New Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 299

The Wobblies

1979

The Wobblies

1979
6.7
"Solidarity! All for One and One for All!" With that slogan, the Industrial Workers of the World, aka the Wobblies, took to organizing unskilled workers into one big union and changing the course of history. This award-winning film airs a provocative look at the forgotten American history of this most radical of unions, screening the unforgettable and still-fiery voices of Wobbly members--lumberjacks, migratory workers, and silk weavers--in their 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Architecture: A Performing Art

1979

Architecture: A Performing Art

1979
This is the story of John Andrews, world-famous Australian architect. In the mid-1960s, when only 29, Andrews was commissioned to design Scarborough College at Toronto University. One of the world’s first ‘megastructures’, it was an important experiment in urban and educational planning. Andrews also designed the Canadian National Tower in Toronto, which was the tallest freestanding structure in the world at the time it was built.
Manoeuvre

1979

Manoeuvre

1979
6.7
MANOEUVRE follows a U.S. infantry tank company through NATO’s annual fall manoeuvres in Western Europe. One purpose of these war games is to test how quickly and effectively U.S. reinforcements can come to the aid of NATO forces stationed in Europe. The various stages of the training exercise, including defensive and offensive tactics, and hypothetical wins and losses are seen from the point of view of a company fighting a simulated, conventional, non-nuclear ground and air war.
Chicana

1979

Chicana

1979
3.3
CHICANA traces the history of Chicana and Mexican women from pre-Columbian times to the present. It covers women's role in Aztec society, their participation in the 1810 struggle for Mexican independence, their involvement in the US labor strikes in 1872, their contributions to the 1910 Mexican revolution and their leadership in contemporary civil rights causes. Using murals, engravings and historical footage, CHICANA shows how women, despite their poverty, have become an active and vocal part of the political and work life in both Mexico and the United States.
The Earth is Our Home

1979

The Earth is Our Home

1979
This documentary about the early Indians of the Great Basin emphasizes the traditional culture of the last 5,000 years. The story unfolds through the words and skills of the older Piaute women of southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada. They tell us how they make cakes from berries, baskets from tulles, cord for nets…necessary daily tasks linked with an ancient heritage. The earth is ever present in the film, wildlife, rivers and marshes, sagebrush desert, all part of the story. The lifeways of the Northern Paiutes are followed through a seasonal cycle, from root-gathering in spring to building shelter in winter.
Madarrpa Funeral at Gurka’wuy

1979

Madarrpa Funeral at Gurka’wuy

1979
In 1976, Ian Dunlop was invited by Dundiwuy Wanambi, a leader of the Marrakulu clan, to Gurka’wuy on Trial Bay in the Gulf of Carpentaria. He wanted Film Australia to record the first major Marrakulu ceremony to be held at Gurka’wuy since its recent establishment as a clan settlement. While they were there, a baby boy died. The Madarrpa men, including the child’s father and Dundiwuy, asked for the funeral to be filmed.Mortuary rites of the Yolngu are extremely complex. Despite some practical modifications to traditional ceremonies as a result of life on mission stations, ritual remains extremely strong.
Namekas: Music in Lake Chambri

1979

Namekas: Music in Lake Chambri

1979
On the southern shores of Lake Chambri (Middle Sepik River) live 1500 Pondo-speaking villagers. The Chambris trade fish, mosquito nets and baskets for sago, pottery, and other goods. All elements of the natural world are associated with spirits which have individual personalities and powers, characterized in legend, art, and music. A constant dialog between man and spirits is carried on through various communicative media, including invocations, dreams, and music. As this film beautifully reveals, there is a wealth of musical tradition in Lake Chambri: carved wooden drums whose lively vibrations are said to shake loose ripened fruits for harvest; pairs of sacred bamboo flutes used in boys' initiations and concealed from women; orchestras of flutes identified with dogs or turkeys; flutes captured in warfare used with dance masks to invoke fish; and the panpipe with its melodies of mourning.
Einstein's Universe

1979

Einstein's Universe

1979
8
A documentary produced in 1979 to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Albert Einstein. Narrated and hosted by Peter Ustinov and written by Nigel Calder.
Shaping Bamboo

