In part two of our Verite series we discuss truth in documentary filmmaking with returning guest Sophy Romvari. Sophy’s films have increasingly blurred the line between fact and fiction and are often classified as ‘hybrid’ documentaries. What can we learn from this type of fusion cinema? We go deep on the existential questions that inevitably ensue when one claims to be telling a ‘truth’ and explore the various ways different filmmakers have sought to build ideological frameworks for reaching their truths.
In this episode, we discuss:
Documentary, the genre: a contract?
‘Hybrid’ documentary and the mix of fact and fiction
Cinema Verite and Direct Cinema: they’re different!
The Ecstatic Truth and Werner Herzog
Errol Morris’ epistemological meat grinder: is truth connected with style?
Kirsten Johnson and Cameraperson
Ethical representation of documentary subjects.
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Works discussed during this episode:
Chronicle of a Summer
Into the Abyss
Documentary Now!
Shoah
Salesman
The Thin Blue Line
Cameraperson
The Office
Sophy Romvari is a filmmaker born in Victoria, B.C. and based in Toronto. Her critically-acclaimed short films have travelled the international festival circuit and have earned her a reputation as a leading young talent. Her filmmaking is mostly autoethnographic with a focus on processing trauma, either personally or collectively. She is playful in her approach to documentary as a form, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
Her hybrid documentary Pumpkin Movie premiered at True/False festival in St. Louis to considerable praise, before bowing at Hot Docs and Sheffield Doc Fest, among many others. It toured cinemas across the United States as part of the Eyeslicer Halloween Special in October 2018. Pumpkin Movie has been praised by critics as "a lovely, subtle work of feminist protest."
In 2018 her short Norman Norman received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where critics described it as “a rich, fully developed narrative, bridging the gulf between denial and acceptance in a mere seven minutes.” The film was the centerpiece of “Super Succinct and Radically Direct,” a retrospective of Sophy’s work at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City, and was selected as the best short film of the year by rogerebert.com critic Justine Smith.
Sophy recently completed her Masters at York University during which she shot her most recent short film, Still Processing.