a story lives forever
Register
Sign in
Form submission failed!

Stay signed in

Recover your password?
Register
Form submission failed!

Web of Stories Ltd would like to keep you informed about our products and services.

Please tick here if you would like us to keep you informed about our products and services.

I have read and accepted the Terms & Conditions.

Please note: Your email and any private information provided at registration will not be passed on to other individuals or organisations without your specific approval.

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

NEXT STORY

Working with my brother and equal representation on the credits

RELATED STORIES

Filming portraits of interesting Americans
Albert Maysles Film-maker
Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

So in 1961 or so when I left Drew Associates I got in touch with a guy who was making films independently and getting them shown on television. He was very skilful at that. Making films of- which were- Making films that were portraits of- Let's see- making films of portraits of interesting Americans. And I was asked if I would like to participate and to think up who it might be that I would like to film. So a friend of my brother's and I knew this guy Joe Levine who was a movie distributor, about to become famous because he was about to make a film with Sophia Loren and this would be a big moment in his career. With that sort of thing in mind we offered Mr. Wolper the distributor and the financier for the film- this opportunity but he wasn't interested and- Because we'd gone so far as to get all excited about filming this guy we went ahead and just made the film at our own expense. And it's a film that still hasn't been shown on television. If we can't get it shown then we'll put it on DVD with a number of other films that are wonderful films: the film of Muhammad Ali, for example, preparing for his last fight; and several others. A film of Orson Welles whom we met in 1963 not long after completing the film of "Showman", right? These are all films that should be shown and which will get shown on DVD and possibly on the Internet as well and perhaps even on PBS.

Albert Maysles (1926-2015) known for his important documentaries on Muhammad Ali, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles, pioneered the documentary style known as Direct Cinema. He helped create techniques still widely used in modern documentary production, as well as many of the techniques used in reality TV.

Listeners: Sara Maysles Tamara Tracz Rebekah Maysles

Sara Maysles, daughter of Albert Maysles, is currently doing her BA in East Asian Studies at Columbia University, and working as an Archivist of the photographs and photographic material at Maysles Films Inc., Albert‚s film production company. She spent ten months out of two years working with Tibetan refugees at a center in Nepal, and continues to travel back and forth between America and Asia.

Tamara Tracz is a writer and filmmaker based in London.

Rebekah Maysles, daughter of Albert Maysles, is an artist living between New York and Philadelphia. She has her own line of clothing, Blackberryrose, and co-runs the store Sodafine in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York, a vintage and handmade store that sells clothing, books and other products made by artists.

Tags: Drew Associates, Showman, Joe Levine, Sophia Loren, Muhammad Ali, Orson Welles

Duration: 2 minutes, 24 seconds

Date story recorded: September 2004

Date story went live: 24 January 2008