The Documentary Art of Filmmaker Michael Rubbo

D. B. Jones

• Publisher: University of Calgary Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781552388709
• eBook ISBN: 9781552388730
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Michael Rubbo's groundbreaking work has had a deep and enduring impact on documentary filmmaking worldwide, though his name has remained relatively unknown. In The Documentary Art of Michael Rubbo, author D.B. Jones traces Rubbo's filmmaking from his days as a film student at Stanford, through his twenty years at the National Film Board of Canada, where Rubbo developed his distinct documentary style. Jones then describes Rubbo's post-NFB venture into feature film directing, followed by Rubbo's return to his native Australia, first as an executive with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and later as a director of feature-length documentaries and maker of short, personal films for YouTube.Exploring locales from Montreal to Vietnam, topics as diverse as plastic surgery and French Marxism, and from interviewing Margaret Atwood to documenting a failed attempt to interview Fidel Castro, Rubbo's wide-ranging work establishes his innovative, personal, lyric, and spontaneous documentary style. In The Documentary Art of Michael Rubbo D.B. Jones reveals not only the depth of meaning in Rubbo's films, but also the depth of their influence on filmmaking itself.

Index

Page numbers refer to the print version. To find entries in the ebook, use the device's search function.

A

Abbot, Sue, 194–95

Act of Killing, The, 211–12, 215

Addiego, Walter, 124

Adoteye, Matthew, 142

Adventures, 17

Albania, 112

Algeria, 115, 118

Alinsky, Saul, 10–11

All About Olive, 185–90, 191, 216

American Public Broadcasting Service, 139

Andrieu, René, 108, 117

Anka, Paul, 14–16

Anselme, Daniel, 114–15, 122, 124, 125

Apu Trilogy, The, 7

Arcand, Denys, 55

Artist of Malacca, An, 192

As You Like It, 184

Atwood, Margaret, 143–50, 164, 166, 198, 203. See also Atwood and Family; Margaret Atwood: Once in August

Atwood and Family, 143, 149–50

Auf der Maur, Nick, 89–93, 98, 101, 214

Aurore, L’, 102

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), 64, 169–72, 179, 189

Australian Documentary: History, Practices, and Genres, 80, 213

Australian Film Commission, 177

Australian Film Finance Corporation, 177, 189–90

Australian National Film, Television, and Radio School, 1, 139–40, 169

Autogestion, 114

Avoca Beach Theatre: Our Little Treasure, 193

Ayise, Florence, 207

B

Back-breaking Leaf, The, 9

Bagby, Andrew, 211

Balaban, John, 29

barbarie a visage humain, La, 105

Bear and the Mouse, The, 17

Bélisle, Lionel, 85–86

Bellour, Raymond, 14

Bethune, 9

Biggs, Julian, 73

Bike Share and Helmets Don’t Mix, 193

Bill 101, 89

Blaker, Rod, 39–45, 147, 214

Bliss, Charles, 64

Blue, James, 216

Boafo, Sam, 142

Board. See National Film Board of Canada.

Bochner, Sally (as Sally), 38, 39

Bonvalet, Douceline, 103

Bourassa, Robert, 87, 88, 90, 93

Bowling for Columbine, 206

Breitrose, Henry, 9, 14

Brittain, Donald, 22, 24

Broken Hill, 185–57

Broomfield, Nick, 206–8, 212, 214, 218

Broyelle, Claudie, 113–14, 120

Broyelle, Jacques, 113–14

Bruzzi, Stella, 213

Bujold, Genevieve, 55

Burton, Geoff, 170–71, 184, 217

C

Caine, Rick, 167

Caldersmith, Graeme, 173

Calment, Jeanne Louise, 163

Cambodia, 110, 112

Canadian Broa...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Illustrations
• Introduction
• Learning the Craft
• Making It Personal
• Nudging Things Along
• Filmmaker Front and Center
• Family Matters
• How It Works
• Where the Action Isn’t
• Something’s Happening
• Facial Expressions
• Long Shots
• A Break from “Reality”
• New Tools of the Trade
• Plein Air Documentary
• Conclusion
• Works Cited
• Michael Rubbo Filmography
• Michael Rubbo YouTube Films (Selected)
• Notes
• Index