“It can be difficult to present mental illness in film without resorting to devices that, if not handled well, can seem heavy-handed or cliché.” IfsWellsSeemsFilmDifficultIllnessHeavyMental IllnessDevices Author:Brian Lindstrom
“My grandpa could go days, weeks, even months without a drink but if he took that first drink, he couldn't stop. Once, when I was twelve, my mom and I were driving and we saw my grandpa staggering drunk down the street. I asked if we should stop and help him. My mom sadly shook her head and kept driving.” IfsShouldFirstsHelpingSawsWeekStreetsMomMonthsDrinkMy MomDrivingDrunkTwelveGrandpaStaggering Author:Brian Lindstrom
“I knew as a young boy that addiction and alcoholism afflict people - good, loving people - in profound ways, and that some people - usually from those rare "normal" families that I longed for as a child and as an adult wonder if they even exist - didn't understand this and sort of looked down their noses at people suffering with addiction.” PeopleIfsWayChildrenYoungSufferingWonderBoysNormalAdultsProfoundAddictionNosesAlcoholismNormal Family Author:Brian Lindstrom
“I felt that if people understood the struggle of recovery, then some of the stigma of addiction might be reduced because the audience would understand in a palpable way that addiction is a disease that tells the afflicted, despite years or even decades of heartbreaking evidence to the contrary, that using will make things better.” PeopleIfsWayYearsMightFeltAudienceStruggleDiseaseUnderstoodEvidenceAddictionDecadesContraryRecoveryDespiteHeartbreakingStigma Author:Brian Lindstrom
“If I weren't making documentary films, I suppose I'd be teaching.” IfsFilmTeachingDocumentariesDocumentary Films Author:Brian Lindstrom
“If the subject is no longer living, the immediate question is do you have enough first-person material to really get that story across. You'd like to avoid it just being other people's memories and interpretations.” PeopleIfsFirstsPersonsEnoughStoriesMemoriesSubjectsMaterialsInterpretationJust BeingFirst Person Author:Brian Lindstrom
“With a living person you're always burdened with this idea of fair representation, treading this fine line between honoring the person, and yet you really look at the word "honor," it implies that you then have to address struggle and hardship and failure, and all these things that it means to be human, that you show the fullness of their life. If the person's living, they are able to interject.” IfsHumansLooksMeanPersonsIdeasShowsAbleLinesStruggleFineHonorFairsAddressesHardshipRepresentationFullnessFine LinesTreading Author:Brian Lindstrom
“If you just think about the difficulty you'll never get anywhere.” IfsThinkingDifficulty Author:Brian Lindstrom
“The visual quality of the cameras now is such that you can shoot with available light, and if people are willing to mount a microphone on the camera and maybe even on the subject, then you're good to go.” PeopleIfsLightQualitySubjectsWillingCamerasAvailableVisualsMicrophones Author:Brian Lindstrom
