If you're going to see 'City of Ghosts' because you want to understand everything about the Syrian conflict and how to fix it, then it's the wrong film to see.
What I want is the world to remember the problems and the people I photograph. What I want is to create a discussion about what is happening around the world and to provoke some debate with these pictures. Nothing more than this. I don't want people to look at them and appreciate the light and the palate of tones. I want them to look inside and see what the pictures represent, and the kind of people I photograph.
I feel like a lot of funders of documentaries today want to fund films that have a social message that is going to yield results.
Objectivity is the purpose of documentary filmmakers.
People may assume 'The Act of Killing' is a historical documentary about what happened in 1965. But our purpose was to expose a present-day regime of fear for what it is.
The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh.
Like all art, nonfiction film should invite, seduce, or force us to confront the most difficult, frightening or mysterious aspects of what it means to be human.
Is Michael Moore an honest documentarian? Honestly? I don't think he is... The real discussion gets left behind the entertainment value.
If you're not doing it for the right reasons, then you'd be dumb to be making documentaries.
Documentaries shouldn't just reflect the world: they should try and explain why reality is like it is.
I feel that cinema can't change society or bring a revolution. I'm also not sure of cinema as a medium of education. Documentaries can be educative, not feature films.
Brilliant documentaries are about so much more than their subject.
I like the rock documentaries that make it seem real. Some rock documentaries are meant to make the bands look larger than life.
Exposing something that's painful or raw or not so pleasant. That seems to be the dramatic motor of documentaries, exposure.
