Right to Play Oneself

Thomas Waugh is professor of film studies at Concordia University, Montreal.

• Preface: Of Pulses, Panaceas, and Parallel UniversesAcknowledgments1. Why Documentary Filmmakers Keep Trying to Change the World, or Why People Changing the World Keep Making Documentaries (1984)2. Dziga Vertov, 1930s Populism, and Three Songs of Lenin (1975)3. Bread, Water, Blood, Rifles, Planes: Documentary Imagery of the Spanish Civil War from the North American Popular Front (1990)4. Acting to Play Oneself: Performance in Documentary (1990)5. Beyond Vérité: Emile de Antonio (1977)6. Sufficient Virtue, Necessary Artistry: The Shifting Challenges of Revolutionary Documentary History (2006–2008)7. Lesbian and Gay Documentary: Minority Self-Imaging, Oppositional Film Practice, and the Question of Image Ethics (1984)8. Walking on Tippy Toes: Lesbian and Gay Liberation Documentary of the Post-Stonewall Period (1997)9. "Words of Command": Cultural and Political Inflections of Direct Cinema in Indian Independent Documentary (1990)10. Joris Ivens and the Legacy of Committed Documentary (1999)NotesFilmographyBibliographyPublication HistoryIndex

"For decades now, Thomas Waugh has worked at the forefront of documentary media studies. This collection of his essays on documentary shows his international range, rigorous historical analysis, commitment to media as an active force for political enlightenment and change, and hallmark wit in full force. Waugh provides a crucial foundation for discerning what’s at stake in the evolving world of documentary media." -Chuck Kleinhans, coeditor of JUMP CUT: A Review of Contemporary Media"There is no one quite like Thomas Waugh. As this glorious collection shows, while always alert and responsive to changes in documentary and attitudes towards documentary, he has more than thirty-five years remained true. He is committed to commitment. With his wit, lightly worn self-awareness, and wonderfully uncloying sense of caring, he lets us too see and hear why documentary-and the world-matters." -Richard Dyer, author of The Matter of Images: Essays on Representations