How should one define the relationship of documentary film to reality? Does it aim at authenticity or is it rather an “exile of reality”, a “foreign homeland of reality”, where the pre-filmic, stripped of its immediacy, comes to its own right in the first place? Where in its mis-en-scène would be the line drawn to a fictional film, if drawing a line would succeed at all? These are the kind of questions this film essay on the history and aesthetics of documentary film deals with in its seven chapters.
| Writing | Hartmut Bitomsky | Writer |
| Directing | Hartmut Bitomsky | Director |
| Production | Werner Dütsch | Producer |
| Crew | Arthur W. Ahrweiler | Cinematography |
| Editing | Ann-Malen Witt | Editor |
| Production | Christian Petzold | Co-Producer |