Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

Hollyn and Colie are range riders. Every day during the summer, these highly skilled hired hands ride their horses across the remote, rugged Idaho mountains, pushing cows across sky-high ridges to their final destination. It’s hard work for low pay, but the rewards are plentiful: the thrill of the open range, the symbiotic relationship with their animals, and, not least of all, the close bond of friendship with each other. In her magical new documentary “Bitterbrush”, Emmy®, Peabody and Sundance Award-winning filmmaker Emelie Mahdavian (producer/writer/editor, “Midnight Traveler”) poetically and precisely captures the sights, sounds and timeless rhythms of this fiercely beautiful landscape. She also shows us, as few have before, the mutual love and support (and humor) that can happen between two women who care for each other as much as the land that will always be home.

Joining Ken for a wide-ranging conversation, Emelie describes how, living in this part of Idaho herself, she came to meet Hollyn and Colie and embark on this unique cinematic journey. In what ways did she avoid the clichés and tropes of the Western genre to forge her own narrative path? How did she and her cinematographers develop the right camera rigs to shoot images both awe-inspiring and intimate in such a challenging environment? And how did a magnetic 12-minute scene reveal as much to Colie about herself as it did to those watching? Saddle up and come along for this fascinating conversational ride.

“Bitterbrush” is being released in theaters by Magnolia Pictures starting on June 17th.

Hidden Gem: 

Listening to Kenny G

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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"

Andrew Rossi on "The Andy Warhol Diaries"

Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah on "jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy"

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 Pavel Mozhar, director of the IDFA-award-winning short documentary “Handbook”, a chilling exposé of the mass arrest and torture of protestors in the filmmaker’s native country of Belarus. Pavel, who now lives and goes to film school in Berlin, takes a unique, genre-bending approach to documenting the Lukashenko regime’s brutal and highly systematized tactics used against its own citizens following the presidential election in August 2020.

“Handbook”, which has its North American premiere at ShortFest, is part of the documentary shorts block called “A Dose of Reality” screening Saturday, June 25th at 10:00 AM at the Camelot Theatres, Palm Springs. For more information about ShortFest and “Handbook”, please go to: https://psfilmfest.org/2022-shortfest

Short doc recommendation from Pavel:

“89MM from Europe” by Marcel Łoziński

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What more can be said about Andy Warhol? Campbell’s Soup. Marilyn Monroe. Pop Art. The Factory. Fright wig. 15 minutes. Connect the dots and you feel pretty confident in your short-hand knowledge of who Warhol was and his place in modern art and contemporary culture. But, as much as Andy Warhol is a household name when it comes to 1960’s celebrity icons, not a lot is known about Warhol’s interior life or his intimate relationships. Using Warhol’s diaries (published just two years after his death) as a springboard, Emmy Award®-nominated filmmaker Andrew Rossi (“Page One: Inside the New York Times”, “Ivory Tower”) takes aim at those parts of Warhol’s life and career that are far less familiar to us. The result, Rossi’s sprawling new, must-see six-part Netflix series “The Andy Warhol Diaries”, is a fascinating portrait of the man who stated his desire to be “like a machine,” but, in reality, was a deeply emotional person whose intimate relationships and vulnerabilities reveal much about who he was and offer valuable insights into the enduring brilliance of his art.

How did Rossi use new A.I. technology, and the skills of actor Bill Irwin, to create a chillingly lifelike version of Warhol’s voice? Who were Jed Johnson and Jon Gould, and in what ways do these men unlock the key to understanding Warhol’s emotional life? Why was it so important to Rossi to explicate Warhol’s diaries as a seminal queer text? How did Warhol’s complicated relationship with the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat lead to one of the most creatively fruitful collaborations in the history of modern art? The truth is Andy Warhol was famous for a lot longer than 15 minutes. But now — thanks to Andrew Rossi’s masterful, exhaustively researched and richly-layered series — we have a window into the off-screen Warhol. It turns out that all the things that he was not famous for give us a whole new perspective on the artist and the man.

Now on Netflix

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An expat journalist reflects on the recent revolutions that have transformed her native Ukraine. A filmmaker, looking for spiritual advice, goes to a secretive Buddhist monastery in Kyoto. A mother grieves for her young son and seeks answers about why childhood drownings are shockingly common. A young dancer finds her way back to performing after experiencing a life-changing swimming accident. What do these four compelling films have in common? The answer: in each case, a first-time feature documentary director shares a deeply personal point of view that can only be fully explored by turning the camera on him or herself. They are also the four films featured in “Top Docs”’ first live, in-person event, a lively, illuminating and emotional panel discussion called “In the Frame: The Art of Personal Documentary”.

On Saturday, May 14, at the recently concluded 41st Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, “Top Docs” brought together filmmakers Katya Soldak (“The Long Breakup”), Ahsen Nadeem (“Crows Are White”), Chezik Tsunoda (“Drowning in Silence”), and Kelsey Peterson and Daniel Klein (“Move Me”), whose films were screening at the festival. Moderated by Ken, the panel delved into such questions as: What brought you to the critical creative moment when you decided to go on camera? What makes a personal documentary different from other modes of documentary storytelling? How did you navigate the sensitive issue of whether to film your friends and family? And where did you find the courage to excavate your own archive of home movie footage even if that meant potentially reliving personal trauma? It’s a remarkably frank conversation with four filmmakers just stepping onto the feature documentary stage, and one that we know you won’t want to miss.

