The Thousand Roads Podcast

What’s it like for independent doc filmmakers, accustomed to making all their own decisions, to work with a top-notch doc series like PBS’s Frontline, with its strict journalistic guidelines? That’s the main topic I discuss with award-winning doc filmmakers Yoruba Richen and Brad Lichtenstein, whose terrific 2022 film American Reckoning began as an indie project but eventually turned into a Frontline project.

Yoruba Richen and Brad Lichtenstein are well-known both separately as a team, Yoruba for films including 2023’s The Cost of Inheritance, which premiered at DOC NYC, Brad for films including 2022’s Emmy Award-winning When Claude Got Shot. More about Yoruba here, and Brad here.

Films mentioned in this episode:

American Reckoning (2022), Dir. Yoruba Richen and Brad Lichtenstein

The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show (2020), Dir. Yoruba Richen

When Claude Got Shot (2021), Dir. Brad Lichtenstein

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (2022), Dir. Yoruba Richen and Johanna Hamilton

Black Natchez (1967), Dir. Ed Pincus and David Neuman

Other mentions:

St. Clair Bourne

Bill Moyers

The Un(re)solved Project

Dawn Porter

Frontline

Hillary Bachelder

Raney Aronson-Rath

The Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act

Follow us on Instagram! @ThousandRoadsPod

Special thanks for helping make this series happen: Sara Archambault, Florence Barrau-Adams, Jon Berman, Ben Cuomo (music), Jax Deluca, Pallavi Deshpande, Nancy Gibbs, Kathleen Hughes, Caroline Kracunas, Laura Manley, Alexis Pancrazi, Liz Schwartz, Jeff Seelbach, Lindsay Underwood (logo/graphics)

This episode was supported by a fellowship at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Award-winning documentarian Dawn Porter talks about bringing journalistic principles and standards to documentary filmmaking and treating documentary subjects as collaborators and partners rather than “subjects.” We also discuss the need to keep having the difficult conversations needed to keep up with the changing documentary landscape. We also talk about how she got into the business by way of another profession, and discuss one of my favorites of her films, Gideon's Army, which premiered at Sundance and was nominated for both the Independent Spirit Award for Best Doc and an Emmy.

Dawn’s 2023 film, The Lady Bird Diaries was called “mesmerizing” and “elegant” by The Guardian. She is also known for the HBO film Trapped, about the last abortion providers in Mississippi, as well as films about Civil Rights icon John Lewis and the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. More about Dawn here.

Films mentioned in this episode:

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022), Dir. Laura Poitras

Hoop Dreams (1994), Dir. Steve James 

The Territory (2022), Dir. Alex Pritz

Gideon’s Army (2013), Dir. Dawn Porter

The Interrupters (2011), Dir. Steve James

Jesus Camp (2006), Dir. Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

Five Broken Cameras (2011), Dir. Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

Other Mentions:

Nan Goldin

Follow us on Instagram! @ThousandRoadsPod

Special thanks for helping make this series happen: Sara Archambault, Florence Barrau-Adams, Jon Berman, Ben Cuomo (music), Jax Deluca, Pallavi Deshpande, Nancy Gibbs, Kathleen Hughes, Caroline Kracunas, Laura Manley, Alexis Pancrazi, Liz Schwartz, Jeff Seelbach, Lindsay Underwood (logo/graphics)

This episode was supported by a fellowship at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Julie Cohen and Betsy West are best known as a team for their Oscar-nominated documentary RBG about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They’re also both former network news journalists. We talk about the differences and similarities between those two worlds (hint: one of them sounds more fun), the films that helped shape their sensibilities, and their films RBG, Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, about the former Congresswoman’s recovery from an assassination attempt, and My Name Is Pauli Murray, about the non-binary lawyer who played a key role in the civil rights movement.

Julie Cohen’s 2023 film, Every Body, premiered at Tribeca and was released theatrically by Focus Features. Called “a master class in how a documentary should be done” by The Boston Globe, it tells of three courageous intersex people who've overcome shame and secrecy to become their true selves.

Betsy West is a filmmaker, journalist, and professor emerita at the Columbia Journalism School. A 21-time Emmy Award winner, she served as executive producer of the ABC News documentary series Turning Point and as VP of News at CBS, where she oversaw 60 Minutes and 48 Hours.

More about Julie & Betsy here.

Films mentioned in this episode:

RBG (2018), Dir. Julie Cohen and Betsy West

Hoop Dreams (1994), Dir. Steve James 

Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (2022), Dir. Julie Cohen and Betsy West

Flee (2021), Dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Haulout (2022), Dir. Maxim Arbugaev and Evgenia Arbugaeva

The Endless Summer (1966), Dir. Bruce Brown

The World At War series (1973-74), Dir. David Elstein

Roger And Me (1989), Dir. Michael Moore

Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Dir. Wim Wenders

My Name is Pauli Murray (2021), Dir. Julie Cohen and Betsy West

Other Mentions:

Senator Mark Kelly 

Turning Point (ABC News)

Cinque Northern

Follow us on Instagram! @ThousandRoadsPod

Special thanks for helping make this series happen: Sara Archambault, Florence Barrau-Adams, Jon Berman, Ben Cuomo (music), Jax Deluca, Pallavi Deshpande, Nancy Gibbs, Kathleen Hughes, Caroline Kracunas, Laura Manley, Alexis Pancrazi, Liz Schwartz, Jeff Seelbach, Lindsay Underwood (logo/graphics)

This episode was supported by a fellowship at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

A new podcast about the intersection of documentary film and journalism, hosted by filmmaker Tom Casciato.

Follow us on Instagram! @ThousandRoadsPod

Special thanks for helping make this series happen: Sara Archambault, Florence Barrau-Adams, Jon Berman, Ben Cuomo (music), Jax Deluca, Pallavi Deshpande, Nancy Gibbs, Kathleen Hughes, Caroline Kracunas, Laura Manley, Alexis Pancrazi, Liz Schwartz, Jeff Seelbach, Lindsay Underwood (logo/graphics)

This episode was supported by a fellowship at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.