Edgar Morin (left) andJean Rouch (right), the two founders of cinéma vérité.

Cinéma vérité (UK:/ˌsɪnɪməˈvɛrɪteɪ/,US:/-ˌvɛrɪˈteɪ/,French:[sinemaveʁite]lit. ' truth cinema' or'truthful cinema') is a style ofdocumentary filmmaking developed byEdgar Morin andJean Rouch, inspired byDziga Vertov's theory aboutKino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind reality.^[1][2][3]It is sometimes calledobservational cinema,^[4][5] if understood as puredirect cinema: mainly without a narrator'svoice-over. There are subtle, yet important, differences between terms expressing similar concepts. Direct cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence: operating within whatBill Nichols,^[6] an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the "observational mode", afly on the wall. Many therefore see a paradox in drawing attention away from the presence of the camera and simultaneously interfering in the reality it registers when attempting to discover a cinematic truth.

Cinéma vérité can involve stylized set-ups and interaction between the filmmaker and the subject, even to the point of provocation. Some argue that the obvious presence of the filmmaker and camera was seen by most cinéma vérité filmmakers as the best way to reveal the truth.^[7][8][9] The camera is always acknowledged, for it performs the act of filming real objects, people, and events in a confrontational way. The filmmaker's intention was to represent the truth as objectively as possible, freeing the viewer from deceptions in how those aspects of life were formerly presented to them. From this perspective, the filmmaker should be the catalyst of a situation. Even among filmmakers whose works are described by these terms, there is little consensus on their meanings.

Pierre Perrault sets situations up and then films them, for example inPour la suite du monde (1963) where he asked old people to fish for whale. The result is not a documentary about whale fishing; it is about memory and lineage. In this sense cinéma vérité is concerned with anthropological cinema, and with the social and political implications of what is captured on film. How a filmmaker shoots a film, what is being filmed, what to do with what was filmed, and how that film will be presented to an audience, all were very important for filmmakers of the time.

In all cases, the ethical and aesthetic analysis of documentary form (seedocufiction) of the 1950s and 1960s has to be linked with a critical look at post-war propaganda analysis. This type of cinema is concerned with notions of truth and reality in film. Feminist documentary films of the 1970s often used cinéma-vérité techniques. This sort of "realism" was criticized for its deceptive pseudo-natural construction of reality.^[10][11]

Edgar Morin coined the term around the time of such essential films as 1960'sPrimary^[12] and his own 1961 collaboration withJean Rouch,Chronicle of a Summer.^[13]

• Robert Drew^[14][15][16]
• Haskell Wexler^[17]
• Richard Leacock^{[14][15][18][19]}
• D. A. Pennebaker^{[14][15][20][21][18][19][16]}
• Jean Rouch^[14][20]

Sources:^[15][21][19]

• William Greaves^[16]
• Jim McBride^[16]
• Lindsay Anderson^[14]
• Sean Baker^[22]
• Tony Richardson^[14]
• Karel Reisz^[14]
• Agnes Varda^[18][16]
• Shirley Clarke^[14][20][19]
• Chris Marker^[14]
• Jean-Luc Godard^[23][19]
• Vittorio De Seta^[18]
• The Maysles Brothers (Albert and David Maysles)^{[14][15][24][21][18][19][16]}
• Frederick Wiseman^[14][15]
• John Cassavetes^[25][26]
• Barbara Kopple^[27][20][21]
• Les Blank^[20][18]
• Peter Watkins^[28]
• Matthew Heineman^[29]

