Cutting Through the Rocks

EPISODE # 201 ASK E. JEAN

Producer Director IVY MEEROPOL and her doc on E. JEAN CARROLL who beat Trump in court for $88 million. Recorded May 26, 2026, 29 minutes. Recorded just a day before the Department of Justice announced their criminal investigation into the E. Jean Carroll case. In this powerful new episode of Westdoc Online the six‑year journey gaining access to E. Jean Carroll, the challenges of financing and producing a politically charged film and then distribution

MICHAEL CIONI - CUTTING THE CLOUD

In this new episode of Westdoc Online, Chuck Braverman sits down with visionary entrepreneur and filmmaker Michael Cioni, whose groundbreaking work has helped reshape modern digital filmmaking. From the early days of digital cinema and Final Cut Pro to his leadership at Frame.io [http://frame.io/] and now his latest venture, Strada, Michael shares an insider’s perspective on the technologies transforming how films are created, edited, and shared.

BILLY PRESTON: THAT'S THE WAY GOD PLANNED IT

This is the way Producer Director PARIS BARCLAY planned the new feature doc. Recorded March 2026, 28 minutes, Former president of the Directors Guild of America and one of television’s most prolific storytellers— an intimate, wide-ranging conversation about his latest documentary, Billy Preston: That's The Way God Planned It. We discuss Preston’s impact on the music world; his work with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Ray Charles and Little Richard, among other

The Singers

Oscar nominee (one man band) producer, director, writer, cinematographer, SAM A. DAVIS creates a masterful short film. February, 2026, 25 minutes. The Singers short film is currently on Netflix and the filmmaker is interviewed by Chuck Braverman of Westdoc. In The SINGERS, a fiction film infused with documentary style, filmmaker Sam A. Davis quietly invades a broken down bar filled with broken down men, only to uncover geniuses in the rough. Without a script or even a definitive plan, guided only by a short story he had read, Davis allows these first-time actors — all discovered in various corners of the internet — to find their own way with his help and direction. The shoot was done on 35mm film, the story was found in the editing process. Singers is only 18 minute long, but you’ll feel like you know everyone in the bar. Drink up.

Cutting Through the Rocks

Oscar nominated feature documentary producer, director, editor SARA KHAKI and MOHAMMADREZA EYNI recorded February, 2026, 35 minutes. Producer/director/editors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni speak with passion about their Oscar nominated cinéma vérité film Cutting Through Rocks, the first Iranian feature documentary to be so honored. The project, eight years in the making, follows a mid-wife in an Iranian village, who becomes the first woman elected to local office—and begins challenging deeply rooted traditions, from child marriage to women’s land rights. It is, as Mohammadreza says, a master study in small town power.