Contextual Documentary

Steve James

Quote

(On Harlan County USA) There've been many documentaries over the years that have powerfully impacted me. I think this one came along at the time when I was more interested in being a feature filmmaker than a documentary filmmaker. So it came along at the beginning of a process of moving from an interest in feature film to documentaries, and that's where my career has taken me. It came along at the right time for me. It helped me see, "Ah, this is more what I want to do." There's something very alive about this film. What it's about and the degree to which the filmmaker courageously put herself into a situation that she was not from. You don't have to have known her history to know that she was an outsider. She had the courage to go into a situation, spend the time there, and really try to understand it. You feel that all through the movie. In many respects, she became a template for the kind of filmmaker I want to be.

Storyline

He began a film, a search, to discover not only what had happened to Stevie over the past ten years but to understand the forces that had shaped his entire life. Part way through the filming, Stevie is arrested and charged with a serious crime that tears his family apart. What was to be a modest profile turns into a intimate four and half year chronicle of Stevie, his broken family, the criminal justice system and the filmmaker himself, as they all struggle with what Stevie has done and who he has become.

        

       

Link to site of info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0334416/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_9