Pure Nonfiction: Inside Documentary Film

Fergie Chambers, the American multi-millionaire supporter of far left causes, is currently imprisoned in Spain as the U.S. Department of Justice seeks his extradition. He’s profiled in the documentary “All About the Money” that premiered at Sundance. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed director Sinead O’Shea in March at CPH:DOX.

Sinead talked about her previous film "Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story" on episode 221.

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"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.

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Zayd Ayers Dohrn is the son of Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers who were leaders in the Weather Underground, known for bombing the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and other high profile targets. Zayd explores their complicated legacy in the podcast Mother Country Radicals and his new memoir Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young. 

Host Thom Powers interviews Zayd about what he learned. They discuss past documentary treatments in "Underground" (1976) by Emile d'Antonio and "The Weather Underground" (2002) by Sam Green and Bill Siegel. For more on this era, hear our past interviews with Bill Siegel (ep 15), on Fred Hampton (ep 132), and on Columbia 1968 (ep 185).

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Recorded live in New York, host Thom Powers interviews the directors of three new projects: Alexandria Stapleton (Sean Combs: The Reckoning), Zach Heinzerling (Rafa) and Trish Dalton (Reggae Girlz). The conversations took place as part of Documentary Spotlight, co-presented by The Ankler, in partnership with Apple TV, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, and Red Bull Studios.

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Recorded live in New York, host Thom Powers explores four new documentary projects interviewing director Rebecca Miller (Mr Scorsese), director Ally Pankiw (Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery), producer/editor Shane Reid (John Candy: I Like Me), and producer Sara Bernstein (Marty: Life is Short). The conversations took place as part of Documentary Spotlight, co-presented by The Ankler, in partnership with Apple TV, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, and Red Bull Studios.

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"American Doctor" looks at the war in Gaza through the eyes of three volunteer surgeons from different backgrounds - Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian. The film debuted at Sundance and will be released this summer from Watermelon Pictures. Host Thom Powers interviewed director Poh Si Teng in front of a live audience at CPH:DOX. She started out as a producer of acclaimed works such as "St. Louis Superman" and "Patrice: The Movie" before making her directorial debut with "American Doctor."

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"John Candy: I Like Me" (Amazon) looks at the highs and lows of the beloved comedian who was ever-present in the 1980s and early 90s before his death at age 43. Host Thom Powers interviews director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds. They may be better known for their acting roles, but both have a deep commitment to documentary. Hanks previously directed docs on Tower Records and the Eagles of Death Metal. Reynolds is an executive producer and featured in the hit documentary series "Welcome to Wrexham."

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“Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man” (HBO Max) is the latest collaboration by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio who previously profiled comedians George Carlin and Gary Shandling. Their latest two-part series looks at the creator of iconic works such as “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” and “Young Frankenstein.” In this interview, Apatow and Bonfiglio describe how they sought to get to layers of Brooks’ life that he hadn’t discussed before.

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Frontline executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath speaks about leading PBS's current affairs series while President Trump is defunding public television. Instead of shrinking, Frontline is growing with new staff and an invigorated mission. Host Thom Powers interviews Raney a wide on a wide range of projects, including the Sundance prize-winning doc "One in a Million" that follows a family of Syrian refugees for ten years. The new division of Frontline Features will release the film to theaters later this year.

Explore the Pure Nonfiction archives to hear interviews on past Frontline productions including "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail" (ep 49), "For Sama" (ep 114), and "20 Days in Mariupol" (ep 169).

We wish to thank all our listeners as Pure Nonfiction celebrates its 10th anniversary.

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Fifteen films are shortlisted for the Oscars Feature Documentary category. On this episode, we hear from four of the directing teams:

- "The Alabama Solution" with Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kauffman

- "Yanuni" with Richard Ladkani

- "My Undesirable Friends Part 1 - Last Air in Moscow" with Julia Loktev

- "Cutting Through Rocks" with Sara Khaki and Mohammedreza Eyni

These conversations were recorded an online edition of Documentary Spotlight, co-presented by The Ankler.

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