Alan Berliner

This was easily my favorite guest lecturer that has come during the last 3 years. I really appreciated that the film itself was what he showcased instead of a bunch of worthless stories about how he grew up or where he went to school. I think most of the time in situations like lectures people feel like they have to sell themselves somehow so i have enormous respect for the fact that he allowed his work to do the majority of the talking. The issues brought up in "Nobody's Business" like identity, family, responsibility, as well as social responsibility and connection are all things that I tend to be drawn to and pursue in my own work. There was an immense sense of control, compassion, intent, perspective, and sincerity that gave the film a necessary foundation and backbone. It would be easy to lose hold of the audience at countless times if something got too personal but i felt that he had a very acute sense of how to use the film with the audio that he had gotten from his interviews. There is really no other word besides amazement when I thought of the amount of time and energy that went into finding so many vintage clips as well as the background information from his own family. His use of humor was also an essential key to keeping the film interesting and enjoyable considering most of the topics that were discussed (loneliness, a broken family and marriage, and even the holocaust) all have the ability to really change the direction and feeling of the film. He intelligently and articulately managed to somehow cover all of these things and leave without any feelings of sadness, loss, or resentment.

For me, the most powerful part of this story was his ability to relate his own story to that of millions of others. He found common themes within his father's story and by understanding that this was also his own story he was able to relate it to every single person that ended up watching the film. I have come to believe that humility and understanding how small I am in relation to all the other things that exist out there is one of the greatest emotions I can experience. He tapped on this over and over again whether it was the way he chose to lay out a shot or the way he sequenced the interviews... and somehow he brought me back to those feelings. He was never pushy or preachy. His subtlety in mixing all of these ideas blended with his father's brazen charm made this a film that I would readily watch again but also a film that is worth examining because he really is amazing at his craft.