Bird by Bird with Annie: A Film Portrait of Writer Anne Lamott (1999)

From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Lee Mock, ‘Bird by Bird with Annie’ offers an intimate portrait of a writer and her craft, interweaving the story of Anne Lamott's life—in itself a deeply moving tale of addiction and redemption, grief and joy, intellect and faith—with a year's worth of interviews, public lectures, and footage of the writer at work, focusing particularly on Lamott's candid, humorous, and disarmingly straightforward advice on the struggles and joys of writing. The author's reassurance and guidance concerning the process of writing—which has little resemblance to its glorified image—becomes a stirring call to action celebrating the potential of each individual, the silencing of our inner critics, and the courage to create something honest and meaningful. Poignant and inspirational, ‘Bird by Bird with Annie’ takes us deep into Anne Lamott's intoxicatingly brave world, one in which writing is a means of finding out who we are, how we live, and why we're here.

Documentary