To celebrate the first season of The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories podcast, here are some of our highlights from our conversations with some of the biggest names in modern documentary filmmaking. Hear from the filmmakers behind many of this year’s most lauded and talked about documentaries as they reveal which non-fiction films mean the most to them.

Head to our feed to hear the full interviews, our guests include:

Kirsten Johnson | Director of Dick Johnson is Dead and Cameraperson

Catherine Bray | Writer, director, producer & commissioner

Tamara Kotevska | Co-director of Honeyland

Simon Chinn | Producer of Whitney, Man on Wire, Searching for Sugar Man

Kate Blewett and Brian Woods | Co-directors of The Dying Rooms

Poppy Dixon | Producer of Untouchable, The Imposter & American Animals

Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk | Co-directors of Athlete A

Nicole Newnham & Jim LeBrecht | Co-directors of Crip Camp

Asif Kapadia | Director of Amy, Diego Maradona and Senna

The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast is a Little Dot Studios production in partnership with The Grierson Trust.

Hosted by June Jennings

Produced by Nicole Davis and Annie Hughes

Executive produced by Paul Woolf

Music by Dusty Decks

Edited by Content is Queen

Artwork by Nash Kasic

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, June is joined by Kirsten Johnson, a long-time cinematographer and documentary filmmaker who received widespread critical acclaim for her two most recent movies as director Cameraperson (2016) and Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020). Through the lens of three films that consider what it means to document life, death and the world around us, Kirsten discusses a range of topics from the intensely political to the intensely personal. 

Welcome to The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast, where your favourite non-fiction filmmakers reveal the documentaries that have had a lasting impact on their lives and careers. 

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SHOW NOTES

Man With A Movie Camera (1929, Dziga Vertov) Watch on Docsville in the UK & MUBI in the US

This Is Not a Film (2011, Jafar Panahi) Rent via Prime Video in the UK & Watch on Kanopy in the US

No Home Movie (2015, Chantal Akerman) Rent via BFI Player in the UK & Watch on MUBI in the US

Cameraperson (2016, Kirsten Johnson) Rent via Prime Video, Google Play & iTunes in the UK & Watch on The Criterion Channel in the US

Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020, Kirsten Johnson) Watch on Netflix

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The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast is a Little Dot Studios production in partnership with The Grierson Trust.

Hosted by June Jennings

Produced by Nicole Davis and Annie Hughes

Executive produced by Paul Woolf

Music by Dusty Decks

Edited by Content is Queen

Artwork by Nash Kasic

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of The Doc Exchange, June Jennings is joined by Catherine Bray, a commissioner, producer and writer-director, whose most recent credits include two hour-long essays films for BBC Arts: Meet the Family and Guilt-Free Pleasures. Together they interrogate the theme of performance, constructed reality and fabrication and how this can alter our sense of what ‘counts’ as documentary.

Welcome to The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast, where your favourite non-fiction filmmakers reveal the documentaries that have had a lasting impact on their lives and careers. 

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SHOW NOTES

Fraud (2016, Dean Fleischer-Camp) // Watch on Kanopy in the US 

Under the Sun (2016, Vitaly Mansky) // Watch on Ovid in the US

Casting JonBenet (2017, Kitty Green) // Watch on Netflix 

How To with John Wilson (2020, John Wilson) // Watch on HBO Max 

Guilt-Free Pleasures (2020, Catherine Bray) // Watch on BBC iPlayer in the UK

Meet the Family (2020, Catherine Bray) // Watch on BBC iPlayer in the UK

Fish Story (2017, Charlie Shackleton) // Watch on Vimeo

Lasting Marks (2018, Charlie Shackleton) // Watch on Vimeo

Beyond Clueless (2014, Charlie Shackleton) // Watch on Vimeo

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The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast is a Little Dot Studios production in partnership with The Grierson Trust.

Hosted by June Jennings

Produced by Nicole Davis and Annie Hughes

Executive produced by Paul Woolf

Music by Dusty Decks

Edited by Content is Queen

Artwork by Nash Kasic

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Doc Exchange, June Jennings is joined by Tamara Kotevska, the Oscar-nominated co-director of Honeyland. Discussing three seemingly disparate, but equally powerful documentaries, Tamara reflects on her experience of making a film about ancient beekeeping traditions in the mountains of North Macedonia, the spirit of collaboration that enabled its fruition and the importance of showing the world as it is. 

Welcome to The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast, where your favourite non-fiction filmmakers reveal the documentaries that have had a lasting impact on their lives and careers. 

