Cristina Formenti is Assistant Professor in Film Studies at University of Udine, Italy. She is author of Il mockumentary: la fiction si maschera da documentario (2013), and editor of Mariangela Melato tra cinema, teatro e televisione (2016) and Valentina Cortese: un’attrice intermediale (2019). Her work has appeared in various national and international journals, such as Studies in Documentary Film, Alphaville, and Horror Studies. Dr. Formenti is also the co-editor of the journal Animation Studies and currently serves on the Board of the Society for Animation Studies.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgementsList of Abbreviations IntroductionPart I: Theoretical and Historical Issues1. Reality’s Two Animated Faces 2. The Sincerest Form of Docudrama3. A New Periodization for an Old FormPart II: The Rise and Affirmation of an Audiovisual Form4. The Age of the Origins, 1909-395. The Classical Age, 1940-856. The United States7. Great Britain8. Canada9. ItalyPart III: The Contemporary Production, 1986 and Beyond10. Private Truths and Inner Realities11. The Persistence of the Classical Animated DocumentaryConclusion: Towards a Post-Animated Documentary Age?NotesReferencesIndex

This is a valuable addition to debates around the under-theorised subgenre of animated documentary. It traces the historical emergence of a graphic (and aural) vocabulary for this subgenre, dating from the early twentieth century within a variety of national and institutional contexts. It convincingly demonstrates the deep historical roots of the range of animation within newer online, interactive and immersive forms of documentary.