Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

michaellouismerrill
Top Docs:  Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

Mike and Ken interview award-winning documentary filmmakers on their latest projects, their art, and their process

  1. ВЫПУСК 188

    "American Nightmare" with Felicity Morris & Bernadette Higgins

    In 2015, a young California couple, Aaron Quinn and Denise Huskins, was awakened by a home invasion, drugged, and blindfolded; Denise was kidnapped. But that isn’t the only disturbing horror at the heart of the harrowing Netflix docuseries “American Nightmare”. Sensitively and imaginatively directed by Felicity Morris and Bernadette Higgins (“The Tinder Swindler”), this true crime drama focuses as much on the local police department’s disturbing disregard for the couple, and for the facts of the case, as it does on the original crimes.   Joining Ken on the pod, Felicity and Bernadette describe how their approach to “The Tinder Swindler” and “American Nightmare” avoids the tropes and traps of the standard true crime formula, resulting in documentaries that feature the victims as the primary storytellers. From their choice of lighting and interview staging, to how the series is structured, every element of the production supports the directors’ vision and gives power back to Aaron and Denise — one more step in the couple’s journey to awaken from their American nightmare.   “American Nightmare” is streaming on Netflix.    Follow: @felicityhmorris on Instagram and  @fliss_morris on twitter/X  @bernadetteberniehiggins on Instagram @topdocspod on Instagram and twitter/X   Hidden Gem: “Pamela, a love story”   The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.

    39 мин.
  2. ВЫПУСК 191

    "STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A." with Jamila Wignot

    In the 1960s and 1970s, the Memphis sound was everywhere: Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Isaac Hayes — the list goes on. Not only did the Memphis sound (a.k.a. Memphis soul) bring an amazing range of musical talent to the world, it also shined a light on the unsung city of Memphis, Tennessee and on a remarkable record company called Stax Records. In her expansive HBO docuseries “STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A.”, director Jamila Wignot (“Ailey”) goes inside the recording studio and widens her lens to look at the deep cultural impact that the musicians and executives of Stax had on American culture.   Joining Ken on the pod, Jamila discusses what drew her into this epic, constantly surprising story of a small record label that grew to be one of the centers of the music world — only to see the entire enterprise come to a tragic end. How did Stax records become a magnet for Black musicians and producers and a beacon for experimentation and improvisation in popular music? In what ways did Stax, with its interracial musical acts, break down racial barriers, while, at the same time, fall short in confronting the issue of race in the South? And what made the 1972 Wattstax concert in Los Angeles, with over 100,000 mostly Black fans, the “most badass thing” you can imagine? This docuseries is stacked with one fascinating, enlightening story after another.   “STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A.” is streaming on max.    Follow: @jamilaw on Instagram @topdocspod on Instagram and twitter/X   Hidden Gem: “Pumping Iron”   The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.

    42 мин.
  3. ВЫПУСК 194

    "Telemarketers" with Adam Bhala Lough & Sam Lipman-Stern

    Continuing our Emmy coverage, today we speak with the creators of the  Emmy-nominated HBO documentary series, “Telemarketers”.  Co-director Adam Bhala Lough describes the 3-part series this way: “Two scumbag telemarketers discover that there are cogs in the wheel of a multimillion dollar scam. And so they band together to try to take down the scam and then take down the industry.”   Adam joins Mike on the pod along with one of the characters he lovingly calls a scumbag: his co-director and cousin Sam Lipman-Stern.   They discuss  the other scumbag, Pet Pespas, who despite being an recovering if accomplished telemarketer as well as a recovering if chronic heroin addict–or maybe because of both those things–is the driving moral center of the series.  In addition to exposing the scam that is telemarketing for the local chapters of several powerful charitable organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police and the Police Benevolent Association, the series provides the  depiction of friendship despite the odds as well as  the seemingly unlikely growth of Sam as a talented documentary filmmaker.     Hidden Gems: “The Land of Look Behind” “Crazy Rulers of the World”   Follow: @AdamBhalaLough on twitter/X @samlipmanstern on Instagram and twitter/X @patrickjpespas on Instagram @topdocspod on Instagram and twitter/X   The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.

    31 мин.
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Mike and Ken interview award-winning documentary filmmakers on their latest projects, their art, and their process

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