“I always remember what Bob Dylan said in that [Martin] Scorsese documentary on him. When he was asked about Joan Baez's complaints about the way he treated her when they were together, Dylan laughed and said, "It's impossible to be in love and wise at the same time."” WaySaidTogetherRememberWiseImpossibleTreatedLaughedBobComplaintsDocumentariesDylanScorsese Author:Richard Gere
“I think there have been so many documentaries about pop stars, made by pop stars. It's a new phenomenon. People making these movies where they praise themselves and show their own weaknesses. it's all designed to make you love them even more.” PeopleThinkingHas BeensMadeShowsStarsWeaknessPraisePopsPhenomenonDocumentariesPop Stars Author:Judd Apatow
“I'm so proud of Jason's [Benjamin] work. I can say this and he can't, but there's no group of documentary subjects more devoted to their documentarian. The vibes are really positive, and I feel so lucky.” FeelsI CanGroupsSubjectsProudLuckyDevotedDocumentariesJasonSo LuckyVibesReally Positive Author:Lena Dunham
“It's funny how it reads like a Kubrick-inspired moment, a filmmaker controlling one's mise en scène. What it truly is is a documentary moment.” MomentsInspiredFilmmakerDocumentaries Author:Robert Greene
“One of the things I've been talking about with my critical writing and my own work is that these movies are seen differently in a theatrical space. It's very important to me. I edit films to be seen theatrically, like fiction material I've worked on like Listen Up Phillip or other documentaries.” WritingImportantFilmMy OwnSpaceFictionTalkingMaterialsCriticalDocumentariesEditsTheatrical Author:Robert Greene
“Even if it's a "talking head documentary" about a social movement or something along those lines, I've always thought of editing the timing and the sense of the piece for the theatrical experience.” IfsSocialLinesTalkingPiecesMovementTimingEditingDocumentariesTheatricalSocial MovementsTalking Heads Author:Robert Greene
“Recently, while I was in England, I saw a documentary on the BBC about the border between India and Pakistan at Wagah. When the border closes each evening around six o' clock, the soldiers on each side do these amazing high-stepping peacock march-offs (like a dance-off). The displays are almost identical on each side and thousands gather to watch them. Though they're patrolling along their separate borders, what comes across is how similar they are.” SidesWatchesSawsSixIndiaEnglandSoldierEveningClockBordersMarchDisplayDocumentariesPakistanIdenticalPeacockIndia And PakistanPatrolling Author:Matthea Harvey
“You could make a feature about the world of tickling. You could include female ticklers and you could find out why people are ticklish, but I don't think it would be a great documentary, when you're spending 90 minutes just finding out about the physiology and psychology of tickling.” PeopleThinkingWorldWould BePsychologyMinutesFindingsFemaleSpendingFeaturesDocumentariesPhysiologyTicklingTicklish Author:David Farrier
“Reality TV has ruined people's ability to watch documentary.” PeopleRealityAbilityWatchesTvsDocumentariesRuinedReality Tv Author:David Farrier
“At the beginning of my career, I shot a lot more documentaries because I liked the adventure, and probably also because it was easier, and still is easier, for women DPs to shoot documentary than it is to shoot fiction.” StillsFictionCareersAdventureEasierShotsDocumentaries Author:Maryse Alberti
“I have a 22-year-old son, and when my son was born I made a decision to raise him. My husband and I took turns working, and it's easier to raise a kid in the documentary world, where you go away for two weeks or three weeks rather than the months that you spend on a feature. That was and still is much more open to women DPs than the world of fiction.” WorldYearsMadeStillsTwoKidsTurnsThreeBornDecisionFictionWeekSonMonthsEasierHusbandRaisesFeaturesGoing AwayMy HusbandMy SonDocumentariesTwo Weeks Author:Maryse Alberti
“Research states that we have a two-week window to act after being inspired by an experience, before the brain is compelled to move on. I have always thought that while some documentaries I have seen have educated me, they have failed to engage and drive me to act in support of the message.” TwoStatesMovingBrainSupportWeekMessagesResearchWindowInspiredEducatedDocumentariesCompelledTwo Weeks Author:Sam Branson
