Top Docs: Award-Winning Documentary Filmmakers

Continuing their series on Emmy-nominated films, Mike and Ken delve into their first historical documentary for Top Docs in this deep dive conversation with Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Marco Williams (Banished, Two Towns of Jasper), one of the directors of the History Channel’s Emmy-nominated Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre. (Co-directed with Stanley Nelson) Tulsa Burning traces the under told story of the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the thriving African-American community known as “Black Wall Street”, from its founding in the early 1900s through its near destruction during the tragic 1921 massacre by local whites that killed hundreds of African-Americans. How did Marco Williams do justice to this horrific and yet all-too common story of white vengeance against Black people? How did he grapple with the crucial question of who gets to tell this story?  And, making the film during the height of George Floyd’s murder and local protests over police killings of Black Tulsans, what were the specific storytelling challenges of converging the past and the present? Join us for a candid conversation with Marco, who, after a remarkable 40-year filmmaking career, continues to approach his work with the ethos, “I’m still learning how to make films.” You can find Marco @hiptruth You can follow us on twitter @topdocspod   Other films by Marco Williams: Banished Two Towns of Jasper Murders that Matter   Also discussed in the Pod: Black Swan Records Stanley Nelson’s Attica Observational documentary as one of the 6 types of documentaries Russell Westbrook’s Enterprises Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws Red Summer The police killing of Terrence Crutcher Greenwood Rising Events of the Tulsa Disaster Recommended:  This New York Times 3D Model of what was lost in the 1921 massacre

Filmmaker Cullen Hoback (Q: Into the Storm) leads Mike and Ken on a fascinating — and frightening —  trip down the QAnon rabbit hole as he attempts to unmask the identity of the conspiracy movement’s mysterious and mischievous leader, Q.  Focusing on 8chan, the internet site that Q calls home, Cullen locks in on founder Fredrick Brennan and former partners turned archrivals, Jim and Ron Watkins. Cullen’s mission goes from lark (or LARP, as the case may be) to full blown nightmare when Q’s followers descend on the Capitol and join in the Jan. 6th insurrection.  How did Cullen go from bootstrapping this series himself to pitching to Adam McKay (The Big Short) and landing the project at HBO? What’s it like to find neutral ground between your film’s main subjects who will stop at nothing to tear each other down? What do you do when one of your subjects calls in a panic from thousands of miles away and puts his life in your hands? Join us for all that and more, including an answer to the question, “What does the song White Rabbit have to do with all this, anyway?" You can follow Cullen on twitter @cullenhoback You can follow us @topdocspod Other Films by Cullen:  Terms and Conditions May Apply What Lies Upstream Monster Camp   Hidden Gem:  Strad Style   Also Mentioned: King of Kong American Movie Q: Into the Storm The Big Short The Jinx Robert Durst LARPing Edge Lord Qanon Anonymous Podcast Streisand effect Dig! Tiger King

In his chilling Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, Sundance award-winning filmmaker Jeff Orlowski (Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral) sounds the alarm about the insidious effects of social media and its potentially devastating consequences for society. Using a range of documentary and fiction techniques, Jeff argues that  tech’s attention extraction model is the “Frankenstein’s Monster” of our time. How did Jeff crack the code of telling this story in a compelling way that would make visible social media companies’ use of A.I. to prey upon all of us? And what was it like to direct actor  Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men) playing three versions of himself? Things get personal when Mike confronts his own “dilemma” as someone who has used “growth hacking” in his work, and we ask Jeff, “What apps are still on your phone?” Jeff’s activist site supporting the move:  thesocialdilemma.com You can follow us @topdocspod Other Films by Jeff: Chasing Ice Chasing Coral   Hidden Gem: Baraka   Also Mentioned in the Pod: Center for Humane Technology The Big Short Vincent Kartheiser and Mad Men Citizen Kane Sundance Film Festival Yesterbox Frankenstein Sophocles' Antigone Growth Hacking Mirror Neurons A/B Testing Hippocratic Oath Section 230 Woz and Jobs  

Mike and Ken talk to Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss about their Emmy Award-nominated Boys State.  They discuss Robert, Ben, Steven, and René, the four boys at the heart of the film, as they navigate their way, at a formative stage of life, through the Texas Boys State program.  It's a film that shows winning, losing, and the lessons learned during a weeklong immersion in the cutthroat world of Boys State politics.     In this intimate and illuminating conversation, Amanda and Jesse reflect on their own filmmaking journey and the unpredictability and power of documentary storytelling. Be sure to stay tuned to the end to learn which of their films made the biggest impression on 17-year-old Texas boys!    You can follow us @topdocspod   Other Films by Amanda & Jesse: Speedo:  A Demolition Derby Love Story The Overnighters The Bandit   Hidden Gems: Acasa, My Home Seventeen   Also discussed: Performative masculinity The Maysle Brothers (here interviewed by David Letterman)