The Grierson Effect

This landmark collection of essays considers the global legacy of John Grierson, the father of British documentary. Featuring the work of leading scholars from around the world, The Grierson Effect explores the impact of Grierson's ideas about documentary and educational film in a wide range of cultural and national contexts - from Russia and Scandinavia, to Latin America, South Africa and New Zealand. In reconsidering Grierson's international infl uence, this major new study emphasises the material conditions of the production and circulation of documentary cinema, foregrounds core issues in documentary studies, and opens up expanded perspectives on transnational cinema cultures and histories.

Zoë Druick is Associate Professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, Canada. She is author of Projecting Canada and Allan King's A Married Couple, and co-editor of Programming Reality: Perspectives on English-Canadian Television and Cinephemera: Archives, Ephemeral Cinema and New Screen Histories in Canada.
Deane Williams is Associate Professor in Film and Television Studies, Monash University, Australia. He is the author of Australian Post-War Documentary Films, co-author of Michael Winterbottom, co-editor of Australian Film Theory and Criticism, and editor of the journal Studies in Documentary Film.

Acknowledgments.- Notes on Contributors.- Introduction; Zoë Druick and Deane Williams.- 1. John Grierson and the United States; Stephen Charbonneau.- 2. John Grierson and Russian Cinema: an Uneasy Dialogue; Julia Vassilieva.- 3. To Play The Part That Was in Fact His/Her Own; Brian Winston.- 4. Translating Grierson: Japan; Abé Markus Nornes.- 5. A Social Poetics of Documentary: Grierson and the Scandinavian Documentary Tradition; Ib Bondebjerg.- 6. The Griersonian Influence and its Challenges: Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong (1939-73); Ian Aitken.- 7. Grierson in Canada; Zoë Druick.- 8. Imperial Relations with Polynesian Romantics: the John Grierson Effect in New Zealand; Simon Sigley.- 9. The Grierson Cinema: Australia; Deane Williams.- 10. John Grierson in India: The Films Division under the Influence?; Camille Deprez.- 11. Grierson in Ireland; Jerry White.- 12. White Fathers Hear Dark Voices?: John Grierson and British Colonial Africa at the End of Empire; Martin Stollery.- 13. Grierson, Afrikaner Nationalism and South Africa; Keyan G Tomaselli.- 14. Grierson and Latin America: Encounters, Dialogues and Legacies; Mariano Mestman and María Luisa Ortega.- Select Bibliography.- Appendix - John Grierson Biographical Timeline.- Index.