David Hoffman: 50 Years of Documentary Filmmaking

David Hoffman picked up his first spring-wound Bolex 16mm movie camera in 1963. Over the next five decades he proceeded to make scores of films on a huge range of subjects: profiles of famous and not-so-famous people; music docs (including BB King at Sing-Sing, Earl Scruggs, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez); political, historical and military docs for public television; documentary-style commercials for Mobil Oil and other companies; and one notorious film that challenged the whole documentary form. He's still at it. David and I discussed his prolific career, his adventures behind the camera and his thoughts on truth and fabrication in documentaries.