From Robert Flaerthy to Michael Moore, the history of documentary cinema is the story of a complex form of appropriation of reality. The documentary is today an open territory, linguistically varied and uncertain, which gathers very different paths and perspectives. What is the documentary? What are its characteristics? What do expressions like “cinema of the real” and “cinema verité” hide? Is there room, in the cinema, for the truth? What are the reasons for the growing success of “false documentaries”? Marco Bertozzi, a reference figure in the studies on the cinema of the real, will guide us to the discovery of the different faces of the documentary: from “creator of reality” and instrument of propaganda to privileged means of “cinema of thought”. In recent years it seems that the documentary has managed to find a place again in the mental horizon of the Italian spectator, but the poetic forms linked to the cinema of reality are the object of little valorization. Here is a good opportunity to know and re-evaluate the refinements of the documentary idea and discover the secrets of the ambiguously documentary character of cinema.
Marco Bertozzi, documentary filmmaker, professor of documentary and experimental cinema at the IUAV in Venice, is part of that group of authors who, in recent years, have approached the cinema of reality in multiple directions, combining strong expressive research with a commitment to the growth of independent cinema and creative documentary. Among his works: Appunti romani (2004), Il senso degli altri (2007), Predappio in Luce (2008). He has always combined his activity as a filmmaker with theoretical reflection on the forms of realist cinema, with essays in national and international magazines and texts such as L’idea documentaria (Turin, 2003) and Storia del documento italiano (Venice, 2008), cultural promotion activities, teaching commitment (at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, at the DAMS of Roma Tre, at the University of Macerata). He has published, among other things, La veduta Lumière. L’immaginario urbano nel cinema delle origini (Bologna, 2001), L’occhio e la pietra. Il cinema una cultura urbana (Turin, 2003) and edited by Bibliofellini (the general bibliography on Federico Fellini, 3 volumes, Rimini/Rome, 2002-2004).