Since the 1920s the documentary film was closely tied to the avant-garde movements. Classics are filmmakers such as the Russian director Dziga Vertov with his film “The Man with the Movie Camera” (1929), the German Walter Ruttman with “Berlin, Symphony of the City” (1927), the Spaniard Luis Bunuel, the Dutchman Joris Ivens and some directors around the British documentary movement brought into being by John Grierson.
After World War II a change of paradigms took place. Filmmakers started to use techniques such as re-enactments, staging, dramatization and others.