At the 2025 Variety & Rolling Stone Truth Seekers Summit presented by Paramount+, keynote conversations and panel discussions with documentary filmmakers, journalists and cultural trendsetters explored the art and nuances of documentary, investigative and political storytelling across multiple platforms.
The summit took place on Aug. 14 in New York, where conversations hosted by Variety and Rolling Stone contributors included reporting in politics, documentary development and true crime. Here are some of the highlights throughout this year’s summit:
Close-up on “Bodyguard of Lies”
Moderated by Susan Zirinsky, a conversation about “Bodyguard of Lies” centered around the making of the political documentary focusing on the war in Afghanistan. The panel’s guests included Dan Krauss who served as the director of “Bodyguard of Lies,” and Craig Whitlock, the author of “The Afghanistan Papers,” which served as the inspiration for the documentary. “Bodyguard of Lies” retells the story of the systemic deception that was given to the American public.
“The thing that’s most haunting about this conflict is you don’t get the sense that they’re going to learn the next time around and we’re doomed to repeat history,” Krauss said. “I would like to feel like this film and Craig’s reporting will make a difference.”
Documentary Roundtable
The Documentary Roundtable, hosted by Variety’s chief correspondent Daniel D’addario, included panelists such as R.J. Cutler (“Martha”), Bao Nguyen (“The Greatest Night in Pop,” “The Stringer”), Elegance Bratton (“Move Ya Body: The Birth of House”), Mary Robertson (“The Fall of Diddy”), Jennifer Tiexiera (“Rebecca,” “Speak’) and Dan Krauss (“Bodyguard of Lies”). The panel centered around the importance of truth seeking in documentary filmmaking.
“We imagine before we start making it, but there’s no script. We have no idea what’s gonna happen. We also talk about the fact that we rely on surprises to make the films that we love the most,” Cutler said during the panel. When asked about what advice the documentary filmmakers would give to aspiring filmmakers, Tiexiera revealed what she learned from making her documentary. “It’s such a learning process, but in addition to that, I have to assume that I can’t do it all alone, and none of us really can. We’re not social workers [or] therapists — we’re filmmakers.”
Conversation With Jake Tapper
Jake Tapper sat down with Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh to discuss CNN’s coverage of President Trump, noting that it’s not always easy to discern what the president truly means. “There is what Trump says publicly. There is what Trump posts on Truth Social. And then there is what Trump and his administration do. And those are three different things,” Tapper said. “I personally think what he does is the most important and what he posts on social media in the middle of the night is the least important.”
The CNN anchor also criticized Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News over a “60 Minutes” segment, which was ultimately settled by Paramount Global with a $16 million payment to Trump. “I will say this proudly under the Paramount+ banner — that lawsuit was bullshit against ’60 Minutes,’” Tapper said. He added that “editing is done all the time” in television news and insisted there was “no bias” in how “60 Minutes” edited its interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris.
Political Groundbreakers Roundtable
This year’s Political Groundbreakers Roundtable, hosted by Variety’s Brian Steinberg, highlighted the work of Yamiche Alcindor, Zeke Miller, Alex Thompson, Antonia Hylton and Annmarie Hordern, and featured a discussion on political reporting across media.
As the digital media landscape changes in how viewers receive political updates, Hylton explained how to get the audience’s attention to become more informed about what is going on throughout America in this political climate. “We’re not just going to speed through this and quickly show you a graphic or whatever it is. We’re going to take some time to talk about it,” Hylton said. “I think people really start to feel that they better understand the connections between all the stuff that they’re inundated with every week when you give them a moment to do that.”
Conversation With Ronny Chieng
During a conversation with Variety’s Tatiana Siegel, “The Daily Show” senior correspondent Ronny Chieng explained how to blend satire in order to entertain and to inform audiences about the current state of the world.
“We make sure it’s based on reality,” Chieng said. “We see what’s in the news and we pride ourselves on fact checking our jokes.”
