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Episodes
Thursday Dec 16, 2021
Thursday Dec 16, 2021
In our second Anatomy of a Scene featurette, we delve into two key scenes from TRY HARDER! with director Debbie Lum. In this illuminating conversation, Debbie offers some fascinating back story to deepen our understanding of the complex dynamics that play out on screen.
The Scenes:
Scene 1: Winter Holiday at Le Soleil Restaurant - 42:37 – 45:06
Scene 2: Chinese New Year at R&G Restaurant - 51:28 – 53:37
The Setup:
In these two scenes from the second half of the film, Debbie Lum and her crew tag along with Alvan, a senior at San Francisco’s Lowell High School and one of the film’s main characters, during the most intense phase of the college admission process. In the first scene, which takes place at Le Soleil restaurant, Alvan’s mom, Capri, discusses how the college admissions process in the U.S. is vastly different from Capri’s native country of Taiwan. It’s a scene rife with code-switching: between an immigrant parent and her son, as well as between filmmakers and subject.
In the second scene, which occurs the next month on Chinese New Year, the holiday plays a key role in Alvan’s potential prospects for admission to Brown University. By offering the Brown interviewer a small gift, has his mother, accustomed to traditions of gift giving on such occasions, made a serious misstep that could hurt Alvan’s chances? Once again, Alvan is the master code switcher. But this time, he is more assertive in his interactions with his headstrong mother. How this family traverses the minefield of the high-stakes college admissions process sheds light on the hurdles and discrimination that Asian Americans must overcome if they hope to gain admission to America’s most elite colleges.
Listen also to our full-length interview with Debbie about “Try Harder!”
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Monday Dec 20, 2021
A presidential election held during a period of extreme political divisiveness. A constitutional democracy under threat by the incumbent president himself. The possibility of a stolen election. These conditions might bring to mind the U.S. in 2020. But Camilla Nielsson’s masterful new observational documentary “President” focuses its unblinking eye on Zimbabwe during the country’s pivotal and turbulent 2018 presidential campaign. Picking up where her widely acclaimed film “Democrats” left off, Nielsson embeds with presidential challenger Nelson Chamisa, a young, charismatic leader dedicated to challenging the corrupt ruling order. The result is a campaign film as riveting and revealing as any you have ever seen.
Speaking to Mike and Ken from her home in Copenhagen during a gloomy fall evening, Camilla shed light on the incredible political journey of Nelson Chamisa and on her own challenging creative process. How did she gain such amazing access to Chamisa and his campaign? How did a small documentary crew manage to outshine the international news media in its coverage? When Chamisa was forced into hiding, how did Camilla pivot and keep shooting? With democracies everywhere under fire, there are no easy answers. But thanks to “President”, we can see what courageous leadership looks like. Released by Greenwich Entertainment, “President” opens in theaters on December 17th.
President is now playing in New York and Los Angeles.
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Hidden Gem: The Store
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
When “Fiddler on the Roof” opened on Broadway in 1964, many thought that this Yiddish-inspired portrait of Jewish shtetl life in Tsarist Russia would be a huge flop. But audiences flocked to the musical, and its songbook soon entered the popular lexicon. Hollywood set its sights on a film version and United Artists signed the well-respected, but hardly household name, Norman Jewison to direct. The fascinating behind-the-scenes story of what happened next is the subject of Oscar-nominated director Daniel Raim’s (“The Man on Lincoln’s Nose”) delightful new documentary “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen”, which has its world premiere at the upcoming Palm Springs International Film Festival (Jan 6 – 17, 2022).
Mike and Ken’s conversation with Daniel Raim marks the first in a series of interviews they will be having with documentary directors as part of a special Top Docs partnership with the 33rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. A formative musical and movie-going experience for both of them, Mike and Ken were very excited to chat with Daniel about Fiddler. What was the shocker that Jewison told the studio head that might have cost him this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? How did the filmmakers try to be authentic to the Jewish lived experience and also appeal to a general audience? And casting Topol or Zero Mostel as Tevye? How did Jewison make the call? Find out the answers to these questions and more, plus discover what three albums Mike’s parents had in the house when he was growing up. Please join us for this lively conversation. What better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this much beloved classic?
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Daniel @DanielRaim
The Palm Springs International Film Festival @PSfilmfest
Top Docs @topdocspod
“Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen” – Palm Springs International Film Festival Screenings Information:
Sat. Jan. 8, 7:00 PM, Annenberg Theater
Sun. Jan. 9, 9:45 AM, Regal Cinemas
Sun. Jan 16, 9:00 AM, Mary Pickford is D’Place
Top Docs and the Palm Springs International Film Festival
Top Docs is thrilled to announce that we are partnering with the 33rd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (January 6 – 17, 2022) as a media sponsor, with the goal of spotlighting documentary filmmakers whose work is screening at the upcoming Festival. In the coming weeks, please look out for our interviews with filmmakers featured in this year’s lineup, including Vivian Kleiman (“No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics”), Daniel Raim (“Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen”), Lisa Hurwitz (“The Automat”) … and more!
