The Cutting Edge with This Machine's R.J. Cutler and Trevor Smith

Profiling some of the most recognisable figures of our time, including Anna Wintour (The September Issue), Billie Eilish (Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry), John Belushi (Belushi), Marlon Brando (Listen to Me Marlon), James Carville (The War Room) and Dick Cheney (The World According to Dick Cheney), R.J. Cutler is an award-winning director and producer who has made some of the most significant documentary films and television series of the past quarter century.

In this sweeping spotlight session, Cutler and his long-time producing partner Trevor Smith will share documentary insights gleaned across their extensive careers. How they foresaw the documentary streaming boom, This Machine’s transition into premium nonfiction with titles like Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul (Netflix) and Murf the Surf (MGM+), how they define the current era of “neo-vérité” and the possibilities that intimate and emotional, access-based cinema vérité filmmaking offers for creators.