The Handbook of Documentary is an important go-to resource for practitioners, scholars and students in this burgeoning field. It tackles key topics and debates – from the role of documentary in post-truth culture to the rise of streaming giants (and the implications for national documentary cultures) and the shifting (increasingly hybrid) practices of documentary activism and the professionalization of impact. Featuring work by key figures in international documentary scholarship and talented emerging scholars, the Handbook is a landmark publication for documentary studies in the twenty-first century.



The Handbook is broad in its scope, incorporating historical, theoretical, empirical, and practical scholarship. It is organized around ten key themes/debates: What and where is documentary (studies)?; Documentary in an Age of epistemic uncertainty; Documentary histories; Documentary and the Archive; Audio/Visualities; Documentary Relationalities; Beyond the Anthropocene?; Digital/documentary practices; Documentary and (new) politics?; A golden age? Documentary distribution and funding. Importantly, the Handbook challenges the dominance of Western voices in documentary scholarship, incorporating the voices and practices of practitioners from the Global South.