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Barbara Kopple's Shortlist

Published on September 12, 2008

The Shortlist article series is your opportunity to learn about the films that inspire intellectual, artistic and activist leaders -- leaders like Barbara Kopple. We asked Barbara to share her favorite films and her thoughts on the power of documentary to change the world. So what films make Barbara Kopple's Shortlist? Keep reading to find out.

Who is Barbara Kopple?

Barbara Kopple

Barbara is a two time Academy Award winning filmmaker for the documentaries Harlan County, USA and American Dream. Her other films include Shut Up and Sing, Havoc, A Conversation with Gregory Peck, My Generation, Wild Man Blues, Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson. Recently Ms. Kopple completed a pilot for TruTV called The DC Sniper's Wife. Also this year, she produced and directed a documentary for the Disney Channel entitled High School Musical: The Music In You.

Barbara is the recipient of the DGA Award for Outstanding Direction, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Award, National Society of Film Critics Award, the SilverDocs/Charles Guggenheim Award, New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award, the Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Award and the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize, Filmmakers Trophy and Audience Award.

She currently serves as an advisory board member for the American Film Institute and as a board member of the American University Center for Social Media. She is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Directors Guild and she actively participates in organizations that address social issues and support independent filmmaking.

Barbara Kopple on the Power of Film

Great documentaries survive as lasting stories of people, their environments, the forces that shape their lives. They help us understand what we couldn't before and allow us to experience people and places that might at first seem alien to us.

When presented in a compelling and genuine way, a great doc can inspire others to act; whether that means running for political office, making a film or anything else constructive.

One of the great joys of non-fiction filmmaking is discovery, finding some unexpected moment of truth in the seemingly mundane events of a person's life. In my films, I try to find what's at the heart of a story by going beneath the surface. With an increasingly homogenized popular media, it's especially vital for documentary films to present people with real, diverse perspectives and entertaining stories that are actually happening right now. The more I do, the more I realize how much there is to learn about people.

Barbara Kopple's Film Picks

Hoop Dreams: Certainly one of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen. It's hard to talk about this film because it's so rich and complex. It's a landmark in longitudinal documentary, spending the better part of four years tracing the arc of two young basketball prodigies - Arthur Agee and William Gates. The film is remarkable in its intimate involvement with the characters and their families, involving us in scenes of surprising euphoria, devastating frustration, unforeseen reconciliations. Peter Gilbert, Steve James, Frederick Marx are such great filmmakers, they know how to be in the moment and capture the dynamic at play. They must be commended too for using the film to speak to issues of race and class in America, showing us how the talents of young, poor people of color are exploited, how their families are threatened by their sometimes dire circumstances. I think the greatest compliment I can pay to the filmmakers is that when I think about Hoop Dreams, I don't think about the filmmakers at all: I think about the Agee and Gates families, how close I feel to them after having seen the movie and how much more I want to know. A testament to the tremendous power of film to truly connect audiences with the characters being filmed.

Salesman: A masterpiece of direct cinema. The film follows four door-to-door salesmen as they travel the country selling Bibles. The film takes us into the lives of ordinary people, the salesmen and their customers, as no earlier films ever had. Drawing on their own experiences as door-to-door salesmen, the Maysles Brothers gave us four real-life Willy Lomans, none more memorable than Paul "the Badger" Brennan. Through Paul's increasingly desperate attempts to make a sale, we see the dark side of 60s consumerism, more vividly than any fiction film could ever present it.

Al and David Maysles have the remarkable ability to disappear and to allow their characters to feel completely comfortable in front of the camera. Sometimes they open themselves to their most basic impulses - like when the salesmen go swimming in the middle of the night - and sometimes they are silent and still - a state Paul Brennan falls into as he grows increasingly frustrated with his struggles. The Maysles are such wonderful, sensitive filmmakers. They had the instinct to allow for both action and silence to play out in the film, showing us the breadth of people's experiences. Whether people are talking or not, we know what they're feeling because we have been allowed to live their story with them. An amazing document of changes in American culture and extremely influential in showing me how powerful a verite film can be.

Roger and Me: I love Roger and Me. Michael Moore is perhaps without equal when it comes to blending politics with comedy. This is a witty and poignant documentary exploring the impact of the closing of a General Motors plant in Moore's hometown of Flint, Michigan. What unfolds is devastating as Moore captures the ramifications of corporate greed and its devastating effects on Flint and its people. Michael Moore is charismatic and entertaining, but he's also serious and convicted about what he's talking about. This was something of a revelation when it came out because nobody had so successfully used documentary film in such a peculiar, humorous but still profound way. A true classic.

