Directed by Margot Benacerraf • 1959 • Venezuela
A work of such overwhelming grandeur that Jean Renoir told director Margot Benacerraf after viewing the film, “Above all . . . don’t cut a single image,” this poetic documentary-narrative hybrid is a landmark of both neorealist and feminist South American cinema. For five hundred years, the Araya peninsula in northeastern Venezuela has been mined for its salt. Through images of breathtaking beauty, Benacerraf captures the everyday lives of three families and their back-breaking work in the salt marshes, exquisitely preserving an embattled but tenacious way of life.
Up Next in Documentaries
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The House Is Black
Directed by Forugh Farrokhzad • 1963 • Iran
The only film directed by trailblazing feminist Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad finds unexpected grace where few would think to look: a leper colony whose inhabitants live, worship, learn, play, and celebrate in a self-contained community cut off from ...
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Dziga and His Brothers
Directed by Yevgeni Tsymbal • 2002 • Russia
The fascinating and tumultuous lives of Mikhail, Boris, and Denis Kaufman—the last better known as revolutionary Soviet director Dziga Vertov—are the focus of this illuminating documentary. All visionary artists who pushed the stylistic boundaries of c...
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Strange Victory
Directed by Leo Hurwitz • 1948 • United States
Starring Alfred Drake, Muriel Smith, Gary MerrillIn 1945, the free world rejoiced over the defeat of fascism. But the sense of peace was short-lived, and as the Cold War began, the United States entered a period of national paranoia and political r...
