Biography

[his advice for aspiring filmmakers] I should also point out that filmmaking is a collaborating venture. There is a learning curve, yes, but you have to plan for what you don't know and surround yourself with talented people who can fill in the blanks. My cinematographer, editor, composer, sound recordist and supporting producers all proved invaluable in helping realize my vision. I really would not have been able to make the film without them. [2015]

[on his transition from film journalist to filmmaker] I would say that the greatest transferable strengths I bought to the project were as an interviewer and as a researcher. I spent a full two years familiarizing myself with Mr. Lanzmann [Claude Lanzmann] and his work before sitting down to interview him. Research is the backbone of good interviewing. Mr. Lanzmann has a fierce intellect and doesn't suffer fools, so a depth of knowledge was essential. As far as the filmmaking, I had written about documentaries and the film industry extensively for eight years, so I had a good sense of what the process would entail. I also drew confidence from meeting journalists like David France and Sebastian Junger, who had made the transition from print to film. After interviewing Mr. Lanzmann, I worked with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to digitize some of the many hours of outtake footage shot during the Shoah (1985) years. I hoped there would be interesting material in those outtakes, but what I found far exceeded even my greatest hopes. [2015]

[his advice for aspiring filmmakers] When it comes to making your first film, don't wait for the money - you could be waiting forever. Just start making it, and pursue the money as best you can as you go along. Have a plan for making the film with financing, but also plan to make a version without financing. The important thing is just to do what you can with the resources you have. [2015]

[on Claude Lanzmann] I was astonished to learn about him and his life, that here is this man who fought in the Resistance as a teenager; was a lover of Simone de Beauvoir and lived with her for eight years; was best friends with Jean-Paul Sartre; supported Algeria in its battle for independence; and was friends with Frantz Fanon. And then I was astonished to learn about how, in his late 40s, he spent 12 years making this incredible artifact Shoah (1985) and what he went through to make it. My first assumption was, There must be a film about this guy. In the beginning I spent a long time trying to track down that film that must exist - but I was unsuccessful. I had quite recently seen The Fog of War (2003), and it made me think about the power of documenting in its purest form, just sitting and talking with somebody. And I thought, This is what I need to do with Claude Lanzmann: I need to find this man, I need to put a camera in front of him and I need to talk to him about his life. [2016]

[on the reactions to Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah (2015)] The response has been overwhelmingly positive. With nominations from the Academy Awards, the IDA Awards and the Cinema Eye Honors, we have been recognized by the three leading awards bodies in the documentary realm. We are the only such film this year to achieve this triple crown. (...) What has also been a pleasant surprise, however, is the way that fellow artists and filmmakers have reacted to the film. One of the nicest moments came in Amsterdam, when the film played at IDFA. A young woman said that she was a filmmaker and that the film spoke to her, that in a way it told her story and the story that all documentary filmmakers go through, the story of struggle. And that was really my hope for the film, that - as much as it would tell Mr. Lanzmann's personal story - that it would also serve more broadly to represent the difficulties faced by artists as they battle to make great work. [2016]