Joined by Marshall Curry, the two-time Academy Award nominated filmmaker, lead to interesting dinner conversation. Giving background on his road to becoming the renowned success he is, I could not help being in awe at the simplicity of his start. Not having any background or family connected to the film industry, he discovered his interest in documentaries, and simply bought a camera one day and read the manual.

He then proceeded to make an election film for Cory Booker, who was at the time running from Mayor of Newark. After shooting 200 plus hours of film following the election, Curry cut a trailer and attempted to receive a grant to finish the movie with no success.

Without this grant, he decided that he would have to learn to edit himself. He enrolled in a weekend class about editing and edited his footage for about a year and a half. Throughout this time period it was trial and error, and his only goal was to finish the project, not knowing the success to come.

Once he finished his editing, he took it to POV, who enjoyed it and provided another editor for the film. After this, Curry submitted it into Tribeca Film Festival, winning the audience award and then the film was nominated for the Oscars. This was the start of his career.

One statement that struck me was his motivation behind his films. He stated that he doesn’t make documentaries about what he wants to say but about subject matter that he wants to learn about. I thought that this was a very different humble approach.

Through his experience, he took away a very valuable life lesson that applies to many things in life, and hearing him say it was a good reminder. He said that he became more comfortable with the idea that it’s not going to be correct the first time. You have to keep building, after it topples down, until you create the final product.