Co-director of such classic documentaries as Salesman, Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens, plus cinematographer for D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop), Jean-Luc Godard (Six in Paris) and Martin Scorsese (Shine a Light), Albert Maysles is simply a living cinema treasure.
Turning 87 this month (November 26), the older of the Maysles brothers has more than a hundred credits in his impressive filmography and still directs and shoots. Paying tribute to this, the documentary film festival DOCSDF organized a Maysles brothers mini retrospective for its 2013 edition, showing three of their films (What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A, Salesman and Gimme Shelter) and inviting Albert to Mexico City.
I had the fortune to attend one of the Albert Maysles DOCSDF events: his master class at CCC (a Mexico City film school). It began with an introduction by the moderator (a music and film journalist) and few words by Maysles, who immediately recalled his beginning in filmmaking with Psychiatry in Russia and Primary, after teaching psychology at Boston University: "I didn't have sound so I had to use narration (for Psychiatry in Russia), but several years later I met with people who had this idea of cinema vérité. I became part of the team. We made Primary, which revolutionized documentary filmmaking. It was no longer dependant on a narration or a host. It left you with a feeling of actually being there."
What followed was a video with clips of many Albert Maysles films, from Psychiatry in Russia (1955) to The Gates (2007). Albert sat down in front row to watch some of the most iconic images he and his brother David (1931-1987) captured on film. The Beatles, Marlon Brando, Truman Capote, Vladimir Horowitz and, of course, the Rolling Stones (while listening to their own song "Wild Horses") were part of the video selection.
The class continued with a Q&A involving Albert, the moderator and finally the audience. In the gallery below you can read the top quotes from this session and see some nice B&W photos of the living legend Albert Maysles.
Albert Maysles:
“Get close."
“Salesman is probably the first feature documentary. When people use the word feature it no longer means a work of fiction, it could be a feature documentary.”
Photo Credit: Claudia Aguilar Guarneros
Albert Maysles:
“So many of my films just happen to take place because somebody called me in, somebody having the money or whatever.”
“The film with the Beatles (What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A)… I got a call from television one day and I was told that the Beatles are arriving in two hours in New York. I put my hand over the phone, turned to my brother (David) and said, who are the Beatles? Are they any good? He said, yeah they’re good.”
Photo Credit: Claudia Aguilar Guarneros
Albert Maysles:
“(What fictional/narrative cinema are you interested in?) I have to go way way back to All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), which is an anti-war film based on a book.”
“I don’t have the time to see other people’s films, fiction or non-fiction, but every once in a while I can’t resist. I’m equally attracted to a good film, whether is fiction or not.”
Albert Maysles:
“I have the desire to make a lot of money in a short time. It’s not happening with my films, but it might happen if I make commercials.”
“I have a great idea for a commercial. I go to a hospital and I wait to a woman to give birth. I start filming that moment when the infant is handed over to the mother. I concentrate on the mother and I may have another camera concentrating on the infant whose eyes might open up. There has to be a moment when tears come to the mother’s eyes and she has to reach forward… to the Kleenex.”
Photo Credit: Claudia Aguilar Guarneros
Albert Maysles:
“I came with my 16mm camera, which was very special at that time, and (Jean-Luc Godard) told me, “look I have everything set up (for the film Six in Paris), the lightning, the actors know exactly what to do, but I’m not telling you anything… you’re attending the scene and just film it as you see fit.” If you’re going to something in fiction, you should do that sort of thing, it has that touch of documentary because the cameraman doesn’t know what’s happening next.”
“Jean-Luc Godard thought I was the greatest cameraman in America.”
Do you feel this content is inappropriate or infringes upon your rights?
Click here to report it, or see our
DMCA policy.
