Food for thought: Lucy Walker, documentary maker

The Oscar-nominated documentary-maker is best known for Waste Land and Countdown to Zero. Her latest film The Crash Reel, about a snowboarder’s near-fatal crash, screens across the Picturehouse cinema chain this Tuesday. Here, Walker talks about her current reading, watching and listening ....

Sunday: Re-read the works of Simone de Beauvoir and her lover Nelson Algren because I’m writing a screenplay about them. Beauvoir’s The Mandarins, is shockingly good.

Monday: Interview David Hockney, about whom I’m making a short film. Driving home along LA’s Mulholland Drive, I listen to music for the soundtrack – so lots of opera and 1960s instrumentals.

Tuesday: Fly to New York with Nelson Algren’s Man With a Golden Arm. Listen to obscure new electronic music.

Wednesday: Catch artist James Turrell’s show in LA. I’m such a fan. As a teenager I drove for days to see his excavations at Roden Crater, Arizona.

Thursday: Catch up on The New Yorker and The Economist on a plane. Met director Michael Apted to rewatch the early films of his Up series.

Friday: Final night of Moby’s three-night-stand at Hollywood’s Fonda Theatre.

Saturday: Re-read Stephen Pinker’s The Better Angels of our Nature which explores expanding compassion with stories about people unlike ourselves.