Christopher Reeve played the Man of Steel in four films, but his real superpowers didn’t emerge until after his tragic accident. Filmmakers Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, who made Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, speak with Westdoc about their long journey to get the film made, Reeve’s family and their personal memories, clearance, licensing, financing and the essence of documentary characters. Heroism requires challenge. Christopher Reeves met the challenge and soared faster than a...

Four extraordinary artists — an older couple moving toward the end, a younger couple chronicling the journey — come together to make ”Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other.” Filmmakers Jacob Perlmutter and Manon Ouimet spent a year living with world famous photographer Joel Meyerowitz and his wife writer Maggie Barrett, resulting in an exquisite cinéma vérité of tremendous depth and intimacy. The filmmakers spoke from their London home about their “soulful collaboration,” small light...

In this conversation with Westdoc’s Chuck Braverman, Annie Roney discusses her extensive experience in the documentary film industry, particularly through her global distribution company Roco Films. She elaborates on the difficult challenges faced today in documentary distribution, both foreign and domestic, the launch of the In Real Life Movie Club aimed at fostering community engagement through film, and the evolving landscape of documentary filmmaking. The feature doc “Join or Die” is the...

Documentary filmmaker Marc Marriott directs his first scripted feature film and discusses the challenges of a very low budget and short shooting schedule. The film is charming, funny, and beautifully shot by cinematographer Oscar Jimenez. “This is a story about finding untapped reservoirs of courage and empathy from your own culture, while also reaching out and connecting with others. Highlighting this character journey is the natural beauty of the Montana landscape.

In the year that has passed since the brutal Hamas attack of October 7, families grieve for lost love ones, other families pray for the return of hostages, and a sympathetic movement has arisen for the Palestinians of Gaza. The horror of the attack, told in first-person video accounts, unfolds in director Yariv Mozer’s profound documentary, We Will Dance Again. Westdoc talks with Mozer, along with See It Now executive producers Susan Zirinsky and Terrance Wrong about access to the restricted...

DAYTIME REVOLUTION chronicles one week in 1972 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-hosted the most popular show on daytime TV, bringing together iconic leaders of the cultural, musical, and political revolution. Producer/director Erik Nelson found the old video, restored it beautifully, and created this powerful feature doc. A return guest on Westdoc, with Chuck Braverman he talked about the three essentials of doc films; subject, access, filmmaker, and the two most important moments in any...

The HBO Original two-part documentary WISE GUY David Chase and The Sopranos directed by Academy Award®-winner Alex Gibney (HBO’s “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” and “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley”) debuts SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. 25 years after the show first debuted, HBO’s paradigm-shifting series “The Sopranos” remains a cultural phenomenon and a touchstone for prestige television. David...

Producer Director JEFF ZIMBALIST has two terrific documentaries released at the same time. HOW TO COME ALIVE with NORMAN MAILER explores the rollercoaster life of America’s most controversial and bestselling author of the 20th Century. Propelled by his tremendous ego and contrarian spirit, Mailer’s ceaseless visibility in the public eye lasted 6 decades, during which he had 6 tumultuous marriages, 9 children, 11 bestsellers, 3 arrests, and 2 Pulitzer Prizes. SKYWALKERS; A LOVE STORY is about...

I LIKE IT HERE is about the simple pleasures of being alive. An American documentarian for more than 50 years, Ralph Arlyck has created an eloquent cinematic meditation on the reality and surprising beauties of moving through life. Arlyck conveys how it feels to experience the winding down of one’s days as he visits friends from past and present, most of them rather lively, plus children and grandchildren. He punctuates those scenes with reflections on the challenges of feeling your joints...

Producer, Director, Cinematographer Amy Nicholson shot Happy Campers, a bittersweet anthem to a working class paradise, virtually by herself. Her low budget, minimalist approach, combined with her beautiful photography, produced a powerful film and a reminder of the importance of community. Westdoc host Chuck Braverman talked with her about cameras, sound, day jobs, and the joy of work. Join us and see all the episodes at www.westdoc.net.

Lucy Walker’s heart stopping new film, Mountain Queen: the Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, is not just about mountain climbing but about a woman who struggled with social norms, language, and personal demons to get to the top. Lhakpa Sherpa has climbed Everest a record ten times, helped others to do so, protected her daughters from abuse, all while supporting them in a country that barely values her gifts. This is an important conversation.

“This is a story about design,” says the subject of ”Geoff McFetridge: Drawing A Life.” He and producer/director Dan Covert speak with Westdoc about the experience of filming his life. McFetridge, who designed faces on the Apple Watch, though he doesn’t wear one himself, shares his feelings about art, money, the “danger of sincerity,” and the importance of self-awareness. Director Covert wanted to push the film past the normal “artist doc” tropes to create a larger meditation on creativity,...

