Making Media Now

Award-winning documentary filmmaker and photojournalist Jessica Earnshaw joins host Michael Azevedo to discuss her latest film, "Baby Doe," which is currently playing in a limited theatrical release.   "Baby Doe" tells the story of Gail Ritchey who, 30 years ago, as a young woman from a conservative Christian community in rural Ohio, gave birth alone and left her newborn in the woods.   Now a moth...

Director Alison Ellwood, whose latest music documentary is “Boy George & Culture Club”—which is now streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video, joins host Michael Azevedo on this episode.   Alison’s documentary serves up an intimate and unfiltered look at Boy George’s meteoric rise to fame, the cultural impact of Culture Club, and the personal and professional challenges that shaped one of t...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Steve Humble, the chief content officer for VPM—Virginia’s home for the public media.    Steve is also the executive producer of “Declarations: Black Americans and the Revolutionary War,” a new documentary that will premiere on PBS on June 29.   When the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago, the Founders – many of whom were slaveholde...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode are Paul Wagner and Ellen Casey Wagner, the filmmaking team behind “Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light," a feature length documentary that is now available on all VOD streaming services.   Narrated by Hugh Dancy and featuring Claire Danes as the voice of Georgia O’Keeffe, "The Brightness of Light" illuminates the extraordinary life and lasting in...

The original promise of the internet—creating community and a world where people enduring solitary personal struggles might feel less alone—was in full bloom back in 2006 when one friend, Renee, told another friend, Jamie, about a mental health crisis she was going through.    Jamie went on to write about the five days he spent with Renee before she entered a treatment center, and he sold T-shirts...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is director Theo Rigby to discuss his documentary "If I Could Stay," which will be premiere on PBS on June 1 and remain available to stream on PBS.org  and via the PBS app for 90 days thereafter.   Set in Colorado, If I Could Stay/Si Pudiera Quedarme follows two undocumented mothers, Jeanette and Ingrid, as they face deportation and the threat of being...

Although it may be hard to detect, a quiet revolution is underway:   As the real-world consequences of social media come into focus, and AI’s invasion into every aspect of our lives feels imminent, a new generation of parents and teens are stepping forward to challenge the systems shaping their lives and fight for a different future, one where Big Tech doesn’t get to define the terms of human conn...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode are Suzannah Herbert and Darcy McKinnon, the director and producer of the award-winning documentary " Natchez ," which will air on PBS on May 11 as part of the Independent Lens Series.   The film is also currently available for VOD streaming on multiple platforms including Apple TV, Prime Video, and YouTube TV.   Winner of the best documentary feature a...

Returning guest Brandon Katz joins host Michael Azevedo on this episode to take a look at some compelling data that’s informing several film and television related stories he’s recently published.   As the Director of Insight & Content Strategy for Greenlight Analytics , Brandon—who’s also a former entertainment journalist and film critic—unpacks data analysis to reveal compelling trends withi...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode are Chelsea Greene and Rob Grobman, two of the three co-directors on Academy Award-winning filmmaker and activist Fisher Stevens's (The Cove) timely environmental documentary called "We Are Guardians" which he produced alongside Executive Producer and fellow Academy-award winner and activist Leonardo DiCarprio.   The film which follows Indigenous forest...

Host Michael Azevedo is joined by Raúl O. Paz Pastrana, the director of a new documentary airing on PBS’ Independent Lens series on April 13. Raul’s film, "Backside: The Unseen Hands of Horseracing," set amidst the pageantry of horseracing’s premier event—The Kentucky Derby—goes behind the glamour to present a portrait of the unseen workers whose tireless efforts are key to the event’s success.  ...

Back in 2023, Making Media Now host Michael Azevedo was joined by filmmaker Bonnie Waltch and writer Sara Schley to talk about a film project for which Filmmakers Collaborative was the fiscal sponsor.   The film was called "Brainstorm" and it’s now complete and will be featured in a global virtual screening on March 30 as part of World Bipolar Day.   Bonnie is the film’s writer, director, and prod...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on episode is writer and director Andrew Goldberg, whose documentary "White with Fear" will premiere on PBS on March 24.    Told by the operatives in the rooms where it happened, "White With Fear" is an explosive deep dive into the decades-long quest by America’s conservative political machine to amass power by exploiting racial fault lines and stoking narratives of Wh...

