Doc Talk: A Deadline and Nō Studios Podcast

'Sean Combs: The Reckoning'

Tue, 12 May 2026 19:11:00 -0000

Filmmaker Alexandria Stapleton discusses her Emmy-contending Netflix series, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, a forensic examination of the sexual misconduct allegations against the rapper, actor, and mogul that landed Combs in federal prison. It's produced by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.

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Emmy Contender 'John Candy: I Like Me'

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:01:00 -0000

Producer-director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds join the show to share stories of making John Candy: I Like Me, their cinematic exploration of the beloved Canadian actor and SCTV sketch performer. Candy's two children plus many of his friends and famous collaborators — Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and many others — appear in this Prime Video film, a strong Emmy contender.

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Impact Of Paramount-WBD Merger On Docs

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 21:37:00 -0000

The proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery would reshape the documentary landscape, putting HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films, HBO Max, Paramount+, MTV Documentary Films and more under one roof. As major stars and filmmakers write an open letter protesting the merger, we speak with documentary veterans Marjan Safinia and Lois Vossen about the impact of the planned alliance on the nonfiction film community.

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Makers Of 'Newport And The Great Folk Dream' And 'All Of The Above'

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:18:00 -0000

We report from the 18th Milwaukee Film Festival, speaking two makers of two documentaries in the festival lineup: All of the Above, and Newport and the Great Folk Dream. All of the Above focuses on a world religions class taught in a Chicago public high school, while Newport examines the iconic music festival renowned for performances by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and more.

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American Cinematheque's This Is Not A Fiction Festival

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:54:00 -0000

Now entering its third year, the American Cinematheque's This Is Not a Fiction festival in Los Angeles has emerged as a major event for documentary lovers. We speak with AC film programmer Cindy Flores about this year's festival, running April 16-24. It will feature some of the greatest names in documentary, including Barbara Kopple, Gianfranco Rosi, Ross McElwee, Caveh Zahedi, and Liz Garbus among many others. The festival also features a robust lineup of mockumentaries, like Best in Show, Popstar: Never Stop Stopping, and Jackass Number Two.

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Report From 2026 CPH:DOX

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:29:00 -0000

Doc Talk reports from CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. Artistic Director Niklas Engstrøm shares his highlights from the 2026 edition of the world-class festival and tells us how CPH:DOX keeps politicians at "arms length" to avoid outside interference in the program. And we visit with directors Hansen Lin and Siyi Chen who pitched their documentary Queens Ballroom at the CPH:FORUM.

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'My Undesirable Friends' Director Julia Loktev

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:25:00 -0000

Filmmaker Julia Loktev joins us to discuss her award-winning documentary My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow, which chronicles the last independent television news source in Russia. The journalists in the film, mostly young women, found themselves treated as enemies of the state for daring to stray outside the bounds of Kremlin-approved reportage, victims of a crackdown on press freedom that only got worse after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Juliette Binoche And Thessaloniki Doc Festival's Yorgos Krassakopoulos

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:18:00 -0000

Oscar winner Juliette Binoche speaks about her directorial debut, the documentary In-I In Motion that explores the creative process behind a unique dance and theater project she co-created with dancer-choreographer Akram Khan. The film screened at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece, where we also spoke with Head of Program Yorgos Krassakopoulos.

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Oscar Takeways Plus Directors Of True/False Films 'Phenomena' And 'Pinball'

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 15:05:00 -0000

Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey discuss why Mr. Nobody Against Putin prevailed as Best Documentary Feature in an upset at the Oscars. And we talk with makers of two films that just premiered at the True/False documentary festival in Columbia, MO: Josef Gatti, director of Phenomena, and director Naveen Chaubal and producer Bryn Silverman of Pinball.

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'Pompei: Below The Clouds' Director Gianfranco Rosi

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:33:00 -0000

Oscar nominee Gianfranco Rosi joins the show to discuss his latest documentary feature, the lustrous Pompei: Below the Clouds, an immesion into Naples, the southern Italian city in the shadow of volcanic Mount Vesuvius.

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Berlinale Filmmakers Anna Fitch, Banker White, And Mark Cousins

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:24:00 -0000

We report from the European Film Market's DocSalon in Berlin, where several filmmakers discussed their work premiering in the Berlinale: Anna Fitch and Banker White, directors of YO (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), which won a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, and Mark Cousins, director of the 16-chapter The Story of Documentary Film. Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey also remember late filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, and they examine the implications of Paramount's emergence as the successful bidder for Warner Bros Discovery, home, among other things, to HBO Documentary Films.

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Directors Of Oscar Nominee 'Cutting Through Rocks'

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:55:00 -0000

Filmmakers Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni discuss their 8-year journey making the feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which has earned them their first Oscar nominations. The New York-based directors returned to their native Iran to tell the story of a remarkable woman in a rural northwestern part of the country who defied the intensely patriarchal culture to run for a seat on the local council. Cutting Through Rocks, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, is the only Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary still without U.S. distribution, making its success all the more impressive.

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'Man On The Run' Director Morgan Neville

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:17:00 -0000

Oscar winner Morgan Neville's new documentary Man on the Run offers an intimate look at Paul McCartney in the 10 years after he left the Beatles, as he tried to establish a new musical and personal identity after the dissolution of rock n' roll's most iconic band. The filmmaker explains how he approached interviewing Sir Paul to gain fresh insight into the least examined aspect of McCartney's career.

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Oscar Nominees 'All The Empty Rooms' & 'The Devil Is Busy'

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 19:30:00 -0000

We're joined by the makers of two Oscar-nominated short documentaries: Joshua Seftel, director of All the Empty Rooms, and Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton, directors of The Devil Is Busy (Gandbhir is separately nominated for directing the feature documentary The Perfect Neighbor). Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey also get into whether the new Melania documentary should be considered a success or a flop.

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Sundance Filmmakers Michał Marczak, Poh Si Teng, Alex Gibney & More

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 20:00:00 -0000

Doc Talk reports from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, speaking with the directors of Closure, American Doctor, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, The Brittney Griner Story, and Jane Elliott Against the World. We also hear from Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, and WNBA star Griner about participating in their respective documentaries.

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Oscar Nominations Reaction & Sundance Interviews

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 14:27:00 -0000

Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to the Oscar nominations — dominated in the Best Documentary Feature category by films that premiered at Sundance. We also report from the 2026 edition of Sundance, speaking with the makers of Ghost in the Machine (premiereing in the NEXT section) and Joybubbles (premiering in U.S. Documentary Competition).

