Fog of Truth: A Podcast About Documentary Film

For this second episode of our current season we try something new with a look back at an important film from the past, Barbara Kopple’s 1976 HARLAN COUNTY USA, which won the 1977 Best Documentary Oscar. Our guest host this week is actually a guest historian, Betsy McLane, who not only knows just about everything there is to know about documentary history, but also knows quite a lot about Kopple. We also play a recent interview Chris did with directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert of AMERICAN FACTORY

We are back for a new season, and this time with a series of guest hosts – a new one each episode (this week it's Sedika Mojadidi) – to accompany Bart and Chris on their journey through documentary cinema. We review COLD CASE HAMMARSKJÖLD, a wild romp of an investigative movie and interview director Stephen Maing about last year’s CRIME + PUNISHMENT.

In this bonus episode, Bart interviews Patricia Aufderheide, of American University’s Center for Media & Social Impact, about how she first developed the guidelines for “fair use,” those rules whereby documentary filmmakers place footage from other sources in their films without fear of lawsuits. It’s one of the most important developments in the nonfiction filmmaking worldof the last 20 years, and Aufderheide made it happen. This is her story.

This bonus episode features a review of the new Netflix documentary The Great Hack – which opens today on the site – and an interview with its directors, Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, from this year’s AFI DOCS film festival. The film discusses both the 2016 Brexit and 2016 U.S. presidential elections and how the public’s personal data was misused by the now-defunct political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

There are no shortage of documentaries on various aspects of film history and we discuss a few of them plus we have a group review of BE NATURAL and Chris interviews Midge Costin of MAKING WAVES.

This episode is dedicated to 2019 AFI DOCS featuring an interview with Festival Director Michael Lumpkin, group discussion of three features playing this year and an interview with Chris and Linda Goldstein Knowlton of WE ARE THE RADICAL MONARCHS.

This week we look at documentaries about photography, polaroid film and ways of seeing as we review INSTANT DREAMS and Chris interviews Rodney Evans, the director of VISION PORTRAITS.

Politics is the theme this week as we discuss election and political documentaries, review KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE, and Bart interviews David Modigliani of RUNNING WITH BETO.

This week we look at documentaries about immigration (and specifically about migrant workers) as we review BISBEE ‘17 and have an interview with Chelsea Hernandez of BUILDING THE AMERICAN DREAM.

Many documentaries use archival footage in different ways, sometimes the entire film is archival and other times it is interwoven with new footage, or altered or animated to create a completely new and different work. This week we chat a bit about all of these variations and review the recent archival masterpiece, THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD and Chris interviews Todd Douglas Miller of APOLLO 11.

This bonus episode features an interview with the great Stanley Nelson, a prolific director telling complex and socially relevant stories in an expert and entertaining way. The episode drops the day before Nelson’s latest film, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, plays at the Maryland Film Festival, in co-host Chris Reed’s hometown of Baltimore.

In what is now a tradition for bonus episodes, we look at an online collective of short documentaries, this time with Field of Vision. Founded by Laura Poitras, AJ Schnak and Charlotte Cook, the site showcases insightful films from insider perspectives on various areas of the world, with a focus on political and social inequalities.

For SXSW we discuss two of the films playing this year, RAISE HELL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MOLLY IVINS and PAHOKEE, and Bart & Chris interview the filmmakers from Austin Texas.

Portrayals of Southern culture in documentary is the topic this week as we look at HILLBILLY and Chris interviews Morrisa Maltz, the director of INGRID.

Audience fascination with films about the ultra-wealthy in a time of great economic disparity is the topic this week as we discuss THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING and Chris interviews the director of GENERATION WEALTH.