Imagining Reality: the Faber Book of the

This book traces the development of the genre of the documentary films from the very first film shot by Louis Lumiere in 1895 to the very last shaggy dog story, Nick Broomfield's TV film, "Tracking Down Maggie", to the phenomenal commercial success of Steve James' three hour saga, "Hoop Dreams". Originally published in 1997.

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Exploring the documentary film, this book traces its development from the very first film shot by Louis Lumiere in 1895 to the last shaggy-dog story (Nick Broomfield's TV film, "Tracking Down Maggie), and the commercial success of Steve James's three-hour saga, "Hoop Dreams". The book's polemical edge challenges the documentary to reinvent itself, to spread its wings again beyond the restrictive forms of televison. Kevin Macdonald is the author of a biography of his grandfather, "Emeric Pressburger: the Life and Death of a Screenwriter".