First shot -- 80 documentary films

Author: Zhang Qiu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features:
Detailed Information: Provides a comprehensive introduction to the historical background, figures, events, facts, and behind-the-scenes insights related to the documentaries, sharing the unique power of real-life storytelling.
Complete Content: Covers 80 documentary films, including historical and cultural, environmental and natural, celebrity biographies, true stories, and recent outstanding documentary works, offering a comprehensive overview of the documentary film genre.
Convenient Search: The main text includes bilingual photo captions, country/region names, production years, film lengths, and major awards; 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 development 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 borrowing rather than using it officially is that the original strict concept of documentary film has been diluted and broadened in the book. It includes both the recording of reality and the reenactment of reality, encompassing both 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 () here carries the meaning of "truth" and "directness," making it a rather vivid and fitting alias for "Real Movies." Among the 80 films in the book, the selection of titles intentionally highlights classic, outstanding, and popular new releases and DVD releases in recent years, while also including some beloved classics and even a few television documentaries.
To help readers better understand the historical background, figures, events, and facts related to the films, or the behind-the-scenes insights, a brief introduction is provided in the preface, which is undoubtedly one of the valuable highlights of the book for many readers.