After 46 years of making films and at an age when most people think about retiring, Richard Kane is onto his most ambitious project yet – TRUTH TELLERS, his film about Robert Shetterly’s ‘Americans Who Tell the Truth’ portrait project.
TRUTH TELLERS could not be more timely. In an age of profound disinformation in the form of troll farms, bots, dark ads, and non-stop ‘fake news,’ telling the truth is no longer simple dissent in America.
Both Kane and Shetterly grappled at first with how to tell this story. Because of the scope and scale of Shetterly’s life and his evolution as an artist leading up to ’Americans Who Tell the Truth,’ the story itself is more complex than they originally thought. It’s still a work in progress. And it compels people. Because, after all, the truth is compelling.
“At the beginning, finding a direction was difficult,” Kane admits. “What is this film going to be about? There are layers and layers of theme.”
Even as this complex film unfolds with its invariable twists and turns, what remains crystal clear: the theme of TRUTH TELLERS has always been close to Richard Kane’s heart. It’s what led him to the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University School, and to work as reporter for the San Diego African- American newspaper Voice News and Viewpoint with the motto “A people without a voice cannot be heard.”
Eventually, his sister’s work as associate producer for the Joe Namath Show in NYC influenced his career path toward film, and Kane enrolled in Temple University to pursue his MFA in Documentary Film. But just one course shy of obtaining his MFA degree, Kane couldn’t wait any longer. At 25, he became a filmmaker.
Turning down an offer to be an assistant editor with “60 Minutes,” Kane found greater fulfillment as a Producer/Director at PBS affiliate WNIN in Indiana. While producing his program “Arts and Issues” he met Melody Lewis, a potter and arts-in-education advocate, and got hooked on the arts … and Melody. This was when the entire direction of his life –- films about the arts and a life and family with Melody — became fully cemented. The two formed Kane-Lewis Productions in which Melody Lewis-Kane plays a vital role as producer/interviewer and arts-in-education expert.
Kane’s list of film credits is long. He has worked as camera operator, producer, director, director of photography, gaffer, editor and sound recordist. He has been among the rich and famous: Jane Fonda, Neil Armstrong, the Clintons, Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, among others.
“My tie dipped into Reagan’s water glass while putting on his microphone. The Secret Service replaced the water.”
TRUTH TELLERS will be the 19th in the Maine Masters series, which Shetterly and Kane-Lewis Productions often collaborate on. In fact, Kane and Shetterly met doing the first of these films on distinguished Maine artists.
“I met Rob in 1999,” Kane recalls. “Rob brought me an armful of video tapes about Robert Hamilton [Maine artist] and asked what I would suggest, and if could I edit them. I said we should put in a lot more artwork, context, and history of art. When we did the edits together, he brought the carrots and I the chocolate. We had wonderful fun. That was the first Maine Masters film. Then we collaborated on another, and another, and so on. Rob helps edit many of the films and we have lots of fun together — lots of laughter.”
Kane’s biggest lesson? Don’t interrupt. “It’s important to listen without steering the interview. We want to allow the subject to tell their story. We want their authenticity.”