ETHNOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY
A subgenre of the Educational/Informational genre. Ethno-graphic films focus on people of other cultures - especially indigenous people. They outline the customs and lifestyle of these peoples. They are mostly non-political, not focusing on the impact of modernity on the people.
Robert Flaherty began shooting an ethnographic record of an Eskimo family in 1915 called “Nanook of the North”. Nanook liked Flaherty and knew they were placing on record a vanishing way of life, so the Inuit and his family both provided and influenced the content of the film.
SOURCES:
Michael Rabiger. Directing the Documentary. 4th Edition. 2004. p. 20
http://www.terrace.qld.edu.au/academic/filmtv/documentarygenres.htm
www.moma.org/.../blowups/ film_media_005.html