Documentaries Quotes · Page 5

Documentaries shouldn't just reflect the world: they should try and explain why reality is like it is.

— Adam Curtis

Saying that all documentaries are the same is like saying all foreign films are the same.

— Terry Zwigoff

You make documentaries because you love doing it; it's the only sane reason to make documentaries.

— Morgan Neville

I'd like to make documentaries. Way-out documentaries. I'd like to do one on a tour of the U.S.

— Dave Clark

I'm addicted to documentaries. That's all I watch on television.

— Robert Zemeckis

Sound is the most important thing on any film, especially documentaries.

— Matthew Heineman

I watch documentaries for information. I watch films to be entertained.

— Meshell Ndegeocello

I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!

— Stewart Francis

I've never seen myself as a documentary filmmaker. I see myself as a filmmaker, period, and I am interested in drama as…

— Errol Morris

I'm fascinated by documentaries, to begin with. Because of the nature of television, as opposed to theatrical, documentaries can be in this…

— Barry Levinson

One of the reasons to do documentaries is that. There's more sense of creating something, more sense of my own soul in…

— Michael Apted

I try to support stories that enable us to see the difficulties in our society and the challenges we face, which is…

— Forest Whitaker

In a way my work is documentary. But I am also a photographer who has a distinct style. My photographs are a…

— Graciela Iturbide

Post-war filmmakers gave us the documentary, Rob Reiner gave us the mockumentary and Moore initiated a third genre, the crockumentary.

— Michael Moore

I'm interested in a realization that's hiding beneath the surface, and maybe that's what documentaries can do best, is to try to…

— Davis Guggenheim

People should genuinely care about stand-up. I'm not doing this just so I can do x, y, and z on TV. It's…

— Tom Rosenthal

The exposé, the compassion and outrage, of documentary fueled by the dedication to reform has shaded over into combinations of exoticism, tourism,…

— Martha Rosler

One of the most recent things we did [in Perceval Press] is a reissue of a fantastic documentary about Russian prison tattoo…

— Viggo Mortensen

I acknowledge Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. They are prostlytizers of English socialism preaching to the converted and telling us what we…

— Peter Greenaway

I like documentaries because there's nothing to nitpick or criticize about scenes if they aren't just right. It's about honesty and real-life…

— Steven Yeun

My tastes in all things lean towards the arty and boring. I like sports documentaries about Scrabble players, bands that play quiet,…

— Michael Ian Black

I'm doing quite a few things now. In one day, I will go to Kassel, Germany, for a documentary project I've been…

— Ai Weiwei

I could sit and watch nature documentaries with Jenks and the kids the rest of the night if I wanted. And trust…

— Kim Harrison

Some documentaries are made by people who are driven more by one particular story, or have different backgrounds or ambitions, but I'm…

— Lucy Walker

Those of us who think about what we eat, how it's grown, those of us who care about the environmental impact of…

— Anna Lappe

I became an actor at a very young age, but I also had a deep respect for nature and I think I…

— Leonardo DiCaprio

We have two boys. After George Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing Trayvon Martin, we had to explain to our older…

— Gina Prince-Bythewood

I got a phone call from George Miller [the director] asking me to play this role. We sat down and he showed…

— Brittany Murphy

I tried [being a mogul]. It bores me. I don't really want to produce other people's movies. Because they're either grown-up filmmakers…

— James Cameron

To the documentary director the appearance of things and people is only superficial. It is the meaning behind the thing and the…

— Paul Rotha

I had two projects that fell apart during preproduction. The first one was this movie that Judd Apatow and I had written…

— Ben Stiller

In an old model, the way a film would imprint itself on the public's consciousness is to get a theatrical run. But…

— Thom Powers

Like theatre, crafting a documentary film takes tremendous commitment, patience and passion.

— Dori Berinstein

I think photojournalism is documentary photography with a purpose.

— W. Eugene Smith

I watch mostly documentaries and things that aren't remotely funny.

— Christopher Guest

Monty Python: A documentary series on everyday life in Great Britain.

— Frank Portman

I love not serious documentaries, too, but I love seeing people at their wits' end, I guess.

— Maria Thayer

Too many documentaries are intellectual exercises. I want documentaries to be alive.

— Davis Guggenheim

I don't think the subject of a documentary film should be producers on it.

— Michael Rapaport

Most of my films have been documentaries, but I'm also very interested in narrative filmmaking.

— Barbara Kopple