Over 50 films in 50 years: The documentarian working at the speed of a YouTuber

This episode of the podcast I'm hosting presents an in-depth conversation with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, one of the world’s most notable Indigenous filmmakers.

She has made over fifty films over the span of her fifty-year career. Her documentary on the 1990 Oka Crisis is among her most widely known works. Now in her late eighties, Alanis has not slowed down. Her 53rd film, Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger, premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. It also won the ‘Best Canadian Documentary’ award at the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival.

A lot has changed in the world of documentaries since Alanis Obomsawin started making films in the 1960s, and much of that change has occurred in the last few years. We are now in the midst of a documentary gold rush, with streaming services and on-demand video platforms opening up new avenues for a genre previously relegated to limited theatrical releases, home video or DVD—and maybe one or two broadcast slots. As a result, we’re seeing documentaries become bona fide hits and some bring in well into the eight figures at the box office. It’s a truly unusual phenomenon in the doc world.

So, what does an iconic documentarian make of all the changes afoot in the world not just of documentary, but of media and technology in general?

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• How Alanis Obomsawin views the role of documentary filmmakers today (4:15)
• Her relationship with new technologies (5:26)
• How tech affects the sacredness of the movie-watching experience (10:52)
• What keeps her hopeful for the future (17:11)

Download a transcript of the episode

See Alanis Obomsawin’s films on the National Film Board’s website.