Q&A WITH CINEMATOGRAPHER
JOAN CHURCHILL, ASC
by Brian Hallett
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PHOTO BY ALAN BARKER
egendary Documentary Cinematographer Joan Chruchill, ASC, is known for her work on Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, Shut Up & Sing, and Kurt & Courtney. She has pioneered a path for women through the male-dominated enclaves of cinematography and documentary becoming the first female member of the British film union in the seventies and, more recently, the first documentary cameraperson to be made an ASC in the US.
act with them. Our students in Cuba came up with the term ‘experiential’ for this style of filmmaking. That was years ago. Now we see the word everywhere. BH: Do you have certain criteria for you to move forward on the next film?
BRIAN HALLETT (BH): How do you define experiential filmmaking?
JC: What’s the film about? Who are the people involved? Is there a budget? Will I like myself if I get involved?
JOAN CHURCHILL, ASC (JC): Filmmaking has become much more participatory for me. Audiences are too sophisticated now to accept the ”fly on the wall” kind of filmmaking I started out with. Since the advent of the smaller cameras, I have never looked back. I am left eyed so when using the shoulder mounted cameras, no one could see my face. I was just a big glass eye to people. This new generation of cameras allows me to have a relationship with the people I point my camera at. They can see my face & my reactions to what is happening and understand that I am not a threat to them. I want to be accepted into the circle of interactions, so I am physically very close to people when I shoot. This means they often acknowledge me & I often intern
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SIGHT, SOUND & STORY
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BH: If so, what do you look for in a project? JC: I am a people person, interested in character driven documentaries. I prefer long-term projects where things evolve and change; where there is no hidden agenda. If you are open to following a subject wherever it might take you, you will certainly end up in a very different place from the one you anticipated. I have been working on a film about a psychiatric emergency room in Los Angeles for almost five years now. We’ve been at it for so long the success stories are becoming harder to see & the people who n
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