Exploring the documentary film, this book traces its development from the first film shot by Louis Lumiere in 1895 to the last shaggy-dog story (Nick Broomfield's TV film, Tracking Down Maggie), and the commercial success of Steve James's three-hour saga, Hoop Dreams. Mark Cousins directed the 1997 Edinburgh Film Festival. Kevin Macdonald, with whom he wrote this book, is the author of a biography of his own grandfather, Emeric Pressburger: the Life and Death of a Screenwriter.