Books on Film

Patrick Bresnan

Filmmaking book: Observational Cinema by Anna Grimshaw and Amanda Ravetz is a detailed account of the filmmaking movement and the theories and practices behind the great known and unknown artists, academics, and scientists that developed the practice. I am a big believer that this practice is one answer to reality TV garbage and talking-head sleepers that permeate the nonfiction media landscape.  

Influential book: Garry Winogrand edited by Leo Rubinfien: I am constantly inspired by Garry Winogrand, the interviews and home movies of him photographing on the streets that pop up on YouTube. This book has amazing stories from his life and details his relationships with Robert Frank, magazine editors, galleries, and his numerous wives. It is also a collection of what I consider the New Testament of street photography.

Favorite Adaptation: Dispatches by Michael Herr. Herr went on to write on and influence both Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket. I am heavily inspired by works that put you back in the Sixties, especially concerning the Vietnam War. This book is a seminal piece of war journalism and sets the tone for two of the greatest films ever made.

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Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan's latest film is "The Send-Off," which recently took home Best Short Doc at the San Francisco International Film Festival.