The article deals with the relationship between documentary films and art, with particular reference to the concepts of realism, fiction and the imaginary. In doing so, the article takes up debates about recent developments in documentary film research that focus more strongly on the performative and the staging aspect of the documentary. By introducing the concepts of realism, fiction and the imaginary, conventional theoretical approaches to documentary film are challenged and critically examined. From a (media/film) sociological perspective, these discussions become relevant insofar as documentary films claim to depict social processes and discourses; however, with the introduction of the three terms realism, fiction and imaginary, this mimetic notion is countered and the question is legitimately raised as to what extent documentary films are “film as art of society”.