NARRATOR: The youngest in a large family, his mother's illness had been kept from Thierry. And after her death, the sense that he had missed such an important event stayed with him. Later, as an adult raising his own family, Thierry became increasingly compelled by the need to record the people and events around him.

THIERRY GUETTA: You know, I felt like I should capture everything in film because I felt like everything that I would've captured at this moment any time in my life would be the last time that I would see it the same way. It was like a need to be captured. I would make them live forever those moments. You know, forever and ever. Making a documentary it was like having the key of getting all these people. That's why I kept following them, following them, following them. And because I never made a movie before and I don't know how to stop and I don't know how to stop, I kept going.