The lesson filmmaker Ben Steinbauer learned by making WINNEBAGO MAN was that the smartest thing he could could do was follow where the story leads. It’s a great story, and Jack Rebney, whose outtakes of his very bad day as a Winnebago pitchman became must-see YouTube, one of the great documentary subjects. All preconceived notions and… Read More »
Laura Poitras Takes THE OATH
Laura Poitras spent two years in Yemen shooting footage for THE OATH. What began as an investigation into the military prison at Guantanamo Bay became instead a remarkable portrait of two brothers-in-law and their separate journeys in the wake of the American invasion of Afghanistan. Abu Jandal, now a Yemeni taxi driver, was bin Ladin’s… Read More »
Anna Halprin & Ruedi Gerber Show Us BREATH MADE VISIBLE
Filmmaker Ruedi Gerber and dancer Anna Halprin talked about the pleasures and perils of creating what Gerber calls an experiential documentary about his longtime friend, Anna Halprin. During our conversation on March 31, 2010, she discussed what she can dance now at almost 90 that would have been impossible for her to embody earlier, when… Read More »
Don Argott, Sheena Joyce & Lenny Feinberg Reveal THE ART OF THE STEAL
For director Don Argott and producers Sheena Joyce and Lenny Feinberg, making THE ART OF THE STEAL about the fight over the Barnes collection of early modern art was a labor of love. The resulting film plays like a political thriller. During the course of our conversation on February 15, 2010, each spoke about what… Read More »
Judith Ehrlich & Rick Goldsmith Introduce You to THE MOST DANGROUS MAN IN AMERICA – DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS
When I spoke with Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith on February 4, 2010, their documentary had just been nominated for an Oscar, and so naturally that was a subject up for discussion, along with the implications for future financing and distribution of political documentaries. Politics is certainly at the center of THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN… Read More »
R. J. Cutler Opens THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE
There are many things to admire in R.J. Cutler’s astute documentary, THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE. Yet, for all the moments, large and small, of revelation by its subject, Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, the image that most struck me did not involve her at all. It involved Vogue’s creative director, Grace Coddington, a model ensconced in haute couture, and a cherry tart. Such… Read More »
George Ratliff Guides Us Through HELL HOUSE
George Ratliff’s documentary, HELL HOUSE, chronicles the building of a Halloween house that doesn’t purvey ghouls, werewolves, or vampires. Instead, this brainchild of the sincere folks of Trinity Church in Texas use the concept of a Halloween fright fest to convert the unsaved to their brand of fundamentalism. A fundamentalism in which abortion, raves, and Harry Potter are presented as… Read More »
Alex Gibney Ponders GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON
When I spoke to Alex Gibney on April 8, 2008, the first question was the one that stuck with me from the minute I heard about this documentary. Where do you begin with a man who was larger than life, as was his writing? Gibney, with a succinct erudition, summed up his own struggle with… Read More »
WORDPLAY with Patrick Creadon & Merl Reagle
WORDPLAY is a film about obsession and there are no better representatives of that phenomenon than filmmaker Patrick Creadon and crossword puzzle-maker Merl Reagle. The particulars are all things word, as Reagle demonstrated by anagramming my name, but there is a universal quality to it. Creadon and Reagle proved conclusively during our talk on May 25, 2006… Read More »
Edward Espe Brown Explains HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE
I’ve owned a copy of the Tassajara Bread book for over a decade and so it was pretty much inevitable that when I spoke to its author, Edward Espé Brown, on October 8, 2007, the subject of baking the perfect loaf would come up. But first, I needed to cover the illusion of perfection, the metaphor… Read More »
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