The genre, documentary film, includes many modes or classifications of films that address a wide variety of topics. Stylistically, documentarians can choose to capture traces of the truth in a variety of ways using filming and editing techniques to convey a message about a selected topic (Plantinga, 2005). As Bill Nichols points out in his 1991 essay "The Domain of the Documentary," the documentary genre encompasses many modes of film capable of capturing truth and reality in an engaging and expressive manner (Nichols, The Domain of Documentary, 1991 ). Examining the 1994 documentary film, Hoop Dreams, directed by Steve James, the purist definition of this genre is not fully enacted on screen as Plato himself would have defined it, but modes of documentary storytelling more modern ones are instead used to share this subject (James, 1994). Understanding his artistic choices as a director and storyteller, it is evident that Hoop Dreams, a powerful and revered film, is capable of using the reality of two young inner-city boys to reveal a universal truth about a journey we we all undertake throughout our lives. our lives. Steve James' film uses nonfiction storytelling techniques to chronicle the journey of William Gates and Arthur Agee, two high school students aspiring to play in the NBA. Their skills and abilities provide them with the opportunity to attend private schools with stronger educational programs than the local high schools they would normally attend. Although the film feels like a fictional film at times, the subjects are real and the lives affected by the events of the film actually happened while the cameras were rolling. Due to the nature of the story and the passage of time...... middle of paper...... public with a very realistic view of the difficulties faced by Gates and Agee. Hoop Dreams is a modern documentary that uses many features of true cinema to tell the story of William Gates and Arthur Agee. Over five years, filmmaker Steve James is able to capture and tell the truth about what happened to these young men and the lives around them. As Bill Nichols points out in “The Domain of the Documentary,” this film uses many different cinematic techniques to create a documentary that uses the reality of its subject to reveal a greater truth about society. Through its use of a reflexive mode of documentary filmmaking, Hoop Dreams remains a highly revered documentary that helps establish a major mode or definition of this broad genre in the minds of documentary theorists such as Bill Nichols and casual moviegoers..