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Marco Aurélio Garcia - São Paulo City Government's Secretary of Culture The São Paulo City Government, despite its financial difficulties, is joining the 6th International Documentary Film Festival, because it understands its importance to the public in general and its impact on filmmaking in Brazil. Godard said that the cinema gave the basic perception of the 20th century. The documentary performed this function admirably - recording and reflecting everything from great happenings and historic persons to the small settings and common people who help explain the century that has just come to a close. The "truth" that the documentary is looking for, obviously cannot be found in the naturalistic illusion that one can photograph what is real. The truth of the documentary is harder to achieve than that of a fiction film. The great documentary filmmakers, as this showing will most certainly reiterate, arrive at the "truth" through a growing sophisticated language that is capable of presenting new esthetic proposals and technical innovations that have accelerated onto the scene over the last several decades. It is symptomatic of the fact that the documentary influences fictional cinema more than it is influenced by fictional cinema. The genre carries a greater spirit of independence and is less affected by the trends of the "market". It is an "author's cinema" par excellence, less for its exposition of idiosyncrasies, than for its attempt to handle the problems that challenge us today, even when situated decades ago. Brazil needs to see itself more in the cinema and, even though this mission does not belong exclusively to documentary filmmakers, they undoubtedly carry the lion's share of the responsibility. The Festival will show, among other things, the role of Geraldo Sarno, moving in that direction. It will discover fragments of the world in transition in which we live. It will reveal techniques, stimulate vocations. But, above all, it will arouse a critical look at the world, which will continue, even after the lights come up in the theater. MARCO AURÉLIO GARCIA São Paulo City Government's Secretary of Culture