With a large platform, Chieng expressed the importance of knowing what the audience wants to hear. “Adding the responsibility is kind of the job of outside of the watchers and audience members and observers inside the show. Comedy’s just making fun of everybody, making fun of institutions. Just go for it. And people get upset. Some people don’t get upset. That’s not for us to figure out.”
Conversation With “Have I Got News For You”
Roy Wood Jr. and Amber Ruffin discussed the evolution of “Have I Got News For You” in a keynote conversation hosted by Asawin “Swin” Suebsaeng, senior political reporter of Rolling Stone. “Comedically you’re either reporting on what you feel or what you saw. I think we’re able to try, find a balance of that,” Wood said. “It’s very difficult, especially as we start transitioning to whatever entertainment’s gonna be in the next couple of years and figuring out how do you have a platform that criticizes people without bringing on the people that you’re criticizing, but without validating the people and the bullshit that they stand for and figuring out that we are balanced.”
Conversation With “Room to Move”
The documentary “Room to Move” follows choreographer and performer Jenn Freeman as she prepares her first solo, evening length work, “Is It Thursday Yet?,” while also receiving a later-in-life diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. “When all of this happens, it kind of crumbles and shatters the facade of what you thought was real and who you thought you were,” Freeman said. “I was inside of that, like, everything was falling down, it felt like, and I felt far away from dance at that moment in time, which is the thing that throughout my life has really grounded me and showed me who I am.”
Fireside Chat With “Deaf President Now!”
Moderated by Variety film reporter Rebecca Rubin, the Fireside Chat with “Deaf President Now!” featured Nyle DiMarco, who served as the film’s co-director and producer. “When I was growing up, I remember seeing so many deaf characters and any sort of reflection in the media of the deaf experience was just inauthentic,” DiMarco said of the beginning of the documentary’s production. “As a director, you have to swallow a big pill, which is that everything you do must be in service to a beautiful film. You have to sort of find these gems that you can polish and highlight their shine. I’m very, very relieved that the deaf community has given us such a warm reception and have been so excited.”
The State of the Documentary Industry
During a panel about the current state of documentary development, production and distribution, Variety‘s Brent Lang spoke with Dan O’Meara, EVP of nonfiction, Neon; Sylvia Bugg, chief programming executive and GM of general audience programming, PBS; Carrie Lozano, president and CEO, IT VS; Cara Cusumano, festival director and SVP programming, Tribeca; and Karol Martesko-Fenster, CEO and president, Abramorama.
The group brought up why public media is crucial for documentaries, with Lozano saying, “This is why public media matters so much: because we’re not driven by money. We don’t have a profit motive. We’re mission-driven. And for those of us who’ve been making films — say, 25 years ago — today is much like it was 25 years ago. It’s always been hard because, at its core, so many of these films — they’re not really about profit. They’re not commercial in nature. And so, that moment where the nonprofit realities of these films met the commercial possibilities — I always felt like it was a bubble. It just didn’t seem like it could last. But public media is a place where, actually, you do get the largest audience for these types of films, and they’re accessible to people throughout the country.”
Masters of True Crime and Investigative Storytelling
A panel moderated by Rolling Stone’s Brenna Ehrlich focused on the true crime documentary works of Ben McKenzie (“Everyone Is Lying to You for Money”), Julia Willoughby Nason (“American Murder: Gabby Petito”), Joe Berlinger (“Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders,” “Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey”), Lisa Cortés (“Murder Has Two Faces”) and Shannon Evangelista (“The Curious Case of Natalia Grace”). The group discussed such topics as why they’re drawn to making true crime documentaries, how they choose which stories to tell, and the importance of handling those stories in a responsible manner.
“This is somebody’s worst moment in their life that you wouldn’t wish on anybody,” Berlinger said. “So we need to be respectful.”
(Pictured: Ronny Chieng)
