"I choose this not because it’s my favorite but because, alongside the great sixties and seventies documentaries of Ken Russell and Peter Watkins and the films of Nicolas Roeg, this was a big influence on the stylistic choices I made when approaching my film SHOT! It’s so excessive and theatrical, and the choreography is of course stunning, but Fosse’s complete irreverence toward the subject of his own death is what really gets me."

"You can put the Grey Gardens documentary in there. That’s pretty amazing. You know, Mike Sucsy is a friend of ours and I think he did such an extraordinary job in remaking that movie. I thought it was great, and so colorful and fun, you know, to watch Drew Barrymore really stretch herself, and Jessica Lange again. She’s just incredible. But Grey Gardens really is a great documentary. I love watching documentaries. Slice of life, you know?"

"I’m a documentary freak. Two-thirds of the movies I watch are documentaries. Hoop Dreams is a sweeping, stirring, myopic study of two young men on differing paths, both with dreams of becoming NBA players. It is, of course, not so much about basketball as the personal and social struggles of two young men attempting to do what so many young men try to do every year. Uplifting and tragic, it may be the best sports documentary ever."

"For a period of time, I thought I might only make documentaries. Films like Gimme Shelter had a lot to do with this attitude. Why make narrative work when real life was so interesting? I loved the Maysles approach to filming; I loved the Rolling Stones during that period; I loved the controversy surrounding the film. It still kind of seems like the perfect movie. Anytime this is playing in the theater, I try to see it."

"I can’t get enough of this film, and it is so cleanly presented here that the famously malcontented Godard himself must be proud of the results. The great film about film, this disc is perfect, from the amazing cover art to the short documentaries that show the difficulties of shooting a film with an icon like Bardot in tow. And if you aren’t swept away by the Georges Delerue score, you really need to check your pulse."

"Reality check. The last time I saw it was with my wife and several friends. We are all about the same age, have elderly parents, or have lost our parents in the last couple of years. After the movie, we talked about our parents and how we had treated them. Everyone felt guilty for days. I studied the disc of documentaries, and treasure the Ozu films in my collection. “Real life intrudes just when you’re making other plans.”"

"I had the chance to see Pennebaker give a talk before a screening of Monterey Pop. The audience got incredibly rowdy during his discussion of his short film Daybreak Express and interrupted Pennebaker’s remarks, chanting “Let’s rock!” Pennebaker gave up and rolled the film. Really lousy, but fitting. Watching Pennebaker and the Maysles’ incredible documentaries in tandem give me those same raw and complex feelings about rock ‘n’ roll as an art and a primal force."