“In the Frame” is the first in a series of “Top Docs” podcast events that spotlights the next-gen wave of up-and-coming documentary filmmakers. Stay tuned for more next-gen interviews as part of our partnership with the Palm Springs International ShortFest, which takes place June 21 – 27 in Palm Springs, CA. See https://psfilmfest.org/2022-shortfest for more details about ShortFest.

“If it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going” was a phrase uttered by generations of pilots in reference to the storied Seattle-based company that was virtually synonymous with American engineering know-how. But, in 2018, a practically brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft crashed soon after takeoff in Indonesia, followed five months later by a second 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia. All told, between the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights, 346 people were killed. And Boeing’s reputation lay in tatters. In her searing new Netflix documentary “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing”, Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy (“Last Days in Vietnam”, “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”) sets out to examine not only how and why these planes went down, but to explain the crash of Boeing itself.

Rory joins Mike and Ken on “Top Docs” to talk about her collaboration with former Wall Street Journal reporter Andy Pasztor who doggedly investigated Boeing. Why was he a perfect guide for telling this story? In what ways did the family members of those who died in the crashes prove to be among the most articulate and knowledgeable voices about the crashes? What was the one condition that Garima Sethi, the widow of the Lion Air pilot, put on doing an interview with Rory, and how did Rory convince her that this was, indeed, the one thing that she had to talk about? How did Rep. Peter DeFazio help break open the “case against Boeing”? After all this, would Rory herself set foot on a 737 MAX today? You’ll want to stay tuned to the end of the podcast to find out. The answer may change how you feel about the next flight you take.

“Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” is currently streaming on Netflix.

Hidden Gem:  Moon Age Daydream

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Long before Kanye West became one of the most famous people on the planet, he was a 19-year-old up-and-coming producer of beats trying to make a name for himself in the local Chicago rap scene. Enter comedian Coodie Simmons, host of a local cable access show, who — taking inspiration from the landmark documentary “Hoop Dreams” — decided to turn his camera full-time on Kanye, sensing the young rapper had what it took to make it big. Now, 24 years and over 300 hours of footage later, Kanye is a household name and Coodie’s dreams for creating an epic documentary have also come true. Directed by Coodie and his longtime collaborator Chike Ozah, the new three-part Netflix docuseries, “jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy” is an unprecedented, longitudinal portrait of a huge global superstar that tracks, in real-time, Kanye West’s rise to — and struggles with — fame.

Joining Ken for a wide-ranging conversation about their remarkably intimate and beautifully crafted documentary, the captivating duo of Coodie & Chike (“Benji”, “A Kid from Coney Island”) take us on the long, winding journey that led from the streets of Chicago into the recording studios of New York City and LA, and, eventually, as Kanye became a global phenomenon, to such places as the Dominican Republic and China. What is it like to have Kanye’s mother embrace you as a member of her own family — and then to have to face the wrenching task of putting together a memorial video of her life when she dies suddenly just a few years later? How does one make the hard decision, after filming one’s “young brother” for decades, that, in certain uncomfortable situations, turning off the camera may be the right call? And, ever the comedian, why did Coodie think the comedic device of the “callback” would be the perfect way to make Kanye West’s retainer (yes, the budding rap star wore a retainer) one of the film’s most memorable recurring bits? As Coodie says in the documentary, “Everything happens for a reason.”

“jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy” is currently streaming on Netflix.

Hidden Gems:

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling

The Gods Must Be Crazy

In “Sirens”, Rita Baghdadi (“My Country No More”, “City Rising”) joins to Mike to discuss her portrayal of the all-women Lebanese heavy metal band Slave to Sirens, with a focus on Sherry, the virtuosic lead guitarist, and Lilas, the rhythm guitarist who is the charismatic center of the band.  As much a coming of age story as a rock doc, “Sirens” explores not only their music, but the lives, relationships, and loves of their young lives.  In this highly layered film, the backdrop is the revolutionary Beirut of 2019 and beyond, and the impact of that country’s ever-hopeful and ever-tragic fate can be felt in their views of the past, present, and future.

Hidden Gem: 

Fraud

“Sirens” screenings at the Minneapolis Saint Paul International Film Festival

Friday, May 13 | 9:45 PM | The Main

Wednesday, May 18 | 7:00 PM | The Main

For more information about the Festival, go to: https://mspfilm.org/festivals/mspiff/ 

“He's not a dusty antique from the past; he's the beginning of now”  That’s how Marc Shaffer describes the subject of his film, Exposing Muybridge.  Mike and Marc explore the strange and varied career of Eadweard Muybridge (just one of the many versions of the name he gave himself over the years).  Born in Britain, he moved to New York to sell books, and then to San Francisco to become an early photographer of the American West as well as its native inhabitants.  He then had the fortune (both good and mis-) to garner Leland Stanford, rail tycoon and Californian politician, as a patron.  He started with photographs of Stanford’s family, but then moved on to the series of pictures that would make him a known worldwide:  Proving the long-argued notion that at some point in full gallop, all 4 of a horse's hooves leave the ground. 