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Sundance Doc Programmers Basil Tsiokos & Sudeep Sharma

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 21:53:00 -0000

Sundance documentary programmers Basil Tsiokos and Sudeep Sharma share insights on the nonfiction film lineup for the 2026 festival, the final one to be held in Park City, Utah. They share their picks for must-see documentary features in competition, NEXT and other sections.

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Oscar-Shortlisted Filmmakers Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman, David Borenstein, and Richard Ladkani

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:33:00 -0000

We're joined by several filmmakers hoping to earn an Oscar nomination for their documentary features: Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman, directors of The Alabama Solution; David Borenstein, director of Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and Richard Ladkani, director of Yanuni. In the Yanuni segment, we'll also speak with the producer and protagonist of the film, Brazilian Indigenous activist Juma Xipaia.

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Oscar-Shortlisted Documentaries

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:49:00 -0000

We explore three shortlisted documentaries: from Come See Me in the Good Light, director Ryan White joins us; director Amber Fares of Coexistence, My Ass! visits Doc Talk studios with the protagonist of her film, Israeli comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi; and from the short documentary We Were the Scenery, we welcome director Christopher Radcliff.

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Documentary Shortlists 98th Oscars

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 22:49:00 -0000

Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey dissect the documentary shortlists for the 98th Academy Awards. There were major snubs (a NatGeo darling and a celebrity-oriented HBO doc) — and surprising inclusions (numerous films without U.S. distribution). Oscar winner Ridley (12 Years a Slave) gets into the documentaries that should have made the cut but didn't.

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Filmmakers Victor Kossakovsky and Lynne Sachs

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:52:00 -0000

Filmmakers Victor Kossakofsky and Lynne Sachs join us for a conversation about their latest documentaries, which premiered at IDFA. Kossakovsky's Trillion unfolds in lustrous black and white, without dialogue. Sachs' film, Every Contact Leaves a Trace, begins with her going through a stack of 600 business cards she has collected over decades, and reveals what happens when she reaches out to some of those contacts. Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey also discuss top documentary titles heading to Sundance 2026.

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Winners Of The IDA Documentary Awards

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 19:52:00 -0000

We report from the 41st Annual IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles, speaking with newly-minted winners as they come off stage. Joining us are Tamara Kotevska (The Tale of Silyan); Petra Costa and Alessandra Orofino (Apocalypse in the Tropics); Brittany Shyne (Seeds); Alex Megaro (WTO/99), and Jenny Raskin of Impact Partners (winner of the IDA's Pioneer Award). We explore what the IDA validation means for these creatives, as well as the topic on everyone's minds: how the potential merger of Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery would impact documentary filmmakers.

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Trio Of Oscar-Contending Documentary Features

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 01:52:00 -0000

We speak with the filmmakers behind three of the top contenders in the Oscars' Best Documentary Feature category: The Tale of Silyan, directed by Tamara Kotevska; Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, directed by Sepideh Farsi, and Cover-Up, directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus. We caught up with them at SFFILM's Doc Stories in San Francisco, a 4-day film festival that has become a critical stop during awards season.

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Report From IDFA With Festival Artistic Director Isabel Arrate Fernandez And Filmmaker Petra Costa

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 20:05:00 -0000

Doc Talk travels to Amsterdam for IDFA, the world's biggest docmentary festival. We speak with new Artistic Director Isabel Arrate Fernandez about assuming leadership of the festival after many years heading up the IDFA Bertha Fund. Arrate Fernandez discusses reaction to the festival's controversial decision to ban Israeli organiations that accept money from Israel's government to support their activities. We also visit with Brazilian filmmaker Petra Costa in Amsterdam. Her Oscar-contendng Netflix documentary, Apocalypse in the Tropics, explores the rise of Christian nationalism in Brazil. Costa tells us her film has directly led to the launch of an investigation into her protagonist, fiery televangelist Sila Malafaia, a key backer of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.

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Richard Gere And Oren Moverman On 'Wisdom Of Happiness'

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:31:00 -0000

Wisdom of Happiness executive producers Richard Gere and Oren Moverman join us for a conversation about their documentary focusing on the Dalai Lama's insights into finding happiness in a world that seems full of chaos and uncertainty. Gere tells us how a technique borrowed from filmmaker Errol Morris helped transform the film into "pure magic."

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Doc Stories' Anne Lai And Jessie Fairbanks Plus 'A Life Illuminated' Director

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 23:34:00 -0000

Doc Talk heads to San Francisco for SFFILM's Doc Stories festival, where we speak with SFFILM Executive Director Anne Lai and Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks. We also visit with young filmmaker Tasha Van Zandt whose documentary A Life Illuminated closed the Doc Stories festival.

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Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival's Ken Jacobson And 'Natchez' Filmmakers

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 18:34:00 -0000

We report from the 34th Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas, the longest running nonfiction cinema festival in North America. Festival Executive Director Ken Jacobson joins us to talk about highlights from this year and the festival's Filmmaker Forum, which confronted a crisis in documentary filmmaking after the defunding of a key entity that supports PBS. And we talk with Natchez director Suzannah Herbert and producer Darcy McKinnon about their award-winning film, which screened at HSDFF.

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Young Directors Of 'Remaining Native' And 'Under The Flags, The Sun'

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 20:47:00 -0000

We visit with a couple of emerging filmmakers -- Paige Bethmann, director of Remaining Native, and Juanjo Pereira, director of Under the Flags, the Sun. Bethmann's film centers on a teenage Indigenous athlete, Ku Stevens, who dreams of running track for the University of Oregon, a goal that would take him away from the Nevada reservation where he grew up. Pereira's film reframes archive footage to explore the military dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled Paraguay from 1954 to 1989. We recorded both interviews at the Camden International Film Festival in Maine, where Pereira and Bethmann screened their impressive work.

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New Documentaries On Conflict Photojournalism

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 20:44:00 -0000

Two new Oscar-contending documentaries explore the peril of conflict photojournalism: Love+War, directed by Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, and Armed Only with a Camera, directed by Craig Renaud. Love+Warfocuses on Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Lynsey Addario who has captured unforgettable images from Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones, while trying to balance her work life with raising two kids with her husband. Renaud shares the story of his brother, journalist, documentary filmmaker and photographer Brent Renaud, who was killed in an ambush by Russian soldiers in Ukraine while documenting the war and displaced people.

