The Documentary-Fairytale

July 31st, 2023

(free episode)

I remember when I was first putting together my grandfather's documentary. I asked the people who were closest to him to tell me about him. I was looking for the truth, some insight into who he truly was. But I soon realized that I could never get the truth that way because when I was gathering information about him I was also actually receiving a bunch of information about the person who was telling me about him - everything was mixed in, the conveying of that information. The lines were blurred between the subject (my grandfather), and the storyteller (the one giving me the information). Even if the one I was talking to believed they were conveying "just the facts," they were still automatically filtering everything through their own perspective, their personality, their thoughts, their beliefs from childhood, from past experiences - everything inside them was automatically entangled into the information that I was receiving. It was just organic, just a natural thing, like when a photographer shoots a photograph. It can seem that a photograph is objective - the subject is simply there and the camera is simply an instrument that captures it. But I believe that the photograph is always subjective. The imprint of the photographer is within that image - the angle it was shot, the framing, the shutter-speed used, the light exposure, if it was handheld or on a tripod, the kind of film used, and most importantly, the exact moment it was taken. These details reveal the photographer within the photograph.

This could have been frustrating to me as I was attempting an investigative biography film on my grandfather. Instead it was interesting and fascinating to think about. And so the whole thing inspired me to create a different kind of documentary about my grandfather. So I created (I invented, I think) a new genre called "The Documentary Fairytale."