Vérité: An Exploration of Literature & Cinéma
Cinéma Vérité is a French word meaning “true cinema” and is a filmmaking style dedicated to capturing “real life.” While
this class will not focus on watching films from that movement, the principle of vérité, or truth, will guide the work of this
course in two ways. First, both mediums set out to portray real life, and in doing so explore the boundaries between reality
and fiction, but is it even possible to truly show real life? Second, we’ll think about what makes a true adaptation and how
one goes about conveying all of these words into pictures. In class we will read, analyze, discuss, and write in order to
further explore these questions and watch and analyze, sometimes before or after school, a variety of films. We’ll even
create our own work that attempts to capture real life. Our exploration may include, but is not limited to, works like James
Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk and Barry Jenkins adaptation, Stephen Karam’s play and adaptation of The Humans,
and Sarah Rafael Garcia’s Santana’s Fairy Tales and Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. Ultimately, our goal is to uncover
the truth in capturing “real life.” (Primarily 10th Grade, but Open to 11th & 12th Grade)