Buena Vista Social Club: Appropriately understated, Wim Wenders allows the sensational music and its lively creators to take center-stage in this film. Jumping between Cuba, Amsterdam, New York, we get to see the musicians in and out of their elements. The intimacy of following this aging group of musicians as they marvel at New York City's skyline is so real, you realize that despite their talents, they're still humble and capable of being awed. You wonder if they really realize how huge it is that they're headlining Carnegie Hall! There's a real reverence on the part of Wenders and Ry Cooder for these musicians, they respect them enough to stay out of the way and let the relationships between the musicians play out so we can see that at the heart of their musical partnership lies a unique and unshakeable bond.

Kid Stays In the Picture: Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgan captured a fascinating period in Hollywood, in America, presented it to audiences in a delightfully entertaining way that allows them to understand the glamour, the schmaltz, the kitsch and the daring of Bob Evans and of that time. The artistic use of photos and animation is innovative and cool.

I think it's also something that is phenomenal for people who want to make films. This film inspires people to not be afraid, to go against the tide, to have perseverance to go with their instincts and the things they really feel. People are saying if this guy can do it, they can do it.

Hearts and Minds: Peter Davis made a profound and distressing portrait of the war in Vietnam and the heinous war-mongering attitudes of American political and military officials. This is really a film of powerful images - they are nothing less than arresting and absolutely necessary. Every war must have its visual documentation. It was images like these that horrified Americans and eventually brought an end to the war, now that the Bush administration has banned the images of American coffins returning home from television broadcasts, documentary films are more essential than ever. However "controversial" it was at the time, this stands as a brave and angry reaction to injustice. We should all strive to be so bold as artists and citizens.

Don't Look Back: Another touchstone in verite filmmaking, DA Pennebaker takes us on a UK tour with Bob Dylan in 1965. We see how stunning a performer Dylan is - on and off the stage. Pennebaker is brilliant at capturing Dylan's contradictions - both irreverent and hostile toward reporters, loving and cruel with his girlfriend Joan Baez, wildly playful and deathly serious with his own music. Somehow, Pennebaker manages to keep up with Dylan's always unpredictable whims, whether he's suddenly sprinting from adoring fans or riffing with his inimitable wit. The film is important not only for its documentation of one of America's greatest artists during his creative height, but also for its ability to show us a story without trying to explain any of its mystery. A wonderful film.

Capturing the Friedmans: In Capturing the Friedmans Andrew Jarecki had the courage and insight to alter course from the initial subject matter of the film and go deeper, to create something quite different than he was probably initially intending. He started out making a film about New York City's premier clown, following his story, the final result is a brilliant portrait of a family self-destructing and an important challenge to the audience as to what the nature of justice and punishment and redemption is. Complex, disturbing, discomforting, this was a real breakthrough film that with difficult subject matter that still brought new audiences to the theatre.

Woodstock: Michael Wadleigh's film documents the culmination of an ever-growing counterculture. He had the foresight to know the event would be something special, his talented filmmaking team wisely spent time filming all aspects of the concert, from the music to the fans to the police officers to the backed-up roadways and disgruntled locals. The performances are vital recordings of some pop culture's great acts, the film is full of wonderful moments, like Country Joe rousing half a million people to their feet to sing his "Fixin' to Die Rag," or farm owner Max Yasger who rented his field for the concert bridging the generational divide between hippie and adult. When I was working on my film My Generation about Woodstocks '69, '94, '99, I obviously went back to this film and was bowled over by how beautifully everything was shot and how much life there is in all the scenes. Absolutely essential viewing. A CLASSIC.

When We Were Kings: This is one of the best sports documentaries I've ever seen. It looks at the lead up to the "Rumble in the Jungle," the heavily promoted, 1974 George Foreman-Muhammad Ali boxing match in Zaire. The film expertly intertwines footage of Muhammad Ali at his most charismatic, a young Don King promoting the event, the blistering music festival that inaugurated the fight. The interviews in this movie are priceless, with George Plimpton, Spike Lee, Norman Mailer, so many others offering their takes on the event and its significance, both athletic and political. The grandiosity of the fight itself, especially of Muhammad Ali, is amped up by Leon Gast's amazing eye for storytelling, blending commentary with beautiful footage. And, just like Muhammad Ali himself, the film is a great mix of sports and politics and terrific verite footage.

The Times of Harvey Milk: Rob Epstein chronicles the life and death of California's first openly gay public official, offering a vivid portrait of a hero. The film uses archival footage so brilliantly, evoking the feelings of an influential man and the political climate he was working to change. The vigil interviews with Harvey's friends and people inspired by him offer insight into the how much he meant to so many people. His tragic murder inspired a haunting, silent, 45,000-person vigil the night he was killed and later a riot when his murderer was given a light sentence. These images solidify the significance of who Harvey Milk was, Rob Epstein wonderfully strings together this poignant story.

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