Pure Nonfiction: Inside Documentary Film Pure Nonfiction

Pure Nonfiction partnered with The Ankler for a live event in Los Angeles that highlighted documentary projects eligible for this year’s Emmys. On this episode, host Thom Powers interviews the teams behind five different episodic series:

- Andrew Jarecki on The Jinx - Part Two

- Prentice Penny on Black Twitter: A People’s History

- Sam Lipman-Stern and Adam Bhala Lough on Telemarketers

- Jasha Klebe on Our Planet II

- Fisher Stevens on Beckham

Whether or not you’ve seen these projects, the interviews bring insight into a wide variety of filmmaking styles. On the next episode, we hear from the filmmakers behind five Emmy contenders in the categories for feature documentary.

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"Flipside" is a personal essay film in which director Chris Wilcha grapples with middle age by trying to document the New Jersey record store where he worked as a teenager. In the process, he returns to multiple other documentary projects that never came to fruition - interweaving interviews with jazz photographer Herman Leonard, TV writer David Milch, radio host Ira Glass, writer Starlee Kine, director Judd Apatow, comedian Uncle Floyd, and others.

This subject hits close to home for Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers who was once was featured in the New York Times article Untold Stories, Abandoned Films about his own unfinished films.

Flipside is now playing in theaters from Oscilloscope Laboratories.

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Indian documentary film has been gaining world renown with Peabody Awards, Oscar nominations and other recognition. A key trailblazer for this movement is Anand Patwardhan who has grappled with India's most hot button political issues in films such as "Reason" and "Father, Son and the Holy War." Now in his 70s, he's releasing his most personal film "The World is Family." He profiles his parents whose lives were intertwined with India's fight for independence.

Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed Anand at the Toronto International Film Festival where "The World is Family" made its debut. Anand's next festival stop is the New York Indian Film Festival on June 1. See this article in Indiewire where esteemed Indian directors including Shaunak Sen and Vinay Shukla pay tribute to Anand.

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"Songs of Earth" is both a love story and a cinematic exploration of nature. Filmmaker Margreth Olin profiles her parents while immersing us in Norway's landscape of glaciers, fjords and waterfalls. After winning acclaim at festivals from CPH:DOX to TIFF, the film is now playing in U.S. theaters from Strand Releasing. It begs to be experienced on a big screen. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviews Margreth about her attention to the image capturing, sound design, and the profound experience of screening the film in her family’s village.

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Rob Reiner started his directing career with the spoof documentary "This is Spinal Tap" and is now editing a sequel. He has a new documentary now playing on Max, "Albert Brooks: Defending My Life" that traces six years of friendship between the two filmmakers.

On Instagram: @purenonfiction @thompowers1

During the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, Yousef Srouji was a boy living with his family in the West Bank town of Beit Jala. His mother Suha used a camcorder to capture family life including when they were forced to take shelter from gunfire and explosions. Years later, Yousef discovered the footage and turned it into the film Three Promises that won the top jury prize at the Camden International Film Festival. Now the film is opening in New York at the DCTV Firehouse Cinema.

Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed Yousef from his home in Ramallah. They discuss his career as "an accidental filmmaker" and his motives to return to Palestine after his family moved away.

On Instagram: @purenonfiction @thompowers1