Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Factual America

In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon surveys the studio as Paul records his new album Seven Psalms while reflecting on his six-decade career and wrestling with the issues of faith and mortality.

Joining Matthew Sherwood on Factual America is Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, who discusses the impact Paul Simon had on American culture and music, the inspiration behind Paul’s album Seven Psalms, and the challenges of making a documentary about a musical icon.

Alex explains his own creative process, the lessons he’s learned from a career in film, and his upcoming film on Elon Musk. We learn what he looks for when choosing to get involved in a project and the skills you need to be a successful documentary filmmaker.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“He’s one of the greatest songwriters ever in terms of rock music. He’s always been driven to the sounds at the limit of what he can hear, intriguing sounds that are completely different to his tradition or experience.” – Alex Gibney

“I started out making documentaries that I thought I knew what was important early on and I discovered that was a terrible way to make films, because if you weren’t exploring and open to the things in front of you that you didn't expect then you were making a boring film. So you have to be open to the idea that things are going to explode.” – Alex Gibney

“It’s a magical part of the movie because it’s rare in a set that an audience loves a song so much that they make you play it again right away.” – Alex Gibney

Dancing For The Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult explores the experiences of a group of prominent TikTok dancers who are trapped in a cult masquerading as a management company. In the process the film uncovers disturbing truths about the agenda of Robert Shinn, the cult’s founder and pastor of the Shekinah Church.

Joining Matthew Sherwood on Factual America are executive producers Jessica Acevedo and director Derek Doneen, who discuss the making of the film and the challenges of interviewing people who are still in the depths of an abusive and traumatic environment.

The filmmakers explain how it takes a long time to recover from leaving a cult, how to build trust with the people you are documenting, and how the cult responded to the wave of criticism and bad publicity. In the end their film reveals so much about the lure of fame, the importance of faith and the bond of family. 

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“Nobody sets out to join a cult. Cult leaders don't come at you full blast with their manipulations on display, it’s little by little slowly inching you in over time so you’re not realising what’s happening.” – Derek Doneen

“Financial abuse and control happened there. It wasn’t until they started sharing some of those experiences that they realised that it was happening to them too and unravelled what they thought was a faith-based positive environment and showed it was really quite sinister.” – Jessica Acevedo

“The assumption is that people are fine and okay, but continue to dig deeper, ask the questions, have patience and meet people where they’re at because you never really know what someone’s going through. What you see on social media can be one thing but it’s worth asking how they’re doing.” – Jessica Acevedo

Tatiana Suarez was born into poverty, endured a “tumultuous [and] traumatic childhood”, and at school chose to compete in a sport – wrestling – that led to her being relentlessly bullied. She overcame every obstacle that life and people put in front of her and became a champion. And not just once, but multiple times. Finally, the greatest prize of all, Olympic glory, lay within her grasp.

And then, she broke her neck.

And as that was being treated, doctors discovered that Tatiana had cancer.

In The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez, Cassius Corrigan tells the story of how Tatiana overcame these seemingly insurmountable setbacks to achieve even greater success than before: with her neck injury meaning that Tatiana could no longer wrestle, she became instead a Mixed Martial Arts fighter. And with the absolute determination and drive to succeed that has characterised her life’s journey so far, she has beaten the hardest opponents, and won the toughest competitions.

In this episode of Factual America, Matthew Sherwood discusses with Cassius Tatiana’s incredible life. We meet Tatiana the wrestling pioneer for both girls and Latinas, Tatiana the inheritor of a strong mindedness that will not brook denial, and Tatiana who remains the great “What If” of wrestling and MMA despite her achievements. Cassius also explores Tatiana’s family background and extraordinary work ethic. It has made her an icon of one of the most dangerous sports in the world.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“... look at what Tatiana is risking every day... this is one of the greatest stories I've ever encountered in sport. I was willing to do whatever it took to bring it to life.” – Cassius Corrigan

Five years after the legendary Texas singer and songwriter Guy Clark passed away, his life and legacy is celebrated in a new documentary. Without Getting Killed or Caught brings Guy's colourful life and career to the big screen. 

The film is the brainchild of Grammy award-winning music producer, award-winning author, and documentary filmmaker Tamara Saviano. She and her partner in life Paul Whitfield are the co-directors and co-producers.

The film looks at Guy Clark’s life as he struggles to write poetic songs, while balancing a complicated marriage with his wife Susanna. It is also a story of Guy's friendship with another legendary Texas singer-songwriter, Townes Van Zandt, on whom Susanna forged a passionate dependence.

Tamara and Paul talk about what led them to make the documentary, how they gained access to Susanna’s diary and audio tapes, and which other films inspired them the most in their filmmaking. 

“They are so good at what they do, yet they remain so grounded and humble, and that attracts people to them.” - Tamara Saviano

Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight champion, is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. Unfortunately, he is just as famous for his exploits outside of the ring as he is for his many knockouts.

The new docuseries Mike Tyson: The Knockout is currently streaming on ABC and Hulu. Senior Executive Producer for original non-fiction content at ABC News, Roxanna Sherwood, joins us to discuss the film. 

Roxanna shares how she collaborated with the Oscar-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher and Grammy-winning composer Terence Blanchard to create a new approach to Mike Tyson's story.  She explains what it was like for Mike growing up, how he ended up in so many scandals, and why this story is relevant now more than ever.

