This Much is True - 15 Directors on Documentary Filmmaking

Documentary filmmaking is soaring in popularity and becoming a critical part of public debate, provoking fierce advocacy for points of view on the major issues of our time. Documentary filmmakers, simply put, have enormous power to influence public opinion, consumer behavior, and, often, government policy. This unique book compiles the insights of twelve of the most successful and accomplished directors in the genre. It is a master class in technique and approach, exploring all the essential issues these directors confront in their unique craft: negotiating access, being part of the narrative, capturing actuality, dramatizing events, dealing with difficult contributors, and so on. The book offers an engaging insight into the techniques of fifteen leading documentary directors. Each filmmaker will address a key theme in directing, which speaks to their particular approach or body of work aas well as issues such as negotiating access, being part of the narrative, captuirng actuality, dramatising events, dealing with difficult contributors, and so on. The contributors are all leaders in the field whose groundbreaking work is followed by fans worldwide: Kevin Macdonald( Touching the Void, One Day in September), Nick Broomfield( The Leader, His Driver and The Driver's Wife), Martin Scorsese( Shine a Light), Paul Watson( The Family, Malcolm and Barbara), Molly Dineen( Geri, The Lie of the Land), Werner Herzog( Grizzly Man), Errol Morris( The Fog of War), Morgan Matthews( Beautiful Young Minds, The Fallen), Andrew Jarecki( Capturing the Friedmans), Brian Hill( Feltham Sings), and Ursula Macfarlane( Breaking Up with the Joneses, Abortion: The Choice).

James Quinn is an experienced documentary director and executive producer. His most recent credit is the Darlow Smithson drama documentary 9/11: Colliding Lives. He was the former head of factual and documentaries at October Films—a company with over ninety international awards for its factual output. Quinn is author of the forthcoming The Secret Diary of a Documentary Filmmaker, and is a tutor for the Documentary Filmmakers’ Group.