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The Imposter Syndrome

Do you consider yourself a documentary filmmaker or is that a term that you are hesitant to give yourself?  Is there something that is holding you back from your first documentary film? Perhaps what’s keeping you from being a doc filmmaker, or making your doc film, or living your doc life, is something called imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is a concept that basically describes the inability of an individual to internalize one’s accomplishments as well as having a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud.  And I’m confused that so many of us doc filmmakers experience at some point in time in our own doc lives.  Which is what we’ll take a look at in our opening segment of today’s podcast. We’ll discuss:

• Definition of imposter syndrome and how it applies to us #doclifers
• why you are already a filmmaker qualified to make a documentary
• how you can overcome the fear that you are under-qualified to make your doc film

Podcast Conversation

In our shared conversation with a doc industry guest segment, I sat down with Academy Award and Emmy Award-nominated doc filmmaker, Lourdes Portillo.  On the eve of her being awarded the prestigious International Documentary Association (IDA)’s Career Achievement Award, we have a frank and open conversation about the state of documentary: what it has meant for her in her life as well as what it might mean for future doc filmmakers and..

• how she became an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker with her first film without ever having any prior filmmaking experience
• how aspiring filmmakers today make the mistake of concentrating on all of the shiny and latest camera gear and forget the most important element to a documentary: story
• advice for writing your first grants for your first projects
• what it means to be awarded an IDA Career Achievement Award

Related Resources

Trailer for Lourdes Portillo’s brilliant personal documentary The Devil Never Sleeps – as discussed in the episode – can be seen here:

Top Resources

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