“We are prone these days to shuffle things under the black and white. The grey has disappeared, but the truth is in the middle, the truth is grey.” - Roxanna Sherwood

00:14 - The trailer for Mike Tyson: The Knockout.
05:21 - The new context the documentary gives to Mike’s life.
08:54 - What it was like for Mike growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
11:26 - First clip showing Brownsville in the 1970s and '80s.
13:40 - The difficulties Mike Tyson had as a boy.
16:48 - Second clip revealing the fortune Mike gained in a short period of time.
19:34 - The misguided trust Mike had in Robin Givens.
25:22 - Third clip looking at how Mike's lavish lifestyle turned self-destructive.
28:29 - Which knockout the title refers to.
30:43 - The rape committed by Mike Tyson and the subsequent trial.
37:36 - The importance of understanding unconscious bias and racism.
44:43 - Why this documentary is so relevant at the moment.
47:14 - How Geoffrey Fletcher and Terence Blanchard became involved with the film.
50:53 - The type of content ABC News will be making in the future.
53:30 - How to be a successful documentary filmmaker.
55:18 - What’s next for Roxanna.

Richard Melville Hall, better known to most of us as Moby, is an electronic music pioneer. In the 1990s he scored numerous top ten hits on the Billboard Dance Club chart and his album Play (1999) has sold over 12 million copies.

Even with all that success, Moby still found himself hitting rock bottom, contemplating suicide and wondering why he wasn't happy despite achieving everything he wanted.

Joining us is the director and writer of the Moby Doc, Rob Gordon Bralver. Rob teamed up with Moby to make a documentary about the musician’s life, activism and his struggles along the way in the quest for happiness.

Rob tells us how he got the opportunity to make this film and what it was like closely collaborating with Moby.

Moby Doc will be released online at the same time as Moby’s new album Reprise on May 28th.  

“There’s an element that’s meant to be a cautionary tale for not just aspiring artists, but aspiring anything. It’s seldom the road that you believed that it would be when you started.” - Rob Gordon Bralver

The Villages is a self-contained retirement community located in central Florida. Often referred to as a “Disneyland for Retirees,” it is home to over 130,000 seniors. The Villages offers residents a utopian version of a bygone America: wide, safe streets, perfectly manicured lawns, and countless activities all in the service of enjoying the golden years. 

Directed by filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, Some Kind of Heaven (2020) reveals cracks in The Villages' facade and explores life inside its palm-tree-lined streets, while challenging stereotypes around ageing.  

The film follows four residents for whom The Villages is not living up to its reputation. By aiming the camera lens at this usually closed-off community, Lance captures what The Villages is really like. What type of people live in these retirement villages? How did residents respond to Lance filming there? And why did Lance choose to delve into this bizarre world? 

Some Kind of Heaven is available on demand in the UK from May 14th 2021. 

“There’s something beautiful to the idea that no matter how old you get, you are still becoming.” - Lance Oppenheim

The opioid crisis in the US has killed half a million people and created millions of addicts, all because the pharmaceutical companies pushed opioid medicines as not being prone to abuse or addictive.

In his latest HBO doc-series The Crime of the Century (2021), Oscar- and Emmy-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney provides the most comprehensive look to date at the opioid crisis in the US.

Alex joins us to discuss the making of the film, arguing that the opioid crisis has deeply criminal roots. The film finds fresh evidence that shows just how deep that criminality runs.

The Crime of the Century premiered on HBO and HBO Max on May 10th and May 11th. It comes to Sky Documentaries and streaming service NOW on Sunday, May 16th at 9pm.

It’s the little acts of corruption that get bigger and bigger, and over time you get a fully corrupted system. – Alex Gibney

Premiering to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Pacific War's end, the documentary Apocalypse '45 combines pristine raw, colour footage of the last months of World War II in the Asia-Pacific theatre with the voices of the two dozen men who lived through the nightmare.

Critically acclaimed director, producer and writer, Erik Nelson, joins us to discuss the making of Apocalypse ‘45. Erik shares how he found this never-before-seen footage of the war and made contact with the veterans who had lived through these gruesome events.

He talks about how, as director, he created the narrative of the film and what the creative process looked like. We also learn what it was like for Erik, as producer of Grizzly Man (2005), to work with the legendary director Werner Herzog.

“A good deal of that footage was filmed by a cameraman who was killed on Iwo Jima. He was sealed up in a cave alive. The man literally died to make this footage.” - Erik Nelson

Hollywood icons Woody Allen and Mia Farrow had a 13-year relationship that ended in flames in 1992 in front of the nation's eyes.

At the centre of the breakup were allegations that Woody Allen sexually abused Dylan Farrow, the daughter he had adopted with Mia Farrow. The case and the resulting fallout still resonate nearly 30 years later. The scandal has been resurrected this year with the release of the HBO docuseries Allen v. Farrow.

Joining us to discuss the social and cultural consequences of this story, the film and the reaction are the Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering.

“Dylan Farrow stood strong, and provided an example to Hollywood, to the country, and maybe in some ways to the rest of the world, about the courage of coming forward and standing by your truth.” - Kirby Dick

Today, we’re talking about Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls or The Notorious B.I.G., the acclaimed rapper who was tragically murdered at the age of just 24 in a drive-by shooting.

Talking to us about Biggie Smalls' life and his legacy on hip-hop is Grammy-award-winning director Emmett Malloy, who directed and produced the original Netflix documentary Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell. 

We talk about who Christopher Wallace really was, as well as how Emmett got access to never-before-seen footage used in the film. With this documentary, Emmett succeeds in shining a different light on Biggie’s life, onto his artistic side and childhood influences that other filmmakers may have overlooked.

My goal was to present him as the artist he was, so people understand that greatness doesn’t come from nowhere, people work at it and this kid was a curious kid with a tremendous artistic gift. - Emmett Malloy

Richard Wershe, Jr, aka White Boy Rick, is the subject of a true-crime documentary that recently landed on Netflix. Shawn Rech, the award-winning director and producer of White Boy (2017), joins us to talk about the tragic circumstances surrounding White Boy Rick's over-30-year incarceration for a nonviolent offence.

Shawn is well-known for creating documentaries that help to overturn wrongful convictions or over-sentencing. White Boy tells the story of Richard, who was an FBI informant as a child and an alleged cocaine kingpin in Detroit in the 1980s.