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Filmmaker Raoul Peck Plus Leaders Of Camden International Film Festival

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 19:43:00 -0000

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck discusses his new film Orwell: 2+2=5, about 1984 author George Orwell. We caught up with him at the Camden International Film Festival, one of the most important events on the calendar for the documentary community. At Camden, we also visited with the leaders of the Points North Insitute which puts on the festival: Executive Director Elise McCave and Artistic Director Sean Flynn. They share their perspective on the state of documentary film.

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'Megadoc' Director Mike Figgis

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 19:25:00 -0000

Director Mike Figgis made the most of his opportunity to follow Francis Ford Coppola as the octogenarian filmmaker poured heart and soul, not to mention tens of millions of dollars, into making his 2024 narrative feature, Megalopolis. Figgis tells us what he observed behind the scenes as Coppola attempted to bring his cinematic vision to life, beset by creative issues that led to firings and resignations, and conflict with one of his principal actors, Shia LaBeouf.

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'The Yogurt Shop Murders' Director Margaret Brown

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:23:00 -0000

Doc Talk ventures into the disturbing territory of The Yogurt Shop Murders with director and executive producer Margaret Brown, her first foray into the true crime genre. The HBO series examines the shocking execution-style slaying of four teenage girls in 1991 in an Austin, Texas frozen yogurt store, a shocking crime that remains unsolved. Brown tells us about the impact of the documentary on friends and family of the young victims, and how making it deeply affected the filmmaker and her crew.

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'Riefenstahl' Director Andres Veiel

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 22:27:00 -0000

German director Andres Veiel joins us to discuss his expected Oscar-contending documentary Riefenstahl, about Leni Riefenstahl who was known as Hitler's favorite filmmaker. After World War II Riefenstahl tried to play down her role in furthering Nazi ideology through her 1930s films including Triumph of the Will and Olympia, claiming she was just an artist who had taken on assignments from Hitler and his minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbles. But Veiel digs into Riefenstahl's archive, including drafts of her memoir, audio tapes and other sources to reveal she was very much in sync with what Hitler stood for.

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TIFF Documentary Lineup Preview With Thom Powers

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 19:09:00 -0000

Ahead of the 50th Toronto International Film Festival kickoff on Thursday, we get a preview of the documentary lineup from doc programmer Thom Powers. He tells us about the Paula Deen film by Bill Corben, Michèle Stephenson's True North, two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot's feature documentary and much more. He also shares insights on his new book, Mondo Documentary, a collection of his TIFF program pieces from his 20 years with the festival.

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Emmy Nominees 'Will & Harper' And 'Deaf President Now!'

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 16:12:00 -0000

As Emmy voting nears its conclusion, we talk with creators — and a key participant — of two of the top contenders. Will & Harper director Josh Greenbaum joins the show along with Harper Steele — the Harper of Will & Harper — whose story of going on a road trip with her pal Will Ferrell after announcing her transition is told in the Netflix film that's nominated for five Emmys. We also speak with Nyle DiMarco and Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, co-directors of Deaf President Now!, their Apple TV+ documentary about a historic student uprising at Gallaudet University, the famed private university serving the Deaf and hearing impaired. DiMarco speaks to us through his ASL interpreter Grey Van Pelt.

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Emmy Nominees 'Pee-Wee As Himself' And 'Simone Biles Rising'

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 22:41:00 -0000

We speak with Matt Wolf, director of Pee-Wee as Himself, his documentary about the late actor Paul Reubens, and Katie Walsh, director and executive producer of Simone Biles Rising. Pee-wee is nominated for five Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, while Simone Biles Rising goes for the gold in the category of Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

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'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley' Director Amy Berg

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 21:58:00 -0000

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg's new documentary It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley examines the life and career of the titular singer-songwriter-guitarist, who died tragically at the age of 30. Berg discusses her long effort to gain permission from Buckley's mother, Mary Guibert, to make the film and how she combined distinctive visual elements as well as Buckley's own voice to paint a portrait of a sensitive and supremely talented musician.

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'Memories Of Love Returned' Director Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 21:38:00 -0000

Description: Actor-writer-filmmaker Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine joins us to discuss Memories of Love Returned, a documentary 20 years in the making. His film explores the work of an extraordinary photographer, Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo, who created a lasting portrait of people in rural Uganda, an oeuvre unlike any other. In the episode, hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey also parse the Emmy nominations, spotlighting top contenders and most notable omissions.

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'Life After' Director Reid Davenport & Producer Colleen Cassingham

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 19:48:00 -0000

Award-winning filmmaker Reid Davenport's new investigative documentary Life After "exposes the web of moral dilemmas and profit motives surrounding assisted dying," suggesting that right-to-die laws are being used to encourage disabled people to end their lives. The director and his producer, Colleen Cassingham, join Doc Talk for a fascinating conversation around one of the most talked about films of the year.

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Mid-Year Oscar Preview

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 21:51:00 -0000

What films are gaining traction in the Oscar Best Documentary Feature race as we pass the mid-point of 2025? The Perfect Neighbor and Seeds leap out as early frontrunners, but it's a wide open race so far. We discuss the contenders that have emerged so far with journalist Lauren Wissot, contributing editor at Filmmaker magazine and Documentary magazine.

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Newly Restored 'Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse'

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 18:04:00 -0000

As a 4K restoration of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse comes to theaters and home entertainment, we talk with filmmaker Fax Bahr and American Zoetrope's James Mockoski about one of the greatest documentaries of all time. Bahr directed the film — about the fraught making of Apocalypse Now —along with George Hickenlooper and Eleanor Coppola, filmmaker and wife of Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola. Mockoski oversaw the restoration.

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Reports From DC/DOX And Bentonville Film Festival

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 22:25:00 -0000

Doc Talk heads to DC/DOX where we speak with filmmaker Rob Petit about his stunning documentary Underland, which just screened at the festival. And we head to the 11th annual Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas for a conversation with BFF President Wendy Guerrero.

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'Social Studies' Director Lauren Greenfield

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 19:32:00 -0000

Lauren Greenfield, director of the FX documentary series Social Studies, joins the show to discuss what she discovered in her deep dive into the way high schoolers' lives are ruled by immersion into TikTok, Instagram, Discord and other social media platforms. Slut-shaming, bullying, self-marketing — it's all part of what some might consider a toxic stew. Social Studies is the winner of the breakthrough Nonfiction Series from the Gotham TV Awards and a leading Emmy contender.

