Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

For filmmaker Petra Costa, democracy in her native country of Brazil is personal. Two years after Petra was born, the country returned to democratic rule after more than twenty years of military dictatorship. As Petra grew up, so, too, did the country’s democracy. But, in more recent years, as she has meticulously documented in two densely layered and highly personal documentaries — first, in her...

The version of the American Revolution many of us were taught was focussed on the ideals and principles of the revolution:  Independence, democracy, liberty guaranteed by enumerated rights.  And if we were taught about the actual conflict, we maybe heard of a few battles in New England and the mid-Atlantic– maybe there was a setback here and there.  But the whole thing was presented as basically i...

Today we feature a live event that Top Docs held a few weeks ago at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (where our co-host Ken Jacobson serves as Executive Director).  After Ken and Mike talk about the origins of Top Docs and some of the memorable moments over the years, Joshua Seftel, who has previously appeared on the pod for his Oscar-nominated “Stranger at the Gate,”  joins them to discu...

Mr. Scorsese is “Marty” to his friends and “Legend” to admirers and imitators.  But he’s also still that kid, the "minuscule asthmatic”--as lovingly described by his ex-wife, Isabella Rossellini--who fervently loved both the movies he watched in Times Square as well as the characters that populated the Little Italy of his youth.  The results were "Mean Streets", "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", and "...

It’s easy to glibly identify what’s happening as “Orwellian”:  that we live in an era of “newspeak,” that we have reached the point at which the depths of the surveillance state of 1984 seems all too possible, maybe even already here. But in his new “Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5”, Raoul Peck (“ I am Not Your Negro ”, “ Exterminate All the Brutes ”, “ Ernest Cole: Lost and Found ”) digs much deeper into these...

It’s that time of the year! The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2025 runs from October 10-18th.  Ken, who, in addition to his Top Docs duties serves as the Executive Director of the Festival, joins Mike to talk about some of his picks for the Festival including: “Lost Wolves of Yellowstone” “The Cowboy” “Move Ya Body:  The Birth of House” “Armed Only With a Camera:  The Life and Death of Bre...

As director David Osit describes his new film, “ ’Predators’ peels back the story of the TV show ‘To Catch a Predator’, which ensnared potential sex predators in a television hidden-camera sting operation and explores the fallout from the show and the legacy of journalism as entertainment that it helped create.”     “Predators” (MTV Documentary Films) is now playing in select theaters, with more a...

In honor of Matt Wolf's big wins at the Emmys this year--not only for "Pee-wee as Himself" as Best Documentary Feature, but for his own win as director of that documentary as well as picture editing for Damian Rodriguez--we are re-releasing our interview with him at Sundance earlier this year.   As Director Matt Wolf shows in his  insightful and fun 2-part HBO series “Pee-wee as Himself”, in Pee-w...

It’s Primetime. Yes, the Primetime Emmys are here, and we’ve got you covered. Culminating our “Top Docs” podcasts featuring the leading contenders for in the documentary categories, we talk to The Hollywood Reporter’s Executive Editor of Awards Scott Feinberg who breaks down the 2025 Emmy nominees in all the major documentary categories, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special; Out...

Welcome to the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival (September 4 – 14), home of the big anniversary! This year’s edition of one of the world’s great film festivals marks TIFF’s landmark 50th anniversary. In addition, renowned curator and all-around documentary powerhouse Thom Powers (host of the Pure Nonfiction podcast) celebrates 20 years as the festival’s lead documentary programmer.   Thom...

  Today we are repeating one of our favorite conversations.  Mike spoke with the filmmakers of "Sugarcane" at Sundance 2024.  They would go on to win the Grand Jury award for Directing at that festival, and then would be nominated for the 97th Academy Awards last year.     If you enjoy this conversation, you may want to check out our " Anatomy of a scene from Sugarcane ."   Kicking off our on-the-...

Acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield (“The Queen of Versailles”) is drawn time and again to overlapping and powerful themes like addiction, wealth, consumerism and celebrity culture. Now, with her first doc series “Social Studies” — a fascinating 5-part exploration of the tight grip that social media has over Generation Z — Lauren unpacks these interrelated themes in the context...

