In his new film "Silver Dollar Road", Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck ("I Am Not Your Negro") focuses on the Reels family in North Carolina, who fought for decades to protect their waterfront property passed down from generation to generation. The film chronicles how the Reels withstood fraudulent land claims, violence, and having two family members sent to jail for eight years because they refused to vacate their home. Peck builds upon the work of reporter Lizzie Presser who wrote about the Reels in an article jointly published by ProPublica and The New Yorker; and videographer Mayeta Cla ..read more

Associated Press videographer Mstyslav Chernov won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Russia's war against Ukraine. When the war escalated in February 2022, Mstyslav covered the front lines for his documentary "20 Days in Mariupol". The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and will begin streaming on PBS Frontline on November 21st. It's been selected for the DOC NYC Short List that's known as a predictor of Oscar contenders.  Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed Mstyslav in front of a live audience at the School of Visual Arts in the MFA program for Social Documentary ..read more

"While We Watched" profiles the Indian TV journalist Ravish Kumar during a period when he's under extreme pressure including death threats for trying to do his job. The film is a cautionary tale over threats to journalism around the world. Director Vinay Shukla is among a new wave of Indian documentary filmmakers that have gained international recognition. Earlier this year on episode 154, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Shaunak Sen ("All That Breathes") said he marks the rise of this new movement with Vinay's first film "An Insignificant Man" in 2016 (co-directed with Khushboo Ranka) about an i ..read more

"Casa Susanna," playing on PBS Passport, tells the secret history of a Catskills resort in the late 1950s and early 1960s that was a safe haven for transgender expression. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviews director Sébastien Lifshitz on how he won the trust of the film’s participants to share their stories after six decades. Further reading: photo historian Isabelle Bonnet on Casa Susanna ..read more

Maite Alberdi has become Chile’s most prominent documentary maker. Her films include "Tea Time," about a monthly salon of women; "The Grown-Ups", about adults with Downs Syndrome; and "The Mole Agent" that’s a comic detective story inside a nursing home. Her new work is "The Eternal Memory." She follows the journalist Augusto Gongora and his wife Paulina Urrutia as they cope with Augusto’s experience with Alzheimer’s syndrome. The film won the World Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival where it was bought by MTV Documentary Films for distribution. Pure Nonfiction host Tho ..read more

No shade to Barbie, but our favorite summer film is "Kokomo City" that won audience prizes in Sundance and Berlin for its raw and raucous profile of four black transgender sex workers. First time filmmaker D. Smith had a successful career as a Grammy-nominated music producer. But when she came out as transgender, she was effectively blacklisted from that industry. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed Smith in her hometown at the Miami Film Festival about the desperation and inspiration behind this film. On Instagram: @truedsmith @thompowers1 @purenonfiction ..read more

Asif Kapadia has won renown for his biographical portraits in "Senna", "Diego Maradona" and the Oscar-winning "Amy". In this wide-ranging conversation, he speaks about the setbacks and breakthroughs in his career. The topics include his clash with Harvey Weinstein over his fiction feature "The Warrior" and being plunged into an Oscar campaign with "Amy". Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed Asif in March at CPH: DOX in Copenhagen. Asif was there to present "Creature", a dance film that's a collaboration with the choreographer Akram Khan, starring Jeffrey Cirio. The Guardian described ..read more

John Leguizamo has a versatile writing and acting career from Broadway to Hollywood. Now he hosts the series "Leguizamo Does America" that explores Latin American communities across the country. He makes stops in New York, Miami, Washington, Chicago, Puerto Rico and Los Angeles interviewing prominent locals on their history, cuisine and culture. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers talks to Leguizamo about what he learned along the way. On Instagram: @johnleguizamo @thompowers1 @purenonfiction ..read more

Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams has a bounty of new releases this year. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviewed Williams at the CPH:DOX festival about three of those works: Love to Love You, Donna Summer on HBO, The 1619 Project on Hulu and his fiction feature debut Cassandro coming this fall from Amazon Studios. Williams also discusses his stint serving on the AMPAS Board of Governors when he led a campaign to increase enrollment of women and BIPOC members. For more on Williams' career, hear his interview from 2016 on episode 13. Instagram: @onestoryup @rogerrosswilliams  ..read more

Showtime's acclaimed series "Couples Therapy" is now in its third season. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers sat down with its star Dr. Orna Guralnik along with co-creators Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg and one of its directors Pax Wasserman. The interview was recorded before a live audience at New York's IFC Center. This week, Pure Nonfiction debuted the email newsletter Producer's Notebook that covers latest developments in documentary producing. You can subscribe for free at PureNonfiction.net. Instagram: @thompowers1 @purenonfiction ..read more