***

SHOW NOTES

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010, Banksy) // Rent via Prime Video, Google Play & MUBI in the UK & Prime Video & Google Play in the US

The Act of Killing (2012, Joshua Oppenheimer) // Rent via Google Play, Prime Video & iTunes in the UK & Watch on Prime Video in the US

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010, Werner Herzog) // Watch on DirectTV in the US

Honeyland (2019, Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska) // Rent on Prime Video, Google Play, BFI Player & Curzon Home Cinema in the UK & Watch on

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast, where your favourite non-fiction filmmakers reveal the documentaries that have had a lasting impact on their lives and careers. 

This week, June Jennings is joined by Simon Chinn, the Oscar-winning producer behind some of the most successful documentaries of the past decade including Man on Wire, Searching for Sugar Man, The Imposter, My Scientology Movie, LA 92 and Whitney. Through the lens of three music documentaries that have stayed with Simon throughout his career he discusses perspective, access and legendary subjects. 

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SHOW NOTES

Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008, Sacha Gervasi) // Rent via Prime Video in the US

Don't Look Back (1967, D.A. Pennebaker) // Watch on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel in the US 

When We Were Kings (1996, Leon Gast) // Watch on BBC Storyville in the UK & Rent via HBO Max in the US. 

Searching for Sugar Man (2012, Malik Bendjelloul) // Watch on Prime Video in the UK & Rent on Prime Video, Google Play & iTunes in the US

Whitney (2018, Kevin Macdonald) // Watch on Prime Video in the UK & Rent on Prime Video in the US

Man on Wire (2008, James Marsh) Rent on Prime Video, iTunes &

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast, where your favourite non-fiction filmmakers reveal the documentaries that have had a lasting impact on their lives and careers. 

This week, June Jennings is joined by Brian Woods and Kate Blewett for a special episode reflecting on the 25th anniversary of their award-winning Channel 4 documentary The Dying Rooms. Discover how they got extraordinary access to make their groundbreaking film, how the stakes were raised when they made Return to the Dying Rooms, and how documentaries like One Child Nation have sustained and elevated the conversation around China’s One Child Policy.

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SHOW NOTES

The Dying Rooms (1995, Kate Blewett, Brian Woods) Watch on Real Stories from Saturday 12 December 

Return to the Dying Rooms (1996, Kate Blewett, Brian Woods)

One Child Nation (2019, Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang) Watch on Prime Video in the US

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The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast is a Little Dot Studios production in partnership with The Grierson Trust.

Hosted by June Jennings

Produced by Nicole Davis and Annie Hughes

Executive produced by Paul Woolf

Music by Dusty Decks

Edited by Content is Queen

Artwork by Nash Kasic

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast, where your favourite non-fiction filmmakers reveal the documentaries that have had a lasting impact on their lives and careers. 

This week, host June Jennings is joined by Poppy Dixon, Director of Documentaries at Sky UK and the producer of Untouchable, The Imposter and American Animals. United by the theme of memory, her documentary picks traverse family secrets, trauma and criminal justice. Hear how these films changed Poppy's perception of what documentary storytelling could look like, and what she looks for in a potential project. 

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SHOW NOTES

Untouchable (2019, Ursula Macfarlane) // Rent via iTunes in the UK or Watch on Hulu in the US

The Imposter (2012, Bart Layton) // Rent via iTunes in the UK or Watch on Prime Video in the US

American Animals (2018, Bart Layton) // Rent via Prime Video, Google Play & iTunes in the UK & Watch on HBO Max in the US 

Stories We Tell (2012, Sarah Polley) // Watch on MUBI in the UK &

Hosted on Acast. See

Welcome to The Doc Exchange: A Real Stories Podcast, where your favourite non-fiction filmmakers reveal the documentaries that have had a lasting impact on their lives and careers. 

This week, we're joined by filmmaking, and life, partners Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. The duo most recently directed the Netflix Original documentary Athlete A, which follows a team of reporters from ​The Indianapolis Star​ as they investigate claims of abuse at USA Gymnastics. Bonni and Jon pick three documentaries, centred around the theme of struggle, that have inspired boldness and courage in their own work. 

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SHOW NOTES

Athlete A (2020, Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk) // Watch on Netflix. 

Long Night's Journey into Day (2000, Deborah Hoffmann, Frances Reid) // Watch on Kanopy in the US. 

Street Fight (2005, Marshall Curry) // Rent via Prime Video, Google Play & iTunes in the UK & Watch on Prime Video in the US. 

The Crash Reel (2013, Lucy Walker) // Rent via Prime Video in the UK & Apple & Prime Video in the US

An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (2017, Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk) // Rent via Prime Video, Google Play & iTunes in the UK & US

Audrie & Daisy (2016, Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk) // Watch on

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.