Disavowed by Leland Stanford just as he was about to be honored by the Royal Society of his home country, Muybridge returned to America and supported by the likes of painter Thomas Eakins, took up residency at The University of Pennsylvania.  Here he continued his motion studies, but as Shaffer and his experts demonstrate, in a manner that revealed as much about the mores and prejudices of his day as they do about the nature of motion.

Aided by the exemplary explanatory mode of none other than Muybridge fan and collector Gary Oldman, Schaffer reveals much about Muybridge’s life, technique, and art.  And he demonstrates the impact on our culture from Francis Bacon, to The Matrix, to Jordan Peele.

“Exposing Muybridge” screenings at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival

• Monday, May 9 | 4:40 PM | The Main

For more information about the Festival, go to: https://mspfilm.org/festivals/mspiff/

Hidden Gem:

Hearts of Darkness

In 1976, a curator at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnography discovered a long-forgotten item stored away in the museum’s collection: a series of stark but stirring daguerreotypes taken in 1850 that are believed to be the oldest photographs of enslaved Africans in the U.S. While the discovery made headlines across the country, they did not prompt a serious inquiry by Harvard to find out more about the photographic subjects, who included a man called Renty and his daughter Delia. David Grubin’s soul-searching documentary “Free Renty: Lanier v. Harvard” reveals the story behind the people in the photographs and the long, heroic quest of Tamara Lanier, Renty’s great great great granddaughter, to convince Harvard to turn over what she considers to be her family pictures.

Joining Ken to talk about “Free Renty”, director David Grubin describes how this film journey began with a conversation with his cousin Michael Koskoff, one of Tammy’s lawyers in her lawsuit against Harvard. How did Tammy also get Benjamin Crump, one of the nation’s most prominent civil rights attorneys, to take on the case? What happened to make the legal team, all of a sudden, pivot from avoiding the word “reparations” in its legal argument to embracing the term with gusto? And how did the plot thicken when Tammy came face-to-face with the descendants of Louis Agassiz, the renowned but racist Harvard professor who originally commissioned the daguerreotypes? Whatever the legal case’s ultimate outcome, this eloquent documentary makes it clear that, by telling Papa Renty’s story, Tammy has finally given voice to her enslaved ancestors and re-claimed the true power and the humanity behind these cruel images.

Our Top Docs conversation with David Grubin is part of our partnership with the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (May 5 – 19, 2022) to spotlight the more than 40 documentary feature films screening at this year’s festival.

“Free Renty Lanier v. Harvard” screenings at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival:

• Sunday, May 15, 4:00 PM CT, Capri Theater, Minneapolis

David Grubin will be attending both screenings.

The film is also available to be screened virtually during the Festival and is accessible throughout the U.S.

For more information about the Festival, go to: https://mspfilm.org/festivals/mspiff/

Hidden Gem:  

Listening to Kenny G

While over the decades, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has periodically been front page news in America, for the most part, the issue has not taken center stage in U.S. politics. But what if it turned out that, unbeknownst to the vast majority of Americans, state legislatures throughout the country have been approving bills that not only took a stand on the conflict, but actually penalized some Americans for expressing an opinion on the issue? In her revelatory and thoroughly gripping documentary “Boycott”, director Julia Bacha has uncovered a widespread and deeply disturbing effort over the last several years to punish individuals or companies that support the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) Movement against Israel — or even refuse to sign an oath stating that they have not participated in any such boycotts.

Ken sat down with Julia to find out more about this vastly under-reported and troubling story and to hear about the creative challenges involved in reaching audiences that may not have heard much — or anything — about the issue. What drew her to the three central characters in the film and their uphill legal challenges to the law? How did she react, when, suddenly, out of the blue, she ran into an Arkansas state senator who had some surprising revelations to share about his vote on the state’s anti-BDS measure? How did Julia connect the dots between the Israeli government, the U.S. Christian fundamentalist movement and the Democratic and Republican Parties? As the facts pile up and the revelations keep coming, it becomes clear that the issues raised by “Boycott” are sure to make us stand up and pay attention. Nothing less than the First Amendment is at stake.

Our Top Docs conversation with Julia Bacha is part of our partnership with the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (May 5 – 19, 2022) to spotlight the more than 40 documentary feature films screening at this year’s festival.

Information about the “Boycott” screenings at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival:

“Boycott” screens in-person at The MSP Film at The Main Theatre in Minneapolis:

Wednesday, May 18, 6:30 PM CT, The Main 2

Thursday, May 19, 12:30 PM CT, The Main 2

Julia Bacha will be attending both screenings.

For residents of Minnesota only, the film also can be screened virtually during the Festival.

More information about the screenings can be found here.

Hidden Gem:

Elena