"This is indeed not only relevant to Documentary but is evident is most type of film making. The film often mirrors the experience, understanding and politics of the director"
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Filmmaking likes to dress itself up as craft - lenses, budgets, “the story” - but Ben Edwards cuts to the uncomfortable part: the camera doesn’t just record reality, it routes it through a person. Even in documentary, where audiences still crave the myth of neutrality, the film winds up echoing the director’s lived experience, their assumptions about what matters, and their sense of who gets to speak.
The intent here is plain-spoken but pointed: stop pretending the director is invisible. “Mirrors” is doing the heavy lifting. A mirror doesn’t invent a face, but it chooses distance, angle, lighting. Edwards is arguing that form is politics long before anyone adds an activist voiceover. What gets framed, what gets cut, how long we sit with a silence, which “expert” is granted authority - these are aesthetic choices that quietly announce values.
The subtext is a warning to audiences and filmmakers at once. For viewers: be skeptical of the “just the facts” posture, because documentaries can persuade without ever sounding partisan. For directors: own your fingerprint. A film that acts like it has no point of view is often the one smuggling in the strongest one.
Contextually, this lands in a moment when “documentary” is as likely to mean Netflix true-crime entertainment as it is civic-minded reportage. Edwards reminds us that the politics aren’t only in the subject matter; they’re embedded in the director’s understanding of the world, and the film’s grammar inevitably translates that understanding into meaning.
The intent here is plain-spoken but pointed: stop pretending the director is invisible. “Mirrors” is doing the heavy lifting. A mirror doesn’t invent a face, but it chooses distance, angle, lighting. Edwards is arguing that form is politics long before anyone adds an activist voiceover. What gets framed, what gets cut, how long we sit with a silence, which “expert” is granted authority - these are aesthetic choices that quietly announce values.
The subtext is a warning to audiences and filmmakers at once. For viewers: be skeptical of the “just the facts” posture, because documentaries can persuade without ever sounding partisan. For directors: own your fingerprint. A film that acts like it has no point of view is often the one smuggling in the strongest one.
Contextually, this lands in a moment when “documentary” is as likely to mean Netflix true-crime entertainment as it is civic-minded reportage. Edwards reminds us that the politics aren’t only in the subject matter; they’re embedded in the director’s understanding of the world, and the film’s grammar inevitably translates that understanding into meaning.
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