Filming documentaries or feature films are not very different from each other as one might think. Even though documentaries aim at providing us with real insight into human lives, feature films create a whole new world that may or may not be based on reality. Ultimately, both aim to tell a story to the audience. The difference mainly lies in the way the stories are told and the techniques used to make the film.
As surprising as it may seem, there aren’t many filmmakers who specialize in both mediums. While most directors are either one or the other, it is worth highlighting eight directors who are well-recognized as being skilled at making both.
1. Noah Baumbach
Noah Baumbach is an American film director and screenwriter. He is known to make well-made intellectual comedies and uncomfortable real human dramas. He made his directorial debut in 1995 with ‘Kicking and Screaming’ and one of his highly-praised works recently has been ‘Marriage Story’, notably as personal of a story as he’s ever done.
He also co-directed a documentary with Jake Paltrow based on another renowned director, the creator of Carrie and Scarface. De Palma is a highly entertaining, fast-paced documentary film that captures the man’s madness in glorious measure.
2. Shyam Benegal
The pioneer of parallel cinema, Shyam Benegal is widely considered India’s greatest film director and documentary filmmaker. He started working as a copywriter and made his first Gujarati documentary, Gher Betha Ganga in 1962. His first feature film, Ankur (The Seedling) came out a decade later in 1973. His remarkable debut film marked the beginning of multiple outstanding classics of Indian cinema.
3. Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog, also known as the pioneer of New German Cinema, is a German film and documentary director. For over five decades, he has directed some extremely eccentric and quirky films with his unusual techniques including movies like Heart of Glass, and Bad Lieutenant and documentaries including Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Grizzly Man etc.
4. Agnes Varda
Varda was one of the most significant figures of French Cinema. Her films focused on achieving documentary realism and explored unpredictable topics and strong feminist themes. Some of her work accomplishments include La Pointe Courte, Faces Places, Daguerrotypes etc.
5. Kevin Macdonald
The Scottish filmmaker started his career with a documentary film on his grandfather, ‘The Making of an Englishman’. He made his fiction debut with ‘The Last King of Scotland’, one of his underrated works which also makes it clear that he loves telling real-life stories. He says that it is rather a challenge to find a balance between true storytelling and entertaining the audience while making a documentary.
6. Nick Broomfield
Not many people know that Broomfield made his first film with a borrowed camera when he was just a student. His self-reflective style of using non-actors in scripted scenes is known as ‘Direct Cinema’ by later filmmakers.
7. Spike Lee
School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing(1989), Malcolm X (1992), and Inside Man (2006) are all acclaimed films directed by Spike Lee. Lee’s Double Dolly shot, also known as his signature Filmmaking technique which creates the visual of a motionless central character moving through space as the background glides past, is one of the most unique filmmaking techniques.
8. John Ford
Ford’s frequent use of location shooting and wide shots makes him one of the most influential American filmmakers of his generation. Ford was the only person to win Academy Awards for four feature films and one of the best directors of his time.
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