List of feature films described as non-narrative
The distinction between non-narrative film and "narrative films" can be rather vague and is open for interpretation. Few filmmakers would define their works as non-narrative. The following list contains films which have been described as "non-narrative" by independent sources.
Title
Year
Country
Director(s)
Cinematographer(s)
Music
13 Lakes
2004
United States
James Benning
James Benning
[ 1] [ 2]
23rd Psalm Branch
1967
United States
Stan Brakhage
[ 3]
L'Age d'Or
1930
France
Luis Buñuel
Albert Duverger
Luis Buñuel , Georges van Parys
[ 3]
Alice (Neco z Alenky )
1988
Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, West Germany
Jan Švankmajer
Svatopluk Malý
[ 3]
Anima Mundi
1992
Italy, United States
Godfrey Reggio
Graham Berry
Philip Glass
[ 4]
Ashes and Snow
2005
United States
Gregory Colbert
Gregory Colbert
[ 5]
Atlantis
1991
France, Italy
Luc Besson
Luc Besson
Éric Serra
[ 6]
Baraka
1992
United States
Ron Fricke
Ron Fricke
Michael Stearns
[ 7]
Bestiaire
2012
Canada, France
Denis Côté
Vincent Biron
[ 8]
Blue
1993
Japan, United Kingdom
Derek Jarman
Simon Fisher-Turner
[ 9]
Bodysong
2003
United Kingdom
Simon Pummell
Jonny Greenwood
[ 10]
The Campfire
2024
Philippines
Frederick C.G. Borromeo
[ 11]
Chronos
1985
United States
Ron Fricke
Ron Fricke
Michael Stearns
[ 12]
The Clock
2010
United Kingdom
Christian Marclay
[ 9]
Decasia
2002
United States
Bill Morrison
Michael Gordon
[ 3]
Delirium
2013
Ukraine
Ihor Podolchak
Mykola Yefymenko
Alexander Shchetynsky
[citation needed ]
Diva Dolorosa
1999
Netherlands
Peter Delpeut
Loek Dikker
[ 3]
Distortion
2023
Philippines
Frederick C.G. Borromeo
Dogora: Ouvrons les yeux
2004
France
Patrice Leconte
Jean-Marie Dreujou
Étienne Perruchon
[ 13]
Earth from Above
2004
France
Renaud Delourme
Laurent Fleutot, Daniel Marchetti
Armand Amar
[citation needed ]
Epic Java
2013
Indonesia
Febian Nurrahman Saktinegara
Febian Nurrahman Saktinegara
Denny Novandi Ryan
[citation needed ]
The Falls
1980
United Kingdom
Peter Greenaway
Mike Coles, John Rosenberg
Michael Nyman
[ 9]
Field Niggas
2015
United States
Khalik Allah
Khalik Allah
[ 14]
Film Socialisme
2010
France, Switzerland
Jean-Luc Godard
Fabrice Aragno, Paul Grivas
[ 9]
Hitler: A Film from Germany (Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland )
1977
France, United Kingdom, West Germany
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
Dietrich Lohmann
[ 9]
Koyaanisqatsi
1982
United States
Godfrey Reggio
Ron Fricke
Philip Glass
[ 15] [ 16]
The Last of England
1987
United Kingdom, West Germany
Derek Jarman
Tim Burke, Richard Heslop, Christopher Hughes, Derek Jarman, Cerith Wyn Evans
Simon Fisher-Turner
[ 3]
Las Meninas
2008
Ukraine
Ihor Podolchak
Serhiy Mykhalchuk
Alexander Shchetynsky
[ 17]
Laya Project
2007
India
Harold Monfils
Yuk Hoy Cheong, Agung Dewantoro
Yotam Agam, Patrick Sabag
[ 18]
Leviathan
2012
France, United Kingdom, United States
Lucien Castaing-Taylor , Véréna Paravel
Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel
[ 19]
Lines
2016
Greece
Vassilis Mazomenos
George Papandrikopoulos
Dna
[ 20]
Man with a Movie Camera
1929
Soviet Union
Dziga Vertov
Mikhail Kaufman, Gleb Troyanski
[ 21] -[ 22]
Microcosmos
1996
