Violet Columbus & Ben Klein (The Exiles)

Violet Columbus & Ben Klein (The Exiles)

“How would I describe myself? Fuck you. You can describe me.” Fair enough. The Oscar-nominated director of 1988’s essential documentary “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” before she became a NYU professor famous for drinking vodka on the rocks during class, Shanghai-born filmmaker Christine Choy is a character so incandescent that she’s every bit as powerful in front of the camera as she is behind it — a fact that “The Exiles” seizes upon from the moment it starts. In their debut feature film, Ben Klein and Violet Columbus follow their former professor Christine as she tracks down three exiled dissidents from the Tiananmen Square massacre to help her find closure on an abandoned film she began shooting in 1989. "The Exiles" premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary. In today's episode, Ben and Violet reflect on being mentored by Christine Choy (3:10), pitching the film premise to Christine (6:21), getting the film off the ground (10:30), replicating Christine’s archival footage with modern cinematography (15:58), building the interview setup in an empty movie theater (18:12), persuading Steven Soderberg to be an Executive Producer (22:12), deciding when to screen the film (28:50), and winning the Grand Jury Prize at a virtual Sundance (32:15).

Episoder(92)

David Terry Fine (Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam | Netflix)

David Terry Fine (Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam | Netflix)

David Terry Fine’s Netflix documentary “Dirty Pop” tells the story of Lou Pearlman, the architect of the modern boy band era and the extraordinary web of lies, deceit, exploitation and greed that prop...

27 Mar 46min

Gianfranco Rosi (Pompei: Below the Clouds)

Gianfranco Rosi (Pompei: Below the Clouds)

Italian master Gianfranco Rosi makes some of the most ravishing big-screen nonfiction films you will find. His latest, “Pompei: Below the Clouds”, a black-and-white masterpiece shot with a fixed camer...

13 Mar 58min

Julia Loktev (My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow)

Julia Loktev (My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow)

Soviet-born filmmaker Julia Loktev came to Moscow in 2021 to make a film about independent journalists being declared “foreign agents” by Putin’s regime. Her film “My Undesirable Friends” ended up bec...

2 Mar 36min

David Borenstein (Mr. Nobody Against Putin)

David Borenstein (Mr. Nobody Against Putin)

Director David Borenstein’s latest documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” is nominated for Best Documentary Feature in the 2026 Academy Awards. It follows a Russian teacher as he secretly documents hi...

13 Feb 39min

Isaac Gale (Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted)

Isaac Gale (Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted)

Director Isaac Gale’s film “Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted” follows cult musician Swamp Dogg, alongside housemates Moogstar and Guitar Shorty, as they turn their home into an artistic playground. Is...

2 Feb 41min

Tony Zierra (Filmworker)

Tony Zierra (Filmworker)

Director Tony Zierra’s 2017 film “Filmworker” tells the story of Leon Vitali, who surrendered his promising acting career to become Stanley Kubrick’s devoted acolyte. In his discussion with Tiller, To...

16 Jan 45min

Andrew Jarecki & Charlotte Kaufman (The Alabama Solution | HBO Max)

Andrew Jarecki & Charlotte Kaufman (The Alabama Solution | HBO Max)

Directors Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman take viewers deep inside one of the nation’s deadliest prison systems in their latest film “The Alabama Solution”, where incarcerated men defy the odds s...

12 Des 202548min

Geeta Gandbhir (The Perfect Neighbor | Netflix)

Geeta Gandbhir (The Perfect Neighbor | Netflix)

Director Geeta Gandbhir’s new film "The Perfect Neighbor" is largely made up of police bodycam footage, tracking the events of a seemingly minor neighborhood dispute in Florida escalating into deadly ...

3 Des 202547min

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