“Even the best documentaries reach tens of thousands in their cinematic window. I believe that by launching online, we could potentially reach millions.” BelieveI BelieveMillionsWindowOnlineDocumentariesCinematicLaunching Author:Sam Branson
“I love to travel, which is sort of why I do documentaries and why I'm in this whole world of movies - you get to meet amazing people and see how other people live. It opens your eyes. That's what I love.” PeopleWorldWholeEyeWhole WorldDocumentariesAmazing People Author:Fisher Stevens
“It's the best - combining the mediums of television, documentary, and books, to give you this transmedia experience for kids, for families, and for teachers.” GivingBookKidsTeacherTelevisionMediumsDocumentariesCombining Author:Jeff Corwin
“I began filmmaking in high school, at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. My first documentary was about a dysfunctional obese middle-aged carpet cleaner named Bill, who lived with his Mom, and his love affair with Anna, a drug-addicted prostitute. I made that when I was 16.” FirstsArtMadeSchoolMiddleMomDrugHigh SchoolBillsAffairChicagoFilmmakingDocumentariesHis LoveCarpetAcademyLove AffairCleanersMiddle AgedAnnaObese Author:Yony Leyser
“After I got kicked out of CalArts, I moved to Lawrence Kansas where my sister lived. I began working on A William S. Burroughs documentary. I had no idea it would turn into such a big film.” IdeasBigsFilmTurnsMovedNo IdeaMy SisterDocumentariesKansasBurroughs Author:Yony Leyser
“I watched a documentary about Freedom Riders. One young woman told her parents, 'I'm going to leave college to ride and represent the future.' I thought, 'Who would do that now?' Who would do that for my son?"” YoungParentCollegeSonMy SonYoung WomenDocumentariesRiders Author:Sandra Bullock
“I mostly like documentaries, so I always think things that happened in real life are so astounding that why would you make a movie about something fake.” ThinkingRealHappenedReal LifeFakeDocumentaries Author:Jonah Hill
“I'm in school every day. It depends on what it is that you do with all that free time when I'm not on the microphone. I'm reading, I'm studying. I love documentaries. I love learning what I don't know. And of course, I wouldn't suggest that particular lane for others.” KnowsSchoolCoursesReadingStudyParticularDependsDocumentariesLanesMicrophonesFree Time Author:MC Lyte
“The relationship between a director and an editor in documentaries is so important.” ImportantDirectorsEditorsDocumentaries Author:Roger Ross Williams
“That [Louisiana culture] was all very new to me. I read books and watched documentaries, just trying to immerse myself.” TryingBookCultureDocumentariesLouisiana Author:Kofi Siriboe
“Paradoxically, in the field being a woman actually helps you: people often feel more comfortable talking to women, which is key in documentaries.” PeopleFeelsHelpingTalkingFieldsKeysComfortableDocumentariesBeing A Woman Author:Cosima Spender
“Documentaries are unpredictable. You never know what will turn up, and the drama occurs in real time. But if you listen to people, a narrative always emerges.” PeopleIfsKnowsRealTurnsDramaNarrativeUnpredictableDocumentaries Author:Cosima Spender
“Stay humble to the craft and never forget how much it actually takes to be the main character of a documentary.” CharacterForgetHumbleCraftsNever ForgetDocumentariesMain CharactersStay Humble Author:Nicole Nielsen Horanyi
“I learned how to make a documentary by having a good team around me. My editors (and co-writers)Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt and Frédéric Tcheng were very helpful.” TeamHelpfulEditorsBentDocumentariesGood Team Author:Lisa Immordino Vreeland
“I think being really open to this new world of online and what it means to be online. Also, understanding that maybe it's time to let go of the 90-minute experience and realize that all of the content that comes on top of the 90-minute film experience, [that] there's a lot of that, especially with documentaries.” ThinkingWorldMeanFilmUnderstandingRealizingMinutesLetting GoOnlineNew WorldBeing RealDocumentariesTime To Let Go Author:Alex Stapleton
“I spent a year and a half working for an art fair. I worked as a post-production assistant for a documentary film company for a while. Then I worked at the Apple store because I wanted a discount to be able to buy new gear to edit things while I was figuring out whether or not I wanted to go to film school. Those were the main things.” YearsArtAbleWantedSchoolFilmHalfCompanyFairsProductionsStoresPostsApplesDocumentariesGearsEditsAssistantsDiscountsFilm SchoolPost ProductionDocumentary Films Author:Meera Menon
