Stories Make the World : Reflections on Storytelling and the Art of the Documentary

Since the beginning of human history, stories have helped people make sense of their lives and their world. Today, an understanding of storytelling is invaluable as we seek to orient ourselves within a flood of raw information and an unprecedented variety of supposedly true accounts. In __Stories Make the World__, award-winning screenwriter Stephen Most offers a captivating, refreshingly heartfelt exploration of how documentary filmmakers and other storytellers come to understand their subjects and cast light on the world through their art. Drawing on the author’s decades of experience behind the scenes of television and film documentaries, this is an indispensable account of the principles and paradoxes that attend the quest to represent reality truthfully. "Since the beginning of human history, stories have helped people make sense of their lives and their world. Today, an understanding of storytelling is invaluable as we seek to orient ourselves within a flood of raw information and an unprecedented variety of supposedly true accounts. In Stories Make the World, award-winning screenwriter Stephen Most offers a captivating, refreshingly heartfelt exploration of how documentary filmmakers and other storytellers come to understand their subjects and cast light on the world through their art. Drawing on the author's decades of experience behind the scenes of television and film documentaries, this is an indispensable account of the principles and paradoxes that attend the quest to represent reality truthfully"--Provided by publisher Contents Introduction PART ONE / Storytellers Pedro Azabache Eduardo Calderón Erik H. Erikson Ginetta Sagan Hannah Arendt PART TWO / Beginnings and Ends Achilles’ Shield Fire in the Cave Theater of Hist PART THREE / The Natural World On the Interstellarnet The View from the Sierra Madre Upstream, Downstream PART FOUR / The Human World Imagining Freedom Land of Plenty Fields of Centers Through the Wall PART FIVE / The Anthropocene Baked Alaska Sounds of a Changing Planet The Rim of the World Epilogue Acknowledgments Selected Filmography Notes and Sources Index Pt. I. Storytellers. Pedro Azabache ; Eduardo Calderon ; Erik H. Erikson : Ginetta Sagan ; Hannah Arendt -- Pt. Ii. Beginnings And Ends. Achilles' Shield ; Fire In The Cave ; Theater Of History ; Pt. Iii. The Natural World. On The Interstellarnet ; The View From The Sierra Madre ; Upstream, Downstream -- Pt. Iv. The Human World. Imagining Freedom ; Land Of Plenty ; Fields Of Centers ; Through The Wall -- V. The Anthropocene. Baked Alaska ; Sounds Of A Changing Planet ; The Rim Of The World. Stephen Most. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. In this book, award-winning screenwriter Stephen Most offers a captivating, refreshingly heartfelt exploration of how documentary film and other forms of storytelling remain so essential today.