Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi Quotes

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.

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

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

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

I'm a documentary filmmaker by training. You got to start with the real people and the real place.

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.

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 never intended to be a documentary filmmaker. I think I became a documentary filmmaker because I had trouble writing, and I had trouble finishing things.

I feel as if I became a documentary film-maker only because I had writer's block for four decades. There's no other good reason.

The more I make films, the more I feel less inclined to talk about them and just let people watch them. I feel that the pictures are telling the story, and I can't really add anything except just talking about the technicalities of what happened on the day.

I don't normally make documentaries. I'm a drama director. I've made a few short docs, but I don't like talking heads or 'voice of God' narrators.

Feature filmmaking is a different kind of complication as documentary comes in the editing room.

For me, with me, making a film is always about humanity.

The message films that try to be message films always fail. Likewise with documentaries. The documentaries that work best are the ones that eschew a simple message for an odd angle. I found that one of the most spectacular films about the Middle East was 'Waltz With Bashir,' or 'The Gatekeepers,' or '5 Broken Cameras.'

I want my movies to be audience experiences. As much as I like Michael Haneke, I'm not going to make a Haneke film. That's just not in my DNA.

As a filmmaker, you have to understand the essence of the book and tell the story you want to see on the screen, and hopefully please yourself - because you can't possibly please everyone.

It's incredible to see the creativity, beauty and hardships people capture when filmmaking is opened up and shared with the world.

Look, I'm just a storyteller. When I make a film, I never want the film to become a vehicle of social propaganda.

To make a documentary is one thing, to make a feature film is quite another.

A short film is just another storytelling medium like TV, Features, and Webisodes. I am just thrilled that 'Silent Cargo' is getting out there for people to see.

I'm interested in making films that make people think.

I love documentaries. My problem is when the filmmaker becomes the star.

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

It's a very weird thing, making a true story, because you need your freedom, as filmmakers, to do what you need to do.