In recent decades, a type of historical documentary has emerged that focuses on tightly circumscribed subjects, personal archives, and first-person perspectives. Efrén Cuevas categorizes these films as "microhistorical documentaries" and examines how they push cinema's capacity as a producer of historical knowledge in new directions.
In recent decades, a type of historical documentary has emerged that focuses on tightly circumscribed subjects, personal archives, and first-person perspectives. Efren Cuevas categorizes these films as "microhistorical documentaries" and examines how they push cinema's capacity as a producer of historical knowledge in new directions.
Cuevas makes a strong and convincing case for the emergence and significance of what he calls the microhistorical documentary. His astute theorization of this category grounds deep, contextualized studies of films by a variety of documentary filmmakers who evince a microhistorical attitude in cinema. This significant, admirably written book will be of interest to anyone concerned with documentary cinema and with representations of history on film.