Documentary First

In this episode of Documentary First, Christian sits down with filmmaker Jessica Levin, co-director and producer of the Critics Choice Documentary Awards in the Best Music Documentary-nominated HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes. Jessica shares what it was like to tell the story of Billy Joel—not just as a legendary musician, but as a human being full of depth, contradiction, humor, and heart. Together, they explore the craft of music documentary filmmaking: how to build trust during intimate interviews, how to follow emotional truth rather than timeline, and how music itself can become the spine of a narrative. Jessica opens up about the collaborative process behind shaping the film’s nonlinear structure, as well as the responsibility that comes with telling a story about someone the world already feels like they know.Whether you are a filmmaker, a musician, or someone whose life has ever been held by a song — this conversation is creative, heartfelt, and filled with insights about storytelling, memo