Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

Continuing our coverage live from Sundance, we are once again joined by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss (Boys State, Girls State, The Mission) to discuss their new film, “Middletown”, which depicts a charismatic high school teacher in Upstate New York who in the 1990s led a “Breakfast Club”-like group of his students to investigate the town dump–which almost certainly had stored dangerous refuse without proper care–and ultimately to challenge the town leaders in a televised program recorded in a homemade studio they had built in their high school. 

The film is certainly about the power of education, but it also explores the ways that the early-stage personal video technology that would come to define our own times had once opened an aperture of empowerment for young people, one that now seems almost naive.  And it implicitly presents a case in these dark times for the necessity for investment in civic engagement and local democracy.

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix. 

Joining us for the 4th year in a row, Variety’s Senior Awards Editor Clayton Davis is back on “Top Docs” to break down this year’s Oscar races for Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short and to offer his predictions for who will walk away victorious on March 2nd. With this year’s feature doc race the closest thing to a real toss-up in years, you don’t want to miss Clayton’s analysis and final picks.

And be sure to catch up on all of the Oscar-nominated films in the documentary feature and shorts categories by listening to our “Top Docs” interviews with all ten of the nominees.

Clayton Davis is Variety’s Senior Awards Editor. He is also one of the hosts of the "Variety Awards Circuit Podcast" and the video web series, "The Take." He's been an awards, film and television analyst and critic for more than 15 years and has co-hosted the Oscars Pre-Show on ABC. Clayton is also co-founder and president of the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association and is a board member of the Critics Choice Association.

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Rounding out our coverage of the 2025 Academy Award nominees, we are joined by producers Bill Morrison (“Decasia”, “The Dockworker's Dream”, Dawson City: Frozen Time) and Jamie Kalven (of the Invisible Institute) to discuss their Oscar-nominated short, “Incident,” which depicts the police shooting of Harith “Snoop” Augustus and it’s immediate aftermath from several angles.  

Using body camera and other footage (and only that footage) that the Chicago Police–as required by law, one that Jamie had advocated for in the wake of the coverup of the shooting of Laquan McDonald–Bill has crafted a film which draws upon editing skills built through years of working with archival material, but one which is significantly more immediate and urgent than his previously beautiful and implicitly philosophically profound works.  What we witness is two narratives being formed about what happened, and to whom:  One from the police, the other from the Southside Chicago community that witnessed the events.  And we can see at work the deep causes of what happened embedded in American gun culture and the resulting police policies and practices.

“Incident” can be seen on the New Yorker Website.

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Ema Ryan Yamazaki attended Japanese elementary school, then an international school before heading to New York for her college education.  In “Instruments of a Beating Heart”, her Academy Award Nominated short, she reveals some of the differences she found between national pedagogies, and some of the key learnings which have made her who she is.

Told through the efforts of 1st-grader Ayame to pass the audition to play the cymbal, an important part of the percussive ensemble at the heart of Ode to Joy, Yamazaki’s film reveals the impact that the interplay of individuation and acculturation has on this exuberant, expressive girl.  And she paints the outlines of how she is being brought into a society that values collective harmony.

“Instruments of a Beating Heart” can be seen on The New York Times website and Youtube.

Hidden Gem:  Puffling

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.

In Smriti Mundhra’s (“St. Louis Superman,” “Indian Matchmaking”) recently Oscar-nominated documentary short, “I Am Ready, Warden,” John Henry Ramirez speaks direct to camera and says, “If you all are seeing this, it means the state of Texas has murdered me…” For the audience, it’s a punch to the gut, a spoiler, and an announcement of what’s at stake in this life-and-death story.

Director Smriti Mundhra and producer Maya Gnyp join Ken on the pod to discuss their thought-provoking and nuanced film, which brings together multiple perspectives on Ramirez and the death penalty. The result is an unexpected and moving portrait of people grappling not just with a horrific crime, but its aftermath, and with the ramifications of what happens after the death penalty is carried out. When Aaron Castro, who was 14 when his father was killed by Ramirez, hears the news of Ramirez’s execution, the impact is every bit as powerful as the opening scene. It’s not necessarily what you expect to hear — and that’s the point.

“I Am Ready, Warden” is released by MTV Documentary Films and is currently streaming on Paramount+.

Hidden Gems:

Smriti:

“Junun”

“Flipside”

“Three Songs for Benazir”

“Dahomey”

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.

When documentary filmmaker Kim A. Snyder began her directing career, she didn’t set out to make a string of films about school shootings and their aftermaths. But, from “Newtown” (2016) to “US Kids” (2020), and now with her Oscar-nominated short documentary “Death by Numbers,” Kim has brought critical attention to the issue and built deep relationships with the young survivors of those shootings. For “Death by Numbers,” Kim partners with Sam Fuentes, a survivor of the Parkland, FL shootings, who has written powerfully about the horrors of that day and the traumas that followed.

