David Sutherland describes himself as a portraitist and it took over 20 years and countless reviews for a writer to accurately capture the essence of his work, but in 2006, a piece from the Baltimore Sun finally hit the nail on the head. “No one makes documentaries the way David Sutherland does. And perhaps no one ever will; the toll is too great. The documentarian's methods more closely resemble an ethnographer's than a television director's. He steeps himself in the minute details, emotions and struggles of his subjects' lives, trying to see the world through their eyes. Never mind closing the distance between viewer and object viewed, this filmmaker all but obliterates that distinction through his own intense identification and empathy with the people he films.”

David has produced, directed, and written in association with Frontline: “The Farmer’s Wife” (6.5 hrs 1998), “Country Boys” 6 hrs 2006, “Kind-Hearted Woman” (2013 5 hrs), is and “Marcos Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” (2 hrs 2019).