Westdoc Online

I LIKE IT HERE is about the simple pleasures of being alive. An American documentarian for more than 50 years, Ralph Arlyck has created an eloquent cinematic meditation on the reality and surprising beauties of moving through life. Arlyck conveys how it feels to experience the winding down of one's days as he visits friends from past and present, most of them rather lively, plus children and grand...

Producer, Director, Cinematographer Amy Nicholson shot Happy Campers, a bittersweet anthem to a working class paradise, virtually by herself. Her low budget, minimalist approach, combined with her beautiful photography, produced a powerful film and a reminder of the importance of community. Westdoc host Chuck Braverman talked with her about cameras, sound, day jobs, and the joy of work. Join us an...

"Mountain Queen The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa" Lucy Walker’s heart stopping new film, Mountain Queen: the Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, is not just about mountain climbing but about a woman who struggled with social norms, language, and personal demons to get to the top. Lhakpa Sherpa has climbed Everest a record ten times, helped others to do so, protected her daughters from abuse, all while supportin...

“This is a story about design,” says the subject of "Geoff McFetridge: Drawing A Life." He and producer/director Dan Covert speak with Westdoc about the experience of filming his life. McFetridge, who designed faces on the Apple Watch, though he doesn’t wear one himself, shares his feelings about art, money, the “danger of sincerity,” and the importance of self-awareness. Director Covert wanted to...

Showbiz is famous for siblings — the Coen brothers, the Marx Brothers, the Jackson 5, Warner Bros — but Bill and Turner Ross, have been gaining momentum with feature films like "Nose Bleed and Empty Pockets," and have created a unique format with Gasoline Rainbow: semi-scripted narrative with a documentary style. Speaking to Westdoc on our latest episode published today, they discussed sharing the...

ANDREW JARECKI, producer director of THE JINX - The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, is even more interesting than the subjects of his films. Which is saying something, considering that his subjects include a convicted three-time murderer and family with multiple accused pedophiles (Capturing the Friedmans). He speaks to Westdoc at length about his privileged background, an accidental entrance int...

A video of a young boy in Nigeria dancing barefoot in the dirt goes viral. Soon he has a seven year scholarship at the prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School in England. Westdoc moderator Chuck Braverman interviews co-directors Matt Ogens and Joel “Kachi” Benson about their new Disney+ feature documentary MADU, shot on two continents with post-production on three.  They touch on film style, point of v...

In HENDRIE, comics and producers including Judd Apatow, Bill Hader, and Henry Rollins, talk about Phil Hendrie, a comic genius whose satirical radio show rocked the airwaves in the 1990s. Patrick Reynolds produced, directed, shot, and edited Hendrie on a mini budget, but his path to filmmaking was somewhat curvy; he published a boating magazine, worked as a photographer, made sizzle reels and art...

Available now on Westdoc, our new episode # 148 with renowned cinema vérité filmmakers Joan Churchill and Alan Barker spoke to us from the cozy living room of their Ojai, California home. We covered a wide range of subjects: improv; traditional camera gear vs iPhones; being “in the circle” when filming; the FBI, IRS, and HUAC; the historic value of cinema vérité; and their documentary workshops. T...

Young filmmaker Ben Proudfoot went searching for the process behind student instrument repair in the vast Los Angeles City school system, but his Oscar nominated short, The Last Repair Shop, uncovered instead a warehouse filled with human tales of struggle, endurance, and success. Proudfoot speaks to Westdoc about magic, funding, and a wealth of future projects. His wonderful short is available fr...

Just two miles from mainland China, but still part of Taiwan, sits the tiny island of Kinmen. "Island In Between" is American/Taiwanese filmmaker S. Leo Chiang’s powerful, Oscar nominated short doc about international tension and changing times. Chiang speaks with Westdoc about growing up both there and here, seeing both the danger and the beauty, and trying to make sense of it all.

The war in Ukraine rages on. Veteran “conflict journalist” Mstyslav Chernov captures the terror and panic of the initial assault in his stark documentary. He speaks to Westdoc about the need to be multi-lingual, surviving in a war zone, hiding the digital evidence in a tampon, which itself had to be hidden — and the universal destructiveness of war: to civilians, soldiers, and filmmakers. “20 Days...