• Daybreak Express (1953)^[21][18]
• Sea Countrymen (1955)^[21][18]
• Primary (1960)^{[12][30][31][32][29][20][21][33]}
• Chronicle of a Summer (1961)^{[34][32][15][20][16]}
• Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)^{[15][20][21][16]}
• Love Meetings(1964)^[35][36][37]
• Happy Mother's Day (1964)^{[38][32][21][18]}
• A Time For Burning (1966)^[16]
• Dont Look Back (1967)^{[39][31][32][29][20][16]}
• Portrait of Jason (1967)^{[14][31][20][19]}
• Titicut Follies (1967)^[14][32][16]
• Uncle Yanco (1967)^[21][18]
• The Blues Accordin' to Lightnin' Hopkins (1968)^[18][21]
• High School (1968)^[40][19]
• Monterey Pop (1968)^[31][20][16]
• Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)^[16]
• Law and Order (1969)^[16]
• Salesman (1969)^{[14][31][15][20][21][19]}
• Gimme Shelter (1970)^{[14][31][15][20]}
• Hospital (1970)^[16]
• I Am Somebody (1970)^[16]
• Woodstock (1970)^[31][21]
• Mainstreet Soldier (1972)^[41]
• Christo's Valley Curtain (1973)^[21][18]
• A Film of Their 1973 Spring Tour Commissioned by Christian Liberation Front of Berkeley California (1974)^[42]
• Italianamerican (1974)^[21][18]
• The Plaint of Steve Kreines as recorded by his younger brother Jeff (1974)^[43]
• A Poem Is a Naked Person (1974)^[31][20][21]
• Grey Gardens (1975)^{[14][31][32][15][20][21]}
• Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)^[31][21]
• Da Real Makoy (1977)^[44]
• Always for Pleasure (1978)^[31][20][21]
• Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)^[18][21]
• The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)^[45] and the sequelThe Metal Years (1988)^[46]
• The Atomic Cafe (1982)^{[47][48][49][50]}
• Burden of Dreams (1982)^[31][20][21]
• Say Amen, Somebody (1982)^[51]
• Streetwise (1984)^[52]
• Sherman's March (1986)^[53]
• Crack USA: County Under Siege (1989)^[54]
• Bumming in Beijing (1990)^[55]
• Paris Is Burning (1990)^[56][57]
• American Dream (1991)^[31][21]
• The War Room (1993)^{[14][31][20][21]}
• Hoop Dreams (1994)^[58]
• Tarnation (2003)^[59]
• Control Room (2004)^[60]
• Murderball (2005)^[29]
• How to Survive a Plague (2012)^[61]
• Frame by Frame (2015)^[62]
• Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)^[63]
• Cow (2021)^[64]
• When We Were Bullies (2021)^[32]
• Jeen-Yuhs (2022)^[65]
• The Devil Is Busy (2025)^[66]

The following are films that are fictional or semi-fictional which use cinéma vérité film-making techniques:

• The Phenix City Story (1955)^[67]
• Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)^[19][16]
• A Child is Waiting (1963)^[68]
• David Holzman's Diary (1967)^[16]
• Faces (1968)^[69][19][16]
• Medium Cool (1969)^[17][21][16]
• Multiple Maniacs (1970)^[70]
• Wanda (1970)^[71]
• Bush Mama (1979)^[72]
• This Is Spinal Tap (1984)^[73]
• Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)^[74][75]
• Bad Movie (1997)^[76]
• Slam (1998)^[77]
• Thirteen (2003)^[78]
• Take Out (2004)^[79]
• Daddy Longlegs (2009)^[80]
• Certified Copy (2010)^[81]
• Tangerine (2015)^[82]
• American Honey (2016)^[83]
• The Florida Project (2017)^[84]
• Gasoline Rainbow (2024)^[85][86]

Many film directors of the 1960s and later adopted use of handheld camera and other cinéma vérité aspects for their scripted, fiction films—having actors improvise to get a more spontaneous quality in their dialogue and action. Influential examples include directorJohn Cassavetes, who broke ground with his 1968Academy Award-nominated filmFaces.^[87] The techniques of cinéma vérité can also be seen in fictional films fromThe Blair Witch Project^[14] toSaving Private Ryan.^[88]

Cinéma vérité was also adapted for use in scripted TV programs, such asHomicide: Life on the Street,NYPD Blue,The Shield,^[14] both the UK and American versions ofThe Office,^[32]Parks & Recreation^[89] andModern Family.^[14] Documentary series are less common, butCOPS is one famous non-fictional example.^[14]

It has also been a subject ripe for parodies and spoofs such as themockumentary filmThis Is Spinal Tap^[90] andEmmy Award-nominated TV seriesDocumentary Now (the latter paying homage to the style of such CV classics asGrey Gardens,Salesman andThe War Room).^[91][92]

• Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment
• Cinema Verite – the 2011HBO TV movie about the making ofPBS's 1973 documentary seriesAn American Family
• Ethnofiction
• Found footage (pseudo-documentary)
• Pilottone
• Sync sound
• 16 mm film
• Guerrilla filmmaking
• Dogme 95

• REALISM, article by Robert McConnell atParlez-vous.com
• Cinéma Vérité at Encyclopædia Britannica
• French Realism and Cinema Verite at theWayback Machine (archive index)
• Cinéma Vérité: Defining The Moment, IMDb.

• Documentary film styles
• New Wave in cinema
• Film genres
• 1950s in film
• 1960s in film
• 1970s in film
• 1980s in film
• 1990s in film
• 2000s in film
• 2010s in film
• 2020s in film
• 1960s neologisms

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