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Imagine Entertainment Execs Justin Wilkes And Sara Bernstein On New Barbara Walters Doc, Big Slate Of Emmy Contenders

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 23:44:00 -0000

When Barbara Walters joined ABC news in 1976, she became the highest paid journalist in the U.S. – pulling in $1 million a year. That, not surprisingly, triggered a lot of resentment among her peers, none more so than her evening news co-anchor Harry Reasoner.

Overcoming envy and sexism and balancing a career and motherhood, Walters reached the pinnacle of her profession and stayed there, a story explored in the new documentary Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything. The film directed by Jackie Jesko premieres Thursday evening at Tribeca Festival in New York.

The feature, which debuts on Hulu later this month, is the latest from Imagine Documentaries, the enormously successful nonfiction division of the production company founded by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. On the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, we explore the company’s upcoming docs and impressive slate of Emmy contenders with Imagine Entertainment President Justin Wilkes and Imagine Documentaries President Sara Bernstein.

Taking their cue from the Barbara Walters documentary subtitle – Tell Me Everything – Wilkes and Bernstein tell us everything: why Imagine got into documentaries, how the Barbara Walters project came about, how they work with estates and other stakeholders on celebrity biographies without surrendering editorial independence, and what they see as the future of branded content in the nonfiction and fiction spaces.

Imagine Documentaries won five Emmys last year for its film Jim Henson Idea Man, directed by Ron Howard. While the Television Academy has proven receptive to honoring documentaries about well-known people, the documentary branch of the Motion Picture Academy has demonstrated reluctance to do likewise. Wilkes shares his unvarnished thoughts about how the Academy could change voting rules to give celebrity-oriented documentaries a fair shake.

The Imagine execs also respond to a recent article in the Hollywood trade papers asserting that music and other celebrity films are “killing the documentary.” They don’t see it that way.

That’s on the latest edition of the Doc Talk podcast, hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. The pod is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.

Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.

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Cannes Film Festival Special Report

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 19:58:00 -0000

Doc Talk heads to the Croisette to speak with filmmakers and film participants who debuted their documentaries at Cannes: Raoul Peck on George Orwell; Eugene Jarecki on Julian Assange; U2's Bono on his new Apple TV+ film; Mariska Hargitay on her film about her late mother, Jayne Mansfield, and the makers of Slauson Rec, a documentary about Shia LaBeouf's stormy tenure leading a free theater company in L.A.

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Doc Talk In Cannes: Deadline Podcast Hosts American Pavilion Panel On Challenged State Of Documentary Industry

Tue, 27 May 2025 23:14:00 -0000

Another glamorous Cannes Film Festival has ended, after an exciting fortnight on the Côte d’Azur that drew the likes of Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Pattinson, Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Kristen Stewart, and many others.

Stars of documentaries also turned up: Shia LaBeouf, whose exploits as founder of a free theater company in L.A. are chronicled in Slauson Rec, and Julian Assange, focus of the documentary The Six Billion Dollar Man. The latter film, directed by Eugene Jarecki, won a Special Jury Prize marking the 10th anniversary of the L’Oeil d’or award, which goes to the top documentary at Cannes. Imago, directed by Chechen filmmaker Déni Oumar Pitsaev, took the 2025 L’Oeil d’or prize.

For the first time, Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast traveled to Cannes to record interviews and to moderate a panel at the American Pavilion. Today’s episode of the show is built around our AmPav discussion on the state of the documentary industry which featured panelists Vanessa Hope (director of Invisible Nation); Joe Tufano, VP of Distribution at Submarine Entertainment, and Catherine Quantschnigg, Producer, Sales at Noah Media Group.

Tufano explains how documentary filmmakers are increasingly moving to a territory-by-territory approach to sell their features in the absence of acquisitions for worldwide distribution. Hope tells us why she considered going the self-distribution route in the U.S. for her award-winning film that explores Taiwan as it contends with almost daily threats from mainland China. And Quantschnigg reveals how the distribution landscape has changed dramatically in only a few years since Netflix acquired Noah Media Group’s acclaimed film 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.

Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.

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Millennium Docs Against Gravity Artist Director Karol Piekarczyk And Filmmaker Mark Cousins

Tue, 20 May 2025 18:45:00 -0000

Doc Talk travels to Millennium Docs Against Gravity in Poland, where we speak with artistic director Karol Piekarczyk about what has become one of the biggest and most prestigious all-documentary festivals in the world. We also visit with Northern Irish filmmaker Mark Cousins, who conducted a special "anti-masterclass" at MDAG.

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'Tucci In Italy' Host Stanley Tucci

Tue, 13 May 2025 22:25:00 -0000

Stanley Tucci joins us to discuss his new National Geographic documentary series Tucci in Italy, which finds the acclaimed actor exploring the country's immensely rich culinary traditions, from trippa to lardo, hay soup and barbecued mutton.

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'Sly Lives!' Director Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson

Tue, 06 May 2025 22:08:00 -0000

Oscar-winning director Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson explores the brilliance of Sly Stone in Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius), his Emmy-contending documentary feature. The Summer of Soul filmmaker joins us to talk about Sly's incredible contributions to music, and the mystery behind the one-time superstar's career and personal implosion.

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'David Frost Vs' Executive Producer Wilfred Frost

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 19:00:00 -0000

MSNBC is airing the six-part documentary series David Frost Vs, built around some of the most extraordinary interviews conducted over a 50-year period by David Frost, the legendary British journalist and entertainer. We speak with executive producer Wilfred Frost, one of David's sons, about his dad's tête-à-têtes with Richard Nixon, Elton John, Muhammad Ali, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and more.

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'Art For Everybody' Director Miranda Yousef

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000

Filmmaker Miranda Yousef joins us to discuss her documentary Art for Everybody, which enjoys a 100 percent critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It's the story of self-styled "Painter of Light" Thomas Kincade, who made a mint selling kitschy scenes of cozy cottages. Kinkade marketed himself as a devout Christian, but as the film reveals, beneath all that light lurked a dark side.

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Alex Gibney's 'The Dark Money Game'

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 16:08:00 -0000

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney joins us to discuss his new HBO documentary double feature The Dark Money Game, an investigation in two films of the pernicious influence of untraceable money in our politics. The first film, Ohio Confidential, uncovers a massive dark money scandal in the Buckeye State, while the second film, Wealth of the Wicked, digs up the roots of dark money going back to the 1970s.

