# EP049 - The Trust Fall w/ Sharon Liese

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/doc-walks-7327673/ep049-the-trust-fall-w-sharon-liese
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/doc-walks-7327673/ep049-the-trust-fall-w-sharon-liese.md
Podcast: [Doc Walks](https://stenobird.com/podcast/doc-walks-7327673)
Published: 2026-04-16T12:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://docwalkspod.com/ep049-the-trust-fall-w-sharon-liese
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/769d52a5-d399-4750-a0ce-f637076f16a6/DW_EP047_SHARONLIESE-esv2-50p-bg-40p-music-61p.mp3?dest-id=4997995
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/doc-walks-7327673/episodes/ep049-the-trust-fall-w-sharon-liese
Duration seconds: 3072

## Resource

Kansas City here we come! Well, just Ben this time, revisiting old haunts along the Tomahawk Creek trail with Sharon Liese—Emmy-winning director of THE FLAGMAKERS and TRANSHOOD. Sharon proves you don't need an LA zip code to premiere at Sundance—her new feature SEIZED—a nuanced, complicated portrait of what happened when police raided a small-town Kansas newspaper—was a must-see at Park City this January. A film about justice and freedom of expression is a pressing tale today and Sharon walks us through the messy reality of telling a story where nobody's quite the hero you expect. We dig into the two-and-a-half year journey of making the film, the year it took to get suspicious small-towners to open up, and the 98-year-old newspaper co-owner whose defiant attitude captured on police body cam footage will absolutely wreck you. The serendipity is real: mid-walk, we stumble onto gnome houses on the trail—a callback to Sharon's gorgeous short THE GNOMIST, which was filmed on this very path. We trace her origin story from a Kansas marketing gig to following 12 girls through high school for HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, getting an agent by name-dropping an RJ Cutler meeting, and the fateful Facebook message that led to Ben & Sharon working together on PINK COLLAR CRIMES. Sharon opens up about TRANSHOOD, following four trans kids for five years on HBO, and the devastating new Kansas legislation that just dropped overnight. The conversation turns to the state of an industry where good storytelling is getting squeezed from every direction and Ben gets real about his eight-year Onion documentary saga. But the vibe stays warm—Sharon's grandkids just moved to KC, the crowded table she always dreamed of is full, and MAD HOT BALLROOM is confirmed as a gateway drug film that changed Shar…

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## Transcript

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