Yesterday evening, I heard Marshall Curry speak about finding himself and ultimately “finding” or creating great documentaries. Initially Curry studied religion and decided he wanted to be a teacher, however, while interning, he discovered he could not handle disciplining students. So after going back and forth between what to do, he made a spontaneous trip to Mexico. Afterwards, he made another spontaneous decision to make a movie, just so he could say he did it. Curry ended up filming the election of a local man who was running for senator. He made sure to bring out the key issues in the race: politics, passion, and discrimination. Surprisingly to Curry, his film after nearly two years of work, was so successful that it was up for a Grammy.

He then went to describe what went into a great documentary. One thing he mentioned was the transition in a documentary that had a beginning and end. It keeps the viewer on his or her feet because the viewer wants to know what happens next. Also a charismatic character that engenders any strong feeling in the viewer makes a documentary memorable and entertaining. Lastly, he feels that a story that has yet to be told is an entertaining from a lack of knowledge standpoint.