John Grierson

A pioneering figure in nonfiction filmmaking, Grierson was the first to use the term "documentary," in a review of Robert Flaherty's "Moana" (1926). Returing to Britain in 1927 after a stint in the US, he petitioned the Empire Marketing Board to investigate the propaganda potential of film and was commissioned to form a unit within the organization. Inspired by the success of his first effort, "Drifters" (1929), a study of North Sea fishermen, he amassed a talented group of proteges whose work he encouraged and supervised.