ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the developing role of auteur documentary in contemporary independent filmmaking, through the study of Agnes Varda, Werner Herzog, and Spike Lee, as they have expanded beyond their feature films to produce important nonfictional work. The documentaries of Varda, Herzog, and Lee in the new millennium have played an integral role not only in expanding the definition of film but also in creating an understanding of who independent filmmakers are today and what lies in their emerging horizon. When the idea of the Film auteur was formulated in France in the 1950s, its promulgators argued for giving creative control to a new generation of directors who wished to see the feature film become a more serious art form, equating it to painting or classical music but with its own medium-specific expressivity. The cinematography emphasizes the textures of the rocks and fishing vessels, using them as a means to express the connections between character and place.
