The idea that one must go to school for documentary filmmaking in order to become a good documentary filmmaker is a fairly hollow assumption. There are plenty great doc films made by people that never had any sort of formal training in film. But does that mean we shouldn’t be developing our discipline in other ways? Of course not.

Just as a beginner piano player would likely take lessons from a professional, we documentary filmmakers should be learning from other doc makers who have come before us. So in this week’s opening segment of TDL, I’m going to give you what I think are 5 Reasons to Study Documentary Filmmaking.

Podcast Conversation

In our shared conversation, I speak with Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker, a couple from Adelaide, Australia, who spent the past decade honing their documentary skills by crafting award-winning shorts, like Pablo’s Villa and Central Texas Barbecue, the latter of which turned into their first documentary feature, Barbecue, which is just recently been released on Netflix.

Topics Discussed

• how short docs got them recognized by international festivals, which turned into eventual funding for their first doc feature
• how they made a conscious choice to elevate their documentaries to the cinematic
• how and why they believe that commercial filmmaking can be just as gratifying and challenging as making documentaries

Related Resources

Watch two award-winning short documentaries by Matthew Salleh & Rose Tucker:

Pablo’s Villa

https://vimeo.com/88706281

Central Texas Barbecue

https://vimeo.com/146852397

Watch the trailer for their documentary feature, Barbecue, which resulted from the success of Central Texas Barbecue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KQRieY1i0o

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