Showbiz is famous for siblings — the Coen brothers, the Marx Brothers, the Jackson 5, Warner Bros — but Bill and Turner Ross, have been gaining momentum with feature films like ”Nose Bleed and Empty Pockets,” and have created a unique format with Gasoline Rainbow: semi-scripted narrative with a documentary style. Speaking to Westdoc on our latest episode published today, they discussed sharing the director’s chair, working with five, first-time actors, a long prep and a short shooting...

ANDREW JARECKI, producer director of THE JINX - The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, is even more interesting than the subjects of his films. Which is saying something, considering that his subjects include a convicted three-time murderer and family with multiple accused pedophiles (Capturing the Friedmans). He speaks to Westdoc at length about his privileged background, an accidental entrance into filmmaking, creating and running Moviefone, and a curious incident involving Harvey...

A video of a young boy in Nigeria dancing barefoot in the dirt goes viral. Soon he has a seven year scholarship at the prestigious Elmhurst Ballet School in England. Westdoc moderator Chuck Braverman interviews co-directors Matt Ogens and Joel “Kachi” Benson about their new Disney+ feature documentary MADU, shot on two continents with post-production on three. They touch on film style, point of view, social impact, budget, and the sheer joy of following Anthony Madu’s story. This is a real...

n HENDRIE, comics and producers including Judd Apatow, Bill Hader, and Henry Rollins, talk about Phil Hendrie, a comic genius whose satirical radio show rocked the airwaves in the 1990s. Patrick Reynolds produced, directed, shot, and edited Hendrie on a mini budget, but his path to filmmaking was somewhat curvy; he published a boating magazine, worked as a photographer, made sizzle reels and art films. He spoke frankly with Westdoc about representation, distribution, festivals (they’re not...

Available now on Westdoc, our new episode # 148 with renowned cinema vérité filmmakers Joan Churchill and Alan Barker spoke to us from the cozy living room of their Ojai, California home. We covered a wide range of subjects: improv; traditional camera gear vs iPhones; being “in the circle” when filming; the FBI, IRS, and HUAC; the historic value of cinema vérité; and their documentary workshops. The couple has four short films coming out about Oscar winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler. The...

Young filmmaker Ben Proudfoot went searching for the process behind student instrument repair in the vast Los Angeles City school system, but his Oscar nominated short, The Last Repair Shop, uncovered instead a warehouse filled with human tales of struggle, endurance, and success. Proudfoot speaks to Westdoc about magic, funding, and a wealth of future projects. His wonderful short is available free on YouTube.

Just two miles from mainland China, but still part of Taiwan, sits the tiny island of Kinmen. ”Island In Between” is American/Taiwanese filmmaker S. Leo Chiang’s powerful, Oscar nominated short doc about international tension and changing times. Chiang speaks with Westdoc about growing up both there and here, seeing both the danger and the beauty, and trying to make sense of it all.

The war in Ukraine rages on. Veteran “conflict journalist” Mstyslav Chernov captures the terror and panic of the initial assault in his stark documentary. He speaks to Westdoc about the need to be multi-lingual, surviving in a war zone, hiding the digital evidence in a tampon, which itself had to be hidden — and the universal destructiveness of war: to civilians, soldiers, and filmmakers. “20 Days in Mariupol” is in contention for an Oscar nomination and can be seen now free on Frontline and...

It’s been a disappointing year for quality scripted features, but not for documentaries. One of the most provocative is bio doc, ”The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” with the liberation of the female orgasm center stage. The Hite Report was one of the best-selling books of all time. On the new edition of Westdoc, director Nicole Newnham talks about why Shere Hite left the country, renounced her US citizenship, and disappeared.

There is a great pleasure in finding something you believe very few people have yet discovered. As a member of the Motion Picture Academy, I have access to most of this year’s films, and all the documentaries submitted. I try to watch as many as possible and I stumbled upon this film and am very happy to share it with you. The 1930’s and 40’s is a fascinating period of time and then throw in Orsen Welles, FDR, and some other characters with great stories. The first-time director Danny Wu is a...

Tune in to a world full of sound with Westdoc Online host, Chuck Braverman, and guest, Sam Green. Documentary ”32 Sounds” immerses you in the elemental phenomenon of sound and its ability to profoundly shape our reality.

Life can be a struggle, whether you are a polar bear searching for food on melting ice or a black man searching for justice on shrinking real estate. The inevitability of rising sea levels have Miami’s developers turning a covetous eye toward the black ghetto, located, as it is, on the highest-and-driest ground in the city. Ghetto residents are bracing for another fight - Climate Gentrification. ”Razing Liberty Square” is a story of climate change, race, altitude, and attitude. German born...