STORYTELLING IN DOCUMENTARY – THE UK’S JOHN SMITHSON
One of the late entries to AIDC 2011 was this masterclass with UK producer John Smithson, of 127 Hours and Touching The Void fame. As the publicity announced, John would arrive in Adelaide hot from being nominated for 6 Oscars – and unfortunately he didn’t win any. Even more unfortunately, he had been pipped for Best Oscar by the Aussie film (sort of) The King’s Speech.
Despite that, his session on storytelling was one of the best at AIDC.
“It’s really stating the bleeding obvious that the story is the heart of everything we do,” John began. “Storytelling is what gets me out of bed in the morning and keeps me in too many bars at the small hours of the night.”