Orkun ÖNGEN

Although documentary is defined as the genre of cinema closest to reality, the presentation of reality on the screen is a problem in itself. The reality of the physical world is recreated on the screen according to the choice made by the producer through the receiver/camera. Due to the nature of the medium, it cannot be known to what extent these elections represent the truth. The search for reality/emphasis that each of the documentary film movements have defended in their own discourses leads to semantic confusion due to the unknown nature of truth. The main difficulty in classifying documentary genres lies in this confusion of concepts. Both translations of concepts into our own language and the meanings they correspond to in other languages often do not fully correspond to each other. This situation makes it difficult to classify documentary film forms under certain sub-headings. Another factor lies in the fact that the concept of truth cannot be fully understood and defined. Finding the reality of documentaries is often a matter of ethical values for the filmmaker who produced the documentary. For this reason, the search for truth, which the director defended in his documentary film, is a problem associated with the subjective ethical values that he adheres to, so he is always open to criticism and questions.

In this study, based on the definition of documentaries and groundbreaking documentaries, the problem of reality in documentary films will be discussed through specific movements and films. As a result of this discussion, under the appropriate headings, it will be discussed whether the films that are questioned within the critical point of view reflect reality or not. As a result of the definitions and conclusions drawn, a generic table of classification of documentary genres will be created, and points to be considered in the classification will be clarified. This classification table is based on individual judgment and not on precise measurement and classification. The reasons for the qualitative evaluations that make up this individual judgment are explained in the relevant sections of the study together with the inferences made. This study has been prepared to show the source of the problems that will arise in other studies on the classification of documentary genres, and to provide information on how a certain classification should be made on this issue.

Keywords: Documentary cinema, cinema reality, classification