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'We Want The Funk!' Directors

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 23:00:00 -0000

Filmmakers Stanley Nelson and Nicole London explore We Want the Funk!, a joyous documentary about a genre of music that compels people to dance from beat one.

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Filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov And CPH:DOX Artistic Director Niklas Engstrøm

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 20:53:00 -0000

Doc Talk heads to CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, where we speak with Oscar-winning Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, winner of the festival's F:ACT Award for his new documentary 2000 Meters to Andriivka. We also visit with CPH:DOX artistic director Niklas Engstrøm, who talks about Europe's alarm over Pres. Trump "trying to change the world order."

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'AUM: The Cult At The End Of The World' Filmmakers

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 21:02:00 -0000

Filmmakers Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto discuss their documentary AUM: The Cult at the End of the World, an exploration of the Japanese religious movement and doomsday cult responsible for a fatal terror attack on the Toyko subway.

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Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 18:15:00 -0000

We speak with Yorgos Krassakopoulos, head of program for the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece, about the 27th edition of the highly respected cinematic event. And we talk with one of the filmmakers invited to share his film at TiDF — Mark Andrew Altschul, director of All American, a documentary about high school girl wrestlers. Plus, Doc Talk hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey discuss what's going on in Miami Beach, FL, where the mayor is threatening to yank the lease of a cinema showing the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.

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Ezra Edelman's Axed Prince Doc Plus Filmmakers Of 'WTO/99'

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 17:19:00 -0000

Director Ezra Edelman is speaking out about Netflix's decision to abandon his Prince documentary series in favor of a version more to the liking of the musician's estate. We discuss Edelman's critique of the current state of celebrity documentaries, plus we talk with the makers of WTO/99, the new documentary about the giant protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle in 1999.

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Oscar Reaction Plus True/False Artistic Director Chloé Trayner

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 19:58:00 -0000

Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to the Oscars, which saw No Other Land win Best Documentary Feature and The Only Girl in the Orchestra win Best Documentary Short. And we talk with Chloé Trayner, artistic director of the just wrapped 22nd edition of True/False.

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Slamdance

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 17:41:00 -0000

As Slamdance relocates from its longtime home in Park City, Utah to Los Angeles, we talk with president and co-founder Peter Baxter about the festival's documentary lineup.

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'Porcelain War' Directors Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 16:00:00 -0000

We speak with the directors of the Oscar-nominated documentary feature Porcelain War, Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev. Their film, telling a story of art and war in Ukraine, just won the DGA Award, a year after debuting at Sundance where it claimed the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary.

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Oscar-Nominated Filmmakers Smriti Mundhra And Molly O'Brien

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 20:56:00 -0000

I Am Ready, Warden director Smriti Mundhra and The Only Girl in the Orchestra director Molly O'Brien join us to talk about their Oscar-nominated short documentaries.

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Sundance Filmmakers Cristina Costantini And Violet Du Feng

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 00:08:00 -0000

We talk with two filmmakers who just premiered feature documentaries at Sundance — Cristina Costantini, director of Sally, about late astronaut Sally Ride, and Violet Du Feng, director of The Dating Game, an examination of how Chinese men, who vastly outnumber women, try to find mates in the China of today.

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Oscar Nominations Reaction & Sundance Doc 'The Perfect Neighbor'

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 20:19:00 -0000

Doc Talk unpacks the nominees for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. And co-host John Ridley speaks with director Geeta Gandbhir and executive producer Soledad O'Brien about the stunning documentary The Perfect Neighbor, which just premiered at Sundance.

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Sundance Doc Programmers Basil Tsiokos And Sudeep Sharma

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 23:29:00 -0000

Documentary programmers Basil Tsiokos and Sudeep Sharma join us to discuss the nonfiction lineup for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The slate includes new work from Oscar winners Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Mstyslav Chernov, and Davis Guggenheim, plus films on book banning, the first openly trans attorney to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, the late astronaut Sally Ride, and a documentary series on late "Pee-wee Herman" actor Paul Reubens.

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Doc Community Responds To L.A. Wildfires

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 21:35:00 -0000

The documentary community is reckoning with enormous loss from the Los Angeles wildfires, which has directly impacted many filmmakers. We are joined by Tracy Droz Tragos, who lost her home in the Pacific Palisades fire; Smriti Mundhra, who evacuated her home in Malibu Canyon; L.A. resident Lucy Walker who documented California wildfires in Bring Your Own Brigade, and L.A.-based writer and editor Tom White, former longtime chief of Documentary magazine.

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Report From IDFA - World's Biggest Doc Festival

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 22:14:00 -0000

We talk with Orwa Nyrabia, IDFA's artistic director, and visit with filmmakers premiering new work at the world's biggest documentary festival. Plus, filmmakers Carla Gutiérrez and Irene Taylor share their Amsterdam experience.

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Oscar Shortlist Reaction

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 22:56:00 -0000

Doc Talk co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to the announcement of the shortlists in the documentary categories for the 97th Academy Awards. What were the snubs and major surprises? We unpack the 15 features and 15 shorts remaining in contention for the Oscar.

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Winners Of The 40th IDA Documentary Awards

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 20:31:00 -0000

We report live from the 40th IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles, interviewing winners as they come off stage, including Shiori Ito (Black Box Diaries), the Queendom team, Career Achievement Award winner Dawn Porter, and Curated Series winner Lois Vossen. And we speak with the IDA's executive director, Dominic Asmall Willsdon, about the state of the documentary field.

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'No Other Land' Directors Basel Adra And Yuval Abraham

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 22:38:26 -0000

No Other Land, set in the occupied West Bank, has emerged as a frontrunner for the Oscars, winning awards around the world including a slew in the past week alone. We speak with Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra, half of the Israeli Palestinian collective of filmmakers behind the documentary. Their film, which has attracted praise and controversy, depicts life for Palestinian villagers who face threats of expulsion from their land by the Israel Defense Forces.

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Director Shiori Itō On 'Black Box Diaries'

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 19:26:25 -0000

Japanese journalist Shiori Itō investigates her own sexual assault in the Oscar-contending documentary Black Box Diaries. She joins Doc Talk to discuss how her case changed rape laws in Japan and how she made the transition from objective journalist to first-person storyteller.

