Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

George Carlin wasn’t just a comedian, he was one of the great American artists of the later half of the 20th-Century, and he was shaped by and interacted with the great events of his day with intelligence, wit, and an ever-adapting nature.  That’s what co-director Michael Bonfiglio (with Judd Apatow) of  “George Carlin’s American Dream” explains when he sat down with Mike.

Bonfiglio’s (producer of “Paradise Lost 2 & 3”, “Some Kind of Monster” & “The Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling”) film traces the “straight” comic of the 60s, the more personal and edgy comic of the 70’s that we all know, and even the darker–but equally important, the film argues–comic of the 80s and 90s.  Michael and Mike discuss the roots of Carlin’s comedy in his Catholic school childhood in Manhattan, the birth of his comedy career in Los Angeles, and the cocaine-fueled 70s.  Throughout, his wife Brenda and daughter Kelly stood by him, and despite his solitary nature, his comedy cohort inspired and challenged him.  “George Carlin’s American Dream” is now playing on HBO.

Hidden Gem:  The Velvet Queen

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Racking up win after win, Mack Beggs is well on his way to an undefeated season and a second consecutive Texas state high school wrestling crown. But, far from being recognized as the top athlete that he is, Mack finds himself the target of criticism from parents, social media trolls and national commentators. As a young trans man, Mack wants nothing more than the opportunity to compete against other young men. But Texas law prevents this, and so Mack has no choice but to take on not only his female competitors but also the kind of vicious discrimination that is regularly inflicted against young trans athletes throughout the country. In their standout Emmy®-nominated documentary “Changing the Game”, director Michael Barnett (“Superheroes”) and producers Clare Tucker (“The Mars Generation”) and Alex Schmider (“Disclosure”) follow Mack’s victories and struggles along with two other courageous trans athletes: Sarah, a skier and activist in New Hampshire, and Andraya, a track star in Connecticut.

Joining Mike and Ken to talk about their game-changing documentary, Michael, Clare and Alex discuss the challenges of making a film about trans athletes in the context of a fraught political context. What led Michael and Clare to invite Alex, the Director of Transgender Representation at GLAAD, to join the creative team as producer, and how did their collaboration benefit the film in multiple ways? Why was it a priority for Michael that the cinematic quality of the film match the visual standards of a Nike ad? And what was the toughest scene, emotionally, to include in the film, and why was it so important for people to see it? Join us for this illuminating conversation with three filmmakers determined to go to the mat to “give these young athletes their stories back”.

“Changing the Game” is currently streaming on Hulu.

Hidden Gems:

Michael Barnett, Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story

Clare Tucker, A Thousand Cuts

Alex Schmider: No Ordinary Man

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To get involved:  TheTrevorProject.org

The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix. Listen to our recent conversations with these Emmy®-nominated directors whose documentaries are currently on Netflix:

• Andrew Rossi on "The Andy Warhol Diaries"

With 55 million matches to date, Tinder advertises itself as the world’s most popular dating app. But, back in 2019, it was one match in particular — between a Norwegian woman living in London and a charming, self-described “Prince of Diamonds” — that became a viral sensation. It turned out that “Simon Leviev” was no prince, but a convicted con artist who used Tinder to woo a series of women in an elaborate Ponzi scheme that left them emotionally devastated and thousands of dollars in debt. In the thrilling and eye-opening Emmy®-nominated Netflix documentary “The Tinder Swindler”, filmmaker Felicity Morris (“Don’t F**k With Cats”) deftly tracks the story of three courageous women who went public with their stories of being conned by Leviev and sought their own measure of sweet justice. 

Talking to Mike and Ken from her home base in London, Felicity gives her inside take on the swindle and on the making of the film. How did Simon go beyond the conventions of a more traditional con to create such a successful emotional one? How was the story of Ayleen Charlotte, a Dutch woman defrauded by Simon, the key to unlocking the film’s third act? And why does Felicity think that “The Tinder Swindler” — Netflix's most popular documentary of all-time when it launched — resonates so deeply with people? Answers to these questions and more can be found in our podcast interview with Felicity. Just remember to “press play” rather than to “swipe right”.

“The Tinder Swindler” is currently streaming on Netflix. You can also learn more on Felicity’s podcast, “The Making of a Swindler”, available on “You Can’t Make This Up”.

