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Man with a Movie Camera
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<p><i>Man with a Movie Camera</i> is an experimental 1929 <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet</a> <a href="/facts/Ukrainian_SSR/MAxGCkwN">Ukrainian</a> <a href="/facts/Silent_film/32MP8dLb">silent</a> <a href="/facts/Documentary_film/T0FBJpMR">documentary film</a>, directed by <a href="/facts/Dziga_Vertov/aUbBd4eW">Dziga Vertov</a> and edited by his wife <a href="/facts/Yelizaveta_Svilova/Qa1Avo13">Yelizaveta Svilova</a>. </p><p>Vertov's feature film, produced by the film studio <a href="/facts/All-Ukrainian_Photo_Cinema_Administration_(VUFKU)/zDD4uhnx">VUFKU</a>, presents urban life in the Soviet cities of <a href="/facts/Kyiv/uVAMxK8R">Kyiv</a>, <a href="/facts/Kharkiv/25Gd4znl">Kharkiv</a> and <a href="/facts/Odessa/f2FItl5D">Odessa</a>. It has no actors. From dawn to dusk Soviet citizens are shown at work and at play, and interacting with the machinery of modern life. To the extent that it can be said to have "characters", they are the cameramen of the title, the film editor, and the modern Soviet Union they discover and present in the film. </p><p><i>Man with a Movie Camera</i> is famous for the range of <a href="/facts/Cinematic_techniques/zu7naJQJ">cinematic techniques</a> Vertov invented, employed or developed, such as <a href="/facts/Multiple_exposure/3F2RG2L0">multiple exposure</a>, <a href="/facts/Time-lapse/tVr1pPLE">fast motion</a>, <a href="/facts/Slow_motion/pXGXDkJt">slow motion</a>, <a href="/facts/Freeze-frame_shot/XzDbzH9Y">freeze frames</a>, <a href="/facts/Match_cut/j9pV3wPM">match cuts</a>, <a href="/facts/Jump_cut/qKyKrIe4">jump cuts</a>, <a href="/facts/Split_screen_(film)/p3fp4Ca1">split screens</a>, <a href="/facts/Dutch_angle/eEcdA6vH">Dutch angles</a>, extreme <a href="/facts/Close-up/SVQImtz7">close-ups</a>, <a href="/facts/Tracking_shot/4wL3vF5E">tracking shots</a>, reversed footage, <a href="/facts/Stop_motion/A3RY2bbk">stop motion</a> animations and self-reflexive visuals (at one point it features a split-screen tracking shot; the sides have opposite Dutch angles). </p><p><i>Man with a Movie Camera</i> was largely dismissed upon its initial release; the work's <a href="/facts/Fast_cutting/UITfMCjc">fast cutting</a>, <a href="/facts/Metafiction/4STqxDmg">self-reflexivity</a>, and emphasis on <a href="/facts/Form_and_content/07RrDJ2l">form over content</a> were all subjects of criticism. In the British Film Institute's 2012 <i><a href="/facts/Sight_%26_Sound/LhevSGbx">Sight & Sound</a></i> poll, however, film critics voted it the <a href="/facts/List_of_films_considered_the_best/pGV2gfUG">8th greatest film ever made</a>, and it was later named the best documentary of all time in the same magazine. </p>