Pure Nonfiction: Inside Documentary Film
Hear the world's top storytellers talk all things documentary film. Host Thom Powers is as well-connected as it gets in this world as a documentary curator for TIFF and other renowned festivals. He wrote the book “Mondo Documentary” that is “required reading for fans of nonfiction cinema,” says Judd...
Recent Episodes
247
Oct. 22, 2026
247: Live from Los Angeles, part 2
Pure Nonfiction and The Ankler collaborate for a live recording of Documentary Spotlight at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles. Host Thom Powers interviews the teams behind "Seized" (director Sharon Liese, producer Sasha Alpert), "Rehearsals for a Revolution" (director Pegah Ahangarani), "The Eyes of Ghana" (producers Nana Adwoa Frimpong, Ethan Lewis), and "Bernstein's Wall" (director Douglas Tirola). Subscribe to our Substack newsletter Doc Voices. On Instagram: @purenonfiction@thompowers1
246
Oct. 21, 2026
246: Live from Los Angeles, part 1
Pure Nonfiction and The Ankler collaborate for a live recording of Documentary Spotlight at the Culver Theater in Los Angeles. Host Thom Powers interviews the teams behind "American Doctor" (director Poh Si Teng, participant Dr. Thaer Ahmad), "Time and Water" (director Sara Dosa), "A Fox Under a Pink Moon" (directors Mehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhlaghi); and "Just Look Up" (directors Betsy Hershey, Emma Wall, participant Michael Greenberg). Subscribe to our Substack newsletter Doc Voices. On Inst
245
Oct. 7, 2026
245: Alex Gibney on "Musk"
Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney delivers the most ambitious documentary of his career in "Musk." How did one person amass so much power in Tesla, Space X, Starlink, Twitter, Grok, DOGE and more? Host Thom Powers interviewed Gibney about the challenges of investigating the world's richest man. The film is being released to U.S. theaters by Bleecker Street. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter Doc Voices. On Instagram: @purenonfiction@thompowers1
244
Aug. 12, 2026
244: Sinead O’Shea on "All About the Money"
Fergie Chambers, the American multi-millionaire supporter of far left causes, is profiled in the documentary “All About the Money”.
243
June 30, 2026
243: Sasha Waters on Mary Oliver
"Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World" profiles the Pulitzer-winning poet who died in 2019. The filmmaker Sasha Waters describes how she shaped this biography drawing upon the memories of Oliver's friends including filmmaker John Waters, poet Mark Doty, and journalist Maria Shriver; along with contributions from Oliver's admirers such as Stephen Colbert and Oprah Winfrey. The film is being released theatrically by Kino Lorber and will be broadcast on PBS' American Masters on August 25.
242
June 17, 2026
242: Zayd Ayers Dohrn on the Weather Underground
Zayd Ayers Dohrn explores his parents' complicated legacy from the Weather Underground in the podcast Mother Country Radicals and his new memoir Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young.