Hidden Gem:  “’Twas the Fight Before Christmas”

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix. Listen to our recent conversations with these Emmy®-nominated directors whose documentaries are currently on Netflix:

• Andrew Rossi on "The Andy Warhol Diaries"

It’s more than a song.  As Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller (“Ballet Russes”, “The Galapagos Affair”) point out in their new documentary, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is a journey.  A journey of artistic and spiritual discovery, a 7-year Odyssey of composition, and, once all but lost, an even longer journey to find its place as one of our most admired songs, admiration which take the form of critical praise and popular renditions that can be found in Dreamworks movies and primetime talent shows.  Join Mike as he travels this decades-long path with Dayna and Dan.  

“Hallelujah:  Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song,” from Sony Pictures Classics, is now playing in select cities.

Hidden Gems:

The Truffle Hunters

The Five Obstructions

Leonard Cohen Covers:

Sharon Robinson’s “Alexandra Leaving” on YouTube or Spotify

Emmylou Harris’ “The Stranger Song” on YouTube or Spotify

Roberta Flack’s “Suzanne” on YouTube or Spotify 

Also discussed:

The Holy and the Broken:  Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”

Howling at the Moon: The Odyssey of a Monstrous Music Mogul in an Age of Excess

Coined by a Harvard psychologist in the 1980s, the “Martha Mitchell Effect” describes a process in which a person’s beliefs are initially labeled as delusional but later turn out to be true. But who was the real Martha Mitchell? What were her claims about Watergate? And why, until now, has she been largely erased from our collective memory?

Opening up to Ken about their riveting all-archival documentary short “The Martha Mitchell Effect”, filmmakers Anne Alvergue and Debra McClutchy describe how they set out to widen the lens on Watergate beyond “All the President’s Men” to include the key perspective of Martha Mitchell, wife of former Attorney General and Nixon campaign chief John Mitchell. Dismissed at the time as being crazy and a drunk, Martha was, in fact, the victim of a well-planned gaslighting campaign hatched by Nixon, his top aides and even her own husband. Stunning in its revelations and highly immersive in its creative approach, this powerful film will no doubt leave you with a new perspective on those dark days of American history. Speaking truth to power tends to have that effect on people.

“The Martha Mitchell Effect” is now streaming on Netflix.

Hidden Gems:

Debra: “More Than I Remember” by Amy Bench

Anne: “Deerwoods Deathtrap” by James P. Gannon

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.  Listen to our recent conversations with directors whose documentaries are currently on Netflix:

• Rory Kennedy on "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing"

Love and Lava, Magma and Matrimony.  Sara Dosa’s (“The Last Season”, “The Seer and the Unseen”)  “Fire of Love” encourages such puns, and that’s no accident:  The film explores the relationship of Katia and Maurice Krafft, married volcanologists as they chart the world's volcanoes from the late 1960s until their untimely deaths in 1993.  It’s a film that takes science seriously, but, like its subjects, isn’t afraid to have some fun.

Join Mike as he speaks with Sara about how she’s reworking the standard nature documentary:  How her narrator, Miranda July, explores science as inquiry rather than established fact, and how by juxtaposing seemingly whimsical graphics, Dosa complicates the standard narrative.  How does the growing relationship between the Kraffts echo their relationship with volcanoes?  What role do the twin montages at the heart of the film play in developing both those relationships?  How did the Kraffts differ when it came to dealing with the deadly reality of volcanic exploration?  Finally, how did their interests develop toward the ends of their lives as they began to focus more on the effects of volcanoes on humans, and what is their ultimate legacy?

“Fire of Love” from National Geographic Documentary Films can now be seen in select cities and will be rolling out across the U.S. over the summer.

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Sha’Carri Richardson is fast. Really, really, really fast. At the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials, Sha’Carri, only 21 at the time, ran the 100-meter finals in 10.84 seconds, more than a tenth of a second faster than her closest competitor. In “Sub Eleven Seconds”, his artfully crafted documentary portrait of this superstar athlete at a moment of peak performance, the director Bafic captures Sha’Carri’s split-second athletic brilliance, refreshing honesty and totally original style.

