The government paid filmmakers to make you care—and it actually worked.
A detailed history of documentary filmmaking in the US and the UK from 1929 to 1945. The first part, Working for Change, focuses on 1929-1941 and the social movements of the times, The Great Depression, The New Deal, and the awakening of the Leftwing in the UK. The second part, The Strategy of Truth, focuses on 1933-1946 and explores the role of film as propaganda during World War II, and the different forms it took in the US, the UK, and Germany.
Direction
Skaggs and Van Taylor weave dense history into watchable narrative.
Editing
Juxtaposing Allied and Nazi propaganda—same tools, different masters.
Director
Calvin Skaggs
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pare Lorentz's 'The River' was so effective that Congress nearly created a permanent federal film agency.
This era invented the documentary as we know it—before this, 'documentary' wasn't even a genre category.
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