Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) and which simultaneously introduces unreal elements or fictional situations in

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional ( memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc ...

in order to strengthen the representation of reality using some kind of

artistic expression Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wh ...

. More precisely, it is a documentary mixed with fictional elements, in real time, filmed when the events take place, and in which the main

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

or characters—often portrayed by non-professional or amateur actors—are essentially playing themselves, or slightly fictionalized versions of themselves, in a fictionalized scenario. In this sense, docufiction may overlap to an extent with some aspects of the mockumentary format, but the terms are not synonymous. A film genre in expansion, it is adopted by a number of experimental filmmakers. The

neologism A neologism Ancient_Greek.html"_;"title="_from_Ancient_Greek">Greek_νέο-_''néo''(="new")_and_λόγος_/''lógos''_meaning_"speech,_utterance"is_a_relatively_recent_or_isolated_term,_word,_or_phrase_that_may_be_in_the_process_of_entering_com ...

docufiction appeared at the beginning of the 21st century. It is now commonly used in several languages and widely accepted for classification by international film festivals. Portrait of Robert J

Origins

The term involves a way of making films already practiced by such authors as Robert Flaherty, one of the fathers of documentary, and Jean Rouch, later in the 20th century. Being both fiction and documentary, docufiction is a hybrid genre, raising ethical problemsOpen-ended Realities
– article by Luciana Lang a
Latineos
/ref> concerning

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belief ...

, since reality may be manipulated and confused with fiction (see

Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

at creative non-fiction). In the domain of

visual anthropology Visual anthropology is a subfield of social anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media. More recently it has been used by historians of science ...

, the innovating role of Jean Rouch allows one to consider him as the father of a subgenre called ethnofiction. This term means: ethnographic documentary film with natives who play fictional roles. Making them play a role about themselves will help portray reality, which will be reinforced with imagery. A non-ethnographic documentary with fictional elements uses the same method and, for the same reasons, may be called docufiction.

Docudrama and mockumentary

In contrast,

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

is usually a dramatized recreation of factual events in form of a documentary, at a time subsequent to the "real" events it portrays. While ''docudrama'' can be confused with ''docufiction,'' "docudrama" refers specifically to film or other television recreations that dramatize certain events, often with actors. A mockumentary is also a film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format, sometimes a recreation of factual events after they took place or a comment on current events, typically satirical, comedic or even dramatic. Whereas mockumentaries are usually fully scripted comedies or dramas that merely adopt some aspects of documentary format as a framing device, docufictions are usually not scripted, instead placing the participants in a fictionalized scenario while portraying their own genuine reactions and their own improvisational dialogue and character development.

First docufictions by country

* 1926:

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

– '' Moana'' by Robert Flaherty * 1930:

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

– '' Maria do Mar'' by

Leitão de Barros A suckling pig is a piglet fed on its mother's milk (i.e., a piglet which is still a "suckling"). In culinary contexts, a suckling pig is slaughtered between the ages of two and six weeks. It is traditionally cooked whole, often roasted, in ...

* 1932:

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

– '' L'or des mers'' by Jean Epstein * 1948:

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

– '' La Terra Trema'' by Luchino Visconti * 1952:

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

– '' Children of Hiroshima'' by Kaneto Shindo * 1963:

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

– '' Pour la suite du monde'' (''Of Whales, the Moon and Men'') by Pierre Perrault and

Michel Brault Michel Brault, OQ (25 June 1928 – 21 September 2013) was a Canadian cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the National ...

* 1981:

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

– ''

Trances ''Trances'' is the second album by the American ambient musician Robert Rich. Like his first album '' Sunyata'', this album consists of slow, textural drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre that e ...

'' by Ahmed El Maânouni * 1988: Guiné-Bissau – '' Mortu Nega'' (Death denied) by Flora Gomes * 1990:

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

– '' Close-up'' by

Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( fa, عباس کیارستمی ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of ...

* 1991:

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

– '' Zombie and the Ghost Train'' by Mika Kaurismäki * 2002:

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

– '' City of God'' by Fernando Meirelles and

Kátia Lund Kátia Lund (born March 13, 1966) is a Brazilian film director and screenwriter. Her most notable work was as co-director of the film '' City of God''. Early life Lund was born in São Paulo, to American parents who emigrated to Brazil before she ...

* 2005:

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

– ''

Underexposure In photography, exposure is the amount of light per unit area (the image plane's illuminance times the exposure time) reaching a frame of photographic film or the surface of an electronic image sensor, as determined by shutter speed, lens F-n ...

