Professor Charles Musser, co-chair of the Yale University Film Studies Program, laughs.  It’s early in the morning on a non-teaching day, and I’ve asked him why he’s been recognized and selected as an Academy Film Scholar by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and his bemusement seems to fuel his search for the most precise answer. 

“My family––and hopefully my university––thinks I won an Academy Award for Film History, but that’s not entirely accurate.  It’s really a combination of recognition for my past work and a genuine excitement about the project they’re funding.” 

The award is a $25,000 grant to help support the writing of his book, an examination of varying truths, entitled Film Truth, Documentary Practice: A History.  The book is a study of the changing approaches to "truth" in nonfiction film and photography. Today, says Musser, “The documentary has become a form that has entered the mainstream in unprecedented ways, reaching a broader population whose interest gives the topic an urgency for the film studies community.”  The impetus of the scholarly investigation is a career that began in the practical world of Hollywood filmmaking and has culminated in the rarified world of upper echelon academia. 

“I’ll be trying to understand a genealogy, a history that spans some 165 years.  Discussions about photography were already employing the term ‘truth’ in 1839,” explains Musser, whose obvious enthusiasm for the topic is palpable.  In 1840, Edgar Allan Poe wrote that “photography is infinitely more accurate in its representation than painting” and that the results are “those of truth itself.”  The term was quickly mobilized by the fledgling film industry as well.

In fact, the Veriscope motion picture system (its name literally means “Truth Viewer”) was specifically created to film the heavyweight boxing championship match between 'Gentleman' Jim Corbett and the British fighter Bob Fitzsimmons in 1897. Enoch Rector, the event promoter, owned exclusive rights to photograph the event, and he had cameras built using a design that allowed the static cameras to cover the whole ring in one shot–-and film the fight without interruption.

Fitzsimmons won, but The New York World, working closely with the Veriscope Company, directed its readers' attention to a foul which referee George Siler had supposedly failed to see––a late blow by Fitzsimmons.  The Veriscope was said to have captured and revealed this blow; it showed a fact that, had it been seen, could have reversed the outcome.  That is, this purportedly late blow, if it was deemed intentional, should have been declared a foul, and Corbett should have retained his title. With the Veriscope motion pictures serving as evidence, these spectators could now go to the theatre and judge for themselves who had "true-ly" won.  The problem was—no one in the theatres could see the foul, either.  But audiences were enticed.

Our conception of documentary truth has experienced paradigm shifts in recent years, and it’s a topic that bears investigation. Errol Morris is a key figure here. Both through interviews and through his film THE THIN BLUE LINE (1988), Morris established an intersection between documentary truth and legal truth.

Whereas the state says X (a legal truth), the film proves that X is a lie and asserts a new truth in its stead.  Morris’ subject Randall Adams was guilty of murder—this is a state truth for which Adams will be executed.  Morris shows that this truth is not only a lie but identifies someone else who is almost certainly the murderer. 

In somewhat different ways, the scenario plays out in subsequent films such as AILEEN WOURNOS: The Selling of a Serial Killer, Capturing the friedmans and even Supersize Me.  In SUPERSIZE ME, the courts assert that there is no proof that MacDonald’s was responsible for the kids’ obesity.  Using himself as a guinea pig, Morgan Spurlock challenges the court’s conclusions.

Within the last year,” Musser notes, “there have been new paradigm shift with films such as FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and UNCOVERED: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAQ.”  Documentary filmmakers now challenge what they see as a conspiracy between mainstream media and the Bush administration to assert truths that are nothing more than fabricated lies. 

Charles Musser’s interest comes from years of combining his practical experience with academic curiosity.  As an undergraduate at Yale (Class of ’73), Musser, along with one other student, created a special major in Film Studies. Despite being able to take courses in a graduate filmmaking program, there were only limited ways to accrue hands-on experience.  “I wanted to know how to sync up dailies and learn the nuts and bolts of editing.  Yale was hiring directors to teach film classes—and they didn’t know the first thing about this kind of stuff.”

So young Charles left Yale and soon found work as an Assistant Editor for filmmaker and Yale instructor Peter Davis on HEARTS AND MINDS, considered to be the definitive documentary on the anti-Viet Nam War protest movement.

The film gave Musser exactly what he was looking for: “I was soon one of the fastest synchers in the business!  And I was learning about documentary from some of the best people in the field.”  He went on to edit numerous documentaries and fiction films and to produce and direct the award winning films AN AMERICAN POTTER (1976) and BEFORE THE NICKELODIAN, THE EARLY CINEMA OF EDWIN S. PORTER (1982). 

By 1982, Musser had returned to and graduated from Yale.  “Over time, I became more and more preoccupied with understanding the origins of film editing and cinema itself.  It became a kind of obsession.” 

As a result, Musser, who received his Ph.D. in Cinema Studies from NYU in 1986, published three books over a one year period: The Emergence of Cinema; The American Screen to 1907 (1990), Before the Nickelodeon; Edwin S. Porter and The Edison Manufacturing Company (1991), High-Class Moving Pictures; Lyman H. Howe and The Forgotten Era of Traveling Exhibition, 1880-1920 (with Carol Nelson, 1991). The first of these won the three principal book prizes in Film Studies that year.

“Since I was writing books, I soon lost touch with the film industry. And I realized I belonged more realistically in the academic world.” says Musser who came to Yale in 1992.  “Most of my time then went into teaching, building a Film Studies Program and raising a daughter,” explains Musser, who admits he has not made a film or written a single authored book in 15 years.

“People think I remain very productive as a scholar, but it is mostly done with smoke and mirrors.  Still, I am hoping this award will help me to return to that kind of work.” Asked about future plans at Yale, Musser remarks that the Film Studies faculty is hoping that the Film Studies Program will achieve departmental status at Yale.  He adds,  “So I am also hoping this award will provide a significant form of validation for that effort; that would be the best reward of all!”

Musser directs Yale’s Summer Film Institute, one place where non-Yale college students, rising high school seniors, and even adults can gain an exposure to Yale’s version of film studies. “Nina Adams, the Artistic Director of Film Fest New Haven took a summer course with me 10 or 11 years ago,” Musser recalls.  Approaching its third year in full operation, the Summer Film Institute offers its participants the chance to have what Musser calls “serious fun.”  During the first session various activities outside the classroom -- including visiting filmmakers, special screenings of new films, and a barbeque -- provide a sense of community, as students take courses on Hitchcock, the Film Industry, as well as Screenwriting Intensive Filmmaking.

You can learn all about Yale’s educational opportunities, including the summer program and about Charles Musser’s work there, by logging onto www.yale.edu/filmstudiesprogram.

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Carla Stockton is an independent film writer/producer, a partner in Bagel Fish Productions, and Associate Publisher of IMAGINE for Southwestern Connecticut