My friend filmed a documentary of me and i want the tapes what are my rights

Question: I was filmed by a friend for a documentary and we have had a falling out, who owns the tapes that were filmed?

Answer: If your friend did the filming on his/her equipment and purchased the tapes with their money, your friend owns the footage. The question is whether your friend has the right to use your image in a documentary. If you did not sign a release, then you may have some legal recourse if he/she uses your image in their film without your permission. Depending how serious this is, you may want to consult an entertainment lawyer.

(Please do not consider this legal advice. I am a filmmaker, not an attorney and above is simply my opinion based on the very little information you have provided)

Filmmakers, let this be a lesson. Get releases from people you film.

Learn more about copyright/legal issues for documentary filmmaking.