Docs Get Their Due

The documentary is suddenly big business in the film industry, and filmmakers specializing in the form, who couldn’t even get a meeting in Hollywood a decade ago, are enjoying unprecedented success. Part of the reason for the new popularity of the form is financial, of course – documentaries are much cheaper to make than feature films – but it is also true that there are simply a lot of great docs getting made these days. “It would be easier to put together a list of 10 good documentaries for the year than it would be to come up with a list of 10 good fictional movies.”