Personal Belongings: First-Person Documentary in the 1990s

Alongside the explosion of American independent narrative cinema in the 1990s, a vital strand of personal documentary flourished. This spate of first-person films—made on both coasts, as well as in flyover country—looked at white, non-white, mixed-raced, straight and queer, homegrown and immigrant stories, and took advantage of new affordability and access to recording and editing equipment. These filmmakers produced work of deep intimacy and invigorating formal playfulness, taking the leads of more recognizable documentarians like Ross McElwee and Alan Berliner, and finding homes in major festivals and on the newly created PBS series POV. Named after the 1996 debut feature from Steven Bognar (Academy Award–winning co-director of American Factory), screening at MOMI in a new restoration making its world premiere, this series collects for the first time features, mid-lengths, and shorts which have too long been dispersed among other contexts, to call attention to a period of aesthetic nonfiction experimentation that continues to inspire filmmakers today.  

Guest programmers: Asha Phelps and Jeff Reichert

Tickets for individual programs are available at the links below. An all-series pass is available for $80 ($60 MoMI members).

Image above: Personal Belongings (Steven Bognar, 1996)