On this episode host Michael Azevedo takes a dive into season three of the award-winning podcast series, The Big Dig, produced by GBH News and distributed by PRX. Season three is called "Catching The Codfather."   Joining Michael are series’ host Ian Coss and the GBH Managing Producer of Podcasts, Devin Maverick Robins.   Season Three of The Big Dig™ podcast, “Catching The Codfather,” goes down to...

On this episode, host Michael Azevedo chats with award-winning documentary filmmaker Lisa Olivieri about her film, "Recovery City," a raw exploration of what it means to be in recovery as seen through the eyes of four women whose lives share a common thread: addiction.   Set in the working class city of Worcester MA, the film is a real and honest portrait of resilience, grit and camaraderie presen...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Angela Lynn Tucker, the director of an inspiring and informative new documentary called "The Inquisitor," which tells the story of the life and career of Barbara Jordan.   As a young girl growing up in Houston’s Fifth Ward, Barbara Jordan was taught to defy expectations. She understood that to succeed, she would need to forge her own path.   With rel...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Miles Spencer, the co-founder of an innovative AI start-up called Reflekta . A few weeks back, Mile’s team reached out to me to say that they’ve enjoyed the conversations I've had with various types of storytellers…and how they especially liked how our conversations revealed the stories within the stories.   Miles has helped create over 1,100 jobs wh...

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by first-time director Vivien Hillgrove and producer Deann Borshay Liem to discuss a truly engaging and poignant personal documentary called “Vivien’s Wild Ride,” which will premiere on PBS on January 26.    Vivien Hillgrove has been a film and sound editor all her adult life.    She's worked with many filmmaking greats including: Francis Ford Coppola...

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Laura Varela and Andrew Gonzales, the producer and producer/director of "American Sons," a new documentary that follows a brotherhood of Marines a decade after their deployment to Afghanistan, as they struggle to overcome the trauma of combat and the loss of many of their comrades.   The film will premiere on PBS on January 12 and will stream simul...

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Ben Loeterman, the writer and director of Bombshell, a new documentary that Explores How The U.S. government manipulated the narrative around the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.   Ben’s film will premiere on PBS as part of the American Experience series on January 6 and will be available on the PBS app and the American Experience website...

On this episode host Michael Azevedo welcomes back Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joshua Seftel to discuss his latest documentary, "All the Empty Rooms," which is currently available on Netflix and has been short-listed for the 2025 Oscars in the category of best documentary short.   Across America, bedrooms sit untouched — walls still covered in posters, clothes folded neatly in drawers — sile...

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is first-time filmmaker Nivi Jaswal-Wirtjes, the director & executive producer of a powerful and thought-provoking new documentary called “Third Degree Burnout”   Narrated by renowned meteorologist John Morales, "Third Degree Burnout" uncovers the hidden connections between personal burnout and the climate crisis, revealing them as symptoms of a lar...

On this episode, host Michael Azevedo joined by long-time friend of the podcast Tim O’Donnell of Pixela Films and by first-time guest Mary Dague to discuss the just-completed film, "The Last Yztari."   This innovative and moving film tells the story of how after using her body as a shield to protect her unit from an IED in Iraq, Mary Dague is left medically retired, missing both arms from the elbo...

Director Daniel Masciari who joins host Michael Azevedo to discuss "Stationed at Home," his debut feature film.    Set on a clear and frigid Christmas Eve in 1998, in a small, forgotten city, "Stationed at Home" tells the tale of a solitary taxi driver on the graveyard shift breathlessly awaiting the sight of the International Space Station. As the hours count down, a parade of offbeat misfits der...

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Jon Shenk co-director of a powerful documentary now streaming on Netflix called In Waves and War .   Blending observational scenes and animation, "In Waves and War" traces the journey of three Navy SEALs, tormented by trauma, to Mexico where they embark on a mission to rescue one another with powerful psychedelics whose effects shake them to the co...