Richard received a life sentence despite being just 17 years old. The film looks at his case, shining a stark light onto 1980s Detroit and the American justice system.

We talk about the White Boy Rick's reputation, who he really was, and the racism and unjust laws that allowed a child to be groomed by the FBI. 

“Don’t always trust the government, and don’t always trust the media. Do your own investigating and vet your sources.” - Shawn Rech

Murder Among the Mormons (2021) is the new Netflix true-crime docuseries about Mark Hofmann, who is one of the most notable forgers in history. Hofmann created forgeries related to the Latter Day Saint movement, which led to fame and fortune. But the truth caught up with Hofmann one fateful day in 1985, as two innocent people lost their lives. 

We are joined by award-winning co-director and producer of Murder Among the Mormons, Tyler Measom. His previous work includes Leaving the Cult: Sons of Perdition (2010), An Honest Liar (2014) and Biography: I Want My MTV (2019). 

Tyler directed this docuseries with Jared Hess, who is best known for his films Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and Gentlemen Broncos (2009).

Tyler talks about how he and Jared came to turn this story into a docuseries, as well as what they discovered about Mark Hoffman and the nature of belief. In the process we also learn about getting a film idea to the big screen.

 “The power he must have felt to create and change history, to alter what millions of people believe, and know and pray to every day – to have the power to change that in your basement is a remarkable feeling I suspect.” – Tyler Measom

Who is Mark Zuckerberg? That is the question at the heart of Nick Green’s new Sky documentary, Zuckerberg: King of the Metaverse. 

We all know how Zuckerberg took Facebook from being a website accessible to just a few American college students in 2004 to one that is used by over a billion people worldwide in 2024. Along the way, he has acquired Instagram and WhatsApp making him one of the most wide reaching and influential men in the world today.

But what are his thoughts? His views? What does he believe in? As Nick Green tells Matthew Sherwood, uncovering the man behind the avatar and update was hard. Unlike his social media rival, Elon Musk, Zuckerberg speaks only guardedly.

The importance of his position, however, makes it worth taking time to unravel Zuckerberg’s life. As Matthew notes, he has gone from being a hero, to villain, and is now a survivor. For Nick Green, he has been a disrupter, someone willing to “move fast, [and] break things” in the pursuit of money. In doing so, Zuckerberg has had to navigate serious legal challenges and also the attention of American politicians, all of which, he has overcome. 

In this year of important elections, a film about the man who could influence them by his actions or inaction could not be more timely. Especially since, as Nick points out, we can only hope that Zuckerberg is up to the challenge of what lies ahead. 

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

On Facebook’s algorithm:

“Curating what people see and curating what they are exposed to from a business perspective is extraordinary. But... it’s just caused the most horrendous problems.” – Nick Green

James Jordan, the father of basketball legend Michael Jordan, was found tragically murdered in the middle of swamp just days after his 57th birthday in 1993. There were many mysterious circumstances surrounding his death, but the investigation and trial were deemed a success, resulting in the conviction of two teenage boys.

But why does one of the convicted still proclaim his innocence almost 30 years later?

We are joined by award-winning director and producer of the soon to be released docu-series Moment of Truth, Matthew Perniciaro. The five-part series uses never-before-seen archive footage to tell the story behind the murder of James Jordan. It also tackles police corruption in Robeson County, North Carolina, and how that may have influenced the murder investigation.

Matthew aims to give us insights into how Michael dealt with his father's death, and what made this crime so hard to solve. He explains what motivated him to make Moment of Truth, and the challenges he faced along the way.

Moment of Truth premieres on IMDb TV, Amazon’s premium free streaming service, on April 2nd.

“Despite the fact that we think we’ve made so much progress as a society and as a culture, this just shows how far we still have to go.” - Matthew Perniciaro

On paper, Tina Turner probably should never have become a rock-and-roll superstar. But there she is anyway, one of the greatest survivors in modern music, who has overcome extreme adversity to define her career, her identity and her legacy on her own terms. 

TINA (2021) offers a fresh perspective on the life and career of Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock and Roll. Through never-before-seen footage and previously unreleased recordings, the film draws back the curtain on Tina's life, introducing us to a private side of Tina too often hidden from the cameras. 

We are honoured to be joined by the Oscar- and Emmy-winning producers of TINA, cousins Simon and Jonathan Chinn, the co-founders of Lightbox. Between them they have worked on such acclaimed documentaries as Searching for Sugarman (2012), Man on Wire (2008), LA 92 (2017), and Whitney (2018).

Simon and Jonathan talk about how they discovered new ways of telling Tina's story, the revelations that they uncovered about Tina while making the film and what it takes to make a great documentary.   

Directed by Academy Award-winners Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, TINA is being released on March 27th on HBO and streaming on HBO Max in the US, and in the UK on 28th March at 9:00PM on Sky Documentaries and NOW and via altitude.film.  

“What an incredible trailblazer of a performer Tina was, even before her solo success. Seeing the full trajectory of her career as a performer is, in some sense, a revelation.” - Jonathan Chinn    

When we think of alternative music of the 1990s, bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against the Machine or Green Day immediately come to mind – bands who were supported by major labels and commercially viable. 

However, there was a whole sea of other underground bands, spanning a few generations, who were completely fobbed off by the corporate music labels, who didn't sell as many records, and whose careers were overshadowed by their commercially successful counterparts.

Joining us in this episode is Shaun Katz, director and producer of Underground Inc: The Rise and Fall of Alternative Rock (2019). His film dives into the meteoric rise and fall of the hardcore, underground alternative rock scene of the late 80s to mid-90s. 

