From Robert Flaherty to Sharon Lockhart
Explore the documentary filmmakers who inspired Sweetgrass filmmakers Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, and watch video clips from the influential films.
Note: Video clips in this gallery are embedded from YouTube or Vimeo, and were not produced by POV, PBS or the filmmakers of Sweetgrass.
1. Robert Flaherty
From: United States
Filmmakers' Notes: The work of founder of documentary Robert Flaherty has been seminal to us because of his emphasis on "non-pre-conception," or what his wife Frances called "a method of discovery as a process of filmmaking." His films, in her words, unlike the vast bulk of issue-oriented documentaries, "do not argue... What they celebrate, freely and spontaneously, simply and purely, is the thing itself for its own sake."
The Influential Films: Nanook of the North (1922), Man of Aran (1934)
Note: Video clips in this gallery are embedded from YouTube or Vimeo, and were not produced by POV, PBS or the filmmakers of Sweetgrass.
2. Maya Deren
From: Ukraine
Filmmakers' Notes: Maya Deren's experimental cinema is exhilarating to us for its interest in dreaming, reflection, dance and ritual.
The Influential Films: Haitian Film Footage (1947"