This story is part of True/False Conversations, a series of in-depth interviews with the filmmakers of this year's True/False Film Fest. Find the rest of them here or download the podcast on iTunes.
When directors Elyse Steinberg and Josh Kriegman heard that former New York congressman Anthony Weiner was planning to run for mayor of New York City, they saw it as an opportunity to create a documentary with the classic theme of “redemption.” Weiner was looking to rebuild his reputation after a sex scandal had forced him to resign from Congress two years earlier.
What no one, not even Steinberg or Kriegman, would have guessed was that in the middle of this comeback story, a second sex scandal would break and that their film “Weiner” would end up documenting the collapse of Weiner’s political aspirations once again.
I spoke with Sternberg and Kriegman on their film and how they were able to get Anthony Weiner to be so candid.