Doc Talk: A Deadline and Nō Studios Podcast

A documentary observing  the work of the Martha Graham Dance Company is contending for Emmy recognition, even as the company founded by the legelndary choreographer celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding. We're joined by filmmakers Cyndee Readdean and Peter Schnall to discuss all things Graham, and the dancers and choreographers of today who are carrying on her legacy.

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Tennis champ Rafael Nadal joins the show to discuss 'Rafa,' his 4-part Netflix documentary series that reveals the physical pain and psychological pressure he endured to become one of the sport's greatest of all time. Oscar-nominated director Zach Heinzerling shares insights on the intimate portrayal of Rafa and his family in his Emmy-contending series.

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With the 25th Tribeca Festival about to kick off in New York City, we're joined by festival director Cara Cusumano for a preview of Tribeca's nonfiction lineup. Among the films slated to premiere are the latest from Oscar winner Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, docs about musician Sara Bareilles, late NY Gov. Mario Cuomo, and artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, a film by California's First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and Playing POTUS, the Josh Greenbaum film about comedians who have done wickedly funny impersonations of U.S. presidents. 

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Director Felipe Bustos Sierra joins the show to discuss his award-winning documentary Everybody to Kenmure Street, a riveting account of a spontaneous protest that sprang up in Glasgow, Scotland after UK authorities attempted to stage an immigration raid. Emma Thompson serves as executive producer of the film and appears in the documentary in the guise of "Van Man," a mysterious figure who latched onto the axle of an immigration van preventing it from carting off two men seized by Home Office agents. The Kenmure Street incident became an epic standoff with repercussions  from the UK to the U.S.

Oscar-nominated actor Bruce Dern and director Mike Mendez join us to discuss Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern, their documentary premiering Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival. Dern is not only one of Hollywood's greatest actors, but one of its greatest raconteurs.

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Filmmaker Alexandria Stapleton discusses her Emmy-contending Netflix series, Sean Combs: The Reckoning, a forensic examination of the sexual misconduct allegations against the rapper, actor, and mogul that landed Combs in federal prison. It's produced by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.

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Producer-director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds join the show to share stories of making John Candy: I Like Me, their cinematic exploration of the beloved Canadian actor and SCTV sketch performer. Candy's two children plus many of his friends and famous collaborators — Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and many others — appear in this Prime Video film, a strong Emmy contender.

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The proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery would reshape the documentary landscape, putting HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films, HBO Max, Paramount+,  MTV Documentary Films and more under one roof. As major stars and filmmakers write an open letter protesting the merger, we speak with documentary veterans Marjan Safinia and Lois Vossen about the impact of the planned alliance on the nonfiction film community.

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We report from the 18th Milwaukee Film Festival, speaking two makers of two documentaries in the festival lineup: All of the Above, and Newport and the Great Folk Dream. All of the Above focuses on a world religions class taught in a Chicago public high school, while Newport examines the iconic music festival renowned for performances by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and more.

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Now entering its third year, the American Cinematheque's This Is Not a Fiction festival in Los Angeles has emerged as a major event for documentary lovers. We speak with AC film programmer Cindy Flores about this year's festival, running April 16-24. It will feature some of the greatest names in documentary, including Barbara Kopple, Gianfranco Rosi, Ross McElwee, Caveh Zahedi, and Liz Garbus among many others. The festival also features a robust lineup of mockumentaries, like Best in Show, Popstar: Never Stop Stopping, and Jackass Number Two.

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Doc Talk reports from CPH:DOX in Copenhagen. Artistic Director Niklas Engstrøm shares his highlights from the 2026 edition of the world-class festival and tells us how CPH:DOX keeps politicians at "arms length" to avoid outside interference in the program. And we visit with directors Hansen Lin and Siyi Chen who pitched their documentary Queens Ballroom at the CPH:FORUM.

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Filmmaker Julia Loktev joins us to discuss her award-winning documentary My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow, which chronicles the last independent television news source in Russia. The journalists in the film, mostly young women, found themselves treated as enemies of the state for daring to stray outside the bounds of Kremlin-approved reportage, victims of a crackdown on press freedom that only got worse after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Oscar winner Juliette Binoche speaks about her directorial debut, the documentary In-I In Motion that explores the creative process behind a unique dance and theater project she co-created with dancer-choreographer Akram Khan. The film screened at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival in Greece, where we also spoke with Head of Program Yorgos Krassakopoulos.

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Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey discuss why Mr. Nobody Against Putin prevailed as Best Documentary Feature in an upset at the Oscars. And we talk with makers of two films that just premiered at the True/False documentary festival in Columbia, MO: Josef Gatti, director of Phenomena, and director Naveen Chaubal and producer Bryn Silverman of Pinball.

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Oscar nominee Gianfranco Rosi joins the show to discuss his latest documentary feature, the lustrous Pompei: Below the Clouds, an immesion into Naples, the southern Italian city in the shadow of volcanic Mount Vesuvius. 

