The Dangerous Art Of The Documentary

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The tragic tale of Amy Winehouse (above), even more than a decade after her death, remains in our consciousness.

If you want the definitive word on her life then you could do worse than check out Amy, the James Gay-Rees documentary that sketches out her sad struggles with fame and alcohol abuse.

Gay-Rees is also responsible for the sublime and incredibly tense Senna, about the death of Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna.

The film-maker specialises in these documentaries and is the perfect guest for new podcast The Dangerous Art Of The Documentary.

Podcast aficionados will be familiar with the two series Badlands and Disgraceland; the former looked at crime and shady events of Hollywood and the latter did the same for the music industry. Both are cracking listens.

The makers, Double Elvis, have created this new series about some of the most fascinating documentaries of our time.

Gay-Rees explains the mechanics of making these documentaries and how Amy won him an Academy Award.

Making documentaries may seem more straightforward than a scripted movie but, behind the scenes, they are chaotic and sometimes even, as the series’ title suggests, even dangerous.

In the first episode Allen Hughes director of hip hop film The Defiant Ones explains how he had to hide from gangster rapper Dr Dre at one stage.

Jaimie D’Cruz about his journey from founding a magazine to being nominated for an Oscar for the documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, a brilliant collaboration with the legendary and elusive street artist Banksy.

The podcast is a great listen, especially hand-in-hand with the films themselves.