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Documentary

Man with a Movie Camera

Year
1929
Director
Dziga Vertov
Length
67 minBFI 67-minute catalogue presentation Version sources ↓

A city wakes, works, plays, and becomes cinema while the camera reveals its own tricks.

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BeautifulFunnyStrange Great first watch · Moderate Documentary
Man with a Movie Camera — Momo operates a movie camera amid constructivist paper shapes, film strips and city trams.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

Dziga Vertov rejects fictional plot in favour of a dazzling demonstration of what filming and editing can do. Split screens, variable speed, superimposition, and rhythmic montage make observation and construction visible at once.

How to ease in

Do not wait for a protagonist. Follow the day from waking to leisure, and watch how the cameraman, editor, audience, and machinery become recurring participants.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes brief childbirth footage, industrial danger, rapid montage, and flashing visual rhythms.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
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I did not expect a film without a story or protagonist to pull me along so forcefully. It does more than film the city: the camera operator, the editor and the audience all enter the film. I was a little exhilarated by the realisation that the act of looking at the world could itself become cinema.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Credits

Version map

BFI 67-minute catalogue presentation 67 min 67 minutes is attached only to this named source presentation; no restoration, score, territory, cut, frame rate, or source element is inferred. BFI lists 67 minutes and notes that circulation and projection-speed differences alter rhythm; the selected value is not promoted to a universal Work runtime. Source: BFI — Man with a Movie Camera (1929) Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-16

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