PN 34: Island President Mohamed Nasheed in Exile

What this episode covers

The Sundance Film Festival is always full of surprises. Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers begins this episode with reflections on the 2017 festival and the real-life characters who passed through it. The center of the episode is a wide-ranging interview with Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, who was profiled in the 2011 documentary “The Island President.” Nasheed was at Sundance to appear on a panel with Al Gore on climate change. Powers took the opportunity to conduct a wide-ranging interview about Nasheed’s overthrow by his opponents, his recent stint as a political prisoner and his current life in exile.The episode concludes with an overview of the 2017 Academy Award nominations.There are five Oscar nominees for Documentary Feature and all five directors have been featured on past episodes of Pure Nonfiction:Ezra Edelman, "OJ: Made in America" - ep 10Roger Ross Williams, "Life, Animated" - ep 13Raoul Peck, "I Am Not Your Negro" - ep 21Ava DuVernay, “13th" - ep 26Gianfranco Rosi, “Fire at Sea" - ep 28In the Oscar Documentary Short category, we give a special shout out to "Joe’s Violin" director Kahane Cooperman who appeared on Pure Nonfiction's first episode.

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