Kim and Sam join Ken on the pod to discuss Sam’s journal writings that are the basis for the film and to reflect on the events surrounding the sentencing trial for the shooter who killed 17 students and staff and now faces a possible death sentence. Asked by her former teacher to speak on her classmates’ behalf at the trial’s conclusion, Sam, through her ongoing pain, delivers a victim impact statement of undeniable power and eloquence. The Parkland high school students who lived through those terrible events in 2018 are now in their early 20’s, and they will be heard.

Hidden Gems:

Kim: “Zurawski v Texas”

Sam: “Dovecote”

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.

One of the most haunting moments in director Mstyslav Chernov’s harrowing new documentary “2000 Meters to Andriivka” — a follow up to his Oscar-winning “20 Days in Mariupol” — is a rather prosaic conversation about handmade cigarettes between the filmmaker and a Ukrainian soldier as they huddle in a foxhole while artillery shells explode around them. What makes this scene so chilling is its very ordinariness, and the fact that, by the end of the conversation, we will learn from the director’s voice over that this soldier will be killed on another battlefield several months later.

Joining Ken for a live, in-person interview at Sundance 2025 just after the film’s world premiere, Mstyslav shares his experience of embedding with soldiers in Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade as they set out, on one long day during the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the summer of 2023, to plant the Ukrainian flag in the recently recaptured village of Andriivka, Running alongside this saga is the story, told through footage recorded by the Ukrainian soldiers’ helmet-mounted cameras, of how these brave soldiers fought one meter at a time to reclaim Andriivka. By the end of “2000 Meters,” it’s clear that there’s nothing left to save of the village except its name. How Andriivka — and those who died along the way — will be remembered is but one of the lingering questions that this unforgettable film dares to ask.

Mstyslav Chernov was awarded the Jury Award for Directing, World Cinema Documentary, at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Also, check out our “Top Docs” conversation with Mstyslav about “20 Days in Mariupol.”

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The 15th UN General Assembly of September 1960 may not seem like the most avant-garde topic for a cinematically adventurous documentary, but don’t tell that to director Johan Grimonprez. His stunningly creative “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” recently named to the Oscar Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature, is a cinematic high point of 2024 and also one of the year’s most thoroughly engaging historical/political dramas.

Johan joins Ken on the pod to discuss the events surrounding the truncated political independence that was “granted” to the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in June 1960 by the Belgian government. Soon after, Belgium (Johan’s home country) and the US joined forces with the UN leadership to undermine the Congo’s newly elected prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, who had emerged as a dynamic leader of the nascent united Africa movement. Lumumba’s downfall plays out in the bitterly divided 15th UN Assembly. Nikita Khruschev, Malcolm X and Fidel Castro appear alongside jazz legends Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln and others, who also play a key role in the story… and in the soundtrack.

“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” is released by Kino Lorber.

Hidden Gem:

“Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey”

“Close-Up”

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.

Continuing our Academy Award coverage, today we speak with Alexis Bloom about her documentary, "The Bibi Files," which has been Oscar-shortlisted.  

"The Bibi Files" features never-before seen police interrogations of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, his wife Sara, their son Yair and many of their friends, associates, and people who have sought their influence. The results of these interviews led to Netanyahu being indicted for breach of trust, bribery, and fraud in 2019. 

As you’ll hear, the consequences of Netanyahu’s legal troubles go far beyond his own freedom–they very much feed into the rightward turn in Israeli politics over the last few years, may have played a role in Israeli’s complete unpreparedness for the Hamas attacks on Oct 7 of 2023, and almost certainly are extending the tragic conflict in Gaza and Lebanon. 

You can stream "The Bibi Files" on Jolt.

Hidden Gem:

“War Game”

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Road trips — and road trip movies — are as American as apple pie. And now, currently streaming on Netflix, we have director Josh Greenbaum’s poignant and very funny documentary “Will & Harper,” which tags along on a cross country road trip with close friends Will Ferrell and Harper Steele as the two navigate Harper’s recent transition as a woman. Since meeting during their first week on staff together at “Saturday Night Love,” they’ve been tight ever since. But when Harper sends Will an email coming out as a trans woman, she can’t be sure how her famous comedian friend will react. In short order, Will proposes a road trip so that they can ask all those questions that arise after such a big change.

Director Josh Greenbaum joins Ken on the pod to discuss all the joys and bumps on the road that transpired over the course of Will and Harper’s epic 16-day journey to such noted tourist destinations as the Grand Canyon… and a dive bar in Meeker, Oklahoma. Along the way, the two tackle such questions as, “What are the new ground rules for the friendship, if any?” “Can Harper still feel safe and comfortable in the same kind of places she used to visit as a man?” And “How are your boobs??” The laughs and the tears come in equal measure. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

“Will & Harper” has recently been named to the Oscar Shortlist for Best Documentary Feature, and “Harper and Will Go West,” the theme song for the trip written by Kristin Wiig, has been named to the Oscar Shortlist for Best Original Song.

Hidden Gem:

“Anvil! The Story of Anvil”

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.