Doc Talk unpacks the nominees for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. And co-host John Ridley speaks with director Geeta Gandbhir and executive producer Soledad O'Brien about the stunning documentary The Perfect Neighbor, which just premiered at Sundance.

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Documentary programmers Basil Tsiokos and Sudeep Sharma join us to discuss the nonfiction lineup for the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The slate includes new work from Oscar winners Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Mstyslav Chernov, and Davis Guggenheim, plus films on book banning, the first openly trans attorney to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, the late astronaut Sally Ride, and a documentary series on late "Pee-wee Herman" actor Paul Reubens.

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The documentary community is reckoning with enormous loss from the Los Angeles wildfires, which has directly impacted many filmmakers. We are joined by Tracy Droz Tragos, who lost her home in the Pacific Palisades fire; Smriti Mundhra, who evacuated her home in Malibu Canyon; L.A. resident Lucy Walker who documented California wildfires in Bring Your Own Brigade, and L.A.-based writer and editor Tom White, former longtime chief of Documentary magazine.

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We talk with Orwa Nyrabia, IDFA's artistic director, and visit with filmmakers premiering new work at the world's biggest documentary festival. Plus, filmmakers Carla Gutiérrez and Irene Taylor share their Amsterdam experience.

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Doc Talk co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to the announcement of the shortlists in the documentary categories for the 97th Academy Awards. What were the snubs and major surprises? We unpack the 15 features and 15 shorts remaining in contention for the Oscar. 

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We report live from the 40th IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles, interviewing winners as they come off stage, including Shiori Ito (Black Box Diaries), the Queendom team, Career Achievement Award winner Dawn Porter, and Curated Series winner Lois Vossen. And we speak with the IDA's executive director, Dominic Asmall Willsdon, about the state of the documentary field.

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No Other Land, set in the occupied West Bank, has emerged as a frontrunner for the Oscars, winning awards around the world including a slew in the past week alone. We speak with Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra, half of the Israeli Palestinian collective of filmmakers behind the documentary. Their film, which has attracted praise and controversy, depicts life for Palestinian villagers who face threats of expulsion from their land by the Israel Defense Forces.

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Japanese journalist Shiori Itō investigates her own sexual assault in the Oscar-contending documentary Black Box Diaries. She joins Doc Talk to discuss how her case changed rape laws in Japan and how she made the transition from objective journalist to first-person storyteller.

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Filmmaker Jeff Zimbalist joins us to discuss his Oscar-contending Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story. This is the story of a young Russian couple who have made a career of illegally climbing to the top of extraordinary tall structures, including the 118-story Merdeka in Malaysia, and then photographing themselves doing balletic poses in the sky. Doc Talk co-host John Ridley calls it the scariest documentary he's ever seen. 

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Renowned documentary filmmaker R.J. Cutler discusses his two Oscar-contending documentaries – Elton John: Never Too Late, and Martha, the latter film about businesswoman, entrepreneur and lifestyle doyenne Martha Stewart. Cutler responds to Stewart’s, at times, harsh criticism of his film. She's campaigning for Netflix to create a "second version" of the documentary that's more to her liking.

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