For this conference, I will continue my reflections on islands and documentary cinema. Islands have attracted many filmmakers. The word “documentary” as a cinematic genre was first coined by John Grierson for the film Moana shot in Samoa Islands by Robert Flaherty (1926). With the time, the documentary cinema has been renewed and new gazes have emerged. Some “island films” have proposed challenging gazes upon the world from small places (i.e the films of Pierre Perrault, Jean-Daniel Pollet or Gianfranco Rossi).The documentary cinema is by essence a syncretic work including poetic, political and anthropological dimensions. Documentary cinema often entangles the “real” with the “fiction”. It is even more obvious in “island films” due to the strong imaginary the place conveys. The island is a motif going beyond the fiction and documentary genres in the work of some filmmakers that have directed both documentary and fiction films. In my presentation I will first attempt to define what is an “island documentary film”, present the corpus of films and then focus on some films and prominent filmmakers.

For this conference, I will continue my reflections on islands and documentary cinema. Islands have attracted many filmmakers. The word “documentary” as a cinematic genre was first coined by John Grierson for the film Moana shot in Samoa Islands by Robert Flaherty (1926). With the time, the documentary cinema has been renewed and new gazes have emerged. Some “island films” have proposed challenging gazes upon the world from small places (i.e the films of Pierre Perrault, Jean-Daniel Pollet or Gianfranco Rossi).The documentary cinema is by essence a syncretic work including poetic, political and anthropological dimensions. Documentary cinema often entangles the “real” with the “fiction”. It is even more obvious in “island films” due to the strong imaginary the place conveys. The island is a motif going beyond the fiction and documentary genres in the work of some filmmakers that have directed both documentary and fiction films. In my presentation I will first attempt to define what is an “island documentary film”, present the corpus of films and then focus on some films and prominent filmmakers.