The film includes interviews with the likes of Joey Castillo from Queens of the Stone Age, Sean Yseult from White Zombie, Steve Albini (the record producer for Nirvana, the Pixies, and PJ Harvey), Todd Huth from Primus, and many more.

Underground Inc. will be available on all major cable and VOD platforms and on DVD on March 23rd. 

"There was a generational shift happening at the underground rock scene, that left the music industry not knowing what to do." - Shaun Katz

Martha Cooper is an iconic American photojournalist and the unlikely hero of street artists across the globe. She documented New York's underground graffiti scene in the 1970s, at a time when street art was looked down upon as being immoral and lacking in artistic merit.

But Martha instead fell in love with the scene and in 1984 published her photos in Subway Art. After a failed launch, the book has gone on to be one of the most sold, and stolen, art books of all time. It also influenced a generation of street artists, including OSGEMEOS.

Selina Miles is the Australian director of the new feature documentary Martha: A Picture Story, which follows the life and work of Martha Cooper. Selina shares what she's learned about Martha's life, her global reputation, and what parts of her life the film documents.

We also talk about how Selina and Martha met, how Selina came up with the idea for the documentary, and what her thoughts are on the value of street art.

“Martha’s now in her 70s, still traveling the world documenting street art in places like Mongolia and Tahiti.” - Selina Miles

Tim O'Brien is one of the most influential living American writers, a National Book Award winner and the author of the groundbreaking book The Things They Carried.

Tim joins us along with award winning director and producer Aaron Matthews to discuss Aaron's film, The War and Peace of Tim O’Brien.

Aaron spent over a year filming Tim as he battled to write one final book – a legacy for his young family about life and fatherhood – even as Tim and his family remain haunted by the ghosts of the Vietnam War. 

Tim talks about the intrusion of allowing a film crew delve deeply into his and his family's personal lives. But by doing so, the film captures the day-to-day intrusions of family life on Tim's creative process.

The discussion naturally leads to the importance of fatherhood, and Tim’s perception of all wars – past, present and future – given his own experiences as an infantryman in the Vietnam War.

“I find it outrageous that we can spend 15 years in Vietnam killing 3 million people, and you can go to a school in America and they know nothing about the Vietnam War.” - Tim O’Brien

In the blink of an eye, Billie Eilish has gone from being an aspiring musician to a five-time Grammy Award winner and global superstar with a multimillion-fan following on social media.

Brilliantly capturing this incredible journey in his new documentary, award-winning director RJ Cutler returns to the podcast to discuss Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry (2021).

Inspired by musicals, concert films and observational cinema, the film takes an intimate look at Billie Eilish’s remarkable rise to superstardom. 

RJ spent a year with Billie Eilish and her family, and what he found was an extraordinary teenage artist creating remarkable music with her brother Finneas. He also found a young woman in full control of her career with the support of those who love and respect her.

Available to stream exclusively on Apple TV+ from February 26th 2021, this film is destined to become an instant classic to be revisited for many years to come.  

“She’s demanding, she’s exacting, she displeases herself. Did we just describe the teenager or the artist? - R.J. Cutler

Rural Appalachia is a part of America that’s vanishing before our eyes. With the loss of the coal industry, the future for the people of eastern Kentucky is uncertain. However, this is what inspires the self-proclaimed "last hillbilly" Brian Ritchie. 

French directors and writers, Diane Sara Bouzgarrou and Thomas Jenkoe, join us to discuss their award-winning documentary The Last Hillbilly (2020). The film won the Best International Doc Award at the Torino Film Festival, and received a special mention at IDFA under the First Appearance Category.

The Last Hillbilly follows Brian Ritchie, who is among other things, a poet, philosopher and not what you would expect from your stereotypical hillbilly. A daunting, yet poetic look at a part of America that will never be the same again, this film dives into Brian's stream of consciousness and explores the gap between his identity and his existence. 

“There are no more mines, there are no more jobs, and their identity is kind of stuck in the past. There is no future ahead of them.” - Diane Sara Bouzgarrou

The HBO documentary miniseries McMillion$ tells the gripping tale behind the McDonald's Monopoly promotion scam. Between 1989 and 2001 a criminal ring defrauded more than $24 million in prizes from McDonald's.

If not for a tipoff to a backwater FBI office, McDonald's never would have found out about the fraud. The ensuing investigation resulted in the arrests of over 50 people. 

Directors and executive producers James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte bring this incredible story to life. They share how they developed the project. James and Brian also discuss the series' entertaining cast of characters, including the FBI investigators who broke the scandal.

McMillion$ has earned five primetime Emmy nominations and scores of rave reviews. It is a refreshingly funny docuseries that captures the activities of a criminal syndicate, and it also has something to say about our willingness to believe the unbelievable.

“Some people knew what they were doing, but some people were legitimately duped into participating and claiming prizes, without ever knowing that this was a federal crime they were participating in.” - Brian Lazarte

Steve McQueen, the Hollywood icon, had a passion for car racing. However, his long lost Formula 1 film project never saw the light of day – until now.

Joining us to talk about this incredible story are the filmmakers behind Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie (2021), director, writer and producer Alex Rodger, and archivist Richard Wiseman.

The film elegantly captures Steve McQueen's stardom and passion for car racing. It is set against the backdrop of the 1960s – glory days for both Formula 1 and Hollywood.

Narrated by David Letterman, the documentary chronicles a race between two identical films. As we watch iconic directors and film studios battle it out, we learn the story behind the story of Day of the Champion – McQueen's lost Formula 1 film.

Just as strikingly, the film brings to the big screen incredible, never-before-seen racing footage that captures the glamour, and the danger, of Formula 1 racing in the 1960s.

Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie is available on SKY Documentaries and NOW TV.

“Car racing in 1960s was unbelievably dangerous, and Steve McQueen saw this as a way into the drama of Formula 1." - Alex Rodger

Miles Davis was among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.

