First shot: 80 documentary films

Author: Zhang Qiu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features:
Comprehensive Information: Offers a full introduction to the historical background, figures, events, facts, and behind-the-scenes insights related to the documentaries, sharing the unique power of real-life stories with the audience.
Complete Content: Includes 80 documentary films covering historical and cultural, environmental and natural, celebrity biographies, true stories, and recent outstanding documentaries, encompassing the entire world of documentary films.
Convenient Search: The main text includes bilingual photo captions, country/region names, production years, running times, and major awards for the films; the appendix features the 20 best documentaries selected by the International Documentary Association on its 20th anniversary and a chronicle of world documentary film milestones, providing a comprehensive view of the history of documentary films.
The 80 films included in this book are collectively referred to as "Real Movies," borrowing a term from the history of documentary films. The reason for using "borrowing" instead of "using" is that the original strict concept of documentary films has been diluted and broadened in the book. It includes both the recording of reality and the recreation of reality, encompassing non-fiction and fiction, documentaries and narrative films, as well as the so-called "mockumentaries" that fall between the two. However, their core remains the same—truth.
The title of this book is "Mirror," which is in line with the needs of the series, and the asterisk () in "Mirror" carries the meaning of "truth" and "directness," making it a rather vivid and fitting alias for "Real Movies." Among the 80 films, the selection intentionally highlights recent classic, outstanding, and popular new releases and DVDs, while also including some beloved classics and even a few television documentaries. To help readers better understand the historical, personal, event, and factual backgrounds related to the films or behind-the-scenes insights, the introduction provides concise introductions to these topics, which is undoubtedly one of the valuable aspects of this book for many readers.