The Documentary Interview

This is my tribute to beautiful documentary interviews. Screengrabs from films, posted occasionally. Different styles, all striking. A source book for filmmakers and film lovers. Get new posts on IG @docinterview if you prefer. The full info and complete archive only lives here.

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13th (2016). Director Ava Duvernay. Directors of Photography Hans Charles and Kira Kelly. Lots of bold interview frames in this film. This one in particular grabbed me. It's Cory Greene, a psychology Ph.D student and former prisoner who founded H.O.L.L.A! (How Our Lives Link Altogether!) along with several other former inmates from Otisville. "We know the history of folks who've, who've done this kind of standing up to these systems. And we know how the system has, has murdered them, assasinated them, exiled them, excluded them, or found ways to discredit them.”

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In the Absence (2019). Directed by Seung-Jun Yi. Cinematography by Seung-Jun Yi and Hyuck-Ji Park.  

This is Yoo An-Sil, mother of late Yu Mi-Ji, one of the hundreds of students who needlessly died on the Sewol ferry boat in 2014. “I told her to follow the teacher’s guidance, which is my biggest regret.”

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Strong Island (2017). Directed by Yance Ford. Cinematography by Alan Jacobsen.

This is the director talking to lens. One might think of it as just a voiceover device, but it was produced as an interview and that’s clear in Ford’s delivery. There’s a great description of Ford’s interview process in the Pure Nonfiction podcast episode 64. Ford is staring at two tape marks on the lens while Rob Moss and Joslyn Barnes ask questions. The entire space is designed to create intimacy and emotional candor. 

“There is no evidence of close-range firing. How do you measure the distance of reasonable fear?” It’s actually one of the more performative lines in the interview, but it’s a very pretty frame.

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Wormwood (2017). Directed by Errol Morris. Cinematography by Ellen Kuras.

A rare handsome profile. This is one of dozens of camera angles in this four-hour, six-part film about Eric Olson’s search for the truth regarding his father’s highly unusual death. The whole project is best summarized by Eric’s comment at this point in the interview. “All the things that I know now, I needed to know when I was 30 let's say, 20 let's say, maybe 40 let's say, maybe 50, not now. I needed truth a long time ago, a long time ago.”

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Style Wars (1983). Directed by Tony Silver. Cinematography by Burleigh Wartes.

Here’s Detective Bernie Jacobs, one of the Crime Prevention Coordinators for the New York City Transit Police Department, describing graffiti on the subway cars. “Is that an art form? I don't know, I'm not an art critic. But I can sure as hell tell you that that's a crime.”

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Jane (2017). Directed by Brett Morgen. Cinematography by Ellen Kuras.

Here the remarkable Jane Goodall responds to a question about her interventions when the chimps at Gambe came down with polio. "I didn't care what anybody said. I was going to help the chimps if I could. I couldn't watch an animal suffering, any more than I could watch a human suffering. I see no difference between helping a human and helping an animal."

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O.J.: Made in America (2016). Directed by Ezra Edelman. Cinematography by Nick Higgins.

Here is Rev. Cecil Murray, pastor at First African Methodist Episcopal Church, speaking in episode three about the sympathy felt toward OJ in the black community. “He was wealthy, he was powerful, he was this, he was that. There is a B-U-T BUT. He was black... You may be at the top house in Beverly Hills, and I may be in the basement of a place in Watts, but we are connected.”

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L’Héritage de la chouette (The Owl’s Legacy) (1989). Directed by Chris Marker. Cinematography by Andreas Sinanos, Jimmy Glasberg, and Peter Chappell. 

I’ve always associated Chris Marker with cats, but apparently he’s just a general animist. Every interview includes an owl in his epic series on the impact of ancient Greek culture. Here’s Giulia Sissa in one of the prettier frames.

"And after the debate the person Socrates interrogated ends up utterly depleted, for his own good, of course. He feels happy. He thanks Socrates, but he is also utterly demolished."

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20 Feet From Stardom (2013). Directed by Morgan Neville. Cinematography by Nicola Marsh and Graham Willoughby.

The Boss explains the outsized journey from backup singer to frontman: "I know tremendous backup singers who just aren't comfortable in that position. You gotta have that narcissism, you gotta have that ego. It can be a pretty long walk."

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Sound City (2013). Directed by Dave Grohl. Director of Photography Kenny Stoff.

This is Neil Giraldo describing Rick Springfield's pit terrier at his crotch during the recording of Jessie's Girl. "So we get ready to do the take. All of a sudden the dog comes into the studio, sits down, puts his nose right in my crotch. It's like if I screw up he's going to bite me. What the hell is going on here? And I made it through the take. It might have even been the one we used."

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Nina Simone: The Legend (1992). Directed and shot by Frank Lords.

This is the late Stanley Wise, who served as executive secretary of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in its heyday. "Her music was just more than powerful, and it was more than music. It was a philosophy and a belief that despite all of these problems, we will get through this.  And not only will we get through it, but we will survive and triumph in this."

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Imelda (2003). Director Ramona Diaz. Cinematography by Ferne Pearlstein.

The eponymous Imelda Marcos recounts the origin of the Filipino national anthem. "We were really a commonwealth, so we were pledging allegiance to the American flag. So Irving Berlin went to one side of the house and he started writing something. In about 20 minutes he finished, he came here, he said to me, Imelda you learn this song."

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Life According to Sam (2013). Directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine. Cinematography by Sean. One of 15 documentary features shortlisted for an Oscar nomination.

Sam Berns, the hero of the film, suffers from a rare genetic disease called progeria. "I didn't put myself in front of you to have you feel bad for me. I put myself in front of you to let you know that you don't need to feel bad for me. Because this is how, I want you to get to know me. This is my life."

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Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988). Directed by Mark Lewis. Cinematography by Jim Frazier.

Tip Byrne, a sugar cane farmer, recalls the seminal moment in the history of the invasive species. "Yes, I've got vivid memories when the toads were first brought to this place."

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After Tiller (2013). Directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson. Director of Photography Hillary Spera.

Dr. Warren Hern, one of only four doctors practicing late-term abortions in the U.S., describes his family's fear in the wake of Dr. George Tiller's assassination. "This is a profoundly traumatic experience for everybody in my family starting with Odalys, Fernando, and my mother, you know who worries about my safety. I faced these threats before when I was single, but it's not the same as having a family that's around you all the time."

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Payback (2012). Director Jennifer Baichwal. Director of Photography Nick de Pencier.

The shining star of this odd essay film based on Margaret Atwood lectures is Paul Mohammed, a criminal deeply plagued by guilt for the trauma he caused a victim.

"We horse traded this uh, this uh poor lady's jewelry for I think, maybe I got enough to do three or four hoots of crack. That was it. That's what I got out of it. And uh, it just kind of feeds itself because then I feel so guilty about what I did that I want to keep getting high because I feel like crappy cause of what I did. And then I go and I do it again. Cause I don't want to come down and feel like what the fuck are you doing, why did you do that?"

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Detropia (2012). Directed and Produced by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. Cinematography by Tony Hardmon and Craig Atkinson.

Tommy Stephens, owner of the Raven Lounge in Detroit, shares some wisdom. "When you see your neighbor going down, you have to think about yourself. And if you don't go over there and put that fire out, help your neighbor put that fire out, that fire is coming to you. No matter what the problems are. What happened in Detroit is now spreading throughout. It's coming to you. Yeah. It's coming to you."