Notes on Quotes (Or, The Problem of Quotation, Authorship and Authority) (2018).
A stupid grammar dispute leads to a larger consideration of how documentaries contend with quotation.
Notes on Bad Documentaries (Or, Can a Documentary Be So Bad It’s Good?) (2017).
An essay about what’s so good about bad documentaries (and seeking your nominations!).
Notes on Truth (Or, Documentary in the Post-Truth Era) (2016).
An essay about the importance of truth for our survival as a species and (sigh) Donald Trump.
Notes on Under the Gun (Or, When is Fiction a Crime?) (2016).
An essay about the ethics of documentary editing and the curious case of the single edit that led to a libel suit.
Notes on Vaxxed (Or, Not Lying but Being Wrong) (2016).
A follow-up essay about my open letter to Tribeca and a meditation on the terror of being wrong.
Notes on the Footnote (Should Documentary Films Have Footnotes?) (2016).
An essay in which I consider the case for footnotes and explain how and why I wrote 319 footnotes for my film NUTS!
An Open Letter to Tribeca Film Festival About Vaxxed (2016).
This began as a Facebook post, which Filmmaker Magazine reposted; it was quoted in lots of news outlets.
Brian Springer’s ‘The Disappointment: Or, the Force of Credulity’ (2015).
Very short essay about one of my favorite films.
Our Nixon Filmmakers Explain to Ben Stein How Filmmaking Works (2013).
(Ok, that’s not really the title; it’s the title of Bryce Renninger’s post about it and I’m adopting it forever.) Brian and I wrote a rebuttal to Ben Stein’s misleading Daily Beast review of Our Nixon.
Why I Am Not An American Artist (2012).
A catalogue essay I wrote for “Red/White/Blue: New American Fringe Film and Video” (featuring Michael Robinson, Jesse McLean and myself).
Some interviews I’ve done with filmmakers:
Eric Daniel Metzgar (2010)
Sam Green (2010)
James T. Hong (2010)
Vanessa Renwick (2011)
Jennifer Montgomery (2011)
Jim Finn (2010)
Rebecca Richman Cohen (2011)
Psychogeographies: Four Films About Place and Time (2011).
An essay I wrote about one of the Flaherty NYC shows I programmed.
“Mame Faye” and Other Myths from the Golden Age of Prostitution (2008).
An essay I wrote for On The Issues magazine.
A Timeline of Abortion Stories in U.S. Popular Media (2004-on).
Way back when I was making The Abortion Diaries, part of my research led to this list. A lot of people have written to me to say it is a useful resource, but I’m no longer actively updating it.