Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment

Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment is 1999 Canadian documentary film directed by Peter Wintonick about cinema verite filmmaking. The film looks at the work of such notable documentary filmmakers as Jean Rouch, Frederick Wiseman, and Barbara Kopple, as well as the contributions of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), with excerpts from the NFB documentary Lonely Boy and Primary. The film also looks at the influence of cinema verite on the pioneering found footage horror film The Blair Witch Project, and interviews video-auteur Floria Sigismundi. Cinema Verite: Defining the Moment was produced by the NFB.

A documentary about direct-cinema from its very beginnings (Nanook of the North) to the fake-direct-cinema of the Blair Witch Project. All the important direct-cinema filmmakers are portrayed and/or interviewed: Leacock, Wiseman, Maysles, Pennebaker, Reisz and others.