The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview
January 18, 2019/ 58 min/ Sean Fennessey · Rob Harvilla
Two documentaries about the same failed music festival land four days apart, then Bing Liu on making Minding the Gap.
6 films across 2 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The Fyre Festival Documentary Arms RaceNetflix vs. Hulu, with Rob Harvilla
Chris Smith's Netflix doc. Fennessey and Harvilla both rate it the better film: it lays out the logistics forensically and keeps the blame on Billy McFarland. Co-produced with Vice; Jerry Media, the festival's own marketers, also produced.
Hulu's surprise Monday drop, co-produced with Billboard and Mic. It lands the paid McFarland interview but leans on Simpsons/Family Guy clips and a millennials-did-it-to-themselves angle Harvilla found corny and exculpatory.
Bing Liu on ‘Minding the Gap’
Liu's Rockford, Illinois portrait of three young skateboarders and the abuse in their homes. Fennessey's favorite film of 2018. Started as a nationwide project on domestic violence before Liu narrowed it to Keir, Zach, and himself, adding archival footage once he became a character.
Liu first saw it, and Steve James's other work, after joining a Kartemquin fellowship. That's when he turned toward character-driven verite.
His first teenage film was a takeoff of it, an improvised philosophical conversation among Rockford's freaks and geeks.
The last great thing he'd seen: warm, loving, a family he'd want to live with.
Also mentioned raised along the way
Mentioned in the Fyre discussion American MovieJim & Andy: The Great BeyondPanic: The Untold Story of the 2008 Financial CrisisDeep ImpactArmageddon
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV America to MeThe SimpsonsFamily GuyThe Office