Slamdance Chief Peter Baxter Joins Doc Talk Podcast As Festival Unfolds In Los Angeles For First Time

Slamdance is nearing the final day of its 2025 edition, a historic one for the festival founded in 1995 as a scrappy alternative to Sundance. The cinematic showcase has made a new home for itself in Los Angeles after spending its first three decades in Park City, Utah, very much in the shadow of Robert Redford’s bigger festival.

On the latest episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, we welcome Peter Baxter, president and co-founder of Slamdance, to discuss the festival’s new direction and the opportunities that have emerged with relocation to the movie capital. He explains why Slamdance decided to uproot itself (Park City will be down two festivals after Sundance departs following next year’s festival – although Salt Lake City is among the three finalists to become its new host).

Slamdance has helped boost the careers of some major filmmakers, among them DGA Award winner Sean Baker (Anora), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) and Bong Joon-ho (Parasite). It has also launched some major documentaries including Mad Hot Ballroom a quarter century ago and one of my personal favorites, Smile ‘Til It Hurts: The Up with People Story, in 2009.

Baxter tells us about this year’s documentaries at Slamdance, a slate that includes 40 Watts from Nowhere, directed by Sue Carpenter; Larry (they/them), directed by Catherine Legault; Complicated, directed by Andrew Abrahams; Coroner to the Stars, directed by Ben Hethcoat and Keita Ideno; My Omaha, directed by Nick Beaulieu; Memories of Love Returned, directed by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine; and Fist Bump, directed by Madeleine Farley, among many others.

Baxter also addresses the state of distribution for documentary films, noting, “We have a Slamdance Channel. All of our films are going to be on the Slamdance Channel next week.”

That’s on the new episode of Doc Talk, hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. Doc Talk is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.

Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.