Follow your curiosity

What discovery has been shared with you?

FACTREE gives you something interesting to discover every day — and something worth talking about together.

Start with one fact. Explore it, go deeper, then follow whichever branch catches your imagination.

Choose subjects for a surprise

Exploring any topic

Begin your discovery

Your next discovery is one click away.

Choose one or more subjects above, or leave Any Topic selected and let curiosity decide.

Philosophy

The Philosophy of Film and the Nature of Cinematic Realism

Quick fact

Philosopher André Bazin argued that film is uniquely realistic because it benefits from an 'ontological' link to reality—the image is caused by the thing itself via light, unlike painting or literature which require human mediation.

Why this is interesting

You watch a documentary and feel you're seeing reality itself—but is the camera a window onto the world or a crafty illusionist? Why do philosophers argue about whether film can ever be truly realistic?