'' by Oday Rasheed

Other notable examples

* 1927: '' Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness'' by Merian C. Cooper and

Ernest B. Schoedsack Ernest Beaumont Schoedsack (June 8, 1893 – December 23, 1979) was an American motion picture cinematographer, producer, and director. Schoedsack worked as a cameraman in World War I, where he served in the Signal Corps. At the conclusion o ...

(US) * 1931: '' Tabu'' by Robert Flaherty and

F.W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer and screenwriter. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at th ...

(US) * 1934: ''

Man of Aran ''Man of Aran'' is a 1934 Irish fictional documentary ( ethnofiction) film shot, written and directed by Robert J. Flaherty about life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters living in premodern conditions ...

'' by Robert Flaherty (US) * 1942: '' Ala-Arriba!'' by

(Portugal) * 1948: ''

Louisiana Story ''Louisiana Story'' is a 1948 American black-and-white drama film directed by Robert J. Flaherty. Although it has historically been represented as a documentary film, the events and characters depicted are fictional and the film was commissioned ...

'' by Robert Flaherty (US) * 1956: '' On the Bowery'' by Lionel Rogosin (US) * 1958: '' Walt Disney's White Wilderness by James Algar (US) * 1958: '' Moi, un noir'' (Me, A Black Man) by Jean Rouch (France) * 1959 '' India Matri Bhumi'' (The Motherland) by

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

, released 2007 (Italy) * 1959: '' Come Back, Africa'' by Lionel Rogosin (US) * 1961: '' La pyramide humaine'' by Jean Rouch (The Human Pyramid) (France) * 1962: ''

Rite of Spring ''The Rite of Spring''. Full name: ''The Rite of Spring: Pictures from Pagan Russia in Two Parts'' (french: Le Sacre du printemps: tableaux de la Russie païenne en deux parties) (french: Le Sacre du printemps, link=no) is a ballet and orchestral ...

'' by Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal) * 1964: '' Belarmino'' by Fernando Lopes (Portugal) * 1967: '' David Holzman's Diary'' by Jim McBride (US) * 1970: '' The Clowns'' by

Federico Fellini Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most ...

(Italy) * 1973: '' Trevico-Torino (viaggio nel Fiat-Nam)'' by Ettore Scola (Italy) * 1974: ''

Orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

(Les Ordres)'', by

(Canada) * 1974: '' Montreal Main'', by Frank Vitale (Canada) * 1976: '' People from Praia da Vieira'' by

António Campos António Campos (29 May 1922 – 8 March 1999) was one of the pioneer filmmakers of visual anthropology in Portugal. Mainly using pure documentary techniques, he shot ethnographic films and tried docufiction. As well as in fictional films, he u ...

(Portugal) * 1976: '' Trás-os-Montes'' (Portugal) * 1982: '' Ana'' by

António Reis António Ferreira Gonçalves dos Reis, known as António Reis (27 August 1927 – 10 September 1991), was a Portuguese film director, screenwriter and producer, poet, sculptor and ethnographer. He was married to Margarida Cordeiro, co-director o ...

and Margarida Cordeiro (Portugal) * 1982: ''

After the Axe ''After the Axe'' is a 1982 Canadian drama film about executive firings directed by Sturla Gunnarsson. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film explores the experiences of managers getting fired and the emer ...

'', by

Sturla Gunnarsson Sturla Gunnarsson (born August 30, 1951) is an Icelandic-Canadian film and television director and producer. Gunnarsson was born in Reykjavík in 1951. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, with his parents when he was seven years old. As h ...

(Canada) * 1984: ''

The Masculine Mystique ''The Masculine Mystique'' is a Canadian docufiction film directed by Giles Walker and John N. Smith and released in 1984. The film centres on Alex ( Sam Grana), Blue ( Stefan Wodoslawsky), Mort ( Mort Ransen) and Ashley (Ashley Murray), four m ...

'' by

Giles Walker Giles Walker (January 17, 1946 - March 23, 2020) was a Scottish-born Canadian film director. Biography Giles Walker, born in 1946 in Dundee, Scotland, received a B.A. from the University of New Brunswick and an M.A. from Stanford University Fi ...

and John N. Smith (Canada) * 1985: ''

90 Days ''90 Days'' is a video news magazine produced by McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, MO and distributed at the end of every business quarter (hence the show's title) through the mail to employees and shareholders of the company in VHS format. From it ...

'' by Giles Walker (Canada) * 1986: '' Sitting in Limbo'' by John N. Smith (Canada) * 1987: '' The Last Straw'' by Giles Walker (Canada) * 1987: ''

Train of Dreams ''Train of Dreams'' is a 1987 Canadian film directed by John N. Smith and starring Jason St. Amour, Christopher Neil and Frederick Eugene Ward as a popular teacher. In this documentary-style drama, a delinquent teenager tries to put his life o ...

