Truth And Lives On Film

As early as the Silent Era, movie studios were sued over depictions of real people and events. Filmmakers have always altered the details of true stories and actual persons, living or dead, to make narratives more workable and characters more compelling. When truth and fantasy become inextricably mixed, the effect on people's lives can be significant, even devastating. This expanded second edition presents an updated history of legal issues surrounding the on-screen embellishment of reality, with a focus on important court decisions and the use of disclaimers. Seventeen courtroom dramas are given fact-versus-fiction analyses, and the The Perfect Storm (1991) is covered in extensive detail. A concluding chapter is devoted to actors who became so identified with fictionalized characters that they sought exclusive rights to those personas.

As early as the Silent Era, movie studios were sued over depictions of real people and events. Filmmakers have always altered the details of true stories and actual persons, living or dead, to make narratives more workable and characters more compelling. When truth and fantasy become inextricably mixed, the effect on people's lives can be significant, even devastating. This expanded second edition presents an updated history of legal issues surrounding the on-screen embellishment of reality, with a focus on important court decisions and the use of disclaimers. Seventeen courtroom dramas are given fact-versus-fiction analyses, and the The Perfect Storm (1991) is covered in extensive detail. A concluding chapter is devoted to actors who became so identified with fictionalized characters that they sought exclusive rights to those personas.

From the advent of cinema, Hollywood's acquaintance with the unbridled truth has been passing, at best. Nonfiction has always been standard fodder for filmmakers, but rare is the screenwriter who ever met a story that couldn't use a touch of embellishment. As early as the silent film era, lawsuits were filed against movie studios for their fictitious depictions of purportedly real events. The moviemakers claim artistic license; as Picasso said, "Art is a lie that tells the truth." When the lie and the truth become inextricably mixed, the effect on the lives of the people involved can be dramatic, even devastating. The first lawsuit claiming a libelous onscreen portrayal of a real person was filed in 1916, and the debate about filmmakers' responsibilities when depicting real people and events has raged ever since. This examination of fact-based films and the law begins with a history of the legal issues surrounding the fictionalization of real events and people. The court case over The Perfect Storm--a film that spawned lawsuits from the families of the people depicted in the film--is then explored in depth. The next chapter analyzes fact versus fiction in 13 courtroom dramas, movies for which court documents provide clear historical records. A chapter devoted to actors so identified with a character that they sought legal acknowledgment of exclusive rights to that fictional persona follows. Notes, a bibliography and an index accompany the text.

In the late 1980s Jean Klein was invited to give seminars in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. In this isolated, peaceful mountain setting, a small group of students gathered with their life questions. The conversations of the 1988 seminar were transcribed and printed as a pamphlet entitled Mount Madonna Dialogues, but it was felt that the contents of all of the seminars were rich and rewarding enough to be gathered into a more substantial publication. This book is the result. Time and timelessness meet in these dialogues that focus on the very root of human experience—that pointless point in which all apparent dualities are reconciled and all that lives has forever lived. Here in these still waters, says Jean Klein, is the essence and the All—that which neither knows nor needs the other in order to define itself. These dialogues are rich with meaning yet they speak in a language that is as simple direct and inspiring as the pointless point itself.

How to Film Truth explores the history of documentary film as a search for truth by filmmakers, and a journey of discovery for subjects and audiences. This process, the act of documenting, exploring, and reflecting on our reality in all its created beauty, wonder, and mystery can itself be a devotional practice. The history can be seen as moving from actuality to ecstasy, from propaganda to empathy, and finally to confessional, emotional, personal, and communal healing.

Introduction -- Authenticity -- Evidence -- Authority -- Responsibility -- Argument -- Dramatic stories, poetic and essay documentaries -- Editing -- Camerawork -- The profilmic -- Sounds / coauthored with Carl Lewis.

Best known for his 1949 post-apocalyptic thriller Earth Abides, George R. Stewart (1895-1980) spent a lifetime wandering the American landscape and writing books about its geography and history. An English professor at the University of California at Berkeley, the exceptional scholar-author penned some of the most remarkable literary works of the 20th century, inventing several types of books along the way--including the road-geography book, micro-history, place-name history, ecological history, and the ecological novel. By weaving human and natural sciences and history into his books Stewart created works with a multi-disciplinary perspective on events and places that influenced numerous other writers, artists, and scientists, including Stephen King, Greg Bear, and Page Stegner. This volume considers George R. Stewart's rich oeuvre while chronicling a life-long quest to uncover the deepest truths about the man and his work.