Documentary Filmmaking in Life Today

Documentary is a style of filmmaking I absolutely admire and adore. Working in documentary filmmaking is a career path I actually would like to pursue. Year after year I am always infatuated with the new doc features released and I especially love doc shorts as they bring a very different visual style that opposes that of a traditional documentary view. Ever since I watched the film Nanook of the North I knew that documentary is something I want to pursue and work in. More recently I have been a HUGE fan of the documentary The Act of Killing. Joshua Oppenheimer is an absolute idol of mine and I respect his work greatly. Next year a companion piece to The Act of Killing is being released titled The Look of Silence and it focuses on the victims of the murders in The Act of Killing. If you are unfamiliar with what I am talking about, The Act of Killing is on Netflix (both the theatrical cut and the directors cut). It is such a powerful and important film, Oppenheimer unearthed a genocide that is widely unknown and misunderstood. As a result of both of these films, Oppenheimer can no longer return to Indonesia as he would have to fear for his safety from the government. Many of the crew members on the making of the film actually remain anonymous to this day to protect themselves. That may sound like a dangerous life, but it is for the love of the art and the love of humanity. This is something I am definitely looking forward to working in and cannot wait to start working in documentary even more.