Finding Vivian Maier

John Maloof, who bought a box of negatives at a Chicago auction, was looking for photographs for a book on local history. What was in the box was something else: tens of thousands of street photographs, all extraordinary, by a photographer nobody could name. He followed the trail and found Vivian Maier, who had worked as a nanny. She had not seen most of her own pictures; thousands of rolls were left undeveloped. The film is not interested in a story of discovery. It is interested in who gave permission: Maier never exhibited, showed her work to nobody and guarded her privacy. While opening that work to the world, the film discusses the ethics of doing so and offers no clear answer. What the children she looked after remember does not make a sweet portrait either. The form is investigative documentary: photographs, audio recordings, conversations with former employers and a trail leading to her village in France. John Maloof and Charlie Siskel directed. Maloof bought the box for $380 and later tracked down others who had bought at the same auction, building the collection past a hundred thousand negatives. The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Academy Awards. Who it is for: viewers who like photography and stories of discovery. Who it is not for: anyone concerned about the director's impartiality. Maloof is both the owner of the collection and the film's narrator, and the legal disputes over the estate are barely touched.