Can documentary film create social change?
If you don’t have in mind the investigative political candidates for the Pulitzer Prize, then no. It’s enough to open a discussion on a theme. A documentary by itself doesn’t have the power. A documentary needs to happen as a part of a broader movement; a discussion which involves the whole society, then it can reinforce social understanding about a specific problem. Come to see, for example, the One World Human Rights Festival in Prague. Every year they show several very strong critical themes. Well made. Each of these themes has a goal of social change. But a documentary film doesn’t have such power. The world is over-seeded with themes and social change – it’s complicated marketing. At the FAMU (Film Academy), you wrote a theoretical work about stereotypes in documentary films. Did this change? What are the stereotypes today? Yes, it was an era of outspoken ideals. But it’s true that a stereotype begins to threaten, for example, at the moment when you lose your concentration among s
