Documentary Filmmakers Speak
Documentary films are enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Ken Burns' TV series have drawn huge ratings, at least for PBS; HBO and other cable channels fill out their schedules with nonfiction films; and Michael Moore's satiric features meet with unprecedented success on big screens. Stubbs interviews 13 filmmakers, from cinema verite pioneers Albert Maysles (Salesman) and D. A. Pennebaker (Don't Look Back) to newer practitioners with fresh approaches, such as Ross McElwee (Sherman's March) and Nick Broomfield (Kurt and Courtney). Other subjects include Barbara Kopple, an Oscar-winner forHarlan County, U.S.A.;Chris Hegedus, who documented the dot-com crash inStartup.com;and Burns, the genre's golden boy. They all share their observations about such matters as the effect of the camera's presence on their subjects, the difficulties of obtaining financing, and the inevitable switch from film to digital video. Several mention the experience of starting off to make one kind of film, only to end up with a different kind, the product of an unscripted spontaneity that fiction films can only enviously imitate.Gordon FlaggCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved