Richard wrote to film-philosophy:

R> I am currently preparing a chapter on British film and TV and am at present
R> writing the section on documentary. Employing Bill Nichols' five categories,
R> I plan to focus on five films exemplifying these types. I have come up
R> against a snag, however, insofar as I cannot find a suitably reflexive
R> British documentary example. I wonder if anyone can suggest a British film or
R> TV documentary of this type. I'd love to write about Man with a Movie Camera,
R> but of course I can't. (Besides, this seems to be everyone's idea of a
R> reflexive doco.) Any suggestions would be most welcome!

I'd strongly recommend Black Audio Film Collective's _Handsworth Songs_
(dir. John Akomfrah); I'm feeling too lazy to write anything, let me
grab some text from http://www.art-themagazine.com/ ...

> Working inside an artistic or cultural context but far from avoiding
> commitment, the Black Audio Film Collective (1983-1998 in London)
> created film documentaries after the tradition of critical journalism.
> At Documenta 11, "Handsworth Songs" (film, 16mm, 58') stands for a
> ludic and experimental working practice which seems to be disappearing
> in today's socio-cultural art-making. The film is an associative
> composition of interviews, statements, TV-spots and news (e.g.
> Margaret Thatcher), off-screen comments, and film stills, short takes
> and jump cuts. The camera is not used as objective eye, but presented
> as aggressor, creating and provoking situations. Two North-African
> women are followed, for example in one scene, while walking through
> the streets. They try to enter a house with their children, then
> regain the sidewalk, cross a street, all of the time fleeing the
> camera - until one of them slaps the cameraman, and the tape is
> violently interrupted.

> With its entry, the Black Audio Film Collective suggests different
> viewpoints of common social contexts, forcing the viewer to take part,
> even take sides. By implicating the viewer, interaction is possible
> and almost mandatory. By opposing broadcast material to the Black
> Audio Film Collective's own, their film questions the belief in
> objective documentary.

Sound like what you're looking for?

--
Jim Flannery                                       [log in to unmask]

     Because they've created such a deep structure now, you can't
     get in. And we don't want to get in, we're on the outside.
     But we're not on the outside looking in, we're on the outside
     looking out.                                     -- John Zorn

np: Pink Fairies, _Kings of Oblivion_
nr: Bryan Talbot, _The Adventures of Luther Arkwright_