vertov legacy in documentary has been extensive, and is still growing today. 

For example, Vertov was the direct progenitor of the cinema verite movement in the 1960s that used new light-weight cameras and equipment to show the world in ways it had never been shown before, and the name cinema verite itself is a direct translation of Kino Pravda.   The influential French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard was also a great admirer of Vertov for his ability to fuse political statement with artistic creativity, and started La Groupe Dziga Vertov in 1968 with several collegaues to make political films following the example set by Vertov with Kino Pravda almost half a century earlier.[1]

His appeal is not limited to the French nouvelle vague and practitioners of cinema verite. Anyone seriously interested in the potential of cinema and cinematic language found useful ideas and observations in Vertov’s works and writings.
His Futurist faith in technology also resonates today.

 In addition to dynamic change, the Futurists adored modern technology, and Vertov worshipped the film camera and explored its potential in ways few have ever done. He took his Lumiere camera on trains, boats, cars and trains, and even underneath trains. He showed intimate moments of daily life in public places with hidden cameras, experimented with pixilation and reverse motion, and frequently had reflexive shots of his camera operator in action.

His documentary feature, “The Man With The Movie Camera” is still admired as a creative masterpiece, and, most recently, was voted 8th best film of all time in the 2012  Sight and Sound  poll.[2]
This poll included all film genres – fiction, as well as documentary. In the 21st century, with an increased interest in documentary due to the rapid proliferation of digital technology, cinema historians are once again rediscovering  the works and writings of Vertov; after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s  many of his films have become available to see on YouTube and elsewhere in the Western world, and English translations of his writings are also now available to the general public.

 Now , fortunately, people can judge his relevance for themselves, rather than relying on the interpretations of experts like Ivor Montagu and John Grierson.




[1] Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dziga.vertov)
[2] Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/dziga_vertov)

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