In the not too distant past, storytelling films were largely the province of Hollywood and documentary was primarily used in news reporting. Robert Drew (1924-2014)—recognized as the "father" of Direct Cinema (or, American Cinéma Vérité)—sought a new method of creating a visual narrative that would make documentaries more gripping and exciting in a way that takes advantage of television's ability to draw audiences into dramatic stories with immediacy.Taking advantage of lightweight cameras and synchronized sound, Robert Drew and his associates (Ann Drew, D.A. Pennebaker, Richard Leacock, Albert & David Maysles, Hope Ryden, Jim Lipscomb & Greg Shuker) embarked on an experiment to develop a new type of documentary, "…it would be reporting without summary and opinion; it would be the ability to look in on people's lives at crucial times from which you could deduce certain things and see a kind of truth that can only be gotten by personal experience" (Drew, 1962). Documentarian Michael Moore has stated, "All of us who make nonfiction movies can trace our lineage to what he [Drew] created." Each scholar on this panel will present a retrospective of the impact Drew Associates have had on American documentary, how it has evolved since the seminal TV documentary "Primary" (1960) launched the Direct Cinema revolution, and whether or not recent innovations in newer, lighter and higher quality equipment are poised to do the same for contemporary documentary style, form and function. Moderator: Michael R. Ogden, Central Washington University Panelists: Thomas Mascaro, Bowling Green State University; Visceral Vérité: Drew’s Yanki, No!, The Children Were Watching, and Editorial Faces of the Kennedy Years Michael R. Ogden, Central Washington University; Inventing Direct Cinema: How the Technology of Primary Changed Documentary Storytelling Mary C. Schaffer, California State University – Northridge; The Impact of Drew and Associates on Today’s Documentarians
