Joe Berlinger has been making documentaries for over 25 years. He started out at Maysles Films where he met Bruce Sinofsky. In 1992, they made “Brother’s Keeper”, a story of a murder trial in upstate New York, that revitalized observational documentary. They went on to make the “Paradise Lost” trilogy and “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.”
Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviews Joe on his career including the rupture and reunion in his partnership with Bruce who died in 2015. They also discuss Joe’s latest film “Intent to Destroy: Death, Denial and Depiction” (Starz) that examines the legacy of the Armenian genocide. For decades, the history of the genocide has been fiercely contested by the Turkish government. “Intent to Destroy” brings a unique angle by following the making of a big budget Hollywood film “The Promise” that aspires to capture the genocide’s history as an epic in the tradition of “Doctor Zhivago.” With that framing device, Joe interviews contemporary figures active in the historical debate including scholar Peter Balakian, filmmaker Atom Egoyan and the former U.S. ambassador to Armenia John Marshall Evan.
On Twitter: @joeberlinger @thompowers @PureNonfiction
This interview was recorded at the School of Visual Arts MFA Social Documentary Program. Pure Nonfiction is distributed by the TIFF podcast network.