ZDOK.11 Stella Bruzzi: Documentary, Performace ... © 2011 Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK 1 www .zdok.ch This article will examine some aspects of the work of two British documentary ilmmakers who are frequently bracketed together – Mol- ly Dineen and Nick Broomield. Although they hardly constitute a movement, Broom- ield and Dineen do represent an important historical moment in British documentary ilmmaking. They both attended the National Film and Television School (Broomield in the early 1970s, Dineen in the early 1980s) and were taught by Colin Young, who in turn inluenced their style of ilmmaking. In an interview coinciding with the UK release of Biggie and Tupac (2002) Broomield argued: «There’s no point in pretending the camera’s not there. I think what’s impor- tant is the interaction between the ilm-makers and those being ilmed, and that the audience is aware of the interaction so they can make decisions of their own. When I was at the National Film School, Colin Young, who was my teacher, said that the problem with cinema verité is that you don’t know the ilm-makers behind the camera. The audience doesn’t have that infor- mation so they don’t know what the interaction is. That’s the variable that’s most inluential – it’s not the presence of the camera that changes people’s behavior, it’s the relationship they have with the people behind it (Wood 2005).» Following on from this, the principal reason Molly Dineen and Nick Broomield are frequently discussed in tandem is that they both make documentaries that give their audiences a sense of < the ilm-makers behind the camera > by becoming active presences in otherwise largely observati- onal documentaries. They also both perform a technical role – Broomield records sound and Dineen is her own cinematographer – and it is via these roles that they interact with their subjects. In his most characteristic ilms (from the late 1980s to Life and deaTh of a SeriaL KiLLer in 2002) Broom- ield appears on screen interrogating his subjects, whilst Dineen’s voice can be heard prompting and asking questions from behind the camera. As a result, their ilms are discourses on the act of ilming informed by their own persistent and relective presence. After outlining the inherently performative nature of documentary ilm- making in general, I will focus on how authenticity and ownership are, in these directors’ ilms, reinforced as well as questioned, principally through their uses of voiceover and interviews. The ilms of Broomield and Dineen are not autobiographical, although they are clearly authored and structured around an awareness and acceptance of their authorial presence. Broomield Me, Myself and I Nick Broomfield in DRIVING ME CRAZY1988 Stella Bruzzi Documentary, Performace and Questions of Authenticity On British FIlmmakers Molly Dineen and Nick Broomield