This week’s dinner conversation with Marshall Curry started with everyone introducing themselves and talking about their interests or experience with making movies. Many people were like me and had no experience with film-making.  It was quite interesting to hear how his career path led him to become a documentary maker. He studied comparative religion in college, started teaching high school students. He eventually worked for someone who was making a documentary. He told us although things did not go well with the first documentary he became really passionate about making documentaries.

One of the interesting things I learned from Curry was that when making a documentary you have to capture moments that are totally unexpected in order to capture the audience’s attention. In other words, keep the viewer curious about what is going to happen next at every moment. In deciding whether to make a documentary on a certain topic, Curry said he focuses on whether there is a compelling narrative trajectory with an interesting beginning and end to the narrative.

Curry discussed some of the documentaries he has produced. One of them called “Point and Shoot” is about a man who was travelling to Africa and the Middle East and eventually joined the rebels in Libya to fight against Ghaddafi. The other one called “If a tree falls” is about the Earth Liberation Front and discusses whether ecoterrorism should be condemned or not.

I certainly developed a much deeper appreciation of what it takes to produce a good documentary on a compelling topic.