The thinking frame: philosophical foundations of documentary cinema

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to provide a philosophical analysis of documentary cinema as a media form that integrates factual recording with conceptual and ethically grounded interpretation in the context of digital transformation and the contemporary crisis of trust in visual evidence. Methods. The study employs an interdisciplinary methodology that combines philosophical inquiry, film theory, phenomenological analysis of the image, epistemological examination of documentary modes, and ethical reflection on contemporary war documentary practices. Comparative analysis of classical theories and modern media formats, including digital and VR-based documentary forms, is applied. Results. The article demonstrates that documentary cinema has never been a transparent reflection of reality: every structural component (theme, authorial intent, narrative logic, filmmaker’s presence, visual composition, dramaturgy, artistic imagery and editing) operates as an interpretive filter. It is shown that digital technologies, algorithmic data selection and artificial intelligence fundamentally alter the ontology of the documentary image, challenging the boundaries between fact, reconstruction and simulation. Special attention is devoted to the ethical dilemmas of Ukrainian war documentary cinema, where the camera records extreme human suffering, raising issues of trauma exploitation, the “pornography of pain”, and the filmmaker’s responsibility as a bearer of truth within an information war. Conclusions. Documentary cinema emerges as a dynamic structure in which fact, interpretation and ethical decision-making co-constitute reality. In the digital era, documentary film serves as a practice of critical reasoning, public witnessing and political resistance to simulacra and post-truth. The scientific novelty lies in the formulation of a philosophical definition of documentary cinema as a medial form that integrates fact, interpretation, and ethical choice in the context of digital transformation, as well as in the theoretical justification of an updated ontology of the documentary image, shaped by algorithmic technologies and military documentary filmmaking. The article proposes a philosophical definition of documentary cinema as a media form that constructs the world through the interplay of technology, authorial perspective and socio-cultural context, shaping the limits of collective memory and possible knowledge.