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Podcasts

POV Podcasts

POV brings a collection of documentary filmmakers, writers, experts, and viewers together for conversations about topics relevant to POV's nonfiction films.

Recent POV Podcasts

Bronx Princess
Filmmakers Yoni Brook and Musa Syeed talk about the making of Bronx Princess. They explain why Rocky's mother expresses both excitement and trepidation about Rocky going to college, and talk about how the film reflects the changing identity of what it means to be an American.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (41 MB)

Musa Syeed

So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away
Filmmaker Annie P. Waldman talks about the making of her film, discusses balancing her desire to help her subjects with the need to stay at arm's length as a filmmaker, and reveals how the filmmaking process boosted the confidence of her subjects.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (18 MB)

Annie P. Waldman

The Principal Story
Filmmakers Tod Lending and David Mrazek talk about their film, The Principal Story. They explain why they chose to focus on principals Kerry Purcell and Tresa Dunbar and discuss what it takes to be an effective leader in America's schools.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (61 MB)

Tod Lending

The English Surgeon
Filmmakers Geoffrey Smith talks about his film, The English Surgeon. He talks about how Henry Marsh met Igor Kurilets and the friendship the two men have developed over 15 years of working together, and how Henry's sense of moral responsibility and desire to help others drives his work.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (60 MB)

Geoffrey Smith

Ella Es El Matador (She is the Matador)
Filmmakers Gemma Cubero and Celeste Carrasco talk about their film, Ella Es el Matador (She Is the Matador). They explain how they came upon the idea of making a film about female bullfighters and talk about the perception that bullfighting is a quintessential symbol of masculinity in Spain.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (54 MB)

Celeste Carrasco

This Way Up
Filmmaker Georgi Lazarevski talks about his film, This Way Up. He discusses how the presences of the security barrier in the West Bank affects the residents of the Our Lady of Sorrows hospice, and talks about how he identifies with all four of the film's main subjects.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (48 MB)

Georgi Lazarevski

City of Cranes
Filmmaker Eva Weber talks about her short documentary, City of Cranes, which takes the viewer into the poetic, mesmerizing world of cranes. Watch the entire film.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (43 MB)

Eva Weber

Nutkin's Last Stand
Filmmaker Nicholas Berger talks about his short documentary, Nutkin's Last Stand, about the battle between the English red squirrel and the North American grey squirrel. Watch the entire film.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (55 MB)

Nicholas Berger

34x25x36
Filmmaker Jesse Epstein talks about her short documentary, 34x35x36, which examines issues of body image by heading to a mannequin factory.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (40 MB)

Jesse Epstein

Utopia Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall
Filmmaker Sam Green talks about his short documentary, Utopia Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall, which takes a look at an empty mall in China. Watch the entire film.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (46 MB)

Sam Green

Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go
Filmmaker Kim Longinotto talks about the making of Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, an unblinking look at Oxford's Mulberry Bush School for emotionally disturbed children.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (43.2 MB)

Kim Longinotto

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Filmmakers Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath talk about The Betrayal, their Academy Award-nominated documentary about the Phrasavath family's escape from Laos after the Vietnam War. In America, they find a different kind of war.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (34.8 MB)

Ellen Kuras

The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court
Filmmakers Pamela Yates, Paco de Onis and Peter Kinoy talk about their film, The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court. The film follows the court as it tries to prosecute the perpetrators of genocide.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (65.2 MB)

Pamela Yates

Life. Support. Music.
Filmmaker Eric Daniel Metzgar talks about the making of Life. Support. Music., which follows guitarist Jason Crigler, who suffers a brain hemorrhage on stage, and his astonishing journey to recovery.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (12.7 MB)

Eric Daniel Metzgar

Beyond Hatred
Filmmaker Olivier Meyrou talks about Beyond Hatred, the story of a family's struggle to seek justice for their murdered son while trying to transcend hatred and the desire for revenge.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (13.9 MB)

Olivier Meyrou

New Muslim Cool
Filmmaker Jennifer Maytorena Taylor talks about New Muslim Cool, which follows Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Pérez, who pulled himself out of street life 12 years ago and became a Muslim.
Watch the Interview Online  |  Download the MP4 (35.4 MB)

Jennifer Maytorena Taylor

Soldiers of Conscience
Filmmakers Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg talk about Soldiers of Conscience, which profiles 8 American soldiers, including four who decide not to kill and become conscientious objectors, and four who believe in their duty to kill if necessary.
Download the MP3 (6.5 MB)

Gary Weimberg

Up the Yangtze - Turning the Lens on China
Filmmakers Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze), Ellen Perry (Great Wall Across the Yangtze) and David Redmon (Mardi Gras: Made in China) talk to independent producer Karin Chien about the challenges and rewards of making documentaries in contemporary China.
Download the MP3 (15.3 MB)

Yung Chang

Critical Condition - The Economics of Health Care in the United States and Abroad
WNYC's Political Director Andrea Bernstein interviews Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt and filmmaker Roger Weisberg about the candidates' health care plans, the lessons the United States might learn from the experiences of other countries with universal health insurance and how rising health care costs are affecting the U.S. economy.
Download the MP3 (8.3 MB)

Roger Weisberg

In the Family
When Chicago filmmaker Joanna Rudnick tested positive for the "breast cancer gene" at age 27, she knew the information could save her life. The question was what to do about it. Joanna talks about her film, In the Family, which documentts her journey.
Download the MP3 (8.2 MB)

Joanna Rudnick

Critical Condition - Health Care Debate
How would John McCain and Barack Obama reform America's health care system? KCBS reporter Doug Sovern moderated a recent debate held at California's Commonwealth Club to learn how each candidate would approach this looming issue.
Download the MP3 (22.6 MB)

Roger Weisberg

Critical Condition
Critical Condition asks what happens if you fall sick and are one of 47 million people in American without health insurance, and follows four critically ill Americans who are uninsured. Filmmaker Roger Weisberg talks about the process of making the film.
Download the MP3 (6.2 MB)

Roger Weisberg

Calavera Highway
Renee Tajima-Peña and Evangeline Griego talk about their film Calavera Highway, which follows brothers Armando and Carlos Peña, who carry their mother's ashes to Texas in a roadtrip that turns into a quest for answers about their family history.
Download the MP3 (7 MB)

Renee Tajima-Pena

Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music
Filmmaker Robert Elfstrom talks about capturing the Man in Black in his 1969 film, Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music.
Download the MP3 (6.1 MB)

Robert Eflstrom

Campaign
Filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda talks about his film Campaign, which provides a startling insider's view of Japanese democracy through its portrait of a man plucked from obscurity by the ruling party to run for a critical city council seat.
Download the MP3 (6.1 MB)

Kazuhiro Soda

The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández
Filmmaker Kieran Fitzgerald talks about his film, The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez, which chronicles the shooting of an American citizen at the U.S./Mexico Border by the U.S. Marines.
Download the MP3 (5.9 MB)

Kieran Fitzgerald

Election Day
Election Day, shot over the course of November 2, 2004, documents the street-level experience of voters in today's America. Filmmaker Katy Chevigny talks about the process of making the film. (17 minutes)
Download the MP3 (6.0 MB)

Katy Chevigny

Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North
In Traces of the Trade, filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. History. Katrina talks about her journey and her film. (19 minutes)
Download the MP3 (6.6 MB)

Katrina Browne

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