Documentary News Letter

{{Short description|Former magazine about documentary film}}

{{Use Oxford spelling|date=May 2022}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022|cs1-dates=y}}

{{Infobox magazine

| title = Documentary News Letter

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| image_file = Nanook of the north.jpg

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| image_caption = Documentary News Letter

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| founder = John Grierson

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| firstdate = {{Start date|1940|01|}}

| finaldate = {{End date|1949}}

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| country = United Kingdom

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| language = English

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| oclc = 9835272

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Documentary News Letter was a magazine about documentary film founded by filmmaker John Grierson.{{refn|{{Cite book |last1=Ellis |first1=Jack C. |url=https://archive.org/details/newhistoryofdocu0000elli |title=A New History of Documentary Film |last2=McLane |first2=Betsy A. |publisher=Continuum |date=August 2005 |isbn=978-0-8264-1751-0 |editor-last=McLane |editor-first=Betsy A. |location=New York City |pages=61–62 |language=en-US |lccn=2005013290 |ol=3399418M |access-date=2022-05-28 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}}} The publication was developed as the wartime successor to World Film News, which ceased publication in 1938, and sought to promote a "documentary approach to everyday living." It published its first edition in January 1940, with an editorial board that consisted of Grierson, Paul Rotha, Basil Wright, Arthur Elton and Thomas Baird.{{refn|{{Cite web |title=Documentary News Letter |url=http://cinemastandrews.org.uk/archive/documentary-news-letter/ |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223090408/http://cinemastandrews.org.uk/archive/documentary-news-letter/ |archive-date=2014-02-23 |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=Cinema St. Andrews |date=23 April 2013 |publisher=University of St Andrews |language=en-GB }}}}

Documentary News Letter featured editorials and film reviews written by members of the Documentary Film Movement. Wright has stated that the magazine was influential during the Second World War, influencing the Ministry of Information's approach to film propaganda.{{refn|{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=James |url=https://archive.org/details/britishatwarcine0000chap_l8q5 |title=The British at War: Cinema, State, and Propaganda, 1939–1945 |date=1998 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-8606-4158-9 |location=London |oclc=39225602 |ol=8627185M |author-link=James Chapman (media historian) |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}}} In its reviews, Documentary News Letter was particularly critical of films which it considered "inauthentic",{{refn|name="Aldgate"|{{Cite book |last1=Aldgate |first1=Anthony |url=https://archive.org/details/britaincantakeit0000aldg |title=Britain Can Take It: British Cinema in the Second World War |last2=Richards |first2=Jeffrey |date=1994 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=9780748605088 |edition=New |lccn=95100566 |ol=827534M |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}}}{{rp|329}} notably films directed by Humphrey Jennings.{{r|Aldgate|p=241}}