Factual America

Gun Violence and Mass Shootings in America

Jan 28, 2020

America’s love affair with guns is one of its defining attributes, and the number of mass shootings hit an all-time high in 2019. While politicians vow to tackle the problem, a powerful gun lobby stands in the way.

To help us understand why the US struggles with gun violence on such a massive scale, Dr Peter Squires,...

DA Pennebaker’s Dont Look Back

Jan 14, 2020

As a tribute to documentary film pioneer DA Pennebaker, who passed away in August 2019, Factual America explores his groundbreaking Dont Look Back (1967), considered one of the best documentary films of all time.

Dr Stella Bruzzi, author of the acclaimed New Documentary, demonstrates how the film about Bob Dylan is...

Alex Gibney’s Theranos Scandal Documentary

Jan 14, 2020

In Silicon Valley, where “fake it till you make it” is a mantra, Elizabeth Holmes stood out. Theranos, the company she founded, drew the support and accolades of investors and senior statesmen alike – that is until a Wall Street Journal reporter’s prying questions spelled the beginning of the end. What...

Building Trump’s Border Wall in Texas

Jan 14, 2020

In The River and the Wall (2019), a group of modern-day adventurers led by filmmaker Ben Masters sets out on a 1,200-mile journey along the Texas-Mexico border to understand the economic, environmental and social impact of President Donald Trump’s border wall.

They not only encounter a land of soaring...

Salesman by Albert and David Maysles

Jan 10, 2020

Award-winning journalist, Kevin Turley, joins Factual America to discuss Albert and David Maysles’ seminal documentary. Kevin places Salesman in the context of 1960s America and traces the film’s influence on documentary filmmaking to this day.

Along the way Kevin and host Matthew Sherwood discover that the film...