It’s been a disappointing year for quality scripted features, but not for documentaries. One of the most provocative is bio doc, "The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” with the liberation of the female orgasm center stage. The Hite Report was one of the best-selling books of all time. On the new edition of Westdoc, director Nicole Newnham talks about why Shere Hite left the country, renounced her US c...

There is a great pleasure in finding something you believe very few people have yet discovered. As a member of the Motion Picture Academy, I have access to most of this year's films, and all the documentaries submitted. I try to watch as many as possible and I stumbled upon this film and am very happy to share it with you. The 1930's and 40's is a fascinating period of time and then throw in Orsen...

Tune in to a world full of sound with Westdoc Online host, Chuck Braverman, and guest, Sam Green. Documentary "32 Sounds" immerses you in the elemental phenomenon of sound and its ability to profoundly shape our reality.

Life can be a struggle, whether you are a polar bear searching for food on melting ice or a black man searching for justice on shrinking real estate. The inevitability of rising sea levels have Miami’s developers turning a covetous eye toward the black ghetto, located, as it is, on the highest-and-driest ground in the city. Ghetto residents are bracing for another fight - Climate Gentrification.  ...

Filmmaker Justin Monroe discovered that his next door neighbor Tim Carey was bidding to create the world’s largest stained glass window. What Justin didn't know is that Tim had no idea how to make that size window. HOLY FRIT combines the ancient art of glazing with the high-tech art of documentary filmmaking. Justin and Tim talk with Westdoc about their nine years on the project, its challenges, t...

TO KILL A TIGER is the story of one fathers' fight against everyone in his small village in northern India after his 13 year old daughter is raped by three local men. Supporting his daughter was virtually unheard of and his journey unprecedented. The locals suggested she marry one of attackers to protect her honor. In our conversation with director NISHA PAHUJA, she tells us how the film was origi...

In 1988 when the Errol Morris film "The Thin Blue Line" was screened for the Academy doc branch to be eligible for an Oscar, it was allegedly stopped after only 10 minutes following the first recreation scene and disqualified. What Morris did with the Thin Blue Line, was to revolutionize nonfiction filmmaking. His reenactments were Roshomon like from the POV of different people. The Academy appare...

 "When we got the keys to the storage unit, everything changed and the film was cracked open in a new way" said Karen O'Connor. This documentary is an unusually intimate psychological portrait of folk singer and activist Joan Baez. It's not a traditional bio pic or concert film as it shifts back and forth in time. And with three directors on different continents, it took a while for all the pieces...

 Director Denny Tedesco's father was one of the musicians in The Wrecking crew and he grew up surrounded by some of the superstars featured in the film. Following in the footsteps of 1960’s session icons in The Wrecking Crew, musicians Leland Sklar, Danny Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel, and Waddy Wachtel backed iconic singer-songwriters of the 70s, 80s, and beyond, creating some of the most recognizable t...

DYLAN WEISS is a non fiction television producer who makes films about the world's fastest motorized machines. He has produced for National Geographic, Discovery, Science Channel, and more. His shows are usually about the fastest most expensive cars made. And he wrote the book on FACTUAL TELEVISION PRODUCING. You can learn his secrets to success from the book and our conversation on Westdoc.

THE HIGHEST OF STAKES follows the journey of Richard Heart, the top hat wearing, no-bullshit-talking, Louis Vuitton-collecting creator of HEX coin, which grew 10,000x in value during the financial market crash of 2022. Throughout that time, Heart raised a staggering $1 billion from the devoted HEX community in "sacrifices" to develop his latest product. Last week the SEC charged Heart with fraud a...

Nicknamed “The Golden Boy,” Oscar De La Hoya, with his good looks, electric charisma, and heartfelt story of winning Olympic gold for his dying mother, rocketed to national prominence as a superstar both in and outside the ring. Yet, all was not what it appeared to be behind that polished facade. Westdoc interviews the director of this two part HBO Max documentary, Fernando Villena. 

The story of Black baseball begins a century before Jackie Robinson. Black people have been playing baseball as long as white people – as far back as the Civil War. And while some segregation in the sport always existed, the color line on the ball field was not rigidly enforced until the end of the nineteenth century, as racial lines hardened in all aspects of American life. The new documentary (i...