Documentary of the Week
WNYC
Every week, WNYC tells you about the best documentaries as they become available on screens of any size. Our hosts are Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, co-founders of the Pure Nonfiction podcast and the DOC NYC festival, the largest non-fiction film festival in the U.S. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, Freakonomics Radio, 2 Dope Queens, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.
Location:
New York, NY
Networks:
WNYC
Description:
Every week, WNYC tells you about the best documentaries as they become available on screens of any size. Our hosts are Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, co-founders of the Pure Nonfiction podcast and the DOC NYC festival, the largest non-fiction film festival in the U.S. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, Freakonomics Radio, 2 Dope Queens, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.
Language:
English
Episodes
John Leguizamo does America
6/9/2023
The actor, John Leguizamo takes a road trip to Latin American communities across the country in, "Leguizamo Does America." He engages prominent locals in lively conversations about their history, food, music and culture.
Duration:00:02:04
"After Sherman" reflects on Black Americans returning to the South
6/2/2023
New York based-filmmaker Jon-Sesrie Goff traces his family's roots in the Gullah community of South Carolina in "After Sherman," a title evoking the Civil War general. The film is more poetic than didactic as it connects the past to the present.
Duration:00:02:01
The real Mary Tyler Moore
5/26/2023
"Being Mary Tyler Moore" explores how the actress compared and contrasted in real life to the characters she portrayed. Director James Adolphus chronicles how Moore was constantly evolving.
Duration:00:01:41
Conversations with kids in "1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed"
5/12/2023
In "1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed," Director W. Kamau Bell interviews mixed race people across three generations to understand their challenges and insights. The film is an opportunity to listen and learn.
Duration:00:01:58
Exploring audio in "32 Sounds"
4/28/2023
"32 Sounds" is a documentary essay that enlists composers, scientists, Hollywood effects specialists and others to contemplate how we listen. Filmmaker Sam Green has created an interactive experience best experienced in a movie theater.
Duration:00:02:01
"Little Richard: I Am Everything" celebrates a rock 'n' roll pioneer
4/21/2023
"Little Richard: I Am Everything" brings a fresh perspective on the history of rock 'n' roll with insights from Mick Jagger and Billy Porter. Director Lisa Cortes explores what it meant to be Black and queer when both were subject to intense discrimination and violence.
Duration:00:02:02
From Clothing to Conservation in "Wild Life"
4/14/2023
"Wild Life" tells the love story of Doug and Kris Tompkins who gave up careers running North Face and Patagonia to devote themselves to conservation. Oscar-winning filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin ("Free Solo") chronicle how the Tompkins orchestrated the largest national park land donation in history.
Duration:00:01:57
Van Jones navigates controversy in "The First Step"
4/7/2023
In "The First Step," we follow progressive activist Van Jones as forges an unlikely alliance with Jared Kushner in the Trump administration to pass criminal justice reform. The film-making brothers, Brandon and Lance Kramer show how political coalitions are hard to win and easy to lose.
Duration:00:01:48
Revisiting the Iraq War in "The Army We Had"
3/31/2023
The American soldiers who were interviewed 20 years ago for the documentary "Gunner Palace" about the war in Iraq, look back on their experiences today in "The Army We Had." While many Americans may want to forget the war, filmmakers Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker keep the memories of these soldiers alive.
Duration:00:01:44
Who Was Nam June Paik?
3/24/2023
"Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV" profiles the ground-breaking video artist whose work in the 1970s and 80s anticipated numerous artistic and technological innovations that came afterward. Filmmaker Amanda Kim interviews Paik's friends and admirers who put his legacy in perspective.
Duration:00:01:54
Nan Goldin vs the Sacklers in "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed"
3/17/2023
"All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" profiles the artist Nan Goldin and her fight to have the Sackler family held accountable for the opioid epidemic. Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras explores Goldin's complex history as an artist and activist while chronicling her recent campaign to have art institutions disassociate themselves from the Sacklers as donors.
Duration:00:01:52
"Navalny" is a political thriller about an opponent of Vladimir Putin
3/10/2023
"Navalny" follows the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny as he investigates a Kremlin plot to assassinate him. Today, Navalny is in prison, but this film by Daniel Roher keeps his voice alive and is nominated for an Academy Award.
Duration:00:01:49
Documenting trans lives in "Framing Agnes"
3/3/2023
"Framing Agnes" brings to life archival interviews with transgender men and women from the 1950s. Filmmaker Chase Joynt leads a team of trans collaborators including Zackary Drucker, Angelica Ross and Max Wolf Valerio to shed light on this earlier generation.
Duration:00:01:51
"The 1619 Project" becomes a six-part series
2/17/2023
"The 1619 Project" adapts the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism of Nikole Hannah-Jones into a six-part series on Hulu. Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams teams with The New York Times and Oprah Winfrey to reexamine Black American history.
Duration:00:02:01
"Nothing Lasts Forever" looks at the diamond industry
2/10/2023
"Nothing Lasts Forever" explores how the rise of synthetic diamonds is disrupting the longtime monopoly of the company De Beers. Filmmaker Jason Kohn interviews a wide range of industry insiders including jewelry designer and historian Aja Raden.
Duration:00:02:04
"Body Parts" explores how Hollywood treats sex
2/3/2023
"Body Parts" explores Hollywood's complicated history of filming nudity and sexuality. We hear from actors such as Jane Fonda and Rose McGowan about their frequent experiences of being coerced into explicit scenes against their better judgment - and how they found their voice to push for change.
Duration:00:01:50
New documentary "Roberta" profiles the soul singer
1/27/2023
"Roberta" chronicles how the singer of "Killing Me Softly" went from being a classically trained musician to a soul sensation. Director Antonino D'Ambrosio draws upon interviews with Roberta Flack and her contemporaries such as Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis along with music scholars Emily Lordi and Jason King.
Duration:00:02:00
Performing for inmates at Angola Prison
1/20/2023
"Angola Do You Hear Us?" follows Liza Jessie Peterson as she performs her one woman show, "The Peculiar Patriot" at Louisiana's Angola Prison. Filmmaker Cinque Northern captures how the event raises excitement for the inmates and tensions for the guards.
Duration:00:01:43
Remembering Linsanity in "38 at the Garden"
1/13/2023
"38 at the Garden" looks back on Jeremy Lin's phenomenal scoring streak with the New York Knicks in 2012 and what it meant for Asian Americans. Filmmaker Frank Chi interviews Lin along with comedian Hassan Minaj, journalist Lisa Ling and others who reflect on how "Linsanity" became about more than just basketball.
Duration:00:01:41
"Bad Axe" profiles a restaurant during COVID
1/6/2023
In "Bad Axe," filmmaker David Siev documents his immigrant family running their restaurant during the 2020 challenges of COVID and a racial reckoning. When tensions rise, the family has to choose when and how to make a stand.
Duration:00:01:45