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Director Jeff Zimbalist On 'Skywalkers: A Love Story'

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Filmmaker Jeff Zimbalist joins us to discuss his Oscar-contending Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story. This is the story of a young Russian couple who have made a career of illegally climbing to the top of extraordinary tall structures, including the 118-story Merdeka in Malaysia, and then photographing themselves doing balletic poses in the sky. Doc Talk co-host John Ridley calls it the scariest documentary he's ever seen.

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Director R.J. Cutler On His Martha Stewart & Elton John Docs

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 19:13:00 -0000

Renowned documentary filmmaker R.J. Cutler discusses his two Oscar-contending documentaries – Elton John: Never Too Late, and Martha, the latter film about businesswoman, entrepreneur and lifestyle doyenne Martha Stewart. Cutler responds to Stewart’s, at times, harsh criticism of his film. She's campaigning for Netflix to create a "second version" of the documentary that's more to her liking.

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'Soundtrack To A Coup D'Etat' Director Johan Grimonprez

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 20:48:10 -0000

We welcome Johan Grimonprez, director of the award-winning documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat. The Belgian filmmaker explains how he synched complex geopolitical history from the late 1950s and early '60s to the music of jazz giants like Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. His dizzying achievement exposes the plot by the U.S., the UN secretary general, and Belgium to assassinate charismatic Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, all while the band played on.

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'One To One: John & Yoko' And 'Suburban Fury'

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 20:37:00 -0000

For our second episode recorded live at SFFILM's Doc Stories festival, we speak with director Kevin Macdonald about his documentary One to One: John & Yoko, examining a remarkable year-plus in the lives of the famous couple after they moved to New York. And we climb into the time machine to explore 1970s bizarro radicalism with director Robinson Devor and producer Jason Reid of Suburban Fury, a documentary about would-be presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore.

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SFFILM's Doc Stories Festival

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 19:56:00 -0000

Doc Talk heads to San Francisco for the 10th anniversary of SFFILM's Doc Stories festival. We speak with SFFILM Executive Director Anne Lai and Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks, as well as the filmmakers behind a stunning film in the program, Arepas en Bici.

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Doc Talk And ElectionLine Crossover

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 17:49:28 -0000

The hosts of Doc Talk and the ElectionLine podcast get together for an unprecedented summit. On the agenda — debating the best political documentary ever, and why conservatives can't seem to make a decent documentary.

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Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 18:00:00 -0000

Director Matt Tyrnauer and Democratic political strategist James Carville join us to talk about the entertaining and timely documentary Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid.

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Report From The Toronto International Film Festival

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 19:00:00 -0000

We’re in the field at the Toronto International Film Festival, interviewing makers of some of the biggest documentaries to play at TIFF, including The Last Republican, The Last of the Sea Women, Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, and music-themed docs on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Paul Anka, and Pharrell Williams.

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Report From Camden International Film Festival

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Doc Talk goes inside the 20th Camden International Film Festival in Maine, speaking with Artistic Director Sean Flynn and filmmakers Petra Costa ('Apocalypse in the Tropics') and Elizabeth Lo ('Mistress Dispeller'). Camden has emerged as one of the most important all-documentary festivals in the world.

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'Seeking Mavis Beacon' Filmmakers

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 17:10:23 -0000

In Seeking Mavis Beacon, director Jazmin Jones and her filmic collaborator Olivia McKayla Ross try to solve a cyber mystery: What became of the elegant Black woman featured on the cover of a groundbreaking learn-to-type software program? The young sleuths discuss the complex cultural truths exposed by their quixotic quest.

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2024 TIFF Doc Lineup With Programmer Thom Powers

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 23:31:14 -0000

Thom Powers, chief documentary programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival, joins the show to talk about the nonfiction lineup of this year's festival. How do you cut more than 900 submissions down to a final list of 21? Powers explains, and he shares his thoughts on the most buzzworthy titles soon to bow in Toronto.

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Leaders Of Sheffield DocFest & Sunny Side Of The Doc

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 19:33:09 -0000

Doc Talk travels to Europe to speak with the creative director of Sheffield DocFest, the U.K.'s top all-documentary film festival, and the leaders of Sunny Side of the Doc, the biggest documentary marketplace that unfolds in La Rochelle, France.

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Emmy Nominations Reaction & ‘Mountain Queen’ Director Lucy Walker

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 16:54:00 -0000

Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to the Emmy nominations in the documentary categories, and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker discusses her towering new film Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa.

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Oscar Race Look Ahead

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 18:28:00 -0000

What are the top Oscar-contending documentaries so far this year? Co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey look at the state of the race seven months into 2024. Films from Netflix, MTV Documentary Films, National Geographic, and Warner Bros. Discovery are in the mix, along with several docs that, so far, lack U.S. distribution.

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'Obata's Yosemite' Documentary & Milwaukee Film Artistic Director Cara Ogburn

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 17:38:00 -0000

Extraordinary artist Chiura Obata is the focus of the new documentary Obata's Yosemite, which explores his depiction of the national park through landscape paintings. Director Adam Prieto joins Doc Talk along with Kimi Hill, Obata's granddaughter. Hill tells us how Obata survived internment in a U.S. concentration camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, founding an art school for fellow detainees. As a bonus, we also speak with Milwaukee Film's artistic director, Cara Ogburn, about the challenges and opportunities facing film festivals in the U.S., including the Milwaukee Film Festival.

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Director Alex Gibney On The Music Of Paul Simon

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney discusses his Emmy-contending two-part documentary In Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon. And he talks about his upcoming film on Elon Musk, including the nasty name Musk called him after the business tycoon heard about the project.

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‘Black Twitter’ Director Prentice Penny

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:37:00 -0000

Director Prentice Penny breaks down his Hulu documentary series Black Twitter, a three-part examination of how Black users of Twitter transformed the platform into a forum for humor, community, and a rallying point for social justice. And he ponders the fate of the social media site under chaotic ownership of Elon Musk.

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Eugene Levy, 'The Reluctant Traveler'

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 16:04:00 -0000

Schitt's Creek star and beloved comedic actor Eugene Levy stops by Doc Talk to discuss his Emmy-contending nonfiction series The Reluctant Traveler, which finds him circumnavigating the globe despite being an admittedly adventure-averse individual. Executive producer-director David Brindley joins the conversation, revealing what travel activities Levy could not be convinced to do, and a few he surprisingly agreed to, including performing an examination of an elephant – and not from the front end.

