Cynthia Hill, filmmaker and co-founder of Southern Documentary Fund, remembers Full Frame Documentary Film Festival founder and filmmaker Nancy Buirski.
Nancy Buirski’s last screening took place in Durham, North Carolina the weekend before she died. A packed Carolina Theatre welcomed her and her new film “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy.” As soon as the opening title sequence began, the crowd erupted in applause as Nancy and each collaborator’s name appeared on the screen. We were thrilled to be in a theater once again with her. The film was brilliant. Nancy’s work kept getting better and better.
As I sit, trying to capture how I feel about Nancy, I am struck by the long and beautiful arc of her life and her life’s work. Especially her ability to reinvent herself. Each time was more spectacular than the time before.
I was beginning my career as a filmmaker when Nancy began the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. An event that lured me back to the South, because it made me believe North Carolina, my home, could be a home to filmmakers. And I cannot understate what Full Frame gave to this community. Year in and year out, North Carolina documentary filmmakers learned from the best of the best in our field. We saw the best films and rubbed elbows with documentary royalty. The first year I attended I met DA Pennebaker, Albert Maysles, and Barbara Kopple. In what other context would that happen? Nancy carefully, I’d say even lovingly, curated that world and brought it to us. And in the early days, when I reached out to Nancy on behalf of the Southern Documentary Fund about giving local filmmakers a seat at the table, we created a screening at the festival to highlight Works-In-Progress films by southern storytellers. We wanted to participate, and Nancy agreed. I always say making films outside of one of the major media hubs is not an easy feat. Frequently it is viewed as a deficit in your skill set. That if you were more accomplished, you would be in New York, or LA. But in fact, I think it takes more talent to make films here. You don’t have the same resources. That’s why Full Frame, The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and SDF means so much to us.
After Nancy left Full Frame and began her filmmaking career, I had the great fortune of developing a more personal relationship with her. I was inspired by her desire to always stretch, to always learn more, and to always be more. How many people, how many women, have successfully started a career, any career, much less a career in filmmaking, in their 60s? How many would be brave enough to even try? But once Nancy got going, she outpaced most filmmakers with years more experience. And she ran right up to the finish line. I know she didn’t know where that line would be, but she lived her life fully like that didn’t matter.
Nancy and I had breakfast the morning after that final screening in Durham. She was beaming about the previous night, the standing ovation. She felt what I knew to be true. Not only were we applauding her brilliant film, we were expressing gratitude for all she gave to our community. It was an unexpected homecoming. Durham had been her home for close to two decades, and she missed it. As I drove Nancy to the airport later that day, we talked about new projects, personal narratives, directing fiction, love, and heartache. The why of it all. And as usual, she was a cheerleader. Take chances, Nancy said to me. Believe in yourself and surround yourself with talented people. And believe in THEM.
She was a mentor, a colleague, and a true friend. That someone in your life whose generosity comes from the heart, from a spirit of selflessness. She taught me to give myself permission to go for it, for whatever that may be. We exchanged what I now know to be our last text that evening, after she got back to New York City. I told her how much I enjoyed and needed that visit with her, and how lucky we were to have each other for support and inspiration.
Her text back to me: Damn right! Let’s continue….
And yes Nancy. I will do just that. And we will do just that. Damn right! We will continue!
– Cynthia Hill