As part of our focus on NextGen filmmakers — up-and-coming talents in the documentary world — “Top Docs” is pleased to be partnering with the 28th Palm Springs International ShortFest  (June 21 – 27) to feature several filmmakers with outstanding documentary shorts in this year’s festival. In this episode, Ken and Bafic explore a wide range of filmmaking topics, from the lessons the filmmaker gleaned from Francis Ford Coppola about identifying the core idea of one’s film (in this case, time itself); to Errol Morris’s famous interviewing device, the Interrotron; and the huge influence of the Texas-based music genre “chopped and screwed” on the film’s most critical sequence. “Sub Eleven Seconds” screened as part of the ShortFest documentary shorts block called “Truth Be Told”.

Check out the film at NewYorker.com or YouTube and then take the time to listen to our podcast.

Hidden Gem: Lock Off by Akwasi Poku.

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.  Listen to our recent conversations with directors whose documentaries are currently on Netflix:

• Rory Kennedy on "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing"

In a small town in India, a cow vigilante group seeks to recruit teenage boys to join its ranks. Who are these so-called cow vigilantes and how are they using the welfare of the cow, which is sacred to India’s majority Hindu population, to fan the flames of nationalist extremism? In Varun Chopra’s fascinating, multifaceted and provocative new short documentary “Holy Cowboys”, the filmmaker follows Gopal and his friends as they come under the powerful influence of one such group that, in the name of protecting cows, espouses violence against those, including Muslims, who do not share their beliefs and practices.

As part of our focus on NextGen filmmakers — up-and-coming talents in the documentary world — “Top Docs” is pleased to be partnering with the 28th Palm Springs International ShortFest (June 21 – 27) to feature several filmmakers with outstanding documentary shorts in this year’s festival. In this episode, Ken talks to Varun about his nuanced, inventive portrait of Gopal and the larger cultural, political and economic context surrounding his story.

“Holy Cowboys” is part of the documentary shorts block called “Higher Ground” screening Saturday, June 26th at 10:00 AM at the Camelot Theatres, Palm Springs. For more information about ShortFest and “Holy Cowboys”, please go to: https://psfilmfest.org/2022-shortfest

Short doc recommendation: “A Broken House” by Jimmy Goldblum

The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.  Listen to our recent conversations with directors whose documentaries are currently on Netflix:

• Rory Kennedy on "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing"

Like a freshly sculpted work of clay, director Rebeca Huntt’s stunning documentary debut BEBA captures in real-time her family’s fluid interpersonal dynamics; the complicated legacies of inherited national, ethnic and racial identity; and her own brewing caldron of coming-of-age dramatics. To call it a “personal film” is both a wild understatement and a reductive miscalculation: “BEBA”, for all its personal complexities, is a profound spiritual quest intended to stir existential questions in the audience and provoke a deep dialogue. Shot in vivid and pulsating 16mm film, “BEBA” is also a feast for the senses and a fever dream for the imagination. In short, it is a film to be reckoned with — and not to be missed.

Fresh off the film’s Tribeca Film Festival screening in her hometown of New York City, which plays a starring role in the film, Rebeca shares with Ken her searching personal journey and eight-year creative quest to bring “BEBA” to life. What was the “meta” experience like of making a film about her life, while at the same time living in the day-to-day? How did the probing interviews that she conducted with her family reveal fascinating truths, but also bring simmering tensions to the surface? Why was film the perfect medium to express everything that she was experiencing and wanted to convey? Join us as Rebeca sheds light on “BEBA”, both the film and the person, two powerful creative forces in the universe.

“BEBA” is being released in theaters by NEON starting on June 24th.

Hidden Gem: “Finding Christa”, “Suzanne, Suzanne”; both by Camille Billops

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The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.  Listen to our recent conversations with directors whose documentaries are currently on Netflix:

• Rory Kennedy on "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing"

A phone call between mother and daughter. A bad dream. Home movies. Seems simple, yet Ash Goh Hua’s short documentary “The Feeling of Being Close to You” expertly navigates physical and emotional space to provide a compelling, affecting story of attempted reconciliation.

“The Feeling of Being Close to You” will play at the The Palm Springs International ShortFest as part of the “In Search of Lost Time” series on Thursday, June 23rd 2PM, at the Camelot Theatres (Palm Springs Cultural Center).  We are delighted to be partnering with Shortfest to promote promising NextGen filmmakers. And if you can’t make it to Palm Springs, on June 25th it will play Brooklyn’s BAM CinemaFest.

Hidden Gem:  Learning Tagalog with Kayla

Follow on Twitter: @topdocspod

The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.  Listen to our recent conversations with directors whose documentaries are currently on Netflix:

• Rory Kennedy on "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing"