historical documentary
Filmed factual history
A historical documentary is a nonfiction film or program that examines past events, eras, or figures through archival footage, expert interviews, and narration.
The genre ranges from rigorous scholarship to dramatized reenactments: Ken Burns made a historical documentary about the Civil War.
Distinguished from documentaries covering current events or contemporary subjects.
- archiveStored historical records
- archival footagePreserved historical recordings
- footageRecorded video material
- narratorOne who tells events
- talking headsChest-up video commentators
film · period piece · chronicle · past · war · World War II · civil rights movement · era · black-and-white · interview · testimony · reconstruction · Ken Burns · voiceover · timeline · primary source · museum · vintage
- documentariestrue crime docs, crime docs, nature doc, docuseries, docudramas
- retrospectivescareer survey, year in review, looking back, hindsight, reappraisal
historical documentaryfictional narrative
Invented story with plot
fairy tale · feature film · historical fiction · period drama
historical documentarymockumentary
Satirical fake nonfiction film
action movie · reality TV · propaganda film · found footage horror · popcorn movie
historical, documentary, history, historian, historic, historically, historicity, histories, document