‘Documentary Now!’ Essay Examines How ‘Kunuk Uncovered’ Defines Hollywood — Then and ‘Now!’

Exclusive: In an excerpt from "Documentary Now!: Fourth Edition (Revised and Expanded)" — the upcoming companion book to IFC's acclaimed series — "Peter Bogdanovich" (not the real one) looks back on the landmark documentary "Kunuk the Hunter" (also not real) and its 1985 exposé, "Kunuk Uncovered" (you get it).

Ouroboros at 80° Below
by Peter Bogdanovich

In 1985, the documentary film world was rocked with questions about its very foundation with the release of the exposé “Kunuk Uncovered.” What follows is pioneering American filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich’s meditation on the subject as it initially appeared in the 2005 edition of “Documentary Now!“

When I started as a programmer at MoMA in 1961, it was very European-focused. Lots of fussy bow-tie types yammering about Renoir. Nothing against Renoir. He’s one of the best. But at that time, a film wasn’t worthy of the term “art” unless it came from France or Japan. Nobody was showing American films. They especially weren’t showing American documentaries.

So, along with Welles and Hawks, I put together a retrospective of early docs in 1964. All the classics were included, “Man with a Movie Camera,” that sort of thing. But I was also able to sneak in a couple of pictures that I thought were deeply important, and woefully underseen. “Kunuk the Hunter” was top of the list. Almost overnight, the reputation of that picture changed. It’s like a door opened up, and critics could finally take these documentaries seriously.

That’s why I was particularly struck when “Kunuk Uncovered” premiered in 1985. Here was a cornerstone of film history, completely overturned. The credited filmmaker William H. Sebastian was revealed to be a fraud. The character of “Kunuk” was exposed to be a simpleton named Pipilok, who then commandeered the film with behavior that would make Kubrick blush. In fact, the entirety of “Kunuk the Hunter” was revealed to be a work of almost total fiction. To say I was flabbergasted is putting it lightly.

Documentaries have always had to deal with the slippery question of truth. When you’re shooting a fictional picture, you’re telling a story. When you’re shooting a doc, you’re capturing a story. Or, at least that’s how I see it. But it always matters, doc or not, what you choose to show and how. ​​The moment any subject steps in front of the camera, a performance begins. The minute a splice in the film strip is made, reality is being edited.

I remember talking to Orson about “Kunuk Uncovered” in 1985. It was the last year of his life, and the same year the film was released. He and I had talked about “Kunuk the Hunter” on many occasions. We always felt it was an important film. Some of the landscapes reminded us of Ford, and the way he’d shot Monument Valley. We both loved watching Kunuk on the dog sled, too. So, after catching “Kunuk Uncovered,” I called him immediately. “This changes the whole thing, my boy,” he said. And it did.

The idea of the ouroboros (a snake eating its tail) has always fascinated me. Nothing better describes the Hollywood I know. Filmmakers have always been that way. We’re always locking horns with the old masters — referencing a style, stealing a shot, interrogating the past in order to understand the present. It is what keeps cinema alive. Creative soil has to be tilled every once in a while.

The filmmakers of “Kunuk Uncovered” did just that. They challenged the status quo. They saw this picture that was broadly admired, and they probed it. They went deeper and uncovered the truth. Not bad for a couple of young guns. It’s what I’d done to all those yammering suits back in 1961. Now, it was my turn to be upended. Not bad at all.

Peter Bogdanovich was a beloved American writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian, as well as director of the acclaimed films “What’s Up, Doc,” “The Last Picture Show,” “Paper Moon,” and many more.

“Documentary Now!: Fourth Edition (Revised and Expanded)” will be released by McSweeney’s and Broadway Video on Tuesday, May 19. Find it wherever fine books are sold.