Ethnographic Film which combines documentary filming and anthropological research originated
in the late 19th century. Early on anthropologists used film to record cultures. Documentary
filmmakers in the early 20th century developed different strategies with technical
developments aiding further advances. In the 1950s to 1970s intense debates among
anthropologists filmmakers and artists many of whom met regularly at conferences and
festivals took place on the methodology of ethnographic filmmaking. Their discussions were
handed on by word of mouth but rarely recorded or published. In 2001 the pioneers of
ethnographic film met in Göttingen and put together their recollections of the genre's Origins
thus giving an unusual insight into the development of ethnographic film.