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We report from the European Film Market's DocSalon in Berlin, where several filmmakers discussed their work premiering in the Berlinale: Anna Fitch and Banker White, directors of YO (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), which won a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Achievement, and Mark Cousins, director of the 16-chapter The Story of Documentary Film. Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey also remember late filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, and they examine the implications of Paramount's emergence as the successful bidder for Warner Bros Discovery, home, among other things, to HBO Documentary Films.

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Filmmakers Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni discuss their 8-year journey making the feature documentary Cutting Through Rocks, which has earned them their first Oscar nominations. The New York-based directors returned to their native Iran to tell the story of a remarkable woman in a rural northwestern part of the country who defied the intensely patriarchal culture to run for a seat on the local council. Cutting Through Rocks, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, is the only Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary still without U.S. distribution, making its su...

Oscar winner Morgan Neville's new documentary Man on the Run offers an intimate look at Paul McCartney in the 10 years after he left the Beatles, as he tried to establish a new musical and personal identity after the dissolution of rock n' roll's most iconic band. The filmmaker explains how he approached interviewing Sir Paul to gain fresh insight into the least examined aspect of McCartney's career.

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We're joined by the makers of two Oscar-nominated short documentaries: Joshua Seftel, director of All the Empty Rooms, and Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton, directors of The Devil Is Busy (Gandbhir is separately nominated for directing the feature documentary The Perfect Neighbor). Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey also get into whether the new Melania documentary should be considered a success or a flop.

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Doc Talk reports from  the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, speaking with the directors of Closure, American Doctor, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, The Brittney Griner Story, and Jane Elliott Against the World. We also hear from Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, and WNBA star Griner about participating in their respective documentaries.

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Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey react to the Oscar nominations — dominated in the Best Documentary Feature category by films that premiered at Sundance. We also report from the 2026 edition of Sundance, speaking with the makers of Ghost in the Machine (premiereing in the NEXT section) and Joybubbles (premiering in U.S. Documentary Competition).

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Sundance documentary programmers Basil Tsiokos and Sudeep Sharma share insights on the nonfiction film lineup for the 2026 festival, the final one to be held in Park City, Utah. They share their picks for must-see documentary features in competition, NEXT and other sections.

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We're joined by several filmmakers hoping to earn an Oscar nomination for their documentary features: Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman, directors of The Alabama Solution; David Borenstein, director of Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and Richard Ladkani, director of Yanuni. In the Yanuni segment, we'll also speak with the producer and protagonist of the film, Brazilian Indigenous activist Juma Xipaia. 

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We explore three shortlisted documentaries: from Come See Me in the Good Light, director Ryan White joins us; director Amber Fares of Coexistence, My Ass! visits Doc Talk studios with the protagonist of her film, Israeli comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi; and from the short documentary We Were the Scenery, we welcome director Christopher Radcliff.

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Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey dissect the documentary shortlists for the 98th Academy Awards. There were major snubs (a NatGeo darling and a celebrity-oriented HBO doc) — and surprising inclusions (numerous films without U.S. distribution). Oscar winner Ridley (12 Years a Slave) gets into the documentaries that should have made the cut but didn't.

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Filmmakers Victor Kossakofsky and Lynne Sachs join us for a conversation about their latest documentaries, which premiered at IDFA. Kossakovsky's Trillion unfolds in lustrous black and white, without dialogue. Sachs' film, Every Contact Leaves a Trace, begins with her going through a stack of 600 business cards she has collected over decades, and reveals what happens when she reaches out to some of those contacts. Hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey also discuss top documentary titles heading to Sundance 2026. 

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We report from the 41st Annual IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles, speaking with newly-minted winners as they come off stage. Joining us are Tamara Kotevska (The Tale of Silyan); Petra Costa and Alessandra Orofino (Apocalypse in the Tropics); Brittany Shyne (Seeds); Alex Megaro (WTO/99), and Jenny Raskin of Impact Partners (winner of the IDA's Pioneer Award). We explore what the IDA validation means for these creatives, as well as the topic on everyone's minds: how the potential merger of Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery would impact documentary filmmakers.

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We speak with the filmmakers behind three of the top contenders in the Oscars' Best Documentary Feature category: The Tale of Silyan, directed by Tamara Kotevska; Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, directed by Sepideh Farsi, and Cover-Up, directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus. We caught up with them at SFFILM's Doc Stories in San Francisco, a 4-day film festival that has become  a critical stop during awards season.

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Doc Talk travels to Amsterdam for IDFA, the world's biggest docmentary festival. We speak with new Artistic Director Isabel Arrate Fernandez about assuming leadership of the festival after many years heading up the IDFA Bertha Fund. Arrate Fernandez discusses reaction to the festival's controversial decision to ban Israeli organiations that accept money from Israel's government to support their activities. We also visit with Brazilian filmmaker Petra Costa in Amsterdam. Her Oscar-contendng Netflix documentary, Apocalypse in the Tropics, explores the rise of Christian nationalism in Brazil. Costa tells us her film has directly led to the launch of an investigation i...