“It's not exactly an interview that's going on [in documentary]. I guess we do ask Edward Snowden some questions and we're recording him answering them and so on like that.” AsksInterviewsDocumentariesSnowden Author:Melissa Leo
“I wasn't terribly familiar. I had read some of the headlines but didn't quite understand difference between WikiLeaks...[Edward] Snowden. And then watching the documentary, working on the film, you got to see his personal journey through this and sort of understand more about what he went through.” FilmDifferencesJourneyFamiliarDocumentariesHeadlinesWikileaksSnowdenPersonal Journey Author:Scott Eastwood
“Interestingly enough, I feel what the show [OJ Simpson] was able to accomplish in a really masterful way is that White America could look back on the show and the documentary and say, "We understand why Black people were effusive at the acquittal of O.J. Simpson."” PeopleWayFeelsLooksEnoughShowsAbleAmericaBlackWhiteAccomplishBlack PeopleDocumentariesAcquittalOj Simpson Author:Sterling K. Brown
“On 'The Office,' so much of the show is about disguising your true feelings and your romantic feelings because it was a mock documentary.” ShowsFeelingsOfficeRomanticRomantic LoveDocumentariesMockTrue FeelingsRomantic Feelings Author:Mindy Kaling
“Exposing something that's painful or raw or not so pleasant. That seems to be the dramatic motor of documentaries, exposure.” SeemsPainfulDramaticPleasantDocumentariesExposureMotorExposing Author:Wayne White
“In some ways, the documentary form is a kind of trap and so is societal norms.” WayKindFormTrapsDocumentariesNorm Author:Robert Greene
“I'm driving down the freeway the other day, on my way to Knott's Scary Farm probably, and I hear this report on NPR that the whole lemmings thing was faked in the 1950s. They were shooting a wildlife documentary in the '50s, they found a group of lemmings, and the crew chased them all off a cliff. No lemming has ever jumped off a cliff, purposefully, ever. Isn't that unbelievable?” WayWholeFoundGroupsScaryDrivingMy WayShootingReportsFarmsCrewDocumentariesUnbelievableCliffsWildlifeFreewaysNprLemmings Author:Cassandra Peterson
“I've always slightly harboured a dream of making a film, a documentary feature. Somehow I just got into a way of working a routine of making TV docs. It's not as though you do that enough and then graduate - you sort of need to make a conscious decision to work in a different way.” WayNeedsDifferentEnoughDreamFilmDecisionTvsConsciousFeaturesDifferent WaysRoutineGraduatesDocumentaries Author:Louis Theroux
“I've always read a lot of historical books and I'm a big fan of documentaries, and I've always thought of ways to do it.” WayBookBigsFansHistoricalDocumentaries Author:Shawn Ryan
“Since I come from documentary background and my father is a documentary filmmaker, for me the core essence of cinema is it's social statement. It is somewhat similar to the work of a journalist, just on a different level. This is the kind of cinema I enjoy.” KindDifferentFatherSocialEnjoyLevelsEssenceCoreBackgroundsStatementsJournalistCinemaFilmmakerDocumentariesDifferent Levels Author:Ivan Tverdovsky
“By the end of the documentary [ '13th'], you really understand what prison is, what the prison industrial complex is, where this whole Black Lives Matter movement comes from, the history of resistance, the history of how politicians have used criminality over the decades for a particular political gain. It's to give people an understanding of it so they can make their own decisions about how they want to be in the world.” PeopleWorldWantGivingEndsMatterWholePoliticalUsedUnderstandingBlackDecisionMovementParticularPoliticianGainsPrisonComplexesDecadesResistanceDocumentariesBlack Lives MatterCriminalityBlack Lives Author:Ava DuVernay
“I've known Owen's father Ron [Suskind] for years, and this was based on his best-selling book ["Life, Animated"]. We worked together as journalists at ABC-TV News, and I knew about the book since its inception. Before he finished it, he approached me and said he thought it would make a great documentary, and I agree with him, and moved forward from there.” YearsSaidBookTogetherFatherKnownTvsNewsAgreeMovedFinishedSellingJournalistDocumentariesAnimatedInceptionSelling BooksTv News Author:Roger Ross Williams
