What is Cinema?

The Past, Present, and Future of the Cinematic Medium

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Chuck Workman's documentary WHAT IS CINEMA? tackles the question of its title through over 100 clips and new interviews with filmmakers such as Mike Leigh, Jonas Mekas, David Lynch, Robert Altman, Kelly Reichardt, Costa-Gavras, and Michael Moore. Featuring archival interviews from Robert Bresson, Alfred Hitchcock, Chantal Akerman, Akira Kurosawa, Abbas Kiarostami, and more.

Featuring commissioned sequences from experimental artists Lewis Klahr and Phil Solomon, WHAT IS CINEMA? not only asks a poignant question, but chronicles the best of filmmaking today and proposes where cinema will go, and should go, in the future.

Official Selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and DOC NYC.

"WHAT IS CINEMA? is a compelling, enriching look at visionaries old and new, who continue to forge fascinating new paths in a medium that shows no signs of stagnating. Indeed, WHAT IS CINEMA? isn't really about where film has been, but where it goes next." - Indiewire