Robert Flaherty's 1922 film Nanook Of The North might have the honour of being the first documentary ever made, but it was Dziga Vertov who took the format and lifted it towards something that can be called purely cinematic. Set during a day in the life of the residents of the Soviet Union, Man With A Movie Camera revolutionised the way films are shot and edited, weaving stop motion, reversed footage, overlays, split screens and a range of camera movements into a tapestry of human life. Freed from narrative conventions, the emphasis of the cameraman as the principle character makes this a film which foreshadows the meta nature of postmodernism by many decades. The 1920s and 30s saw a number of experimental movies in the vein of Man With A Movie Camera including Berling: Symphony Of A Great City and A Propos De Nice, which fell under the umbrella of "City Symphonies" - they offer fascinating glmpses into the past and are essential viewing for cinephiles.
