An Evening with Doc Filmmaker Albert Maysles

Beverly Hills, CA — Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Albert Maysles, dubbed by The New York Times in 2002 as “the dean of documentary filmmakers,” will be the featured guest at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ John Huston Lecture on Documentary Film on Thursday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Hollywood.

The program of conversation and film clips will provide an overview of Maysles’ work and his approach to the documentary form.

Maysles, along with his brother David (who died in 1987), was among the first to make nonfiction feature films in which the drama of life unfolds without scripts, sets, interviews or narration. The Maysles brothers helped usher in the “cinema verite” style to American moviemaking during the 1960s with their documentaries on producer Joseph E. Levine (“Showman”), Marlon Brando (“Meet Marlon Brando”), Truman Capote (“With Love from Truman”) and door-to-door Bible salesmen (“Salesman”).

In 1970 the Maysles released “Gimme Shelter,” which captured the infamous Rolling Stones concert at Altamont and offered a revealing portrait of lead singer Mick Jagger. It was followed by “Grey Gardens,” a look at the lives of the Beales, two eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy. The documentary inspired the current Broadway musical.

In 1973 the Maysles received an Academy Award® nomination in the Documentary Short Subject category for “Christo’s Valley Curtain.” In 2001 Maysles Films released “LaLee’s Kin: The Legacy of Cotton,” which Albert photographed and co-directed. The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

The Academy’s John Huston Lecture on Documentary Film is a series named to honor Huston’s legacy as witnessed in his controversial World War II documentaries “Report from the Aleutians,” “The Battle of San Pietro” and “Let There Be Light.” “The Battle of San Pietro” was not shown publicly until 1945, when General George Marshall removed its “classified” status. “Let There Be Light” was banned for decades by the U.S. War Department, the very agency that commissioned it, before it was finally released in 1980.

Tickets to “An Evening with Albert Maysles” are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. All seating is unreserved.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 North Vine Street in Hollywood. Free parking is available through the entrance on Homewood Avenue. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.