Wisdom of Happiness executive producers Richard Gere and Oren Moverman join us for a conversation about their documentary focusing on the Dalai Lama's insights into finding happiness in a world that seems full of chaos and uncertainty. Gere tells us how a technique borrowed from filmmaker Errol Morris helped transform the film into "pure magic."

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Doc Talk heads to San Francisco for SFFILM's Doc Stories festival, where we speak with SFFILM Executive Director Anne Lai and Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks. We also visit with young filmmaker Tasha Van Zandt whose documentary A Life Illuminated closed the Doc Stories festival.

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We report from the 34th Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas, the longest running nonfiction cinema festival in North America. Festival Executive Director Ken Jacobson joins us to talk about highlights from this year and the festival's Filmmaker Forum, which confronted a crisis in documentary filmmaking after the defunding of a key entity that supports PBS. And we talk with Natchez director Suzannah Herbert and producer Darcy McKinnon about their award-winning film, which screened at HSDFF.

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We visit with a couple of emerging filmmakers -- Paige Bethmann, director of Remaining Native, and Juanjo Pereira, director of Under the Flags, the Sun. Bethmann's film centers on a teenage Indigenous athlete, Ku Stevens, who dreams of running track for the University of Oregon, a goal that would take him away from the Nevada reservation where he grew up. Pereira's film reframes archive footage to explore the military dictatorship of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled Paraguay from 1954 to 1989. We recorded both interviews at the Camden International Film Festival in Maine, where Pereira and Bethmann screened their impressive work.

Two new Oscar-contending documentaries explore the peril of conflict photojournalism: Love+War, directed by Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, and Armed Only with a Camera, directed by Craig Renaud. Love+Warfocuses on Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Lynsey Addario who has captured unforgettable images from Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones, while trying to balance her work life with raising two kids with her husband. Renaud shares the story of his brother, journalist, documentary filmmaker and photographer Brent Renaud, who was killed in an ambush by Russian soldiers in Ukraine while documenting the war and displaced people.

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Oscar-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck discusses his new film Orwell: 2+2=5, about 1984 author George Orwell. We caught up with him at the Camden International Film Festival, one of the most important events on the calendar for the documentary community. At Camden, we also visited with the leaders of the Points North Insitute which puts on the festival: Executive Director Elise McCave and Artistic Director Sean Flynn. They share their perspective on the state of documentary film.

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Director Mike Figgis made the most of his opportunity to follow Francis Ford Coppola as the octogenarian filmmaker poured heart and soul, not to mention tens of millions of dollars, into making his 2024 narrative feature, Megalopolis. Figgis tells us what he observed behind the scenes as Coppola attempted to bring his cinematic vision to life, beset by creative issues that led to firings and resignations, and conflict with one of his principal actors, Shia LaBeouf. 

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Doc Talk ventures into the disturbing territory of The Yogurt Shop Murders with director and executive producer Margaret Brown, her first foray into the true crime genre. The HBO series examines the shocking execution-style slaying of four teenage girls in 1991 in an Austin, Texas frozen yogurt store, a shocking crime that remains unsolved. Brown tells us about the impact of the documentary on friends and family of the young victims, and how making it deeply affected the filmmaker and her crew.

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German director Andres Veiel joins us to discuss his expected Oscar-contending documentary Riefenstahl, about Leni Riefenstahl who was known as Hitler's favorite filmmaker. After World War II  Riefenstahl tried to play down her role in furthering Nazi ideology through her 1930s films including Triumph of the Will and Olympia, claiming she was just an artist who had taken on assignments from Hitler and his minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbles. But Veiel digs into Riefenstahl's archive, including drafts of her memoir, audio tapes and other sources to reveal she was very much in sync with what Hitler stood for.

Ahead of the 50th Toronto International Film Festival kickoff on Thursday, we get a preview of the documentary lineup from doc programmer Thom Powers. He tells us about the Paula Deen film by Bill Corben, Michèle Stephenson's True North, two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot's feature documentary and much more. He also shares insights on his new book, Mondo Documentary, a collection of his TIFF program pieces from his 20 years with the festival.

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As Emmy voting nears its conclusion, we talk with creators — and a key participant — of two of the top contenders. Will & Harper director Josh Greenbaum joins the show along with Harper Steele — the Harper of Will & Harper — whose story of going on a road trip with her pal Will Ferrell after announcing her transition is told in the Netflix film that's nominated for five Emmys. We also speak with Nyle DiMarco and Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, co-directors of Deaf President Now!, their Apple TV+ documentary about a historic student uprising at Gallaudet University, the famed private university serving the Deaf and hear...