The Documentary Life

It’s that time again to turn our attention to breaking down the barriers of that ever-elusive filmmaking animal that we’ve all come to respect and love, but few of us truly understand… the film festi…

It’s that time again to turn our attention to breaking down the barriers of that ever-elusive filmmaking animal that we’ve all come to respect and love, but few of us truly understand… the film festi…

The number of docos filming in dangerous or hostile environments has been steadily increasing over the past decade, with the access to both dependable portable film gear as well as the best areas in …

If you’re like me, you are a fan of watching the DVD extras or the making-of videos of some of your favorite films. In fact, Ive been inspired and gained some of my very filmmaking knowledge by watch…

In part two of our special on mobile filmmaking for the doc filmmaker, we decided to go right to the source: FiLMic Pro‘s, CEO & found, Neill Barham. And he did not let down. If you have ever even ha…

To say that phone filmmaking has quickly turned from shooting cute home movies of your kids to full-fledged filmmaking would be an understatement. And understandably, doc filmmakers, have really been…

I figured since I’m always on here prattling on about my doc life, it might be different to talk about – or actually, with! – my doc wife, Stephanie. We figured what better way to celebrate our secon…

Through his production company, 1895 Films, Tom Jennings has become known for his fresh and inventive approach to using archival footage to tell a story. With both Peabody and Emmy Awards under his b…

Jean Umansky is one of the most respected sound persons in the field of filmmaking. He is a French sound engineer who has worked on over 50+ narrative and documentary films, including an Academy Awar…

The topic of film distribution is, perhaps, one of the most requested topics that we’ve ever had for the podcast. And it’s no wonder. While there may seem like more options than ever for the doc film…

These are pretty amazing times for documentary filmmakers. Not only have the popularity of documentary films increased exponentially, not only are there far more resources available these days to doc…

Crowdfunding, nowadays, is one of the most common funding options out there for the documentary filmmaker. However, the crowdfunding playing field has evolved considerably since the early days of Kic…

It’s no secret that one of the bigger hurdles that we are often faced with as documentary filmmakers is that of funding. It is my intention with this episode to hopefully make things a little lighter…

Maclain and Chapman Way have recently directed, edited, produced one of the most talked about Netflix docuseries of the year, Wild Wild Country. They have become one of the hottest, most sought after…

In this episode we are joined by someone who is well-acquainted with making personal documentaries, or as he refers to them, as spiritual documentaries.

Michael Wiese has been making documentary films…

We welcome CPA, Professor of Accountancy, fraud expert, and documentary filmmaker, Kelly Richmond Pope to the programme. Kelly comes highly recommended by other Kartemquin alum, and once you’ve heard…

In our first 64 episodes of this podcast we have touched upon a host of documentary-related topics and spoken with a variety of guests. However, until now, we’d never spoken with someone who has been…

No other guest that we’ve yet had on the show exemplifies what we’ve been defining over the past 21 months here on TDL as living and leading a documentary life, quite as well as Raising Bertie filmma…

Storytelling is always at the heart of any kind of documentary journey. And for today’s episode of the podcast, we will explore 5 Ways to Tell Someone’s Story, followed by a shared conversation with,…

So what exactly does one say to one of the most respected documentary filmmakers of our time?

What does one say to the man who literally inspired countless future doc filmmakers when his film Hoop Dre…