“TIME” DIRECTOR GARRETT BRADLEY’S RULES TO LIVE BY

FTW Takeaway: Lead with transparency, compassion, and vulnerability.

Garrett Bradley: Transparency, compassion and vulnerability are inherent parts of being a good human being in the world, but also a good filmmaker. There are so many things that are unknown when you are working in a documentary space. You can't control the outcomes of things, you don't know necessarily where you're going to be led. So finding a way to be comfortable in the unknown, finding a way to celebrate and revel in the present moment is also really important.

Have open conversations with the people you’re working with.

Going back to the question of transparency and curiosity—when you're working with people, they want to know why you want to make what you're making, why is this meaningful to you as a filmmaker, as an individual? It's also important to have a conversation. For me, I always have conversations. I always begin my projects with questions, to make sure that we can find a mutual place of alignment in terms of our intention of why we want to work together.

"Respect is what allows one to make a great film, and it's where boundaries come in. It's really no different from how one should be moving through the world…You have to be responsive and think of yourself as an energy worker and be aware of the energy you're bringing to a space. So filmmaking is also just a reflection of everyday life."

Respect is paramount.

I never refer to people as subjects. I never refer to their willingness to let me into their own life experience as access. I think that there are certain types of terminology that are coming from the beginnings of documentary filmmaking, the beginnings of journalism, which in and of themselves historically speaking, are problematic.

So I'm interested in sharing space with people, and maybe that does present challenges for how we understand the distinctions between documentary filmmaking, journalism, or art-making. But bottom line, respect is what allows one to make a great film, and it's where boundaries come in. It's really no different from how one should be moving through the world. You have boundaries with really close friends. Those are the healthiest relationships, right? You have boundaries with coworkers, you have boundaries even in public space when you're at the grocery store. Those things don't change when you're working with people in the context of a film. You have to have mutual respect for one another. You have to be responsive and think of yourself as an energy worker and be aware of the energy you're bringing to a space. So filmmaking is also just a reflection of everyday life."

Be intentional every step of the way.

It goes through different phases [in post production]. Because you don't know how things are going to evolve, you have to have some kind of anchor point when you're making a film. For me, that anchor point is the intention. Once I get to the editing process, I'm seeing that: that intention is being reflected. Why am I doing this? What is it offering to those that I'm working with and to the larger community that we will be sharing the work with?

You have to ask yourself that question every step of the way, when you start including music, when you start mixing the sound, when you are thinking about who and how you want to bring the film into the world with, how it’s messaged. It's what allows you to respond to the Rubik's cube of what it is to make a documentary film, but also, know what you're doing, to the best of your ability.

Garrett Bradley

Garrett Bradley (b. NYC, 1986) works across narrative, documentary, and experimental modes of filmmaking to address themes such as race, class, familial relationships, social justice, southern culture, and the history of film in the United States. Bradley has received numerous prizes which include the 2019 Prix de Rome, and the 2017 Sundance Jury Prize for the short film "Alone," which was released by The New York Times OpDocs And became an Oscar Contender for short nonfiction filmmaking, included in Academy Shortlist. Bradleys work can be seen across a variety of spaces including her Second Unit Directing work on Ava DuVernays “When They See Us” and the 2019 Whitney Biennial. In December of this 2019, Bradley's first solo exhibition opened at The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), curated by Rebecca Matalon. In January of 2020, Bradley became the first Black American woman to receive Best Director at the 2020 Sundance Film festival for her first feature length documentary, "Time."

”Projects: Garrett Bradley,” will be the artist and filmmakers fist New York solo exhibition scheduled for fall of 2020 and is presented as part of a multiyear partnership between The Museum of Modern Art and the Studio Museum in Harlem and will feature a multichannel video installation of America (2019). This show is organized by Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator, the Studio Museum in Harlem, with Legacy Russell, Associate Curator, the Studio Museum in Harlem.