An iconic trumpeter and composer, Miles changed the genre of jazz more times than anyone before him or anyone since. He invented what we today call cool jazz, hard bop, and jazz fusion. His album Kind of Blue is one of the greatest pieces of art of the 20th century. 

Award-winning director and producer, Stanley Nelson, joins us to discuss his documentary Miles Davis: Birth of The Cool. We learn about the music innovator's life journey, and the challenges that Stanley faced bringing Miles's story to the big screen. 

Available to watch on PBS, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, the film tells the story of Miles’s genius. His career encapsulated everything from playing with Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie to influencing generations of musicians. Miles was also a trend-setter and fashion icon, who way too often succumbed to his destructive drug addictions.

“Miles was an icon to the African-American community; he became a black man that demanded excellence in his music and his life.” - Stanley Nelson

On the night of March 23rd 2015, Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn were drugged and bound by a mystery assailant who had broken into their home. Denise was then kidnapped. When Aaron called the police the next day, they believed he had murdered her. Two days later, however, Denise – who had been sexually assaulted by her kidnapper - was freed. Now the police believed no crime had been committed at all, and that Aaron and Denise were hoaxers. The psychological thriller Gone Girl had been released just six months before.

In American Nightmare, co-directors Bernadette Higgins and Felicity Morris explore both what happened and, as host Matthew Sherwood puts it, ‘the consequences of our cultural rush to judgement and the damage done when law enforcement and the media decide the truth can’t possibly be true’.

The result is a three-part series that twists and turns and upends your expectations with every passing minute. In American Nightmare, light becomes dark, and dark turns into light.

On this episode of Factual America, Bernadette and Felicity guide Matthew through Denise and Aaron’s story as well as the making of their series. Among the topics they discuss are how the unfair treatment of women who are victims of sexual crime motivated them to make American Nightmare, the true crime documentary that inspired and shaped the series, the extensive research that went into the making of it, and how American Nightmare offers the opportunity to get viewers to ask questions of themselves and others about how they treat other people.

They discuss the betrayal of trust, self-doubt, and even out-of-body experiences that Denise and Aaron went through. Perhaps most surprising of all, however, is the point of connection that they find between American Nightmare and Pamela: A Love Story, the 2023 documentary about Pamela Anderson. 

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“This happened, and it happens a lot, and if it can happen to Denise and Aaron, it can happen to anyone.” – Bernadette Higgins

Saturday Night Live, The Blues Brothers, and the National Lampoon — John Belushi was an iconic figure of the 1970s comedy scene. But he was more than just a comic genius. 

At one moment, Belushi had the number one show on television, the number one film at the box office, and the number one record on the charts. Just three years later he died from a heroin overdose aged just 33. How did such a talented figure come to such a tragic end?

The award-winning director, producer, and writer, R.J. Cutler, helps us find out as we talk about his new film Belushi (2020). He uses previously-recorded phone interviews combined with archival footage to help us relive the extraordinary life of the beloved actor and comedian. 

R.J. explains how he obtained access to the interviews, love letters and home movies needed to make the film, and why it has been so hard to accurately depict Belushi’s life until now.

Belushi is available to watch now on Sky On Demand and NOW TV.

“We talk about the joy, and the brilliance, and the magic, but we also talk about darker things.” - R.J. Cutler

For years Martin Luther King Jr, the leader and hero of the civil rights movement, faced constant surveillance and harassment by the US government.

Helping us to learn more about this dark chapter in America's history is award-winning director, editor and producer, Sam Pollard, whose latest film MLK/FBI premieres on January 15th 2021, ahead of Martin Luther King Jr Day on January 18th.

As a filmmaker with a career spanning more than three decades, Sam Pollard has won three Emmys and along with Spike Lee received an Oscar nomination for Four Little Girls (1997) . He is a teacher at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York, and a member at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

MLK/FBI is not a biopic. It is a complex and nuanced story with a clear protagonist, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, and the antagonist, J Edgar Hoover, who served as the Director of the FBI for almost four decades. Each man had his fatal flaws and each man had his own view of what America should be.

"I’m someone who would do a survey film about anything and anybody. I want to be able to dig in as an anthropologist and archaeologist, to look at the pros and cons, and nuances of human beings and different institutions." – Sam Pollard

Abraham Lincoln may have been America's greatest leader. The 16th president ended slavery and led the nation out of one of its darkest periods. 

However, Lincoln's life and legacy were cut short that fateful night in 1865, when the actor John Wilkes Booth entered Ford's Theatre and killed the president with an assassin's bullet.  

Today, only 130 photographs of President Lincoln are known to have survived. But is it possible that another image exists, secretly taken after he was shot, and kept hidden for over 150 years?

We find out as we meet director Jason Cohen and executive producer Dr Whitny Braun, the filmmakers behind the new documentary The Lost Lincoln.

Jason and Whitny take us on their journey to authenticate a newly discovered photo of Abraham Lincoln, one supposedly taken right after he died. In the process, we learn about this great American whose legacy still resonates with us today.

“Here’s this great man who means so much to us, and he was ultimately human. What do all humans experience? We ultimately experience death, and it's a tribute to the fallibility of humanity.” - Dr. Whitny Braun

We live under the spell of big data. We give the big tech firms access to our personal data and they shape our lives without us even knowing it. This includes how we choose our leaders.  

Award-winning directors and producers Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer join us to discuss their film The Great Hack, released by Netflix last year. The Great Hack observes the actors in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal surrounding the 2016 US presidential election. 

Jehane and Karim discuss how data has become a commodity, more valuable than oil, making big tech firms the richest companies of all time. In the process, we now all live public lives in a post-truth world. 

Would world-changing events like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump in 2016 have been possible without big tech and big data? The Great Hack lets you be the judge. 

