New Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 294

Race Against Prime Time

1984

Race Against Prime Time

1984
This classic case study in media bias examines how the three network affiliates covered urban unrest in Miami's predominantly African American Liberty Hill neighborhood, following the 1980 acquittal of police officers for the killing of a local resident; how it framed the uprising as "riots," chose the community's "spokespersons" and focused on the inconvenience to white commuters.
Puccini

1984

Puccini

1984
1
In Torre del Lago, by Lake Massaciuccoli, Puccini is writing "The Girl of the Golden West" when his wife Elvira accuses him of a dalliance with their maid, Doria Manfredi, a young women from town. Although the maestro is frequently unfaithful, he denies the affair; Elvira insists she's right and publicly hounds Doria. Between scenes in this domestic drama that turns tragic, we watch a Scottish company rehearse and stage "Turandot," Puccini's last opera. The film finds parallels between the two stories and suggests that in the opera, Puccini expresses love for his wife and guilt in Doria's fate. Three local gentlemen provide a spoken chorus as Puccini's score plays throughout.
Backyard

1984

Backyard

1984
6
Documentary film maker Ross McElwee returns to his family home in Charlotte NC. In filming his family, he captures a microcosm of Southern society.
Henson's Place: The Man Behind the Muppets

1984

Henson's Place: The Man Behind the Muppets

1984
6.7
Trace the life and career of visionary puppeteer Jim Henson through this fascinating documentary, which profiles the creative genius's early endeavors in college, his incredible contributions to "Sesame Street" and the creation of "The Muppet Show." In addition to interviews with Henson, his wife, Jane, and close collaborator Frank Oz, this in-depth special also offers viewers a peek inside the magical Henson Workshop.
Speed

1984

Speed

1984
6.2
A documentary on the history on mankind's attempts to reach high speeds. Starting with the invention of the bicycle, going on to sports cars, cars with jet engines, rocket-powered cars, attempts to break the sound barrier, and rocket-engine airplanes. Each achievement is documented by title card indicating the speed reached in miles per hour.
The Store

1983

The Store

1983
6.2
THE STORE is a film about the main Neiman-Marcus store and corporate headquarters in Dallas. The sequences in the film include the selection, presentation, marketing, pricing, advertising and selling of a vast array of consumer products including designer clothes and furs, jewelry, perfumes, shoes, electronic products, sportswear, china and porcelain and many other goods. The internal management and organizational aspects of a large corporation are shown, i.e., sales meetings, development of marketing and advertising strategies, training, personnel practices and sales techniques.
Allies

1983

Allies

1983
ALLIES is a landmark documentary from 1983, made at the time of Bob Hawke’s unequivocal embrace of the American alliance.
Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists

1983

Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists

1983
6.3
A unique documentary that looks at the political activities of the American Communist Party in the early to mid-twentieth century.
Lousy Little Sixpence

1983

Lousy Little Sixpence

1983
6
Tells of Aborigines' removal from their families to be sent to work as servants for white people and the rise of the first Aboriginal organisations in the 1930's, in particular the Aborigines Progressive Association.
Reassemblage: From the Firelight to the Screen

1983

Reassemblage: From the Firelight to the Screen

1983
5.6
A complex visual study of the women of rural Senegal. Through a complicity of interaction between film and spectator, Reassemblage reflects on documentary filmmaking and the ethnographic representation of cultures.
Seventeen

1983

Seventeen

1983
6
In their final year at Muncie's Southside High School, a group of seniors hurtles toward maturity with a combination of joy, despair, and an aggravated sense of urgency. They are also learning a great deal about life, both in and out of school, and not what school officials think they are teaching.
When Women Kill

1983

When Women Kill

1983
6
When Women Kill is a poignant documentary exploring the shocking violence that seven women fell victim to at the hands of men. The program profiles the battered women who speak frankly about the cruel abuse, threats, and fears, and the overassertive men who led them down a one-way path to death and destruction. The film features in-prison footage, including a segment depicting a confession by a follower of the notorious Charles Manson, Leslie Van Houten, who was convicted of two killing sprees and committed to life in prison.
Dressed in Blue

1983

Dressed in Blue

1983
5.9
A documentary about the lives of six transgender women in post-Franco Spain.
The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific

1983

The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific

1983
In hand-built, double-hulled canoes sixty feet long, the ancestors of today's Polynesians sailed vast distances using only the waves, the stars, and the flights of birds to navigate. Anthropologist Sanford Low visits the Caroline Islands of Micronesia to meet Mau Piailug, the last navigator initiated on his island and one of few men still practicing this once-essential art. He demonstrates his skill by sailing a replica canoe 2500 miles from Hawaii to Tahiti with no modern navigational instruments.
David Hockney: Joiner Photographs

1983

David Hockney: Joiner Photographs

1983
David Hockney is unquestionably one of the most passionate and versatile experimental artists on the contemporary scene. In the late 1970s the British artist developed a pioneering concept which also changed his perspective on painting – his “joiners”. In this film, the artist himself talks about this photographic approach, a kind of Cubism-inspired photocollage which explores the space-time continuum. Hockney allows the viewer to share in the creative “joiner” process and leads us step by step into the universe of his artistic creativity.
Koyaanisqatsi

1983

Koyaanisqatsi

1983
7.9
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
Say Amen, Somebody

1983

Say Amen, Somebody

1983
6.8
Documentary on modern black gospel music, focusing on the pioneering Rev. Thomas Dorsey and Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith
Sans Soleil

1983

Sans Soleil

1983
7.4
A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.
Angels of War

1983

Angels of War

1983
6.2
ANGELS OF WAR captures the experiences of villagers who lived through the Papua New Guinea campaign. Caught up in a war they could not understand or influence, they had no choice but to obey whoever held the gun. Their homes were bombed. They starved as refugees in the bush. They were conscripted as carriers. They fought as infantrymen and guerillas. In Japanese-held areas, they were forced to collaborate or risk execution; some were later hanged for treason by the Australians.
Love Letters

1983

Love Letters

1983
Citations from love letters and poems written between Karl Marx and his fiancée Jenny von Westphalen during their teenage years are combined with images, paintings, and beautiful, atmospheric landscapes of places connected to Marx.