The documentary filmmaker/cinematographer faces many complex challenges, from keeping abreast of the latest camera technologies and post-production workflows to following the subtle clues of a developing story as it is happening, clues often hidden in a look or a gesture and invisible to everyone else but the person looking through the camera lens. What are some of the ethical (and technical) problems unique to this kind of documentary storytelling?
Two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler was adjudged one of the ten most influential cinematographers in movie history, according to an International Cinematographers Guild survey of its membership. He won his Oscars in both black & white and color, for WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966) and BOUND OF GLORY (1976). He also shot much of DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978), for which credited director of photography Nestor Almendros -- who was losing his eye-sight, won a Best Cinematography Oscar that Wexler feels should have been jointly shared by both. In 1993, Wexler was awarded a Lifetime Achivement award by the cinematographer's guild, the American Society of Cinematographers. He received five Oscar nominations for his cinematography, in total, plus one Emmy Award in a career that has spanned six decades. In addition to his masterful cinematography, Wexler directed the seminal late Sixties film MEDIUM COOL (1969) and has directed and/or shot many documentaries that display his progressive political views. His most recent documentaries as a director include WHO NEEDS SLEEP? (2006) and BUS RIDER'S UNION (2000).
