How Documentaries Went Mainstream A History, 1960-2022

Nora Stone is a film historian and filmmaker teaching at the University of Alabama. She earned a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has published work in Media Industries Journal, Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, and Los Angeles Review of Books. Her short films have screened at the Maryland Film Festival, Wisconsin Film Festival, Architecture and Design Film Festival, among others. She produced and art-directed the independent feature film A Dim Valley (distributed by Altered Innocence).

Introduction: How Documentaries Went Mainstream

Chapter 1: 1960 to 1977, Direct Cinema Blossoms, But Little Support for Documentary Films in Theaters

Chapter 2: 1978 to 1989, A Rising Tide: How the Independent Film Movement Boosted Documentaries

Chapter 3: 1978 to 1990, Fighting For A Place On Public Television: Independent Filmmakers Lobby

Chapter 4: 1990 to 1999, Television or Cinema? Redefining Documentary for Prestige and Profit

Chapter 5: 2000 to 2007, The Docbuster Era

Chapter 6: 2008 to 2022, Streaming Video Drives Documentary Production Trends and Private Investment

Conclusion: Documentary Film Inches Closer to the Center, But Core Tensions Remain

Bibliography
Index