(Attesting to the length of time these documentaries require, an end credit notes that four of the interview subjects have died).
Before the advent of digital cameras, making a documentary required a two-member crew "that could be synchronous," said D. A. Pennebaker, who has directed more than a dozen films with his wife, Chris Hegedus, including "The War Room" (1993).
Being interviewed for a documentary requires a big leap of faith for any film, let alone one about Hillsborough.
Many film-inspired documentaries require extensive research and legwork.
Funding education or funding superb PBS documentaries require political acumen.
My job as a producer/director of documentaries requires me to form fast, close bonds with subjects so they trust me to tell their stories and feel comfortable on screen.
But this summer (partly because of changes in the Academy Awards eligibility rules for documentary features, which require a weeklong, two-city theatrical run during the calendar year) theaters are bristling with true stories that are often stranger, more wonderful and scarier than the multiplex blockbusters.
The right-wing bias of Fox News, whose laughable motto is "Fair and Balanced," is not something that ought to require a documentary to uncover.
Asked if she knew that a documentary about her husband would invariably require a recounting of the story behind "Layla," Mr. Clapton's lust ballad about Pattie Boyd, Harrison's first wife (who later married Mr. Clapton), Ms. Harrison calmly placed her hands over her ears and began to sing, "La la la la la".
The importance of the interview in the contemporary documentary film requires an understanding of its fundamental principles.
