Documentarian Lance Oppenheim was acknowledged by IndieWire Honors on June 5 with the Enlarge Award. Oppenheim’s work in “Ren Faire” definitely held a magnifying glass as much as the Texas Renaissance Honest, in the end documenting a narrative that performed like a real-life “Succession,” charming HBO viewers when it aired in 2024. It additionally created a people legend of its late star George C. Coulam, or “King George” — who was so moved by the docuseries he reinstated an worker he was proven to have mistreated.
“We misplaced King George about two weeks in the past … and I’ll ceaselessly bear in mind him,” Oppenheim stated. “And I hope that this documentary serves as a testomony to the particular person he was … warts and all, [and] actually simply to seize how superb and iconoclastic the man was. He stated one factor: ‘The very best glory is being in love,’ and I very a lot consider that, and I dedicate this [honor] to him.”
When accepting his award, Oppenheim gave credit score to IndieWire for uplifting his passions.
“I used to be studying IndieWire on a regular basis. I developed like an IndieWire compulsion, and I might learn it obsessively. And so the truth that we’re right here proper now, my group and I, to just accept this award from them may be very candy — with all these superb individuals,” he stated.
Oppenheim stated that documentaries have taken on a particular significance in 2025.
“Documentaries are a really particular and distinctive factor. I really feel like because the world retains shifting in a course the place issues preserve getting an increasing number of algorithmically generated. If you see one thing particular and simply completely uncooked and completely distinctive and completely actual, it’s a must to simply pinch your self,” he stated.
Final 12 months in an interview with IndieWire, when discussing his philosophy as a storyteller, Oppenheim paraphrased legendary nonfiction filmmaker Frederick Wiseman.
“The simplest factor you are able to do as a documentarian is make somebody seem silly,” he stated. “Wiseman says don’t try this, make individuals seem noble and/or difficult, present them for who they’re, and I hope I did that.
At solely 29 years previous, Oppenheim, who additionally has the acclaimed documentaries “Some Form of Heaven” and “Spermworld” to his credit score, is at the moment in manufacturing on A24’s “Primetime.” Whereas not a documentary, Oppenheim’s narrative characteristic directorial debut is alleged to have been impressed by the 2000s collection “To Catch a Predator,” a hidden-camera collection that has echoes of the filmmaker’s documentary roots.