Episodes

In the three-part series Nuclear Family, filmmaker Ry Russo-Young explores her own family history. She was born in 1981 and grew up with two lesbian moms Russo and Robin and an older sister in Manhattan at at time when gay parenting was still rare. Her sperm donor Tom Steel was a gay lawyer in San Francisco who wound up suing Ry’s moms for paternity rights. From a young age, Ry was active in trying to tell her family’s story and defend her mothers against discrimination in the courts and in the ...

Sonya Childress and Jesse Wente are among the most eloquent voices calling for change in the North American documentary industry. In June 2020, Childress published A Reckoning: The Documentary Film Industry Must Chart a New Path Forward that brought a critique over questions of authorship, accountability and ownership. She draws upon her experience working with Active Voice, Firelight Media and the Perspective Fund. Wente is an Anishinaabe writer and executive director of the Indigenous Screen ...

In the Same Breath is a strikingly original analysis of the early days of the pandemic as it unfolded in China and the United States. Filmmaker Nanfu Wang draws upon multiple sources of footage to study how governments shaped the messaging about coronavirus and how they missed opportunities to limit the virus. Her collaborators include her husband Michael Shade as an editor and Jialing Zhang as one of the producers. Nanfu and Jialing previously appeared on episode #115 to discuss their film One ...

“Enemies of the State” looks at the strange case of Matt DeHart, a member of the hacktivist group Anonymous who was prosecuted for child pornography. He claimed the charges were a cover up to seize his computers containing government secrets. Director Sonia Kennebeck and producer Ines Hoffman Kanna spent years trying to untangle the knotty mysteries of his case. Their previous film National Bird (2016) won the Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize for its profile of three people who worked on the U.S...

Fran Lebowitz is one of New York’s great conversationalists. Martin Scorsese's new Netflix series “Pretend It’s a City” lets her talk at length about her five decades of living in New York City. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviews Lebowitz about working with Scorsese and her long friendship with Toni Morrison to whom the series is dedicated. Lebowitz also shares her opinions on the New York mayoral election and discusses her mother Ruth. This interview was recorded on May 7, 2020 for DO...

Documentary editor Lewis Erskine died last week at age 64. He was cherished by colleagues as a storyteller and a teacher. His Twitter handle was @editorsavant and his credits include Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Freedom Riders and Jackie Robinson. In the days after his death, Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers spoke to three of Lewis' colleagues. Filmmaker Stanley Nelson describes first meeting Lewis when they worked for WNET public television and how they collaborated for over two decades star...

Astra Taylor's new documentary You Are Not a Loan (free on The Intercept) brings together students and professors to discuss changing the cost of education.

“When We Were Kings” director Leon King died on March 8 at age 84. He took over twenty years to make his Oscar-winning documentary about the boxers Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman, filmed in Zaire in 1974 and completed in 1996. Further links: Watch “When We Were Kings" Watch “Soul Power” Watch “Smash His Camera" New York Times obituary on Leon Gast Leon Gast on the making of his first film “Our Latin Thing” Pure Nonfiction episode 15: Muhammad Ali on Film The New Yorker on William Greaves’ "The...

Thom Powers interviews four members of the “Eyes on the Prize II” team - a documentary that played a key role for in the research new Hollywood film “Judas and the Black Messiah” is based on the lives of Panther leader Fred Hampton and the person who betrayed him, FBI informant William O’Neal.

True crime documentaries are booming. But what do they tell us about criminal justice and what do they leave out? Alex Vitale, the author of the book “The End of Policing,” talks to Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers about the state of the genre. Alex gives favorable takes on the Netflix series “Time: The Kalief Browder Story” and Errol Morris’ classic “The Thin Blue Line.” But he raises questions about other trends. For more on this topic, listen to the podcast “Running from COPS.”

Jean Tsien has worked as a documentary editor for over 30 years with directors such as Orlando Bagwell, Barbara Kopple, and Roger Ross Williams. She’s been a mentor to emerging filmmakers, not only in the U.S. but also in China and Taiwan where she lived until moving to New York at age 11. Now Jean has moved into producing. Her latest project is "76 Days," set in Wuhan, China during the city’s lockdown for Covid-19. DOC NYC recently honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Jean has stories...

“Don’t film if you can live without filming.” Those are the words of Victor Kossakovsky from his 10 Rules of documentary making. Those rules are the starting point for a wide-ranging conversation with Victor along with Kirsten Johnson and Garrett Bradley, moderated by Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers. All three directors were part of DOC NYC’s 2020 Short List for feature documentaries. Kirsten was previously on episode 24 discussing her previous film Cameraperson; her latest film is Dick Johnson...

Filmmaker Bao Nguyen profiles Bruce Lee, searching for the man behind the icon, in the ESPN documentary “Be Water.” Bao’s other films include his history of Saturday Night Live “Live from New York” and a short film about his Vietnamese-American family “Where Are You Really From?” In this interview with Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers, Bao describes his intent to place Lee’s story in the context of being Asian-American. Bao invokes the poet Ocean Vuong in reflecting on the expectations placed on...