“There’s 5,000 data points on me, but who owns that information?” - Jehane Noujaim

Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins is a documentary that chronicles the career of the acclaimed Texas columnist and journalist. Molly was nominated multiple times for the Pulitzer Prize for her commentary, and her Texas twang became an unlikely voice of liberal America. 

Now 13 years after Molly’s untimely death, award-winning director and producer, Janice Engel, brings Molly’s acerbic wit and no-holds-barred approach to journalism to the big screen. 

Janice shares with us how she went from not knowing who Molly was to making a film about her. She also talks about the sometimes tragic private side to Molly's larger-than-life public persona.

Even in death, Molly remains as unique now as she did when she was unveiling the hypocrisy of the political establishment. And she sure can still make us laugh.

“Everybody needs a dose of Molly Ivins. Firstly, how many documentaries make you laugh? And secondly, she has something to teach us all.” - Janice Engel

“Everybody needs a dose of Molly Ivins. Firstly, how many documentaries make you laugh? And secondly, she has something to teach us all.” - Janice Engel

Today we're talking about Horton Foote (1916-2009), the award-winning playwright and screenwriter. In the recently released documentary Horton Foote: The Road to Home, the celebrated screenwriter Anne Rapp helps us to learn more about this unsung Texas and American legend.

Foote was born and raised in Wharton, Texas, and he went on to become a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, the winner of two Academy Awards for screenwriting, an Emmy Award for television writing, and was a recipient of the National Medal of Arts among numerous other theatrical and literary prizes. His best known works are the Oscar-winning screenplays for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and Tender Mercies (1983). 

Ann Rapp met Foote on the set of Tender Mercies, where she worked as a screenplay supervisor. She developed a life-long friendship with this unsung gentleman playwright.

With this documentary, she wants to share with everybody her inside look into Foote's humanity, integrity and empathy that played into his work during his whole life.

“To be a good writer, you don’t have to be educated, you don’t even need to speak good grammar. If you are an observer and a listener, and you find a voice to reflect that, then you can write. Horton was the best listener I've ever known.” - Anne Rapp

Chuck Berry (1926-2017) was the original King of Rock and Roll. That is according to Jon Brewer, and being referred to as 'God of rock docs,' he should know.

Jon discusses Chuck Berry and the making of his documentary about the American icon. The film tells the story of Chuck’s life through the lens of his relatives and friends, and also uses dramatic reenactments of certain situations Chuck Berry lived through. 

Jon goes on to share a host of amazing stories drawn from his 50 years in the music business. He worked with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones, he was David Bowie's manager at one point, he produced some of Gerry Rafferty's songs, and he spent significant time with B.B. King. And that's just to name a few.

As Jon has more documentary projects under way, Factual America will be following his work and bring him back for more exciting stories about iconic musicians.

“Chuck Berry was the original king of rock and roll. He was a poet, he invented many words, and he created the teenage audience.” - Jon Brewer

On a daily basis, we are inundated with more bad news about the environmental catastrophe caused by climate change, unfolding in front of our very eyes.

But is it too late? Can anything really be done? It's enough to make us give up. Many of us have. But a simple solution may be literally underneath our feet, according to the Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground from award-winning filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell.

Kiss the Ground reveals that by regenerating the world's soils, we can completely and rapidly stabilise the Earth's climate, restore lost ecosystems and create abundant food supplies. Is it really that simple?

An inspiring, solution-based approach, focusing on regenerative agriculture, this film is a must-watch for anyone interested in how we can reverse climate change.

“There’s so much joy to put your hands in the dirt, feel the dirt, and literally kiss the ground.” - Rebecca Tickell

On August 11th 2014, the world was shocked to find out that Robin Williams had died by suicide. For someone who brought so much humour to the world, it was a tragic, traumatic end. But no one knew how much more there was to the story.

Left to speculate on Robin’s motives, the media circus spun out of control, leaving the public in the dark about a complicated and obscured truth.

Robin, bright, funny, quick witted, had lost a battle against an unknown enemy, the nearly impossible to diagnose brain disease – Lewy Body Dementia.

Filmmaker Tylor Norwood brings this story to the screen for the first time in his documentary Robin’s Wish.

Robin Williams was larger than life, but Robin was a wonderful human being who was behind all that incredible work, and Robin was better than Robin Williams. – Tylor Norwood

Today is a special US presidential election edition of Factual America. Americans are heading to the polls. Will they re-elect Donald Trump? Or will they opt for a change and vote for Joe Biden? We can’t say either way with any certainty.

What we can say is that America is a polarised society. And whatever the result, the politics of division are here to stay, so it seems. That division and polarisation are captured brilliantly in Boys State, the Sundance Jury Prize Winner from filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss.

The documentary shows what would happen if you put a thousand teenage boys together and put them in charge of the political landscape of America. 

Despite the hand-me-down politics of their parents and grandparents, can a bunch of Texas teenage boys provide hope and point the way ahead?

We found out when we caught up recently with Amanda and Jesse from their home in California.

“It’s a little bit like the Stanford Prison Experiment, but for the Government.” – Jesse Moss

Lady Bird Johnson is best known today as the wife of Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the USA between 1963-69. However, there was much more to her life than simply the role of ‘First Lady’.

In this episode of Factual America, Matthew Sherwood takes a deep dive into Lady Bird Johnson’s life with Dawn Porter, director of new documentary film, The Lady Bird Diaries. 

It’s 1963. Liz Carpenter, Lady Bird’s Press Secretary, suggests that she records her ‘thoughts and experiences’ on a tape recorder. Lady Bird agrees and borrows one from Carpenter’s son. She never looks back. Over the next six years she will record 123 hours-worth of material about her day-to-day life.

As Dawn tells Matthew, Lady Bird’s entries are ‘detailed and meticulous’: she had a degree in journalism and was a very good note taker. She was also, Dawn says, very disciplined, observant, and conscious of her place in history.

