It’s been a remarkable past year for Free Solo directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. At Telluride, they premiered their first narrative feature Nyad, a dramatization of the relentless pursuit of extreme athlete Diana Nyad to swim from Cuba to Florida without the safety of a shark cage. The Netflix release has gone on to earn Oscar nominations for its stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.
But the filmmaking couple hasn’t left the world of nonfiction cinema behind. They return to documentary storytelling this month with Photographer, a National Geographic series about the elite artists who take some of the world’s most remarkable images of wildlife and the human family. Vasarhelyi and Chin join the latest episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss their six-part series, which profiles NatGeo photographers Paul Nicklen, Cristina Mittermeier, Muhammed Muheisen, Krystle Wright and others.
Vasarhelyi and Chin also share insights from making Nyad, and how their experience on docs translated to the arena of fiction filmmaking.
RELATED: Jimmy Chin And Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi On Being Married To Filmmaking And Each Other, Plus The Challenges Faced On Their Narrative Debut ‘Nyad’ – Behind The Lens
We also welcome filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez, director of the documentary Frida, premiering March 14 on Prime Video. It’s an in-depth portrait of the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, whose fame has grown exponentially since her untimely death in 1954 at the age of 47.
Guitérrez explains how she gained access to Kahlo’s letters and illustrated diary to make her film and her process of immersing viewers in the iconographic terrain of Kahlo’s art. She also reflects on Kahlo’s relationship with husband Diego Rivera, the great muralist, and Frida’s romantic relationships with women including the exceptional singer Chavela Vargas.
Doc Talk is hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Deadline’s Documentary Editor Matt Carey. The show is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.
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