Back to catalogue
7 MIN · Module

Power, trust and the documentary relationship

How to manage the unequal relationship between filmmaker and subject over a long project: dependency, promises, showing the edit, and responsibility after release.

Promises, and people who cannot easily refuse

A documentary subject gives you something you cannot easily give back: access to their home, their difficult months, their family. In return you give a promise about how it will be treated. Over a long project that exchange is never equal. You choose what is kept, in what order, and when it goes out. They live with the consequences in…

Sign up to start the lesson

EANE is and always will be free to learn. Create your free account to read the lesson, take the assessment, and earn your credit.

  • Always free, no fees, no hidden surprises
  • No ads, no third-party tracking
  • Earn verifiable European nano-credentials