Advertise on podcast: Talking Documentary Podcast

When Phil Wall last appeared on this podcast, he was the everything guy—director, cinematographer, writer, editor—on The Book Keepers, a film about death and grief made intimate by how few hands touched it. Now Wall returns with a radically different project: a three-episode, 137-minute history of American men's professional soccer, delivered on a punishing deadline with a small army of creatives at his side. In Soccer Meets America, Wall is no longer the jack-of-all-trades, he’s a director in the classic sense.In this conversation, Wall talks about soccer's strange, stubborn failure to crack the American mainstream (despite a passionate hidden audience), why landing Werner Herzog as a guest interviewee was a validating win, and what it feels like to release the tripod someone is taking from your hands because—as they keep reminding you—you're the director now. Music: Podington Bear This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Dear Audrey follows veteran documentary filmmaker Martin Duckworth as he cares for his wife Audrey, who is living with Alzheimer’s. What begins as a portrait of daily life gradually expands into a reflection on memory, devotion, and acceptance. Director Jeremiah Hayes allows the narrative to emerge organically, and in so doing, captures moments of striking intimacy. The resulting film resists easy categorization. Dear Audrey is part biography, part love story, and part meditation. And it’s an anchored by Duckworth, whose openness gives the film its emotional weight and lasting impact. Music: Podington Bear This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Every summer, on the very edge of Chincoteague island, there was a little world called Inlet View. Generations came through: grandparents, parents, kids who grew up barefoot on the sand, all returning to the same sliver of shoreline year after year. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t curated. It was theirs … a working-class refuge built from patched roofs, borrowed tools, and a deep sense of neighborliness. And then one day it wasn’t. In this episode, filmmaker Amy Nicholson joins me to talk about Happy Campers, her lyrical, quietly devastating portrait of the final summer at Inlet View. Nicholson didn’t just observe this community. She lived in it, fell in love with it, and eventually watched it succumb to the economics of development. What began as a simple fascination with a hidden campground became a meditation on class, belonging, and the kinds of American communities we rarely see onscreen. Music: Greenred Productions This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Given today’s combative political environment, why would anyone want to watch a film about government? Well, because Brandon and Lance Kramer made it. Brothers and filmmakers, the Kramers have carved out a space in documentary that’s reflective and thoughtful in an era where loud and combative rule the day. In “The First Step,” the Kramers show that government still works when everyday citizens look beyond superficial differences and recognize their shared humanity. The film successfully follows up on their excellent 2015 film, “City of Trees,” a winning observation of how taxpayer programs really look at ground level … and how they change lives. Intro and outro music by Podington Bear. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Even as a young boy growing up in Alaska, David Holthouse was fascinated by newspapers, storytelling and life on the margins. His ability to blend into his surroundings led to a career as a self-styled gonzo journalist. Holthouse did his best work on the inside, infiltrating groups as varied as neo-Nazis and crystal meth addicts. But as the media landscape changed, so too did Holthouse. He now applies his unique perspective to the world of documentary film and has produced a number of popular movies and series on major streamers such as Hulu and Netflix, including “Sasquatch” and “Night Stalker.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Morgan Elliott is a documentary filmmaker and long-time resident of New York’s “North Country.” Going back to his childhood, Elliott had heard the story of Potsdam’s famous toilet garden, a self-styled protest by a Potsdam resident in response to perceived mistreatment by the village’s government. The toilets are revered by some, and reviled by others. Elliott waded into the dispute during the pandemic’s early years and emerged in 2022 with a feature documentary that captures a story that is at once quirky and profound. Intro and outro music: Podington Bear This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

