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Quote by Joshua Oppenheimer

“We can distance ourselves from the reality of what we did through storytelling.”

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Joshua Oppenheimer is a renowned film director known for his exceptional contributions to the documentary genre. Born on September 23, 1974, he is recognized for his profound insights into history and human suffering. more

“Films can't change the society, they can simply open the space for the discussion which can lead to social change and can start new forms of social activism. I feel formally that I've scratched the surface of something very important about the nature of nonfiction film, about what we're very rarely honest about: When you film anybody, they start performing.”

Important Film Honest Activism Discussion Performing Social Change

Author:Joshua Oppenheimer

“People create the illusion of acting natural, which is what I think most documentarians do in part because of the direct cinema orthodoxies that came into play really in the '60s. That moment of performance is a tremendous opportunity to make visible something hitherto invisible, which is how people want to be seen. How do they see themselves? What are the scripts, fantasies, genres by which they imagine themselves? How is storytelling part of what we are as human beings? We wouldn't kill each other en masse if it weren't for storytelling. We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves.”

People Thinking Moments Opportunity Natural Acting Fantasy Imagine Illusion Direct Invisible Storytelling

Author:Joshua Oppenheimer

“I think we need to make documentaries about fantasy and storytelling. I think I just started to scratch the surface of a method that allows us to do that. We want to be sucked into the events, suspend our disbelief and imagine that this is a fiction, but actually putting onscreen the gap between who the people are and who they want to be and therefore opening the question about why they want to be this person.”

People Thinking Fantasy Imagine Storytelling Imagine That Disbelief

Author:Joshua Oppenheimer

“In a fiction film, we know at some level we've suspended disbelief. In a documentary, we know that we're watching a drama unfold in the world because of the movie we're watching that is real. That has enormous stakes for the whole society, and we, by the act of watching, complete the story.”

World Real Film Drama Disbelief

Author:Joshua Oppenheimer

“I've become more forgiving, even though I have no patience at all for denial, justification of wrong, rationalization. I've become virtually a pacifist, so I feel that no atrocity is ever justified. I've become more vigilant about evil. I think I recognize its seeds more quickly. I see its source.”

Thinking Evil Forgiving Denial Justification Justified Pacifist No Patience

Author:Joshua Oppenheimer

“I need to trust myself and go where my instincts tell me, and to be as wild and free as possible in my creative decisions.”

Decision Creative Instinct

Author:Joshua Oppenheimer

“When I'm traveling a lot the flight attendants will ask what I do and if I say I'm a magician then I have to do a trick. But if it's a red eye flight and I haven't slept at all, I'll say I'm a comedian. And then they say, "Do a joke." But if you're a magician you should be able to do a trick anywhere, any time of day. And if it's not the best situation to showcase what I do then I'll offer them tickets to my show that night. Trying to do a magic trick right outside of an airplane lavatory isn't the best viewing conditions.”

Trying Eye Night Situation Magic Jokes Flight Comedian Airplane Magician

Author:Justin Willman

“When we talk about magic a lot of people think you use that to pick up girls. So therefore there's this slimy connotation associated with it, like, "Oh hey, pick a card - my number's on it!" So I think I've avoided ever having people think that's what's happening. I try to make magic the treat of the interaction or the treat of the flirt. I've never gone up and tried to do a trick to get a girl's number, only because I feel like that's what people expect and it feels slimy.”

People Thinking Trying Girl Magic Flirting

Author:Justin Willman

“Some people love magic for the right reasons: They love to experience wonder. They don't want to know how it works. In this day and age, we know how everything works. We can Google anything and the answer is never really far away. Magic is a break from that where you get to enjoy mystery. And then there's the people who watch the trick but don't want to enjoy it because they want to figure it out and they feel like I'm challenging their intelligence, which I'm not doing. Those people are hell-bent on not enjoying magic and probably not enjoying their lives either.”

People Reason Age Enjoy Challenges Wonder Break Magic Mystery This Day Far Away Google

Author:Justin Willman

“People think they want to know how magic works, but really they don't. How it works is never as amazing as what the trick was in the first place, so it's never going to make you feel good. Somebody just wanting to know how a trick works is never enough to make me want to tell them.”

People Thinking Enough Magic Feel Good

Author:Justin Willman

Quote by Joshua Oppenheimer

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