France, Italy, Switzerland
Claude Nuridsany , Marie Pérennou
Thierry Machado
Bruno Coulais
The Mirror
1975
Soviet Union
Andrei Tarkovsky
Georgi Rerberg
Eduard Artemyev
[ 9]
Naqoyqatsi
2002
United States
Godfrey Reggio
Russell Lee Fine
Philip Glass
[ 16]
Palestrina - Prince of Music
2009
Italy
Georg Brintrup
Benny Hasenclever, Paolo Scarfò, Oliver Kochs
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
2011
Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Denmark
Roy Andersson
István Borbás , Gergely Pálos
Stock music from various sources, The Battle Hymn of the Republic prominently featured
[ 23] [additional citation(s) needed ]
Powaqqatsi
1988
United States
Godfrey Reggio
Graham Berry, Leonidas Zourdoumis
Philip Glass
[ 15] [ 16]
Ruhr
2009
Germany
James Benning
James Benning
[ 24]
Sacred Site
1986
United States
Ron Fricke
Ron Fricke
[ 25]
Samsara
2011
United States
Ron Fricke
Ron Fricke
Marcello de Francisci, Lisa Gerrard , Michael Stearns
[ 26]
Silence Above the Clouds (Ticho nad oblakmi )
2009
Slovakia
Pavol Barabáš
Pavol Barabáš
Maok Martin Tesak
[citation needed ]
Sixty Spanish Cigarettes
2015
Spain
Mark John Ostrowski
Mark John Ostrowski
Gabriel Prada
[ 27]
Sophie's Place
1986
United States
Larry Jordan
[ 3]
Sweetgrass
2009
France, United Kingdom, United States
Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Lucien Castaing-Taylor
[ 28]
El Valley Centro
2000
United States
James Benning
James Benning
[ 29]
Visitors
2013
United States
Godfrey Reggio
Graham Berry , Trish Govoni, Tom Lowe
Philip Glass
[ 30]
¡Vivan las Antipodas!
2011
Argentina, Chile, Germany, Netherlands
Victor Kossakovsky
Victor Kossakovsky
Alexander Popov
[ 31]
Walden (Diaries Notes and Sketches )
1969
United States
Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas
[ 9]
Winged Migration
2001
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, United States
Jacques Perrin , Jacques Cluzaud , Michel Debats
Various
Bruno Coulais
[ 32]
Zorns Lemma
1970
United States
Hollis Frampton
[ 9]
See also
References
^ "13 Lakes | 2005 Tribeca Festival" . Tribeca . Retrieved 2024-07-03 .
^ Connerly, Courtney (2024-03-20). "A Novel on Documentary Film" . Medium . Retrieved 2024-07-03 .
^ a b c d e f g Atkinson, Michael. "Be Very Afraid: The Best Experimental (Non-Narrative) Features, Part I" . Fandor . Retrieved September 18, 2015 .
^ "Anima Mundi" . Spirit of Baraka .
^ " "Ashes and Snow" – Gregory Colbert | The Forest" . 2014-01-28. Retrieved 2024-07-03 .
^ "Atlantis - Courte-Focale.fr - Grand angle sur le Cinéma ! Courte-Focale.fr – Grand angle sur le Cinéma !" . Courte-Focale.fr – Grand angle sur le Cinéma ! (in French). 2017-11-21. Retrieved 2024-07-03 .
^ McIntosh, Cody (February 2, 2020). "Baraka: 10 Most Visually Stunning Moments In The Film" . Screen Rant . Retrieved June 6, 2020 .
^ "Tënk" . Tënk (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-03 .
^ a b c d e f g h Atkinson, Michael. "Be Very Afraid: The Best Experimental (Non-Narrative) Features, Part II" . Fandor . Retrieved September 11, 2015 .
^ Castelo-Branco, Mafalda (2018-09-28). "Found Footage e a memória humana em Bodysong e Life in a Day" . DOC On-line (in Portuguese) (24): 80– 90. doi :10.20287/doc.d24.dt05 . ISSN 1646-477X .
