What is Cinémavérité?

Cinémavérité (or the closely related direct cinema) was dependent on some technical advances in order to exist: light, quiet and reliable cameras, and portable sync sound. Cinémavérité and similar documentary traditions can thus be seen, in a broader perspective, as a reaction against studio-based film production constraints.

In the 1960's and 1970's, documentary film was often conceived as a political weapon against neo-colonialism and capitalism in general, especially in Latin America. La Hora de los hornos (The Hour of the Furnaces, from 1968), directed by Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas, influenced a whole generation of filmmakers. 

Historical documentaries, such as the landmark 14-hour Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years (1986) by Henry Hampton, Four Little Girls (1997) by Spike Lee, and The Civil War by Ken Burns, UNESCO awarded independent film on slavery 500 Years Later, expressed not only a distinctive voice but also a perspective and point of views.