Check out the complete Festival lineup and information about pass and ticket sales at: https://www.psfilmfest.org/film-festival-2022
Hidden Gem: ABC Africa
Influences mentioned in the pod:
Sholom Aleichem
Marc Chagall
Roman Vishniac
Friday Dec 24, 2021
Friday Dec 24, 2021
Welcome to the Top Docs Holiday Special! IndieWire Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson joins Mike and Ken to break down the Best Feature Documentary Oscar shortlist released this week. Anne shares her insights about the 15 documentaries that made the cut and the ones that didn’t. What are the biggest surprises? Which films have the best chance to make it to the list of the five final nominees? And, drumroll, please… who does Anne predict to win it all? You’ll have to tune in to find out!
IndieWire Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson has been a contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, The Observer, and Wired. She has served as film columnist at Variety, and deputy editor of Variety.com, where her daily blog, Thompson on Hollywood, launched in March 2007.
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Anne @akstanwyck
Us @topdocspod
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
Tuesday Dec 28, 2021
Alison Bechdel. Jennifer Camper. Howard Cruse. Rupert Kinnard. Mary Wings. From the 1970s to the 2000s and beyond, these five brilliant queer cartoonists broke the mold, paved the way, and told the truth one panel at a time. Each contributed to creating the world of queer comics and helped forge a vital community of LGBTQ artists that continues to thrive today. Effortlessly weaving together portraits of these five seminal cartoonists and filling in the essential historical backstory, documentary filmmaker Vivian Kleiman (“Color Adjustment”) uses a camera instead of a rapidograph pen, but the result is just as delightful and visually delicious as the work of the artists she profiles.
Mike and Ken had a blast talking to Vivian and discovering how her iterative creative process took the “no straight lines” ethos to heart. Why did Vivian insist that the film not be solely focused on Alison Bechdel even though this could have greased the funding wheels? Why was it so important to Vivian to reach an intergenerational audience, and how did this lead to a mid-course adjustment and a daring experiment? How did the filmmakers manage to capture the essence of these great artists at work? And what is it about spreadsheets that gets Vivian and Mike so excited? No need to fire up Excel, just download our latest Top Docs episode and discover the dazzling world of “No Straight Lines”.
“No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics” – Palm Springs International Film Festival Screenings:
Sun. Jan. 9, 8:30 PM, Regal Cinemas
Mon. Jan. 10, 9:00 AM, Mary Pickford is D’Place
Sun. Jan 16, 2:00 PM, Palm Canyon Theatre
Top Docs and the Palm Springs International Film Festival
Top Docs is thrilled to announce that we are partnering with the 33rd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (January 6 – 17, 2022) as a media sponsor, with the goal of spotlighting documentary filmmakers whose work is screening at the upcoming Festival. In the coming weeks, please look out for our interviews with filmmakers featured in this year’s lineup, including Vivian Kleiman (“No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics”), Daniel Raim (“Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen”), Lisa Hurwitz (“The Automat”) … and more!
Check out the complete Festival lineup and information about pass and ticket sales at: https://www.psfilmfest.org/film-festival-2022
Hidden Gem: No Crying at My Table
Also Discussed in the Pod:
Tongues Untied
Fun Home
Stuck Rubber Baby
Wednesday Dec 29, 2021
Wednesday Dec 29, 2021
Famous for its Beluga caviar and rich oil deposits, the Caspian Sea region is less well-known for the corruption that goes hand-in-hand with both of these highly desired commodities. Taking as his primary subject the post-Soviet regime of Azerbaijan and its strongman leader, Ilham Aliyev, journalist and filmmaker Benoît Bringer pulls back the curtain on the creative ways Aliyev uses to buy his country’s way into Europe’s club of democratic nations. Framed as a political thriller, “The Caviar Connection” makes the direct link between the Aliyev regime and officials in the stately Council of Europe, whose appetites for caviar — and good old-fashioned cash — make them prime targets for bribery.
Speaking to Ken from his Paris home, Benoît filled in the picture of this fascinating and under-the-radar story and explained how he was able to put all the complex puzzle pieces together in such a gripping, cinematic way. How do celebrities like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Kanye West, Jennifer Lopez and Gérard Depardieu play a key role in legitimizing these regimes? (Hint: follow the money.) Why is it that the Council of Europe turned a blind eye to its own report on human rights violations in Azerbaijan? (Hint: follow the money.) Who is Khadija Ismayilova, and how did her reporting help expose the regime’s corruption and land her in jail? (Hint: she followed the money.) Listening to Benoît, you might be surprised to learn that the issues at stake extend far beyond the shores of the Caspian Sea, all the way to the heart of our very own democratic institutions. (Hint: follow the podcast!)
“The Caviar Connection” – Palm Springs International Film Festival Screenings:
Sat. Jan. 8, 11:15 AM, Regal Cinemas
Weds. Jan. 12, 8:00 PM, Camelot Theatres
Sun. Jan. 16, 3:30 PM, Regal Cinemas
Top Docs and the Palm Springs International Film Festival
Top Docs is thrilled to announce that we are partnering with the 33rd Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (January 6 – 17, 2022) as a media sponsor, with the goal of spotlighting documentary filmmakers whose work is screening at the upcoming Festival. In the coming weeks, please look out for our interviews with filmmakers featured in this year’s lineup, including Daniel Raim (“Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen”), Vivian Kleiman (“No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics”), Benoît Bringer (“The Caviar Connection”), Lisa Hurwitz (“The Automat”) … and more!
