INTERPRETATIONS

Nick Broomfield: The Man with the microphone

On the occasion of the retrospective of Nick Broomfield’s films at ZagrebDox in February 2005, the author explains the poetics of this distinguished author. Titles screened were: Tattooed Tears (1978/1982, co-director Joan Churchill), Driving Me Crazy (1988), Heidi Fleiss: Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1995), Kurt and Courtney (1998), and Aileen: Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003, co-director J. Churchill). Contrary to Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, Broomfield engages in film as a curious individual who uses camera and a microphone to reveal and understand, instead of debating an already defined thesis. Contrary to the old school documentarists (Papić, Loach), who did not feature the author, Broomfield is, just like Moore and Spurlock (and Croatian director Igor Mirković) a typical representative of the new documentarist school where the author figures prominently in front of the cameras and microphones.

Janko Heidl