Gemma Whelan Quotes

I don't think the subject of a documentary film should be producers on it.

It's such a rich experience when you enter into a subject from a documentary point of view. It's hard for fiction to compete with that.

I think the greatest thing about making a documentary is your ability to just follow the story and the subject.

I don't want to be on a soapbox, but I feel like a lot of documentary filmmakers are part of the ancient tradition of writing down notes, of saying, 'Hey people, hey people!'

I love documentaries. I love the format. I've been doing them for a long time.

So I do tend to do documentaries where I can move in and out of them.

I love documentaries, I like observing real people.

You should bear in mind that almost all my documentaries are feature films in disguise.

The thing about documentary is that you don't really choose your subjects: they come and grab you out of your bed.

I'm a big fan of documentaries. I've always loved them, and I've just never had the opportunity or the time to make a feature.

I did documentary film for a long time, and I spent a lot of time behind the camera, fervently wishing that the reality I was filming would conform to my narrative propriety. But you can't control it.

But one of the amazing things about documentary is that you can remake it every time you make one. There is no rule about how a documentary film has to be made.

As far as the balance between being a journalist, being an artist, being a storyteller - documentary filmmakers are all three of those things. The balance between them is affected by the film itself, the topic of the film.

Some filmmakers are more eclectic than others. I'm not one of those! I'm interested in what I'm interested in, which is films about the world, about what's going on. I started in TV documentaries with 'World in Action,' and those interests feed into the films I make now.

I don't know if I'd mastered that documentary format, but I wanted to move on from it.

Documentaries are a form of journalism.

My time in documentaries was very educating, in terms of life experience as well as the filmmaking side of it.

I'm not trying to acquire a reputation as serious documentary maker for its own sake.

I love making documentaries. But I do like other factual entertainment as well, and I like doing the lighter stuff.

I just like documentaries.

I started as a documentary maker, and they're my first love.

You make documentaries because you love doing it; it's the only sane reason to make documentaries.

Reality television hasn't killed documentaries, because there are so many great documentaries still being made, but it certainly has changed the landscape.

The relationship between a director and an editor in documentaries is so important.

I'm a documentary filmmaker, I know what it means to craft a story, especially when you've shot a lot of material.