1979

Shaping Bamboo

1979
For the 'Are'are people of the Solomon Islands, the most valued music is that of the four types of panpipe ensembles. With the exception of slit drums, all musical instruments are made of bamboo; therefore the general word for instruments and the music performed with them is "bamboo" ('au). This film shows the making of panpipes, from the cutting the bamboo in the forest to the making of the final bindings. The most important part of the work consists in shaping each tube to its necessary length. Most 'Are'are panpipe makers measure the length of old instruments before they shape new tubes. Master musician 'Irisipau, surprisingly, takes the measure using his body, and adjusts the final tuning by ear. For the first time we can see here how the instruments and their artificial equiheptatonic scale-seven equidistant degrees in an octave-are practically tuned.
Del mero corazón

1979

Del mero corazón

1979
5
A lyrical journey through the heart of Chicano culture as reflected in the love songs of the Tex-Mex Norteña music tradition. Performers include, Little Joe & La Familia, Leo Garza, Chavela Ortiz, Andres Berlanga, Ricardo Mejia, Conjunto Tamaulipas, Chavela y Brown Express and more.
Nails

1979

Nails

1979
7
This Oscar-nominated documentary short tracks the shift in the relationship of an individual to his work between the 19th century and today. Focusing on how nails are made, we first see a blacksmith laboring at his forge, shaping nails from single strands of steel rods. The scene then shifts from this peaceful setting to the roar of a 20th century nail mill, where banks of machines draw, cut, and pound the steel rods faster than the eye can follow.
Mission Hill and the Miracle of Boston

1978

Mission Hill and the Miracle of Boston

1978
This documentary traces the alteration, through economic and political influences, of the Parker Hill area of Roxbury in Boston. An ethnically mixed family neighborhood, at present largely Irish Catholic, is now the location of a racially tense public housing project (named Mission Hill for a local church) which is occupied mainly by blacks.
Sinai Field Mission

1978

Sinai Field Mission

1978
6.3
SINAI FIELD MISSION shows the routine activities of the diplomats and electronics technicians who operate the U.S. Sinai Field Mission, the early warning system established in 1976 to help facilitate the disengagement between Egypt and Israel after the 1973 war. The major purpose of the Mission is to monitor the approaches to strategic passes and to verify the operations of the Egyptian and Israeli surveillance stations in the Sinai Buffer Zone.
Gates of Heaven

1978

Gates of Heaven

1978
6.8
A documentary about a pet cemetery in California, and the people who have pets buried there.
Duane Michals (1939-1997)

1978

Duane Michals (1939-1997)

1978
A look at photographer Duane Michal's sequential photo narratives, with voiceover by Michals himself.
The Last Tasmanian

1978

The Last Tasmanian

1978
6.3
The story of the genocide of the Tasmanian aborigine population by British settlers. Specifically Truganini, the last living full-blood aborigine.
Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel

1978

Roger Corman: Hollywood's Wild Angel

1978
7.4
Documentary examining the life and career of producer/director Roger Corman. Clips from his films and interviews with actors and crew members who have worked with him are featured.
The ABC of Love and Sex: Australia Style

1978

The ABC of Love and Sex: Australia Style

1978
4.3
A tongue-in-cheek sex education documentary covering a different subject for each letter of the alphabet, e.g. A is for Anatomy, B is for Babies, etc.
Sons of Haji Omar

1978

Sons of Haji Omar

1978
Haji Omar and his three sons belong to the Lakankhel, a Pashtoon tribal group in northeastern Afghanistan. The film focuses on his family: Haji Omar, the patriarch; Anwar, the eldest, his father's favorite, a pastoralist and expert horseman; Jannat Gul, cultivator and ambitious rebel; and Ismail, the youngest, attending school with a view to a job as a government official.
African Religions : Zulu Zion

1978

African Religions : Zulu Zion

1978
Visits the Zulu Independent Churches of South Africa to explore the black African response to Christianity. Traces the history of religious beliefs in Africa, from the arrival of the first Christian missionaries to the current rediscovery of the African religious identity