The Book Keepers tells the story of Phil Wall’s mother, Carol, a gifted writer who dreamed of becoming a published author and who finally achieved her goal … just as her long battle with breast cancer took a turn for the worse. Carol was unable to tour with her new book and passed away shortly thereafter. Her husband, Dick, did what a loyal husband would do: He went on the book tour in her place. Her son, Phil, did what a filmmaker does: He picked up his camera and followed along. Wall processed his own grief by following his dad's journey to understanding his new life as a widower. Wall also captures intimate behind-the-scenes conversations with his dad, who later pursues an unexpected course that leads to delicate and surprising moments. Intro and outro music: Podington Bear This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Some 20 years ago, New York filmmaker Zachary Levy went looking for a story that would become his first documentary feature film. He wound up finding the personality of a lifetime in Stanley Pleskun, a New Jersey scrap metal hauler with a colorful side hustle. In Levy’s 2009 documentary Strongman, Levy contributes an enduring character to the canon of vérité filmmaking. Intro music: Arne Bang Huseby Outro music: Jahzzar This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Ten years ago, Shaleece Haas stumbled upon a musician whose lyrics captured her attention ... and then her imagination. Turns out the musician, Bennett Wallace, had a story to go along with his music. It was a story increasingly playing out in living rooms across the country and one that is forcing American society to rethink old ideas about gender and identity. In "Real Boy," Haas tenderly trains her lens on a young transgender musician, his best friend and mentor, and the mother who struggles to accept the reality of who her son is becoming. Intro Music by Lobo Loco Outro Music by Kevin MacLeod This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Robert Greene is an award-winning filmmaker who directed the highly regarded Netflix documentary, "Procession." But at the dawn of the 2010s, Greene was only beginning to refine his voice and vision as a filmmaker. In 2011, Greene parlayed a family connection into access to a handful of small-time pro wrestlers and followed them as they prepared for a show in rural North Carolina. The result is documentary treasure. Greene's film, "Fake It So Real," explores a subculture that alternately generates smiles and winces but ultimately wins your heart. The film also captures a slice of rural America in the years before Donald Trump exploded onto the political scene, straining the already fraught relationship between urban and rural Americans. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Drew Xanthopolous was a young, unestablished filmmaker when he came across a New York Times photo essay that would launch his career—as well as change the next five years of his life. The essay documented the lives of people who suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, a crippling condition that forces the afflicted to rethink everything about their day-to-day lives (including where they live and how they interact with family). Xanthopolous was intrigued and decided to learn more. He met several MCS sufferers and decided to tell their story. Over the ensuing handful of years, Xanthopolous undertook a nearly continuous milk run across two time zones to capture the lives of those living with MCS. His ensuing film, The Sensitives, documents the unique emotional terrain of those for whom modern life is more curse than blessing. Music by Wall Matthews This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

In the United States, stray dogs are not allowed to live on the street. They are whisked away to live in concrete cells. The approach is very different in some cities in Europe and Asia, where stray dogs are allowed to live freely alongside the human population. Elizabeth Lo pondered these differences and what it all means. She wanted to create a visual document that captures stray dogs as seen from their perspective, not ours. The result is a stunning visual achievement that also carries a message about what it means to live free. Lo's film, Stray, was released in 2021. It won the jury prize for Best International Feature Film at the Hot Docs International Film Festival! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Justin Schein is a veteran filmmaker who has worked with scores of documentary subjects, but nothing could prepare him for an aging yippee named Mayer Vishner. Schein thought he was making a documentary about Vishner’s life. Vishner had a different idea, and it shook Schein to his core and tested his mettle as a friend, filmmaker and human being. Schein's 2015 film, "Left On Purpose," follows the colorful, unforgettable Vishner through a minefield of emotional and ethical issues. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Joe Brandmeier was an average married guy who accepted the ups and downs of being coupled. But then a particularly tough patch in his marriage prompted him to think more deeply about the institution. Brandmeier became deeply curious about why we get married, what it means to be married, and how different kinds of couples make it work. He hit the road and interviewed a variety of married couples throughout the upper midwest. The interviews became the crux of his 2016 film, "I Do?" It's an amiable look at how real couples love, laugh, cope and persist. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com

Hollywood photographer Pamela Littky was overtaken by a nagging curiosity ... what happens, she wondered, to the thousands of kids named Most Likely to Succeed in high schools all across America? Littky embarked on her first documentary film to find out. Ten years later, she answered the question in her 2019 film, "Most Likely to Succeed." It's an endearing and honest look into life's most vulnerable period where even high school stars get bumped around along the way. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.talkingdocumentary.com