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Ron Howard On 'Jim Henson Idea Man'

Wed, 29 May 2024 16:10:00 -0000

Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard discusses his new Disney+ documentary Jim Henson Idea Man, about the late Muppets creator and filmmaker's extraordinary life and career. And Howard shares his thoughts about working with John Candy, subject of an upcoming documentary, and he pays tribute to the man who got him his start in directing -- Roger Corman.

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The Troubled State Of Film Festivals

Tue, 21 May 2024 20:56:27 -0000

Sundance, Hot Docs and other film festivals in North America are facing significant challenges post-pandemic. Sundance is even considering a move out of its long-time home in Park City, Utah. Joining us to talk about what's going on with festivals are Ken Jacobson, executive director of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas, and Anne Lai, executive director of SFFilm.

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'Power' Director Yance Ford

Tue, 14 May 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Our guest is Oscar-nominated filmmaker Yance Ford, director of Power. The documentary, premiering on Netflix this week, tackles policing in America – the origins of the institution and how police today preserve the existing order of society. Ford argues police power in this country is vast and largely unregulated.

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Archival Producer Debra McClutchy And 'Songs From The Hole's JJ'88 & Richie Reseda

Tue, 07 May 2024 23:00:00 -0000

Doc Talk goes live from the Milwaukee Film Festival with Debra McClutchy, archival producer of Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted and Oscar-nominated co-director of The Martha Mitchell Effect. And we discuss redemption and the power of music with JJ'88, protagonist of Songs From the Hole, and producer Richie Reseda.

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Live With Filmmakers Sav Rodgers And Mary Louise Schumacher

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 22:00:00 -0000

Doc Talk goes live from the Milwaukee Film Festival with Sav Rodgers, director of Chasing Chasing Amy, and Mary Louise Schumacher, director of Out of the Picture. Schumacher's film trains a sharp eye on the state of art criticism, while Rodgers explores how Kevin Smith's 1997 film Chasing Amy saved his life but continues to stir controversy today.

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Participant Media Shutting Down

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 18:58:00 -0000

The announcement that Participant is shutting down has sent shock waves through the documentary community. Joining us to discuss the unsettling news are Oscar-nominated filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen, who have made two documentaries with Particpant - 'RBG,' and 'My Name Is Pauli Murray.'

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Filmmaker Kirsten Johnson On AI, Sontag & Kristen Stewart

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Emmy-winning filmmaker Kirsten Johnson discusses the impact of AI on filmmaking and society. And she talks about her two new documentaries and a scripted films she's directing about Susan Sontag that will feature actress Kristen Stewart.

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‘Girls State’ Directors Amanda McBaine & Jesse Moss

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 20:03:00 -0000

Directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss discuss Girls State, a documentary they describe as a “sibling” – not a sequel – to their Emmy-winning 2020 film Boys State. The filmmaking couple reflect on documenting young women engaged in an exercise in mock government just as the Supreme Court appeared set to reverse Roe v. Wade.

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True/False And The 'Happiness' Factor

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 07:00:00 -0000

We talk with the directors of two films at the True/False film festival: Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó of 'Agent of Happiness' and Rachel Elizabeth Seed of 'A Photographic Memory.'

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Report From CPH:DOX

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 21:10:00 -0000

Doc Talk reports from the field at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. We sit down with Artistic Director Niklas Engstrøm and filmmakers premiering work at one of the most prestigious documentary festivals in the world.

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'Much Ado About Dying' Director Simon Chambers

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 13:44:00 -0000

Director Simon Chambers' hilarious story of becoming a caretaker to his ailing octogenarian uncle won the directing award at IDFA where it premiered in 2022. Despite winning that award and others, for over a year the film languished without distribution. Happily, that has changed with a theatrical release secured through First Run Features. The British filmmaker joins Doc Talk to discuss his odyssey to cinemas, and his relationship with his endearing but exasperating uncle David.

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Oscar Reaction & Report From True/False Doc Festival

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 07:00:00 -0000

Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey discuss Sunday night's Oscar wins for 20 Days in Mariupol and The Last Repair Shop. And Ridley shares an in-depth report from the True/False documentary festival in Columbia, MO, where he spoke with filmmakers Sylvain Cruiziat, Sumira Roy, and True/False Artistic Director Chloe Trayner.

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Filmmakers Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, And Carla Gutiérrez

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin discuss Photographer, their new documentary series that zooms in on National Geographic's greatest image makers. And Emmy nominee Carla Gutiérrez goes inside her new film Frida, about the extraordinary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

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'Speed Sisters' Director Amber Fares

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Filmmaker Amber Fares discusses her documentary Speed Sisters, about Palestinian women who formed the "first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East." Several years after the film premiered, the story is more timely than ever.

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Dissension Over Oscar Doc Nominations

Tue, 20 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

The Oscar nominations for documentary feature have sparked dissension in the nonfiction film community. By rewarding five international films, did the Academy's doc branch hurt American filmmakers, and unfairly punish documentaries with broad appeal? Three distinguished panelists join us for a vigorous debate: Lois Vossen, executive producer of Independent Lens, filmmaker Marjan Safinia, and former Documentary magazine editor Tom White.

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Oscar-Nominated Filmmakers Maite Alberdi And Kaouther Ben Hania

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Doc filmmakers Maite Alberdi of 'The Eternal Memory' and Kaouther Ben Hania of 'Four Daughters' discuss earning the second Oscar nominations of their careers. Plus, we revisit our conversation from last fall with fellow Oscar nominees Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp, directors of 'Bobi Wine: The People's President.'

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Oscar-Nominated Filmmakers Mstyslav Chernov & Nisha Pahuja

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 08:00:00 -0000

20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov and To Kill a Tiger director Nisha Pahuja join us to talk about earning Academy Award nominations for their urgent documentaries. Chernov’s film provides a harrowing look inside the siege of Mariupol in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while Pahuja documents an Indian family’s fight for justice after their daughter becomes the victim of a brutal crime.

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Oscar Nominations Reaction & Sundance Report

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Doc Talk co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to the Oscar nominations for documentary feature, drilling down on major snubs of American Symphony and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. Plus, Matt reports from the field at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, interviewing Best Director winners Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie of Sugarcane, Kerry Washington, EP of Audience Award winner Daughters, and Will & Harper's Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, and more.

