2005 CIDF Lifetime Achievement Award

Albert and David Maysles

for their groundbreaking work and significant contributions to the genre of documentary film

designed by Kazimierz Kalkowski

The Maysels are the some of the most celebrated and acclaimed documentary filmmakers. They are credited with being the pioneers of direct cinema, the American version of French cinema verite. They designed highly portable camera and sound equipment so they could get as close to their subjects with minimal intrusion on their subjects. They have earned this recognition by being some of the first to create critically acclaimed non-fiction feature length films. Their legacy and career has spanned over 50 years.

Albert (1928) and David (1932) were born in Boston, MA to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. David studied psychology at Boston University while Albert earned his B.A. from Syracuse and his M.A. from Boston University. David made his start in the film world as a production assistant on two Marilyn Monroe features. And Albert went to Russia to film PSYCHIATRY IN RUSSIA, his first film in the summer of 1955. Several years later the bothers united and made their first collaborative film about the Polish student revolution, YOUTH OF POLAND, 1957.

They began to work with Robert Drew and Richard Leacock on the film PRIMARY (1960) a look behind the scenes of the 1960 Democratic primary between Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy. They then went on to make a series of films about celebrities including SHOWMAN (1963), about Hollywood producer Joe Levine; WHAT’S HAPPENING! THE BEATLES IN THE USA (1964) and MEET MARLON BRANDO (1965). They also made a short film WITH LOVE FROM TRUMAN (1966) about author Truman Capote and his non-fiction novel “In Cold Blood”.

Albert was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1965. In 1968 they released SALESMAN, their landmark film about four door-to-door Bible salesman. It was the first non-fiction feature film of its kind. It won an award from the National Society of Film Critics and is regarded as the classic American documentary. In 1992 the films was listed among the top 25 American films honored for their historical, cultural, and aesthetic significance from the Library of Congress.

The next of their films have become cult classics. GIMMIE SHELTER (1970), gives witness to the notorious Rolling Stones concert at Altamont which culminated with a murder that was caught on film. The other is GREY GARDENS (1976), which captures the haunting relationship between the Beales, a mother and daughter secluded in a run down mansion in the East Hamptons who also happen to be relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy. This film still leads to conversations about ethics and filmmaking. Both of these films were released theatrically worldwide to great acclaim.

The Maysles have also been longtime collaborators with idiosyncratic outdoor artists Christo and Jean-Claude, whose monumental environmental projects have been documented in several films including CHRISTO’S VALLEY CURATIN (1974), RUNNING FENCE (1978), ISALNDS (1986), CHRISTO IN PARIS (1990) and UMBRELLAS (1995) which won the Grand Prize and the People’s Choice Award at the Montreal Festival of Films on Art. They received an Academy Award Nomination in the short documentary competition for the film CHRISTO’S VALLEY CURTAIN.

Albert and David continued to work together until David’s death in 1987. Since then Albert has continued to work on films with longtime collaborators Charlotte Zwerin, Deborah Dickenson, and Susan Froemke. He has made ABORTION:DESPERATE CHOICES which aired on HBO in 1996 and LETTING GO: A HOSPICE JOURNEY with Susan Froemke and Deborah Dickenson. More recently the three of them collaborated on the HBO commissioned film LALEE’S KIN: THE LEGACY OF COTTON (2000), which is the story of one family’s struggle to overcome the cysles of poverty and illiteracy in the Mississippi Delta. This film earned Albert the 2001 Sundance Film Festival for Cinematography for Documentaries and a nomination for and Academy Award. He and Susan have also collaborated with Bob Eisenhardt on CONCERT OF WILLS: MAKING THE GETTY CENTER (1997). This film was shot over a period of twelve years and follows the Los Angeles Center from conception through construction.

Albert Maysels is one of the world’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers. In 1994 the International Documentary Association presented Albert with the Career Achievement Award. His other numerous awards includes: S.M.P.T.E.’s 1997 John Grierson Award for Documentary, the American Society of Cinematographers’ 1998 President’s Award- given for the first time to a documentarian, the Boston Film and Video Foundation’s 1998 Vision Award, Toronto’s Hot Docs 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award, Flaherty Award and the Thessaloniki 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1999 Eastman Kodak saluted Albert as one of the world’s finest cinematographers.

Today Albert continues to work in documentary filmmaking, he has many works-in-progress including: IN TRANSIT a film about the many stories that are waiting to take place on the train; THE JEW ON TRIAL, a look at the historic trial of Mendel Beilis in Kiev in 1919; THE GATES, a look at Christo’s latest art project in Central Park, New York; GOIN’ ON A LARK, a self-portrait; and HIS HOLINESS THE DALI LAMA IN NEW YORK, the Dali Lama’s visit to New York in 2003.

Albert and David Maysles are two are the most highly regarded documentary filmmakers. The have continued to make ground-breaking films that inspire, enchant, and engage you into the lives of strangers. With their direct cinema approach you watch as their subjects lives unfold with the natural drama and pace of life. They have helped create and define the modern American Documentary.