This consciousness made Lady Bird an invaluable counsellor for her husband. So much so that in an age where there was no line of presidential succession, Lady Bird was even referred to as ‘Mrs Vice President’.

The Lady Bird Diaries describe Lady Bird as ‘one of the most influential and least understood First Ladies in [American] history’. Matthew and Dawn discuss the detail of why that is so. They also explore her abilities as a strategist, how Lady Bird changed the way the White House works, and her political and public independence even from her husband.

The picture they draw is of a woman who was more than equal to the challenge of the difficult age in which she lived, and which she so carefully recorded. For a fuller picture of Lady Bird, the Johnson White House and 60s America, this episode is a must listen.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“She both did and didn’t accept the limit on her authority that society was giving her. She didn’t demand credit for her contributions but didn’t stop making them... her priority was getting things done.” – Dawn Porter

The singing career of Linda Ronstadt spanned five decades. A versatile and talented artist, she has won ten Grammys, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards and an Emmy. Along the way, she recorded the biggest selling foreign language album of all time.

Now retired from singing, Linda continues to give back to the community, as captured by award-winning director and producer James Keach in Linda and the Mockingbirds.

James joins us to share a side of Linda Ronstadt that few have seen. His music-filled, road trip-style film captures the essence of Mexican-American culture and the immigrant experience.

The film provides a beautiful look into the coming together of two cultures. It also portrays the hardships far too many immigrant children must go through.

“With the internet, social media, and the amount of interactions we have, we realise there are so many different human experiences to ours that we’re curious about.” – James Keach

Sir David Attenborough is a broadcast legend. And probably no individual has seen more of the Earth’s wilderness in his illustrious nearly 70-year career. That makes him the perfect witness to the devastating changes afflicting our planet.

In David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet (2020), which premiered on Netflix, co-director Keith Scholey of Silverback Films and producer Colin Butfield of the World Wildlife Fund bring us Sir David’s witness statement. In the process, they also provide us with simple solutions to saving our planet before it is too late.

“The things that are happening to this world are unnecessary. Not getting out of the problem is unnecessary. So make sure that your voice is heard, so that we solve it.” – Keith Scholey

America is a land of natural beauty and natural resources. Unfortunately, these too often come into conflict. Never was this more true when it comes to America’s 640 million acres of public lands.

Filmmakers David Byars and Jeremy Rubingh document the fight to protect America’s public lands for future generations in their film Public Trust which recently premiered on YouTube with tremendous success.

The executive producers of the film are Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard and famous actor and founder of the Sundance Film Festival Robert Redford.

Factual America caught up with David  Byars from his home in Ojai, California, and Jeremy Rubingh aboard his sailboat in the Puget Sound.

“Public lands is this huge democratic American idea that you don’t really see really in many other countries around the world. It’s an opportunity for unity and healing, and for everybody to come together and protect something good for future generations.” – Jeremy Rubingh

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18, 2020. She had a long and illustrious career as an advocate for gender equality, a jurist and most famously as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.

Joining us to pay tribute to this true American icon is Julie Cohen, together with Betsy West, the co-director and co-producer of RBG.

RBG is a documentary that beautifully captures the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film itself premiered in 2018 at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for an Academy Award, and is one of the top  grossing documentaries of all time.

We caught up with Julie from her home in Brooklyn as we revisit her work on RBG and her memories of this powerful woman.

“Justice Ginsburg was a very intimidating woman. Tiny, though she might had been, and with her quiet little voice, she just had this whole force and this penetrating stare – everything about her was quite intimidating.” – Julie Cohen

Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey was straight out of a Gen X teenager’s dream. The R-rated version of a John Hughes film, or as Jason Bailey at the New York Times puts it, “a rule-free stew of dangerous rides, teen guests, teen employees, raging hormones, 80s-style machismo, and booze”.

But for all the nostalgia, the place comes with bad memories for those whose loved ones were seriously injured, and in some cases killed by the reckless actions of Gene Mulvihill, the fallen Wall Street mogul who owned and ran the park.

Seth Porges and Chris Charles Scott, the co-directors of Class Action Park streamed on HBO Max, brilliantly capture both the time and place – Northern New Jersey in the 1980s and 1990s – that will never be repeated. And many would say thank God for that.

“The laughter of Action Park isn’t a designed joke; it’s not a comedy routine. It’s the laughter of a brain having no other way to process what it’s hearing. Laughter is something that happens when you can’t cry, you can’t scream, you can’t do anything else, all you can do is laugh. ” – Seth Porges

When we think of Texas, we think of wide open spaces, ranches, rugged individualism, the Wild West, and invariably cowboys. But where do women fit into this mix?

In their film Good Ol Girl, Sarah Brennan Kolb and Kyle Kelley put this question into the context of present-day Texas. The film tells the stories of three young modern-day Texan cowgirls, and explores the role of women in cowboy culture.

Women are increasingly taking a larger role in the traditionally male dominated industry of ranching. As we found out, Texas is going to have to change if the legacy of the past is to be handed down to the next generation.

“I’ve always hoped that women would see themselves as heroes, and men would understand that women can be heroes.” – Sarah Brennan Kolb

America is famous for its sports franchises and rabid fans. However, there is one group of Americans for whom sports raise painful memories. These are the Native Americans.

At least some people are trying to put an end to racial stereotyping in US sports. And they have already succeeded in changing the name of the Washington Football Team.

Aviva Kempner is the award-winning director of successful docs like “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg”. Kevin Blackistone is an award-winning national sports columnist. Together they are working on bringing Imagining the Indian to the screen.

We caught up recently with Aviva and Kevin at their homes in Washington DC.

