美国国家公共电台 NPR The Documentary Is In — And Enjoying — An 'Undeniable Golden Age'

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Documentaries are having a moment. At Sundance last month, Netflix reportedly paid $10 million for "Knock Down The House." It broke the film festival's documentary sales record. The film follows the campaigns of four female congressional candidates, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE")

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: I am proud to be an American, but we have to rise to that promise.

SHAPIRO: NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports that biographical docs have grown in popularity, along with budgets and profits.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE¹: Here's what's up with docs. They're doing great at the box office. That really impresses producer Sheila Nevins, who ran HBO Documentary Films for 36 years and is considered one of the most influential² people in the business.

SHEILA NEVINS: It was a real hot year for films making money. I mean, money money. Docu - when I say films, I mean docus - docus making real money, and docus got very hot.

DEL BARCO: "Free Solo," the story of Alex Honnold's climb to the peak of Yosemite's El Capitan without ropes, is still climbing at the box office. So far, it's earned almost $16 million. Box Office Mojo ranks it in the top 20 most profitable documentaries. The National Geographic³ film is a front-runner for the documentary feature Oscar. So is "RBG," a portrait of Supreme⁴ Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "RBG")

RUTH BADER GINSBURG: I am 84 years old, and everyone wants to take a picture with me.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Notorious RBG, yeah, yeah.

DEL BARCO: "RBG" has earned $14 million at the box office, putting it in the top 25 highest-earning docs category. Directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West, both former TV journalists, see documentaries as a counternarrative to the quick short media world of Twitter and social media.

JULIE COHEN: People, actually, it turns out, will sit down for an hour and a half and really get engrossed⁵ in a true story film.

BETSY WEST: We're very excited about that, especially the opportunity to tell stories that really have been ignored over the years.

DEL BARCO: "RBG" is also competing for an Oscar against "Minding The Gap" and "Hale County This Morning, This Evening" and "Fathers And Sons."

THOM POWERS: It's an undeniable golden age for documentary filmmaking right now.

DEL BARCO: Tom Powers is host of the podcast "Pure Nonfiction." He's also a programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival.

POWERS: For a long time, there was a bit of a stigma⁶ around documentaries that, you know, it was going to be educational or it was going to be a bummer or it was definitely not going to be a date-night movie.

DEL BARCO: Power says all that has changed, especially with streaming platforms like Netflix and iTunes making documentaries more accessible. Powers watches as many as 500 documentaries a year. He says the popularity has spurred streaming services to fund documentaries like never before.

POWERS: That ability to reach such a large audience is a dream for most filmmakers. However, you know, another big dream for most filmmakers is to see their work on a big screen, not to be watched on, you know, someone's smartphone during a commute⁷.

DEL BARCO: For one week in March, the giant-screened IMAX theaters will present "Apollo 11," a new documentary about the historic 1969 moon landing.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "APOLLO 11")

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: We're go for landing.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Houston, you are go for landing - over.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Roger, understand, go for landing (ph).

DEL BARCO: NASA gave director Todd Douglas Miller⁸ access to hundreds of reels of never-before-seen 50-year-old footage, some in 70 mm, plus 11,000 hours of audio from Apollo 11, which was painstakingly⁹ synched with the visuals.

TODD DOUGLAS MILLER: There's no narration¹⁰. There's no talking heads - nothing that takes place modern day. It's an all-archival experience.

DEL BARCO: Miller says he cut different versions of "Apollo 11" for different platforms.

MILLER: I would love for everybody to watch this on an IMAX screen, you know? It's been calibrated¹¹ that will be the best place to watch it, but I'm a realist. I know where the industry is going. And it's amazing to see on a small screen, too.

URSULA MACFARLANE: And the thing is you just want a maximum number of people to see it.

DEL BARCO: Director Ursula MacFarlane and producer Poppy Dixon are talking about their documentary "Untouchable." It's about the rise and fall of movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who denies all allegations of nonconsensual sex and criminality. The film includes testimonies¹² of his alleged¹³ rape¹⁴ victims, such as possible aware that

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "UNTOUCHABLE")

PAZ DE LA HUERTA: I was intimidated¹⁵ by him and his power.

DEL BARCO: Dixon says they're looking forward to it being shown in theaters.

POPPY DIXON: There's something about, you know, if you're sitting in a darkened cinema and you can't go anywhere, you can't look away from the testimony¹⁶ of these women. And I think that that is a really powerful thing.

DEL BARCO: While filmmakers and audiences are showing enthusiasm for the cinematic experience, Sheila Nevins says this trend could change.

NEVINS: I mean, Netflix is all over the place, playing with Monopoly money, buying up everything. Every network is doing docus. Every docu person I know has more than one job. It's just a great year for docus. But, you know, things are cyclical. I think there's too much product.

DEL BARCO: The real challenge remains¹⁷ - finding time to watch it all. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE LIMINANAS SONG, "(I'VE GOT) TROUBLE IN MIND")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

3 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 engrossed   

adj.全神贯注的

参考例句：

• The student is engrossed in his book.这名学生正在专心致志地看书。
• No one had ever been quite so engrossed in an evening paper.没人会对一份晚报如此全神贯注。

6 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

7 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

8 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

9 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

10 narration   

n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体

参考例句：

• The richness of his novel comes from his narration of it.他小说的丰富多采得益于他的叙述。
• Narration should become a basic approach to preschool education.叙事应是幼儿教育的基本途径。

11 calibrated   

v.校准( calibrate的过去式和过去分词 )；使标准化；使合标准；测量（枪的）口径

参考例句：

• Power pesticide dusters can be calibrated and used to apply pertilizer. 动力杀虫剂可以调整用来施肥。 来自辞典例句
• The flexible diaphragm is connected to a plat cantilever-calibrated spring. 柔韧的膜片一扁平的悬臂校正弹簧相连。 来自辞典例句

12 testimonies   

（法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据

参考例句：

• Davie poured forth his eloquence upon the controversies and testimonies of the day. 戴维向他滔滔不绝地谈那些当时有争论的问题和上帝的箴言。
• Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies. 22求你除掉我所受的羞辱和藐视，因我遵守你的法度。

13 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

14 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

15 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

17 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。