In Memoriam: Filmmaker Bud Greenspan

Filmmaker Bud Greenspan recently passed away on December 25.  He was known for his Olympic Games documentary films, which were not mere highlight compilations, but rather artistic documentaries which focused on "stories that resonate". 

Universal Sports will air a nine-night retrospective of his work, featuring the Olympic Games from 1984 through 2006, beginning on New Year's night.  For this editor, the best aspects are the compelling cinematography, lengthy profiles of the athletes, and voice-of-God narration employed in showing the preparation of the athletes and the drama of the competitions.  The artistic documentaries of athletic competition remind me in a way of NFL films with John Facenda, but are more cinematic, and any history of film documentaries of the Olympic Games will almost always include Olympia by Leni Riefenstahl, but of course Greenspan doesn't have her troubling history.  The Greenspan retrospective is worth the effort to seek out in the coming week on Universal Sports, which is available over-the-air or on cable in many U.S. cities, and tune in to at least a few of the broadcasts of work by this landmark filmmaker.