Primary

Duration: 53 min
Release date: 1960-11-08
IMDB

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.

Documentary

Primary

Watch Providers

HBO Max
HBO Max Amazon Channel
Criterion Channel

Recomendation Films

  • La Jetée
  • His Three Daughters
  • Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
  • Pull My Daisy
  • Sinners
  • The Return
  • Oppenheimer
  • 기생충
  • Pierrot le fou
  • Passing
  • Jaws
  • キッズ・リターン
  • Boss Level
  • MaXXXine
  • Titanic
  • After the Wedding
  • Joker
  • Thunderbolts*

Similar Films

  • Titicut Follies
  • Fahrenheit 9/11
  • The Art Director
  • Nightcrawlers
  • Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
  • Herr Wichmann von der CDU
  • Meeting Snowden
  • Chicken Real
  • Uncounted
  • Campaign
  • The Final Year
  • Camocim
  • Grey Gardens
  • Nixon by Nixon: In His Own Words
  • Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & The Presidency
  • Angels of Mercy
  • Mardi Gras Carnival
  • Salesman
  • The War Room
  • Horns and Halos

NextFilm 2026