Quotes from Joe Berlinger

If people spend two hours thinking about the direction of their own lives and can relate to the stories they see on screen, to me that's a success.

Life is much more complex than the black-and-white sound bites that you get on television. There are nuances and shades of gray.

I'm an observer in life, not a participant. That's why I'm a documentarian who looks through a camera. I'm not a touchy-feely person; I'm not a seminar person.

What you hope, what you're trusting the filmmaker to do, is to capture the emotional truth of the situation.

Any documentary; any capturing of a non-fiction event, is a hyper-realistic condensation of reality that hopefully reveals an emotional truth. It's never the actual literal truth of an event.

I never believe I'm presenting objective reality; I also don't want to delude people into thinking that my subject is talking directly to them.

My attitude is, I am not a lawyer; I am not a doctor; I am not a scientist. I am a filmmaker and I want to present what each side is saying and let the viewer come to their own conclusion.

I mean, "The Jinx" is an amazing piece of cinema and amazing television moment, it's rare documentarians can feel the direct impact of their work.

If I live my life independently of my brother, and he destroys himself as a result of my independence, is there blood on my hands? Am I my brother's enabler?