Reel to real: can documentaries change the world?

The Creative Impact award aims to honour those film-makers whose documentaries bring burning issues to our attention. But just how effective are they? Movie people are forever telling the rest of us that movies can change the world – but they would say that, wouldn’t they? It justifies the outrageous salaries, the decadent lifestyles and the grandiose awards acceptance speeches. Certainly, if James Cameron could point to figures detailing a fall in ocean-liner/iceberg collisions following Titanic’s release, his “I’m the king of the world!” Oscar proclamation might have been more forgivable. But beyond the bluster of Hollywood and the joy of escapism, what kind of real-world impact can cinema really have? The creators of the Puma Creative Impact award believe it can be massive. Its stated aim? “To honour the documentary film creating the most significant impact in the world.” As the documentarist Morgan Spurlock , a juror for the award, says: “There’s real power in a documentary, and there’s real power in movies to begin with. Movies transcend culture; they transcend countries, and to

Posted by on October 6, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.