“I’ve come to be opposed to all these names. The Not Your Mascot slogan is so true. People are not property of others, certainly when it is a culture that is being appropriated. We’re supposed to be past that.” – Kevin Blackistone

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. He may also be America’s first black cultural icon, blazing a trail for other African American athletes like LeBron James.

Besides his performance on the court, Jordan rocketed to fame on the back of a clever and innovative marketing campaign to sell sneakers, and a shrewd business model that made him a billionaire.

However, has success come with a price? Well, Nike and Jordan have made billions of dollars. They have also created a shoe culture that see some misguided youth literally killing each other to get their hands on the latest pair of Air Jordans.

Yemi Bamiro and Will Thorne capture all of this in their recently released documentary One Man and His Shoes. We recently caught up with Yemi and Will from their homes in London and Berlin.

In our final episode of Season One, we’re joined by John Lewis, aka Badass Vegan. John’s upcoming documentary, They’re Trying to Kill Us, touches on so many of the issues that we’ve looked at this year on the podcast – factory farming, race and Big Pharma, just to name a few – but this time through the unique lens of hip hop.

They’re Trying to Kill Us explores the connections between diet, poverty and systemic racism. As well as looking at veganism, we discuss Big Pharma and the link between mind and body. 

John’s life is literally the material for a great movie, as we found out recently when we joined John from his home in Wilmington, North Carolina.

“I don’t think we can wait for the governments and the rich to make a change. We have to make the change ourselves.” – John Lewis

The history of jazz dance is the history of America.

That history is not well documented, however, especially when it comes to the leading role played by African Americans.

In Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance, filmmakers Khadifa Wong and Zak Nemorin trace jazz dance back to its roots in Africa, and follow its evolution up to the present.

Along the way Khadifa and Zack address difficult subjects such as appropriation, racism and sexism within this quintessential American art form, and in the process shine a light on this chapter in America’s history.

But in the end, their film is a celebration of this most human of art forms, where as they say, “what all people have in common is rhythm and a basic human need to get down”. “

Whether it was jazz, whether it’s hip hop, there are cultures that step out of oppression, and out of wanting to speak out, and jazz dance was just an iteration of that.” – Khadifa Wong

On January 28th 2017, a mosque in Victoria, Texas was burnt to the ground by an arsonist. In the aftermath, Victorians stood side-by-side with their Muslim neighbours. In A Town Called Victoria, Li Lu – who grew up in nearby Sugar Land, Texas – explores what happened next: to the town, its Islamic community, and to the arsonist, who was soon apprehended.

Li joins Matthew Sherwood to discuss her series, its themes, which include white supremacy, patriotism and mental illness, as well as the limits of healing. Li looks back at her own upbringing, and shares how she discovered the arson attack had happened and its effect on her. She also discusses the role played in the making of the film by her DP, Halyna Hutchins, who was tragically killed on the set of Rust in 2021.

Victoria’s story is a bittersweet one. For while there is solidarity and shared prayer, understanding and a determination to repair damage done, the arson attack also exposes deep and profound divisions: racial, political, and economic. And what’s more, this is not a story relevant to Texas alone. As Li puts it, Victoria is a ‘microcosm’ of every American community.

A Town Called Victoria needed to be a sensitively made film. It could not have found a better and more informed director than Li Lu. Enter the heart of Texas and America with Li and Matthew Sherwood.

Watch the episode at https://factualamerica.com

“In terms of really reaching people, be brave and have a conversation that’s hard with someone that could use a conversation to be had with.” – Li Lu

For those of us who grew up in the 1980s and 90s, the arcade was a home away from home. And most likely we were playing a video game that was the creative genius of a scrappy group of renegade designers in Chicago.

In his film Insert Coin (2020), director Josh Tsui captures what it was like for the fellows at Midway Games to revolutionize the video game industry. And along the way, Josh perfectly captures 1990s pop culture.

Insert Coin is an interesting take on the arcade gaming world, showing us its business side and how games were designed to be addictive and suck in quarters. 

“Once you make a game you can’t get that out of your system. It’s one of the most fulfilling and frustrating creative mediums out there and it’s intoxicating. ” – Josh Tsui

What is it about old abandoned buildings that can be so compelling and alluring? We find out today as we welcome filmmakers Jake Williams and John Shaw to the podcast. Their film Closed For Storm is about a theme park left for ruin in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina 15 years ago.

Closed For Storm shows Six Flags New Orleans in its glory days and current state of abject dereliction.

Along the way, the film also captures the broken dreams and fleeting aspirations of a community still looking for hope.

We find Jake and John in the eye of a different kind of storm in the summer of 2020, as they join us from their homes in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

They tell us how they got legal access to the property, and why so many of us share a fascination with abandoned buildings.

We also talk about how the virus has affected the film industry and what the release of the documentary will look like as film festivals shut down worldwide…

“When Katrina was happening nobody’s minds were on how the theme park was doing. But once the helicopter images came out of the park underwater, it was staggering. They took whatever was valuable, left and abandoned the property.” – Jake Williams

The US is a nation of immigrants. And there’s no better example of this than Hamtramck, Michigan, America’s first Muslim-majority city.

No bigger than two square miles, Hamtramck is home to a myriad of nationalities and ethnic groups. Over 30 different languages can be heard on its streets.

Using a city government election as a backdrop, producers and directors Justin Feltman and Razi Jafri eloquently capture the dynamism stemming from successive waves of immigration.

Is America a melting pot or a mosaic? Or does it matter what we call it? We find out as we catch up with Justin and Razi from their homes in Washington, DC, and Hamtramck, Michigan.

They tell us how they managed to gain such unprecedented access, and formed such close relationships with their subjects.

Hamtramck, USA is a deep dive into multiculturalism and what the future landscape of America could look like.

“Our nation is changing. Our demographics are changing very quickly and there’s a lot to be learnt from places like Hamtramck” – Razi Jafri