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Scott Cummings, Director Of Sundance Documentary 'Realm Of Satan'

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Director Scott Cummings discusses his highly cinematic documentary 'Realm of Satan,' which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film, made in collaboration with the Church of Satan, immerses viewers in a world of people who manifestly do not worship the Devil (or believe Satan is real) but do embrace the carnal, the temporal, and the indulgent.

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Sundance Programmers Basil Tsiokos & Sudeep Sharma

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Programmers Basil Tsiokos and Sudeep Sharma discuss the documentary lineup for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, including films about Frida Kahlo, Christopher Reeve, and a road trip movie with Will Ferrell and his friend Harper Steele, who came out as trans. And they talk about whether Sundance will see a resurgence of doc sales after last year’s sluggish acquisition market.

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Ben Proudfoot & Kris Bowers On ‘The Last Repair Shop’

Tue, 09 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Directors Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers explore a hidden corner of Los Angeles in their Oscar-shortlisted short documentary ‘The Last Repair Shop,’ a place where dedicated professionals keep tens of thousands of musical instruments in perfect working order for the city’s public-school students. They share stories of these unsung technicians, and the kids whose lives are transformed by gaining access to free -- and freely-repaired -- instruments from sousaphones to saxes.

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Oscar Documentary Shortlist Reaction

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 08:00:00 -0000

Co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to the announcement of the Oscar documentary feature shortlist, parsing the snubs, surprises, and biggest takeaways.

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John Legend, Mike Jackson, And Amy Schatz On 'Stand Up & Shout: Songs From A Philly High School'

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Director Amy Schatz and executive producers John Legend and Mike Jackson discuss their inspiring documentary 'Stand Up & Shout: Songs From a Philly High School,' about an innovative public school program where kids learn to write and record their own music.

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Documentary Legend Sheila Nevins

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Sheila Nevins, who has earned more than 30 Emmys in her incredible career, joins us to talk about making her directorial debut at age 84 with ‘The ABCs of Book Banning.’

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Do It Yourself Oscar Campaign

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 10:00:00 -0000

Filmmaking teams behind 'Bad Press,' 'King Coal,' and 'Joonam' join Doc Talk to discuss their unusual alliance. They have banded together to launch a joint DIY For Your Consideration Oscar campaign.

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‘King Coal’ director Elaine McMillion Sheldon

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:00:00 -0000

Filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon joins us to talk about her award-winning documentary ‘King Coal,’ a film that reframes our understanding of Central Appalachia where every aspect of life is permeated by coal.

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Reporting from IDFA, the world's biggest documentary film festival

Tue, 21 Nov 2023 15:15:00 -0000

Five filmmakers, including Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams and Oscar nominee Nicole Newnham, join us from Amsterdam to talk about their documentaries playing at IDFA, the world's biggest doc film festival.

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Emmy Winner Michael Kirk, Director of Frontline's Clarence and Ginni Thomas Documentary

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Director Michael Kirk joins Doc Talk to discuss his Frontline investigative documentary on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas. The Washington power couple has been making headlines repeatedly -- he for a failure to report lavish vacations paid for by wealthy Republican friends, and she for her efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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‘Deadlocked’ Director Dawn Porter

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 08:00:00 -0000

Filmmaker Dawn Porter joins Doc Talk to discuss ‘Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court,” her Showtime docuseries that explores how the High Court has gone from an institution perceived as rising above politics to one mired in left-right battles, with record-low approval ratings.

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‘Beyond Utopia’ director Madeleine Gavin

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Filmmaker Madeleine Gavin discusses her award-winning documentary ‘Beyond Utopia,’ a gripping account of North Koreans who risk everything to flee their brutal country, and the South Korean pastor helping them reach safety and a new life abroad.

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Bobi Wine: The People's President

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Film subject Bobi Wine and directors Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp join us to talk about Bobi Wine: The People's President, about the Ugandan pop star-turned-politician who risked everything to take on his country's brutal dictator.

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Bonus Episode: Who and What is Doc Talk?

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Get to know co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey as they discuss their goals surrounding Doc Talk, the changing landscape of documentary films and more!

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Errol Morris on John le Carré and 'The Pigeon Tunnel'

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Director Errol Morris joins us to talk about his latest documentary, 'The Pigeon Tunnel,' about spy novelist David Cornwell, better known by his pen name, John le Carré. The Oscar winner explains why he found one moment in his film especially "disturbing and dark" and why Cornwell's father, Ronnie, reminds him of Donald Trump.

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‘The Mission’ directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 19:56:00 -0000

Filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss join us to talk about their National Geographic documentary ‘The Mission,’ the story of young Christian missionary John Chau who set off to convert an uncontacted Indigenous group living on a remote island. His death, in a hail of arrows, made news around the world and raised questions about the morality of trying to spread the Gospel to Indigenous peoples who made it clear they wanted nothing to do with outsiders.

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‘Superpower’ Director Sean Penn Blasts Putin, Defends Ukraine

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Sean Penn talks about his pulse-pounding documentary ‘Superpower,’ a ground-level view of Ukraine under devastating attack from Russia. He explains why he’s “repelled” by people on the left who call for peace at all costs. And Penn gets personal exploring a question he asked himself: “Why was I, so much of my life, uncomfortable in my own skin?”

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Actor-turned-director Kasia Smutniak and "Walls"

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 07:00:00 -0000

Actress-turned-filmmaker Kasia Smutniak joins us to talk about her debut documentary "Walls," which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

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Thom Powers, TIFF Doc Programmer

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 23:20:00 -0000

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Freeing Death Row Innocents

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 17:58:00 -0000

Welcome to the premiere episode of Doc Talk, a new podcast hosted by Oscar-winning writer-director John Ridley and Deadline’s documentary editor, Matt Carey. We’re kicking off with a deep dive into documentary’s power to right a grave wrong in the criminal justice system by helping free a wrongfully convicted prisoner. Only a handful of nonfiction filmmakers has achieved this extraordinary feat, and we are speaking with four of them: Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line), Joe Berlinger (the Paradise Lost trilogy), Amy Berg (The Case Against Adnan Syed and West of Memphis), and Deborah Esquenazi (Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four).

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Coming Soon: Doc Talk: A Deadline and Nō Studios Podcast

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 18:41:00 -0000

Hosted by Oscar-winning filmmaker John Ridley and Deadline’s Documentary Editor, Matt Carey, Doc Talk features weekly interviews with filmmakers, storytellers, and industry leaders about creating critical content with the power to move the genre forward – and possibly change the world.

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