PodcastLong Island

Academy Award Winner Alex Gibney Talks “Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie” on SOUNDS OF FILM

By tom needham

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney joins Tom Needham on this episode of Sounds of Film to discuss his powerful new documentary, Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie. 

Widely regarded as one of the most important documentary filmmakers of his generation, Gibney has earned acclaim for such films as Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Going Clear, and In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon. In this conversation, Gibney discusses the origins of Knife, his collaboration with Salman Rushdie and Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and the challenges of documenting one of the most shocking attacks on a writer in modern history.

alex gibney

Inspired by Rushdie’s memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, the documentary chronicles the celebrated author’s physical, emotional, and creative recovery following the 2022 attack that nearly took his life. Featuring deeply personal footage filmed by Griffiths in the aftermath of the stabbing, the film explores resilience, free expression, love, and survival while examining the long shadow cast by political and religious extremism.

Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and will open Hamptons International Film Festival’s 2026 SummerDocs series at Guild Hall of East Hampton on Saturday, June 27 at 7:00 p.m., followed by a conversation with Alex Gibney.

Hosted by Tom Needham, Sounds of Film is the nation’s longest-running film and music-themed radio show and podcast, featuring conversations with filmmakers, actors, composers, musicians, authors, and cultural leaders. Past guests have included Billy Joel, Alec Baldwin, Julie Andrews, Jordan Peele, Michael Moore, Dionne Warwick, Chuck D, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Nile Rodgers, Howard Shore, Rob Reiner, Barbara Kopple, Alexander Payne, Laurie Anderson, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Jesse Ventura, Rory Kennedy, Jay Jay French, Phil Rosenthal, Rodriguez, and many more. Visit the Sounds of Film archives for hundreds of interviews exploring the worlds of film, music, and popular culture. 

The Sounds of Film is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music

tom needham 37 posts 0 comments

Tom Needham is a versatile producer, director, and radio host with over 30 years in the entertainment industry. He is the executive producer and host of The Sounds of Film, the nation’s longest-running film and music themed radio show, and directed ‘Countdown to X-Day,’ which won Best Documentary at the Long Island Film Festival. Needham also produced the Manhattan cable show New York Jazz.
Active in the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame, Needham serves on its Board of Directors as Vice Chairman, as well as chairman of the Education Board and Nominations Committee. He is also the executive director of the LIMEHOF Music Documentary Film Festival.
Tom is the executive producer and host of both the LIMEHOF Podcast and the SOUNDS Podcast which features fresh conversations with renowned filmmakers, composers, authors, politicians, artists, scientists, and philosophers along with archival interviews from his long-running radio show.

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