{"id":6825,"date":"2023-11-09T03:38:55","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T08:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/in-subject-documentary-stars-look-back\/09\/11\/2023\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T03:38:55","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T08:38:55","slug":"in-subject-documentary-stars-look-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/in-subject-documentary-stars-look-back\/09\/11\/2023\/","title":{"rendered":"In \u2018Subject,\u2019 Documentary Stars Look Back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Being a documentary subject can be a thankless kind of stardom, without much control over how your life story is told. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/02\/movies\/subject-review.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">In \u201cSubject,\u201d<\/a> Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall went back to five famous documentaries and asked their stars about their experiences: \u201cHoop Dreams,\u201d \u201cThe Staircase,\u201d \u201cCapturing the Friedmans,\u201d \u201cThe Square\u201d and \u201cThe Wolfpack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rather than a \u201cwhere are they now\u201d update, Tiexiera and Hall investigate the unexpected personal ramifications and ethical quandaries that arise. Arthur Agee of \u201cHoop Dreams,\u201d for example, speaks of earning around $500,000 through profit-sharing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I spoke with the filmmakers about what they learned, and their dauntingly extensive efforts at making \u201cSubject&#8221;<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em>a full collaboration with their subjects. Below are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Whose documentary experience surprised you most?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">JENNIFER TIEXIERA<\/strong>: I would say Margie\u2019s [as the daughter of a man tried for murder, Michael Peterson]. When you watch \u201cThe Staircase,\u201d you\u2019re caught up in the story and you\u2019re not thinking about this young girl whose face is now everywhere. She\u2019s truly been defined by that series for the last 20-some years now. Her story has been told and sold over and over and over again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">CAMILLA HALL<\/strong>: I think Margie got a comment saying the acting was better on the HBO show [the true-crime mini-series starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette] than the Netflix show [the documentary series]. I think Ahmed\u2019s journey in \u201cThe Square\u201d<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em>is also so dramatic. Where Ahmed [Hassan] comes from in Cairo is a very underprivileged neighborhood. And he became the face of the Egyptian revolution!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Were there positive effects to participating in a documentary?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">HALL<\/strong>: Susanne [Reisenbichler, the mother of the nearly housebound family in \u201cThe Wolfpack\u201d] talks of how letting somebody in from the outside was the first time she fully understood her level of despair. I think she had just been living in this bubble for so long. That intervention had an enormously positive impact on her life and has led to her total independence. Now she\u2019s a domestic abuse support adviser.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Arthur was able to use the \u201cHoop Dreams\u201d<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em>brand and has his own line of merchandise. Ahmed is an Emmy-winning cinematographer as a result of \u201cThe Square,\u201d and we were able to get him a visa to move to America because of that award.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">How did you get people to open up?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">HALL<\/strong>: I think we created a platform where their voice was the most important at the end of the day. They had final say over how they would be presented in \u201cSubject.\u201d They were able to watch the rough cut of the film and give feedback. And there wasn\u2019t much coaxing. They knew exactly what they were doing \u2014 it was almost like Margie directed her own scenes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">TIEXIERA<\/strong>: And they\u2019re co-producers, by D.P.A. [Documentary Producers Alliance] standards. When it came to what was very important to them, we adjusted their agreements to reflect that. Jesse [<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2013\/06\/16\/nyregion\/reinvestigating-the-friedmans.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the son in \u201cCapturing the Friedmans\u201d<\/a> who served 13 years in prison on child sexual abuse charges] wanted to be aware of the distribution: where this is going to go and who\u2019s going to see it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">We did reach out to a few people for \u201cSubject\u201d<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em>who weren\u2019t ready to go back into that place but still loved the idea. For example, Carole and Howard from \u201cTiger King\u201d became supporters of \u201cSubject.\u201d And Mark Borchardt [of \u201cAmerican Movie\u201d] was a great sounding board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Did you cut anything from \u201cSubject&#8221;<\/strong><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em><\/strong><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">based on feedback from participants?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">TIEXIERA<\/strong>: The biggest hurdle was when Susanne and [one of her sons] Mukunda agreed to be part of \u201cSubject,\u201d and Mukunda\u2019s brothers did not want to be. They had had a different relationship and experience and didn\u2019t want to be on camera. I want to say it was a couple of weeks before our premiere, it came back that they did not want to be part of the archival [material]. So we had to re-cut the entire \u201cWolfpack\u201d<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\"> <\/em>section and keep them out, except for one of the brothers who was OK with it. Legally, sure, we could have kept that. But it\u2019s just not what we were doing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">We also feature 112 films and series [in montages], and people have been able to see it and say, I don\u2019t like where my film is placed. We\u2019ve been able to go back and take it out or move it to a different location.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Would you ever participate in a documentary about your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">HALL<\/strong>: So, we are considering that in the series that we\u2019re developing at the moment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">TIEXIERA<\/strong>: If you would ask me this last year, I would say absolutely not. But as we develop the series with Time Studios, it\u2019s come up a few times. In the spirit of \u201cSubject,&#8221; the series would be a collaboration between the participants [in documentaries], and we would have the time to bring the directors\u2019 voices into it, and then we also reflect on the process while we\u2019re making it. It\u2019s very meta!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/03\/movies\/subject-documentary-interview.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being a documentary subject can be a thankless kind of stardom, without much control over how your life story is told. 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