^ Moonwriter (2024-12-06). The Campfire - FULL SHORT FILM . Retrieved 2024-12-06 – via YouTube.
^ Magill, Frank Northen (1986-11-15). Magill's Cinema Annual: 1986 . Cengage Gale. ISBN 978-0-89356-405-6 .
^ "Dogora - Ouvrons les yeux de Patrice Leconte (2004) - Unifrance" . www.unifrance.org . Retrieved 2024-07-03 .
^ Scherstuhl, Alan (October 13, 2015). "Lexington One Two Five: Experimental Doc 'Field Niggas' Puts You There All Night" . The Village Voice . Retrieved June 6, 2020 .
^ a b Fulton, Helen; Huisman, Rosemary; Murphet, Julian; Dunn, Anne (2006). Narrative and Media . Cambridge University Press . p. 63. ISBN 978-0521617420 . Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi (1983) and Powaqqatsi (1988) are non-narrative films, [...]
^ a b c Hexel, Vasco (2018). The Film and Media Creators' Guide to Music . Routledge . ISBN 978-1138055728 . Geoffrey Reggio's groundbreaking series of non-narrative montage films Koyaanisqatsi (1982), Powaqqatsi (1988), and Naqoyqatsi (2002) is accompanied by minimalist music by composer Philip Glass.
^ "Las meninas" . IFFR EN . Retrieved 2024-07-04 .
^ "Harvard College Calendar" . Harvard College Calendar . Retrieved 2024-07-04 .
^ Pulver, Andrew (2013-06-28). "Edinburgh gives top award to experimental documentary Leviathan" . The Guardian . ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-07-04 .
^ Castiel, Elie (December 31, 2017). "S.O.S. Grèce" (in French). Séquences . Retrieved December 31, 2017 .
^ Teare, Kendall (2019-08-12). "Yale film scholar on Dziga Vertov, the enigma with a movie camera" . YaleNews . Retrieved 2024-07-08 .
^ PH (2015-07-23). "Man With a Movie Camera review: montage spinning out of control" . Silent London . Retrieved 2024-07-03 .
^ Hanke, Bob (2019). "Roy Andersson's Living Trilogy and Jean-Luc Nancy's Evidence of Cinema" . Film-Philosophy . 23 (1). Edinburgh University Press : 72– 92. doi :10.3366/film.2019.0099 .
^ Touati, Yaniv (2023), Deville, Vincent; Le Bihan, Loig (eds.), "Passage au numérique et perception du temps dans Ruhr (2009) de James Benning : un rapport paradoxal à la technique" , Penser les formes filmiques contemporaines , Cinéma, émergences-résurgences (in French), Grenoble: UGA Éditions, pp. 77– 92, ISBN 978-2-37747-410-3 , retrieved 2024-07-04
^ " "Sacred Site", A short film in 65mm Omnimax" . www.in70mm.com . Retrieved 2024-07-04 .
^ Keefe, Brad (March 17, 2020). "Movies to stream from home amid growing coronavirus shutdowns" . Columbus Alive . Retrieved June 6, 2020 .
^ O'Falt, Chris (May 24, 2018). "From Lynch to Kiarostami to Ozu: See Where Your Favorite Directors Fall on Paul Schrader's Chart of Non-Narrative Cinema" . IndieWire . Retrieved September 4, 2018 .
^ O'Hehir, Andrew (January 5, 2010). " "Sweetgrass": Spectacular elegy for a dying West" . Salon . Retrieved June 6, 2020 .
^ "Cinema Fulgor" . Cinema Fulgor . Retrieved 2024-07-04 .
^ Boone, Steven. "Visitors movie review & film summary (2014) | Roger Ebert" . rogerebert.com/ . Retrieved 2024-07-04 .
^ "¡Vivan las Antipodas! – Films" . Visions du Réel (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-03 .
^ VanDerWerff, Emily (April 19, 2015). "How March of the Penguins ruined the nature documentary" . Vox . Retrieved June 6, 2020 .