“The ruins of classic movie theaters are a personal obsession of mine, and I've made a couple of documentaries about it.” MadeMinesCoupleTheaterObsessionRuinsClassicDocumentariesMovie TheaterClassic Movie Author:Sonia Braga
“There would be brilliant songs, but, as [Bob] Dylan admitted on the recent Martin Scorsese documentary about him (No Direction Home), the specific muse that inspired "It's Alright Ma" would not return.” HomeWould BeSongReturnInspiredBrilliantBobMuseDocumentariesDylanAlrightScorsese Author:Bob Dylan
“It's a little bit like talking about the life of writing. The life of writing may be about many things, but it always begins with the writer. With the kernel of an idea, or a character, or an idea or a theme, or even an outcome. But for documentary photographers, photographs begin at that intersection of the real world and the imaginative inner world.” WorldWritingMayLittlesIdeasRealCharacterBitsTalkingLittle BitPhotographerPhotographOutcomesThemeReal WorldDocumentariesImaginativeInner WorldIntersectionsKernel Author:Sam Abell
“The reason I don't want to say anything about it is it has a strange power to take over the conversation. Just like it's doing with us. I was asked to participate in a documentary about Richard Prince, and be the voice of someone who was appropriated, and I declined. The reason I did is I don't want it to be the subject of the discussion of my work.” WantReasonVoiceSubjectsStrangeConversationDiscussionSay AnythingDocumentaries Author:Sam Abell
“Back in 2007, I met this white guy [director Peter Byck] with a lot of hair and a video camera, at a conference that I happened to be attending for the launch of an organization called Blacks in Green. I had never heard of him and Peter had never heard of me. We just started talking; he liked what I had to say, so he asked me if I'd be willing to be in this documentary he was doing about carbon pollution. I said, "Sure!" It was kind of a no-brainer.” IfsKindSaidGuyWhiteTalkingHappenedHeardWillingHairMetsDirectorsOrganizationCamerasGreenVideoPeterPollutionCarbonDocumentariesConferencesAttendingWhite GuysVideo CamerasNo Brainer Author:Van Jones
“One of the most recent things we did [in Perceval Press] is a reissue of a fantastic documentary about Russian prison tattoo culture by Alix Lambert called The Mark of Cain. We've done books from Twilight of Empire, that actually has forewords by Howard Zinn and Dennis Kucinich and others, to books of poetry, photography, painting - all kinds of books.” KindBookDoneCulturePaintingPhotographyMarkPressesPrisonAll KindsFantasticEmpiresTwilightTattooDocumentariesCain Author:Viggo Mortensen
“My wife made me watch this documentary about the Iraq War, and there was a really powerful moment where they followed some civilian whose family had been killed. This was 5 or 10 minutes of this woman talking, and it was extremely arresting. You realize how you never hear from the person on the receiving end of a war without a reporter stepping in to compartmentalize the story. Usually they're just a few shots at the end of a news report, wailing and screaming at a funeral.” PersonsMadeWarEndsMomentsStoriesRealizingPowerfulTalkingWatchesWifeMinutesNewsShotsIraqMy WifeReportsFuneralReceivingReportersDocumentariesCiviliansIraq WarWailingReally PowerfulArresting Author:Charlie Brooker
“There is a document in every novel in the world. Even in the most fantastic novel, even in science fiction, there is a documentary side. But, this side is not the crux of the matter.” WorldMatterSidesFictionNovelScience FictionFantasticDocumentsDocumentariesCrux Author:Amos Oz
“I don't think a novel's main donation, main gift, is the document. The document is there, but a novel goes beyond documentation. It goes into opening a new vista, opening a new perspective, showing familiar things in an unfamiliar way, and making the reader reconsider the documentary facts which he or she may have known before.” ThinkingWayMayFactsKnownNovelPerspectiveReaderFamiliarOpeningDocumentsDocumentariesUnfamiliarDonationVistasDocumentationNew PerspectiveFamiliar Things Author:Amos Oz
“I remember somebody saying something to me about Frost/Nixon, when Anthony Hopkins does his famous speech, and the difference in the way Anthony did it was to dramatize, essentially, what was a documentary-style version of that speech. I remember someone saying to me, "There is artistic liberty."” WayDoeRememberDifferencesLibertyStyleSpeechVersionsArtisticDocumentariesFrostHopkins Author:Vanessa Kirby