Pure Nonfiction: Inside Documentary Film
If you love documentary films, hear from the top storytellers on Pure Nonfiction. Host Thom Powers is well-connected in this world as a documentary curator for the Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC, and SundanceNow Doc Club. He leads conversations that are frank, funny and revealing. Listen to interviews with Oscar-winning filmmakers Barbara Kopple, Alex Gibney, and Roger Ross Williams; as well as the directors of “Making a Murderer,” “Weiner” and “OJ: Made in America.” Often the stories behind the scenes are as dramatic as what’s on the screen. On Twitter, Facebook, Instagram: @purenonfiction. Subscribe now.
- Update frequency
- every 11 days
- Average duration
- 38 minutes
- Episodes
- 230
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
PN 48: HBO’s Sheila Nevins on Seductions, Heartbreaks & Her New Book
Meryl Streep, Audra McDonald and Glenn Close are among many esteemed performers who read stories on the audio version of Sheila Nevins' new quasi-memoir “You Don’t Look Your Age…And Other Fairy Tales…
00:44:41 |
Thu 11 May 2017
PN 47: Jonathan Demme & Renée Shafransky on Spalding Gray
“Swimming to Cambodia,” the 1987 film directed by Jonathan Demme, had a rippling influence. It laid the path for a kind of first person storytelling that today is widespread from “This American Life”…
00:29:09 |
Thu 04 May 2017
PN 46: Rashida Jones, Jill Bauer & Ronna Gradus on "Hot Girls Wanted"
Sex and technology are the focus of the new Netflix series "Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On." Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviews the series' creators Rashida Jones, Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus. …
00:26:17 |
Thu 27 Apr 2017
PN 45: Matt Tyrnauer on "Citizen Jane"
Jane Jacobs, author of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," changed the way we think of urban planning. Matt Tyrnauer's new documentary "Citizen Jane" tells the story of her epic battles wi…
00:44:04 |
Thu 20 Apr 2017
PN 44: From Indiana Jones to Guatemala’s Civil War - Frank Marshall & Ryan Suffern
"Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Jurassic World" and “Sully” are among Frank Marshall’s stellar producing credits. Now his company Kennedy/Marshall has a documentary division. Their latest film is “Findin…
00:26:33 |
Thu 13 Apr 2017
PN 43: Laurent Bouzereau & Mark Harris on “Five Came Back"
Steven Spielberg is the executive producer for the new 3-part Netflix series “Five Came Back” about the Hollywood directors who put their fiction careers on hold during World War II as they went to m…
00:41:50 |
Thu 06 Apr 2017
PN 42: Made in Miami - Billy Corben & Alfred Spellman on “Cocaine Cowboys”
“Cocaine Cowboys” is a cult classic exploring the 1980s drug trade in Miami. Packaged like a gangster film, the documentary links the criminal underworld to the city’s real estate boom. On this episo…
00:31:08 |
Thu 30 Mar 2017
PN 41: Danae Elon on “P.S. Jerusalem”
Danae Elon’s latest film “P.S. Jerusalem” is a first person account of moving back to the city of her childhood after living abroad for 17 years. A key presence in the film is her late father Amos El…
00:34:45 |
Thu 23 Mar 2017
PN 40: “True South” - Jon Else on Henry Hampton & "Eyes on the Prize"
“Eyes on the Prize” is a landmark documentary series chronicling the history of the civil rights movement. Debuting on public television in 1987, it remains just as riveting 30 years later. Now the m…
00:35:05 |
Thu 16 Mar 2017
PN 39: Marina Zenovich on Roman Polanski & California’s water crisis
“Chinatown” created a mythology out of California's water politics. Now Marina Zenovich investigates a modern version of that story in her documentary “Water & Power: A California Heist” airing on Na…
00:39:37 |
Thu 02 Mar 2017
PN 38: Clay Tweel on “Gleason"
New Orleans Saints football player Steve Gleason became a sports hero one year after Hurricane Katrina when he blocked a kick that became a symbol of the city’s comeback. In 2011, he announced he had…
00:34:12 |
Thu 23 Feb 2017
PN 37: Oscar Nominees for Documentary Feature
Hear the five Oscar nominated directors for Documentary Feature. We present highlights from our past interviews with filmmakers Roger Ross Williams ("Life, Animated"), Gianfranco Rosi ("Fire at Sea")…
00:51:25 |
Thu 16 Feb 2017
PN 36: John Heilemann on “Trumped"
John Heilemann, the veteran political reporter, is one of three creators - along with Mark Halperin and Mark McKinnon - of the new Showtime documentary “Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset o…
00:42:25 |
Thu 09 Feb 2017
PN 35: Syrian Filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia In Exile
Before Trump’s travel ban for Syrians, we sat down with Orwa Nyrabia at the Sundance Film Festival where he was attending workshops. Three years ago, he produced “Return to Homs,” directed by Talal D…
00:39:23 |
Thu 02 Feb 2017
PN 34: Island President Mohamed Nasheed in Exile
The Sundance Film Festival is always full of surprises. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers begins this episode with reflections on the 2017 festival and the real-life characters who passed through it.
…
00:33:00 |
Thu 26 Jan 2017
PN 33: Inside Sundance with Josh Braun
The Sundance Film Festival remains a hot spot for launching documentary films. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers got an early look at several films premiering at the festival.
In Part One of the podc…
00:51:30 |
Wed 18 Jan 2017
PN 32: Laura Poitras & Henrik Moltke on Project X
What mystery lies behind the windowless building in Manhattan at 33 Thomas Street? In the short documentary “Project X,” Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras ("Citizenfour”) teams with journalist He…
00:30:26 |
Thu 12 Jan 2017
PN 31: Race, History, Trump & Documentary
Bryan Stevenson, Raoul Peck & Ezra Edelman took part in a panel titled “American Histories,” moderated by Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers. It took place at the DOC NYC festival just three days after…
00:47:12 |
Fri 02 Dec 2016
PN 30: Madam President: Sheila Nevins on HBO Documentary Films
Sheila Nevins is a lover and a fighter. When she joined HBO in its early years, the label “documentary” evoked something educational. She turned it into something entertaining with her passion and te…
00:45:08 |
Wed 09 Nov 2016
PN 29: Werner Herzog on “Into the Inferno”
Volcanoes are the focus of Werner Herzog’s new film “Into the Inferno,” now playing on Netflix. He teams with volcanologist Dr. Clive Oppenheimer (author of “Eruptions that Shook the World”) to visit…
00:30:54 |
Thu 03 Nov 2016
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