Check out the complete Festival lineup and information about pass and ticket sales at: https://www.psfilmfest.org/film-festival-2022
Hidden Gem: The First Wave
Monday Jan 03, 2022
Monday Jan 03, 2022
Imagine being one of the two young songwriter/lyricists who are invited to an imposing Hollywood mansion to meet with movie legend Gloria Swanson. Greeting you in all her movie star glamour, Gloria pitches her idea for a Broadway musical based on her starring role in the brilliant movie “Sunset Boulevard”. Three months later, your musical BOULEVARD is ready for the big time. Unfortunately, that version of the musical never gets produced. But, in a delicious twist, the real-life story of the love triangle between Gloria and the two young songwriters (Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley) ends up being a mirror image of the plot of “Sunset Boulevard”.
In Ken’s thoroughly entertaining Top Docs conversation with filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz (“BOULEVARD! A Hollywood Story”), Jeffrey shares all the juicy details of unearthing the amazing story of these three unlikely collaborators. How much fun was it for Jeffrey to go on this creative journey about a movie classic he has seen “7,000 times”? Who were Dickson Hughes and Richard Shapley? How did their passionate but closeted relationship blossom into a professional partnership that led to Gloria’s door? In what ways was Richard’s acting career — and life — diminished by having to maintain a macho image that couldn’t account for who he really was? And will the “real” Gloria Swanson finally step forward out of the shadow of Norma Desmond? For all you “wonderful people out there in the dark,” we give you the Top Docs interview with Jeffrey Schwarz!
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Jeffrey @SchwarzJeffrey
Top Docs @topdocspod
Hidden Gem: Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey
Monday Jan 10, 2022
Monday Jan 10, 2022
Firouzeh Khosrovani’s “Radiograph of a Family” is among the rarest of documentaries. Like a perfectly composed classical symphony, the film’s form and content effortlessly complement each other. The result is a film that is both beautifully symmetrical and dynamically creative. Seamlessly moving between the personal and the political, Firouzeh employs the full range of storytelling tools--from re-enactments and staged dialogue, to family photographs and archival footage--to portray how the 1979 Iranian Revolution upended her parents’ marriage and caused a surprising role reversal in the fortunes of her mother and father.
Mike had the opportunity to talk in-depth with Firouzeh about her stunning film, winner of the top prize at the 2020 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). How did the Iranian Revolution disrupt the family dynamic and almost literally cut the family’s Tehran home in half? What was it like for Firouzeh to be caught between “two lifestyles, two ideologies and two realities”? Did her mother really marry a photograph? And, Firouzeh answers the biggest question of all: how can love endure when everything else seems to be coming apart?
Friday Jan 14, 2022
Friday Jan 14, 2022
Two schools, two neighborhoods, two vastly different worlds… one football program. When it became clear that Messmer High School and Shorewood High in Milwaukee would not have enough players to field their own teams, the two schools came together to form the Messwood football team. But playing together does not mean that the team’s young athletes aren’t immune from the systemic problems plaguing one of America’s most racially divided cities. Filmmakers Brad Lichtenstein (“When Claude Got Shot”, “As Goes Janesville”) and Emily Kuester (making her feature documentary debut) go deep inside the Messwood football program to craft an intimate portrait of the team’s players, parents, and coaches and explore broader themes of racial inequity, trauma, friendship, and love.
Ken sat down with Emily and Brad to discuss how the two Milwaukee-based filmmakers won the trust of Messwood’s dynamic Coach Davis and developed close ties to the players and their families. What was their response to Coach Davis’ position that race is a non-issue when it comes to his football team? How did Emily’s bond with one of the film’s main characters help this young man push through a difficult moment and yield one of the film’s most powerful moments? What was it like for Brad, a parent himself of Shorewood High students, to see things from a different perspective? In the fine tradition of “Hoop Dreams” and other classic sports films, “Messwood” opens a window into a wider world, one that extends well beyond the “Friday Night Lights”.
Hidden Gem: Gimme Shelter
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
The 2022 Sundance Film Festival is almost here! From Jan. 20– 30, all eyes will be on the Sundance lineup and on what are sure to be some of the year’s most heralded documentaries. Top Docs caught up with Basil Tsiokos, Sundance Senior Programmer, Nonfiction, to preview this year’s doc features and to give us an inside look into how the programming process works.
Basil Tsiokos is Senior Programmer, Nonfiction, Sundance Film Festival. He was most recently with DOC NYC for nearly a decade, as well as with the Nantucket Film Festival as its Film Program Director. Basil was the longtime Artistic and Executive Director of NewFest: The NY LGBT Film Festival and serves on the feature nominating committees for the International Documentary Association Awards and Cinema Eye Honors. Since 2010, he has written daily about documentaries on what (not) to doc.
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Basil @1basil1
Sundance Film Festival @sundancefest
Top Docs @topdocspod