Fake or Mock Documentaries

"Fake documentaries are fiction films that make use of (copy, mock, mimic, gimmick) documentary style and therefore acquire its associated content (the moral and social) and associated feelings (belief, trust, authenticity) to create a documentary experience defined by their antithesis, self -conscious distance" (Juhasz, 2006: 7). 

 "Fake documentaries can readily educate viewers about the uncertain links among objectivity, knowledge, and power—usually the hidden, ugly secret of straight documentary" (Juhasz, 2006: 12). 

 A recent one: Operación Palace (2014)

Video link

Some classics

Las Hurdes (Luis Buñuel, 1937)

David Holzman's Diary (Jim McBride, 1967)

F is for Fake (Orson Wells, 1973)

Daughter Rite (Michelle Citron, 1980)

Bontoc Eulogic (Marlon Fuentes, 1995)

Bibliography

• Juhasz, Alexandra & Lerner, Jesse (eds.). (2006).  F Is for Phony. Fake Documentary and Truth's Undoing. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Roscoe, Jane and Hight, Craig ( 2001). Faking It. Mock-documentary and the Subversion of Factuality. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

More information

• Fake and Mock Documentaries list at the Media Resources Center of the UC Berkeley 
• Library Mockumentary: Reflexivity, satire and a call to play