"In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director"

This quote by Alfred Hitchcock speaks to the power of the director in both function movies and documentary. In feature movies, the director is the one who has the supreme say in how the film is made, from the script to the casting to the editing. They are the ones who bring the story to life and create the vision for the film. In documentary, nevertheless, the director is not the one in control. Instead, it is God who is the director, as the documentary filmmaker is just recording what is already there. The documentary filmmaker is not creating a story, but rather recording reality. The quote talks to the power of the director in both types of movies, however also to the power of God in documentary films. The documentary filmmaker is just a vessel for the story that God has actually already created.