The author reflects on the creative evolution of Russian documentaries of the last decade. Making use of extensive factual material, the author considers the peculiarities of the thematic space prevalent in these years, in particular, the evolution of the traditional model of studying reality in terms of “society — individual” into a new one focusing on the emotional world of a single individual.Movies that reflect different facets of social life, drift away from the analysis of the essence of problems and focus on the emotional experience of a person immersed in these problems.Among these movies are “Afterburner. Return” by N. Gugueva, “Catastrophe” by A. Rudnitskaya, “Border condition” by A. Samoilov and others. The new approach requires different conceptual principles of representing reality and human personality. The world of a modern person is made up of feelings and fate of a particular character, which do not dissolve in society, but is the essence of his individual life journey. And therefore, the key question of human existence comes to the fore: with what purpose have you come into this world? The complexity, and sometimes the agony of choosing one's own unique path becomes the top priority for many characters. The study of the creative experience of the decade brings forth problems related to the figure of the author, his objectives and creative efforts in bringing his work to life. Examples of original creative tasks that the authors set for themselves (V. Kosakovsky and his movies “Viva antipodes” and “Aquarelle”) stand out in the diverse stream of movies.Noteworthy is the search for a new understanding of the historical past which is not treated as a sum total of events, but as the emotional life of people (S. Debizhev’s experience in the movies “Hot Chaos” and “The Last Knight of the Empire”), bold experimental intrusions into the process of recording reality, far removed from the traditional narrative. Present-day reality is not chronical, but rather eventful, it is tinged by human emotions, and the “color” of feelings of a given moment of existence constitutes the real truth of history