A Fleeting Glimpse of Truth

Abstract

This article examines documentary filmmaking in the context of the “post-truth” era, focusing on the complex relationship among facts, reality, and truth. The author argues that in the age of social media, news events are often reshaped through political allegories, moral judgments, and entertainment narratives, leading audiences to construct imagined “manufactured truths.” Documentary filmmakers must therefore maintain restraint, avoid fabricating dramatic narratives based on audience expectations, and preserve independent observation and judgment.

The article argues that contemporary documentary should not simply move toward drama and storytelling, but toward poetry. Through three concepts—“the amateur,” “the material,” and “the authentic image”—the author discusses the filmmaker’s position, the capture of reality, and the pursuit of truthful representation. “The amateur” refers to abandoning professional superiority and approaching subjects with openness and humility; “the material” emphasizes capturing present reality through long-term engagement and close observation; “the authentic image” refers to the documentary pursuit of the emergence of truth itself.

Drawing on more than two decades of documentary practice, the author discusses how independent documentary filmmaking allows reality to unfold through long-term observation, small-scale production, and minimal intervention. Documentary creation is not merely the reproduction of reality, but a process of waiting, observing, and capturing unexpected moments in which truth reveals itself.

Finally, through reflections on art and truth, the article argues that documentary filmmaking should not seek fixed conclusions, but reveal the complexity of human experience through the dynamic disclosure of reality. Documentary cinema may ultimately approach a form of “poetic documentary,” using cinematic language to reach deeper and often unspeakable dimensions of truth.