The Kid’s Quest in Biographical Documentaries

What’s the best way to tell the story of a famous person?

Sometimes, it’s through the kids.

Offspring not only have great access to letters and memories, they are often driven to understand the identity of an illustrious, absent parent.

If you make the conceit of your documentary a grown child’s investigation into the famous parent they never knew, you have a time-tested, legitimate arc. But this quest must be subsumed to the life arc of the famous parent.

This approach worked well for the son of Louis Kahn in My Architect, the son of cinematographer Haskell Wexler in Tell Them Who You Are, and the daughters of famous civil rights lawyer in William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe. In these cases, the children were also the directors.

Many times, the offspring/protagonist will bring on a documentary co-director or producer to help shape the story and tone.

When the Kunstler biography premiered at Sundance, I met producer Susie Korda, who said helping directors Emily and Sarah Kuntsler was exceptionally gratifying because the sisters were very open to advice.

An outsider’s perspective helps mitigate the danger that such biographies may sway into extreme praise or denunciation. Deepak Chopra’s son Gotham, a first-time feature filmmaker, criticized the famous guru–but with loving restraint. Variety called Decoding Deepak “neither hagiography nor hatchet job.”

If you’re thinking about directing a biography, children aren’t the only possibly protagonists in a circle of intimates. The quest-seeker might be a lover, assistant, friend, or mentee–as in the case of Derek Peck’s short Ram Dass, Going Home.

Or, she can be the invisible filmmaker behind the camera driving the quest.

For example, in this year’s Cannes selection Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache, director Pamela B. Green asks who silent film pioneer Guy-Blanche is–and why she has been lost from the movie industry memory?

Narrated by Jodie Foster, arguably a “child” of this cinematic foremother, Be Natural is cleverly structured as a detective sub-story, one that reveals the larger, prominent story of a forgotten artist.

For more about directing biopics, check out my blog on Writing Narration for Biographies.