The Documentary Life18 Sep 2020

Winning an Oscar for Your Documentary Film

Imagine stepping up to the podium to accept your award for Best Documentary Feature for the film that you have put your heart, soul, blood sweat tears into. What would you say? Who would thank? Where would you even start?

Well, Steven Bognar, of this year's American Factory knows precisely what this feels like. And he details the story of he and his partner, Julia Reichert's walk to that Oscar podium.

And he details a heckuva lot more about what it means to live the life of a documentary filmmaker in Dayton, OH, far from the neon lights of New York, London, or L.A. And what it means to make meaningful documentaries that impact a lot of people and win a lot of awards.

What it means to live and lead a documentary life.

Topics Discussed

host Chris G. Parkhurst gives some History 101 of documentaries and the Academy Awards
why its beneficial to the world that documentary filmmakers make films from where they are at
how American Factory came from turning down what was initially meant to be a corporate video for the Fuyao factory
play-by-play of Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert's walk to the podium to accept their award for Best Documentary Feature
unique sound approaches that were brought to American Factory

Additional Resources

Trailer for American Factory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m36QeKOJ2Fc

American Factory wins Best Documentary Feature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF4ytC3-M3g

Sponsors & Thank Yous

° Free Music Archive – Special Thank You to recording artist, Dlay who supplied music for this week’s episode of TDL. You too can download his music or other artists’ music by going to Free Music Archive today!

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Episoder(147)

Episode 146 | Wearing Every Hat: Surviving as a One-Person Crew | With Dandan Liu

Episode SummaryWhat does it really take to make a documentary when you’re the entire crew?Working as a one-person crew can offer documentary filmmakers an extraordinary kind of freedom. With less equi...

16 Sep 47min

Episode 145 | AI and the Documentary Filmmaker | With Philip Shane

Episode SummaryHow can documentary filmmakers actually use AI—and where does it belong in the creative process?Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of the filmmaking toolkit, but beneath t...

2 Sep 48min

Episode 144 | The Ethics Lab: Access, Consent & Trust | With Alan Berry & Mark Enochs

Episode SummaryWhat does it mean when someone trusts you with their story?Access may get a documentary filmmaker through the door, but it is only the beginning. The deeper responsibility lies in earni...

19 Aug 46min

Episode 143 | How Do I Sustain My Documentary? | With Jilann Spitzmiller

Episode SummaryWhat happens when the money runs out—but the film isn't finished?For many documentary filmmakers, securing initial funding feels like the biggest hurdle. But as the months stretch into ...

5 Aug 37min

Episode 142 | How Do I Fund My Film? | With Liz Nord

Episode SummaryHow do documentary films actually get funded? It's one of the most common questions filmmakers ask—and one of the least honestly answered. While conversations often focus on grants, pit...

22 Jul 40min

Episode 141 | Building a Sustainable Documentary Life | With Ondi Timoner

Episode SummaryEpisode 141 marks the beginning of a new chapter for The Documentary Life — not as a relaunch or reboot, but as a recommitment to the questions that matter most. After a five-year hiatu...

8 Jul 53min

All Good Things Must Come to An End

Can you believe that it was over four years ago that we first began producing episodes of The Documentary Life?? Well, neither can we. But as they say, all good things must come to an end!It has been ...

2 Okt 202030min