When documentaries are more interesting than feature films. Discussing non-fiction films on the Watchmen podcast

If you ask a person what he would be more willing to watch on a free evening - a fictional or documentary film, the choice will most likely fall on the first option. Because stereotypes will again prevail over common sense: in the mass consciousness, documentary is something boring, monotonous and overloaded with “smart” information.

We hasten to destroy this myth: everything is far from so sad! Just look at the documentaries section of the Netflix catalog. “Hands off the cats!”, “Icarus” and, of course, “King of the Tigers” - hardly anyone would call all these works a dull and abstruse “tambourine”.

In this episode, the presenters of the "Watchman" Alexei Khromov and Mikhail Volnyh discuss how you can tell a story in such a way that so that the viewer is not taken away from the screen, how to shoot wildlife, so as not to scare a lion, and also slightly walked on fake and comic documentaries. And just a little, literally a little, touch the topic of translations.

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01:18 - Has the series "King of the Tigers" changed the documentary genre?
10:20 - “In Search of the Sugar Man”: how an investigative film about a rock musician gave the artist a new wave of popularity.
18:52 - Mikhail tells how television once betrayed him, after which he almost stopped trusting TV programs. Further - about the episode-drawing from the series of films "Geniuses and villains of the passing century."
28:04 - about films about Borat and translations of these comedies into Russian.
32:20 - the documentary cycle "Investigation was conducted" with Leonid Kanevsky: do the authors think out the stories they are telling.
38:38 - films about nature: how they are created, what cameras are used when shooting wild animals and where the operator is hiding.

What to watch

We've collected the films and TV shows that were mentioned in the podcast:

• The Tiger King: Murder, Chaos and Madness, directed by Rebecca Chaiklin, Eric Goode, 2020.
• Octopuses, Created by Jim Fortier, Dave Willis, 2005-present.
• Super Prison! By Christie Caracas, 2007–2014.
• "The Man with the Movie Camera", directed by Dziga Vertov, 1929.
• In Search of the Sugar Man, directed by Malik Benjellul, 2012.
• Tunnel 29, Created by Royven Frank, Pierce Anderton, 1962.
• "The Blair Witch: Term from the Beyond", directed by Daniel Mirik, Eduardo Sanchez, 1999.
• "Real Ghouls", directed by Taika Waititi, 2014.
• American Vandal, directed by Tony Yasenda, 2017–2018.
• Creating a Killer, directed by Moira Demos, Laura Ricciardi, 2015–2018.
• Borat, directed by Larry Charles, 2006.
• «Borat-2", Directed by Jason Walliner, 2020.
• Legends, creator - Aaron Manke, 2017–2018.
• Birds, directed by Jacques Perrin, Jacques Clusot, Michel Debat, 2001.
• Birds-2: Journey to the End of the World, directed by Luc Jacquet, 2004.
• Earth: One Great Day, directed by Richard Dale, Fan Lixin, Peter Webber, 2017.
• "Microcosm", directors - Claude Nuridzani, Marie Perenu, 1996.