Lonely Boy (film)
Lonely Boy is a 1962 "cinéma vérité" documentary about the former teen sensation Paul Anka. The film takes its name from Anka's hit song, "Lonely Boy", which he performs to screaming fans in the film. This short documentary makes use of hand-held cameras to record intimate backstage moments. Co-directed by Roman Kroitor and Wolf Koenig, this National Film Board of Canada production won a Canadian Film Award as Film of the Year at the 15th Canadian Film Awards, and was nominated at the BAFTA Awards for its best short film prize. Influence. "Lonely Boy  was a substantial influence on the Peter Watkins film Privilege". Watkins had studied it in preparation for filming and his film deals with the phenomenal popularity of a pop singer and its abuse for political motives. One scene showing the central character, Steven Shorter, at a table with a venue owner is virtually a one-to-one reproduction of a scene in "Lonely Boy", even using the same name (Uncle Julie) for the like-mannered venue owner. The "cinéma verité" style of "Lonely Boy" was also adopted, and one DVD release of "Privilege" included "Lonely Boy" as well as an  excerpt of an essay on that film as extra features. The film's importance in the evolution of documentary film making was explored in the film "".