Polyphonic truth: questioning the dichotomy between fiction and documentary

The most common documentary definitions indicate the non-fictional character of this cinematic genre, the absence of professional actors, and the presentation of real events. In essence, there are the principles enunciated by John Grierson in 1932, in First Principles of Documentary. In practice, we find that most major documentary works demonstrate the precarious boundaries between fiction and documentation of the real. In this way, Jean-Luc Godard noted: “All great fiction films tend toward the documentary just as all great documentaries tend toward fiction”. Throughout the history of documentary cinema, filmmakers have had to recognize that, in practice, it is almost impossible to avoid the intrusion of fiction into a documentary. In this context, we wonder if the documentary's genre purity is not illusory while implying a questioning of cinema's current taxonomy.