PRINTPeople Watch
Meet the filmmakers and shakers coming to this years True/False
February 25, 2010 | 12:00 a.m. CST
TIM HETHERINGTON (Co-director, producer, camera for Restrepo) | Tim Hetherington was the only photographer to live behind rebel lines during the recent Liberian civil war. This exposure, along with many others, led to various awards for his photography on war and combat. Despite all his experiences, Hetherington never forgets who inspired his foray into filmmaking. “French filmmaker Chris Marker was the person who first got me into film,” Hetherington says. “He felt free with his ideas and his own form.”
LIXIN FAN (Director of Last Train Home) | While working for the China Central Television station, Lixin Fan traveled around the country and experienced firsthand the inequalities caused by the country’s rapid economic expansion during the late 20th century. “This inspired me to become a documentary filmmaker with a focus on social issues,” Fan says. “My mom told me when I was little that the only way to show you are a strong person is by helping those who are still weak.” Last Train Home is Fan’s directorial debut. Previously, he was an associate producer on the documentary Up the Yangtze.
LEON GAST (Director of Smash His Camera) | If there’s one decade Leon Gast is proud to have survived, it would be the ’60s. A resident of Woodstock, N.Y., Gast previously lived in New York City for the past 18 years. He has directed critically acclaimed documentaries such as We Were Kings and The Grateful Dead Movie. As a documentary film director, Gast believes that proximity is key. “Access is the hardest part of filmmaking,” he says. “If you’re going to do a character study, then you must have access.”
CARTER GUNN (Co-Director of Colony) | Carter Gunn didn’t always want to be a documentary filmmaker. “As a kid, I wanted to shoot sharks for National Geographic,” Gunn says. “I always wanted to be in one of those chain-mail suits.” When shooting Colony, Gunn’s directorial debut, he drew a lot of inspiration from classic documentaries such as Harlan County, USA and Days of Heaven. Carter co-directed Colony with Ross McDonnell, also making his directorial debut with this film.
DON HAHN (Director of Waking Sleeping Beauty) | Don Hahn didn’t start as an animator at Disney; he began his 33-year career by delivering cups of coffee to the company’s many employees. “There is a paradox to animation,” Hahn says. “You are creating a world that is limiting and amazing. You can do anything.” His animation highlights include The Black Cauldron, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Academy Award-nominated Beauty and the Beast, which he also produced.
SEBASTIAN JUNGER (co-director of Restrepo) | Sebastian Junger first got into filmmaking as an extension of his work as a journalist. “I’m a war reporter, and I soon just started bringing a video camera with me to the war zones,” Junger says. As an author, Junger is noted for his best-seller The Perfect Storm, which the George Clooney film was based on. Magazines, such as Vanity Fair, have touted him as the new Hemingway.
ROB LEMKIN (co-Director of Enemies of the People) | A father of four, Rob Lemkin counts his family with his wife, Bridget, as his greatest achievement. In addition, he thanks the power of music for inspiring him. “I first got into filmmaking by being a musician,” Lemkin wrote in an e-mail. “I was playing in places in London and found it was possible to make films about musicians I loved.” Lemkin also drew inspiration from such directors as Robert Altman, Chris Marker and Alan Rudolph. Lemkin co-directed Enemies of the People with Thet Sambath.
LAURA POITRAS (Director of The Oath) | Laura Poitras prefers the more challenging aspects of the filmmaking process. “The stuff I like is the shooting and the story, but that’s the hardest,” she says. “It’s always filled with doubt and sacrificing enough. It’s hard, but it’s what drives you back over and over again.” This year’s recipient of the True Vision Award, Poitras has a strong documentary background, directing the Academy Award-nominated My Country, My Country, which is part of her trilogy The New American Century, documenting America post-9/11.
MILA AUNG-THWIN (Producer of Last Train Home) | Mila Aung-Thwin didn’t learn to make films at a young age; instead, he milked goats on a Canadian farm. “When I was in high school, I first got into film by making documentaries to avoid doing written reports, such as on the local paper mill,” Aung-Thwin wrote in an e-mail. While in college, he worked alongside filmmaker Daniel Cross, director of The Street: A Film with the Homeless. He and Cross co-founded EyeSteelFilm in 1998.
LUCY WALKER (Director of Waste Land) | From directing various episodes of Blues Clues to the film Blindsight, you would expect Lucy Walker to be carrying around a handy-dandy notebook on her set. At an early age, Walker moonlighted as a DJ to support herself while she was attending film school in New York. “When I was in school, I was fortunate enough to learn hands-on with Barbara Kopple and Beeban Kidron,” Walker wrote in an e-mail.
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