'' by John N. Smith (Canada) * 1989: ''

Welcome to Canada ''Welcome to Canada'' is a Canadian docufiction film directed by John N. Smith and released in 1989. Loosely based on a real-life incident, the film depicts the interactions of a small community in Newfoundland with a group of Sri Lankan Tamil ...

'' by John N. Smith (Canada) * 1990: ''

The Company of Strangers ''The Company of Strangers'' (US release title: ''Strangers in Good Company''; French title: ''Le Fabuleux gang des sept'') is a Canadian film, released in 1990. It was directed by Cynthia Scott and was written by Scott, Sally Bochner, David Wi ...

'' by Cynthia Scott (Canada) * 1991: ''

And Life Goes On ''And Life Goes On'' ( fa, زندگی و دیگر هیچ ''Zendegi va digar hich''; also called ''Life, and Nothing More...'') is a 1992 Iranian film directed by Abbas Kiarostami. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cann ...

'' by

(Iran) * 2000: '' In Vanda's Room'' by Pedro Costa (Portugal) * 2002: '' Ten'' by

(Iran) * 2006: '' Colossal Youth'' by Pedro Costa (Portugal) * 2007: '' Criminals Gone Wild'' by Ousala Aleem (US) * 2008: '' Our Beloved Month of August'' by Miguel Gomes (Portugal) * 2009: '' Carcasses'' by Denis Côté (Canada)"A meditation on what it means to be marginal". ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of t ...

'', May 29, 2009. * 2009: '' The Mouth of the Wolf'' by Pietro Marcello (Italy) * 2013: ''

Closed Curtain ''Closed Curtain'' ( fa, پرده, italics=yes, ''Pardeh'') is a 2013 Iranian docufiction film by Jafar Panahi and Kambuzia Partovi. It premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on February 12, 2013 where Panahi won the Silver Bear f ...

'' by Jafar Panahi and

Kambuzia Partovi Kambuzia Partovi (also spelt Kambozia Partovi, fa, کامبوزیا پرتوی; 11 November 1955 – 24 November 2020) was an Iranian film director and screenwriter. Biography He was born in Rasht, Iran, on the Caspian Sea. After studying theate ...

(Iran) * 2015: '' Taxi'' by Jafar Panahi (Iran) * 2016: '' Tuktuq'' by Robin Aubert (Canada) * 2018: '' Mad Dog Labine'' by Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr and Renaud Lessard (Canada)"«Mad Dog Labine»: irrésistiblement «rough»"
'' Le Devoir'', April 6, 2019 * 2019: '' Rolling Thunder Revue'' by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

(US)

References

Sources and bibliography

THESES online *
Docufiction in the Digital Age
– thesis by Tay Huizhen, National University of Singapore *
The Zulu Mask: The Role of Creative Imagination in Documentary Film
– thesis by Clifford Derrick, Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg *
Docudrama: the real (his)tory
thesis by Çiçek Coşkun (New York University School of Education) *
Issues in contemporary documentary
by Jane Chapman at Google Books (pages 1 to 34) ARTICLES and ESSAYS *
Shaping the Real: Directorial imagination and the visualisation of evidence in the hybrid documentary
– article b

a

Media Department at Macquarie University, Sydney *
Docufiction: Where Art and Life Merge and Diverge
�� Article by Julie Drizin a
Makers Quest 2.0
*
New Media Documentary
– Paper by Gunthar Hartwig *
Docudrama: the real (his)tory
*
Panel: At The Edge of Truth: Hybrid Documentaries
a
Vox Talk
magazine *
The dual phase oscillation hypothesis and the neuropsychology of docu-fiction film
– article b
Dyutiman Mukhopadhyay
Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, vol. 16, no. 1, April 2015 *
A creative treatment of actuality
– paper b
Peter Biesterfeld
a
Videomaker
August 7, 2015 *
The art paradox
– article b
Bert Oliver
a
Thought Leader
September 17, 2012 ---- *

– thesis by François Garçon (abstract in English and French) *

– interview (Le Journal du CNRS) *
Peter Watkins, un cinéaste maudit
article at Critikat ---- *
Un genere cinematografico: la docu-fiction. Il caso di 150 ore a Pavia
by Laura Marchesi (thesis – abstract) CITATIONS * * * {{Film genres Neologisms Film genres Cinematic techniques Drama genres Documentary film genres Fiction by genre Fiction forms Television genres