‘Ren Faire’ Director Lance Oppenheim Honors King George Coulam

Documentarian Lance Oppenheim was recognized by IndieWire Honors on June 5 with the Magnify Award. Oppenheim’s work in “Ren Faire” certainly held a magnifying glass up to the Texas Renaissance Fair, ultimately documenting a story that played like a real-life “Succession,” captivating HBO viewers when it aired in 2024. It also created a folk legend of its late star George C. Coulam, or “King George” — who was so moved by the docuseries he reinstated an employee he was shown to have mistreated.

“We lost King George about two weeks ago … and I’ll forever remember him,” Oppenheim said. “And I hope that this documentary serves as a testament to the person he was … warts and all, [and] really just to capture how amazing and iconoclastic the guy was. He said one thing: ‘The highest glory is being in love,’ and I very much believe that, and I dedicate this [honor] to him.”

When accepting his award, Oppenheim gave credit to IndieWire for inspiring his passions.

“I was reading IndieWire all the time. I developed like an IndieWire compulsion, and I would read it obsessively. And so the fact that we’re here right now, my team and I, to accept this award from them is very sweet — with all these amazing people,” he said.

Oppenheim said that documentaries have taken on a special importance in 2025.

“Documentaries are a very special and unique thing. I feel like as the world keeps moving in a direction where things keep getting more and more algorithmically generated. When you see something special and just totally raw and totally unique and totally real, you have to just pinch yourself,” he said.

Last year in an interview with IndieWire, when discussing his philosophy as a storyteller, Oppenheim paraphrased legendary nonfiction filmmaker Frederick Wiseman.

“The easiest thing you can do as a documentarian is make someone appear foolish,” he said. “Wiseman says don’t do that, make people appear noble and/or complicated, show them for who they are, and I hope I did that.

At only 29 years old, Oppenheim, who also has the acclaimed documentaries “Some Kind of Heaven” and “Spermworld” to his credit, is currently in production on A24’s “Primetime.” While not a documentary, Oppenheim’s narrative feature directorial debut is said to have been inspired by the 2000s series “To Catch a Predator,” a hidden-camera series that has echoes of the filmmaker’s documentary roots.