Study of the concept of film-essay as a type of ethnographic documentary

The term "film-essay" is used in film criticism to describe a self-reflexive and self-referential documentary cinema that blurs the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. The film-article has a critical expression and is sufficient in its documentary genre. This type of documentary is also called self-reflective documentary. Among those who have opinions about such films, we can mention André Bazen, Chris Marker, Jean-Lac Godard, Hans Richter, and even Alain René and Agnes Varda in experimental cinema. Scholars unanimously agree that the term was first used by Richter in 1940. Also, André Bazen, in 1958, was the first to analyze Chris Marker's Screenplay from Siberia (1958) in film-essay form. Bazen's description of Marker's style in his critique deeply illuminates the way we think about film-essay today, especially emphasizing the cinema of the word, a film that cannot be produced without an "intelligent" text. The voice of the narrator and the composition of the article and the freedom of the filmmaker and the essayist are also worthy of consideration from Andre Bazen's point of view.
The French New Wave popularized essay-short films, and the German New Cinema saw a resurgence in essay films due to the widespread interest in examining German history. Scholars differ on what exactly constitutes an essay film and how essay films should be classified. Researchers generally fall into two categories: those who find literary genealogy for the film-essay and those who find the documentary genealogy for the film-essay. The most common French and German essay filmmakers; Marker, René, Godard and Farooqui. These filmmakers are noted for their wide range of essay-film projects, compared to filmmakers who have made essay-films but specialize in other genres.
Ethnographic film is a genre of documentary film that uses visual media to present the results of ethnographic research or convey an ethnographic perspective on a culture or group of people. Film-essay can be considered a sub-genre of ethnographic film, as both forms use images and sounds to express a personal, subjective perspective on a topic or theme. However, not all film-essays are ethnographies, and not all ethnographic films are film-essays. Some film-essays may use films or ethnographic methods, but may also incorporate other sources, styles, and techniques that are not strictly ethnographic. Some ethnographic films may be more objective, descriptive, or analytical than essay-style, and may follow more conventional documentary formats and conventions.
Keywords: Ethnographic Cinema/ Film-essay/Genre of documentary/ Laura Rascaroli / Jean Rouch