Did Sly blow it?  As part of continuing Emmys coverage, we are joined by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Joseph Patel, the director and producer of “Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius)” (as well as the same for the 2022 Oscar Winner “Summer of Soul”) to discuss the life and career of Sly Stone, whose interracial and multigendered band drew upon the stew of musical influences of the early 60...

Continuing our coverage of the 2025 Emmy Awards, Mike is joined by Peter Ettedgui and Ian Bonhôte, directors of "Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story" and nominees for Outstanding Directing For A Documentary/Nonfiction Program (the film received three other Emmy nominations as well ).  In sketching their portrait of Christopher Reeve, who embodied the superhero in a series of films beginning in...

In order to catch a really great wave, 100 foot or otherwise, you need to be extremely patient, waiting for that next great “set” (group of waves) that’s going to put you in position for the ride of the day — or ride of your life. It’s also true for those making films about surfing, including director Chris Smith (“American Movie”) and the massively talented — and patient — team behind the hugely...

There’s no place quite like “P-Town,” the remarkable world of wonder created by Patrice Jetter, the star of Peabody award-winning director Ted Passon’s (“Philly D.A.”) enchanting and heavy hitting documentary “Patrice: The Movie.” Over the last 20 years, Patrice’s scale model town has become a source of endless fantasy and fun, but also an escape from the “real” world, which, all too often, has pu...

I Am: Celine Dion   In a world dominated by constant pitching and fundraising, once in a long while, filmmakers get “The Call.” “The Call” is when a producer calls and asks if you are interested in a project, fully funded and with the main participant ready to go. Such was the case for Academy Award®-nominated director Irene Taylor (“Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements”, “The Final Inch”...

  Acclaimed director Amy Berg (“West of Memphis,” “Janis: Little Girl Blue”) set her sights on making a documentary about the beloved singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley some 15 years ago. Now, with her finely crafted new documentary, “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley,” Amy delivers a fresh take on Buckley’s remarkable music and a thoughtful look at his life and loves.   Amy joins Ken on “Top Docs” to dis...

With intense scrutiny of the trans community comes threats to the personal safety, healthcare and civil rights of trans people. Just ask Sam Feder (“Disclosure”), director of the timely new documentary “Heightened Scrutiny” that follows ACLU attorney Chase Strangio on his journey all the way to the Supreme Court to fight for the rights of transgender adolescents and their access to gender affirmin...

It all starts with the fish. In director Matt Tyrnauer’s (“Carville, Winning is Everything, Stupid”) delectable and insightful new documentary “Nobu,” we are reminded of this fact when Nobu himself, the man behind the restaurant empire that shares his name, reels in a fish, skins, slices and serves it right on the boat to friends and family. It is one of many revelatory scenes that, taken as a who...

During Jacinda Ardern’s historic run as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2017 - 2023, she became a worldwide phenomenon and icon of the Left. From the pandemic to a horrific mass shooting in NZ, Jacinda faced a series of major crises, as well as a media crush that followed her everywhere. But during those tumultuous times, one thing remained unknown: what was it like for the person at the center...

In elementary school, Emmy Award-winning director Cristina Costantini (“Science Fair”) was a science nerd who idolized astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Cristina even painted a mural of Sally on one of her elementary school’s walls. Fast forward to today and National Geographic Documentary Films has just released Cristina’s terrific new feature-length documentary about the a...

It makes sense that Simone Biles, winner of 11 Olympic medals, and considered by many to be the greatest gymnast of all time, would stick to a consistent pre-competition ritual to prepare for battle. But, as filmmaker Katie Walsh shows in one of the more intimate scenes in her exceptional four-part Netflix docuseries, “Simone Biles Rising,” the big surprise comes when we see that the hair braiding...

Director Josh Greenbaum returns to “Top Docs” to discuss the poignant and culminating closing sequence in his deeply moving documentary “Will & Harper.” In the film, close friends Will Farrell and Harper Steele embark on a road trip across America to get everything out in the open about Harper’s recent transition and to support her new life as a trans woman.   With the sun setting over the Pac...

R.J. Cutler returns to the pod to dig in deeper to his Netflix documentary on Martha Stewart, “Martha”.  R.J. and Mike turn their eyes to a few minutes early on (starting about minute 15 if you want to watch along), when a young Martha Stewart pursues motherhood, Wall Street, and ultimately Turkey Hill to become “Martha”.  R.J. explains how every element–cinematography, archive, editing, graphic d...