Harnessing the potentials of documentary film in the face of global economic recession

Abstract

The world of film is broadly split into two types: the feature/fiction and the documentary genres. It is, however, the former that readily comes to mind  whenever the subject of film is raised. The documentary incidentally is the less known notwithstanding that it is the older of the two. Indeed, the  documentary film is the type of film that should be harnessed for its potentials in addressing human problems everywhere. The reason is that the  documentary is closer to the needs of man as a film of fact; as a genre that addresses the challenges which confront humanity in the course of daily  living. It is for this reason that this paper is embarked upon in order to enlighten humanity on how the documentary can be employed to address the  problems of global economic recession and bring relief to mankind, with special focus on Nigeria. It will also provide reasons for the relegation of the  genre by practitioners and scholars alike. The paper concludes that if the documentary is given even 5 percent of the attention given to the feature film,  humanity would be economically, socially, politically, spiritually and culturally better off and would therefore, be able to cope with economic recession.