Doc Talk Podcast: Oscar-Nominated Filmmaker Sam Green On ‘The Oldest Person In The World’

The oldest human being alive right now, in case you’ve been wondering, is Ethel Caterham of Shipton Bellinger, Hampshire, England, who turned 117 in August. She succeeded to the title of oldest person in the world after the death of Inah Canabarro Lucas, a Brazilian nun who died in 2025 at the age of 116.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green has been thinking a lot about holders of this singular record — not just recently but going back a decade. The result of his 10-year exploration is the documentary The Oldest Person in the World, which just began its theatrical run in Los Angeles and San Francisco after opening September 10 in New York City. It expands to additional cities in the coming weeks.

Green (The Weather Underground, 32 Sounds) joins the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss his film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and has screened at SXSW, True/False in Columbia, MO, Full Frame in Durham, NC, and internationally at CPH:DOX, the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival in Greece and DOXA in Vancouver, BC, among many others.

Green explains how editor Aaron Wickenden coaxed him into making the documentary the most personal of his career. In part that ensued through the inclusion of one of the younger people of the planet, comparatively speaking – Green’s vivacious son, Atlas – and through the filmmaker’s reflections on his own mortality after he received a worrisome medical diagnosis.

The director also speaks to many moments of humor in the film, some of which spring organically from the hoopla generated by one of the record holders celebrating a birthday, for instance, or by being recognized by the people at Guinness World Records as the oldest human extant. (The film begins with a birthday party for Susannah Mushatt Jones of New York City, then the oldest person in the world, who slept through almost the entire party, despite the urging of a Brooklyn city official who told the crowd in advance, “We want to get as much soundbite out of her as possible.”).

According to a synopsis of The Oldest Person in the World, “What begins as a portrait of longevity becomes a poignant meditation on the passage of time, the randomness of fate, and the joy and profound human experience of being alive.”

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 senior documentary editor. The pod 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.