Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 100

The Order of Myths

2008

The Order of Myths

2008
6
In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated... and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.
Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War

2022

Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War

2022
7
This one-hour documentary takes viewers through an evolution of African American involvement over the course of the Civil War through the stories of some of the most crucial and significant figures of the day including Harriet Tubman, Robert Smalls, Frederick Douglass, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and the most celebrated regiment of black soldiers during the Civil War, the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.
The Recruits

2019

The Recruits

2019
The Recruits follows a group of children as they go through a national, youth-oriented military program called The Young Marines. The children try their best not to crack under the enormous pressures put on them by the program and their parents.
Angel Azul

2014

Angel Azul

2014
7
Through the hauntingly beautiful lure of Jason deCaire's Taylor's underwater, life-like statues we witness the birth of an artificial coral reef, learn how we are inextricably connected to the ocean and everything in it, and are left to consider how our choices will determine what we leave to future generations.
Lynch: A History

2019

Lynch: A History

2019
6.5
LYNCH: A HISTORY deploys a trove of media footage to explore the legacy of nonconformist NFL star and Oakland Raiders running-back Marshawn Lynch. Culled from nearly a thousand video clips, placed in rapid dramatic juxtaposition, the film becomes a powerful political parable about our media system and its ties to the racial oppressions of our time.
Hurricane Helene's Deadly Warning

2025

Hurricane Helene's Deadly Warning

2025
FRONTLINE and NPR investigate why the U.S. is more vulnerable than ever to climate change-related storms and how Hurricane Helene became an ominous warning about America’s lack of preparedness. In “Hurricane Helene’s Deadly Warning,” Laura Sullivan goes on the ground in North Carolina in the days after the 2024 storm and speaks with survivors who describe the devastation, fear and shock they experienced at seeing entire communities washed away. She revisits Houston, Texas, where thousands of homes remain in an area that already flooded during Harvey in 2017. Sullivan also returns to Staten Island, where, according to a former FEMA director, the billion dollar rebuilding process may not have been enough to prevent mass destruction should another Superstorm Sandy hit.
Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin' Women

1989

Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin' Women

1989
1
This profile of storied trumpeter of jazz, Tiny Davis, and her cohort pianist-drummer, Ruby Lucas, is an amalgam of artifacts about the two women, accompanied with poetry by Cheryl Clarke.
Revolution: New Art for a New World

2017

Revolution: New Art for a New World

2017
7.5
Drawing on the collections of major Russian institutions, contributions from contemporary artists, curators and performers and personal testimony from the descendants of those involved, the film brings the artists of the Russian Avant-Garde to life. It tells the stories of artists like Chagall, Kandinsky and Malevich - pioneers who flourished in response to the challenge of building a new art for a new world, only to be broken by implacable authority after 15 short years and silenced by Stalin's Socialist Realism.
Facing Nolan

2022

Facing Nolan

2022
7.4
In the world of Major League Baseball no one has created a mythology like Nolan Ryan. Told from the point of view of the hitters who faced him and the teammates who revered him, Facing Nolan is the definitive documentary of a Texas legend.
The Last Survivors

2019

The Last Survivors

2019
7.3
Documentary compiling the testimonies of the last remaining Holocaust survivors living in Britain, all of whom were children at the time, and following them over the course of a year as they embark upon personal and profound journeys.
Donor Unknown

2011

Donor Unknown

2011
1
All JoEllen Marsh knew about her biological father was that he was Donor 150; but she wanted to know anything and everything she could about her father’s genealogy. Thanks to a social networking website called the Donor Sibling Registry designed specifically for donor offspring, that becomes a possibility. Marsh slowly unravels Donor 150′s side of her family tree; meeting, one-by-one, her new-found siblings and discovering a plethora of uncanny genetic similarities. (Donor 150 must have had some damn strong genes!) Marsh and her siblings would like to meet the man from whom these common genes were inherited. A New York Times article about Marsh caught Donor 150′s eye, and the rest is history…
Are You Proud?

2019

Are You Proud?

2019
2.1
Are You Proud? is a vivid and engaged docu-celebration of the LGBT rights movement from the partial victory of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act to Stonewall, the Gay Liberation Front , the AIDS crisis, Legal Marriage and finally the 2016 Pulse night club shooting. The film gives an extensive history of the course of LGBT rights campaigning, but it also shows how much more work there is to be done.
What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?

2019

What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire?

2019
7.2
Summer 2017, a string of brutal police killings of young African American men has sent shockwaves throughout the country. A Black community in the American South tries to cope with the lingering effects of the past and navigate their place in a country that is not on their side. Meanwhile, the Black Panthers prepare a large-scale protest against police brutality.
Foster

2018

Foster

2018
6.4
With one in eight American children suffering a confirmed case of neglect or abuse by age 18, there are currently more than 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S., a number that continues to grow each year. Drawing on unprecedented access, FOSTER explores the often-misunderstood world of foster care through compelling stories from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, the largest county child welfare agency in the country.
Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...

2016

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened...

2016
7.5
This film from acclaimed theater director Lonny Price charts the journey of the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along" in the 30-plus years since the musical debuted on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre in 1981.
Crystal City

2019

Crystal City

2019
7.5
An explosion of crystal meth addiction is ravaging New York City's gay community. "Crystal City" explores the worsening epidemic through the eyes of recovering addicts and active users as they attempt to overcome their disease.
Wounded Land

2022

Wounded Land

2022
During the Fall of 2021, Ukraine was slowly emerging from a global pandemic. Around this time, a film crew began shooting a documentary focused on the country’s wine-making regions. Then, in 2022, things took a sharp turn when Russia escalated a war against Ukraine. This film tells the stories of hard-working people who, against all odds, remain engaged in continuing in business.
James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket

1989

James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket

1989
1.3
James Baldwin was at once a major 20th century American author, a Civil Rights activist and, for two crucial decades, a prophetic voice calling Americans, black and white, to confront their shared racial tragedy.
Viewer Direction Advised

2018

Viewer Direction Advised

2018
Twenty-one year old Ben is on a journey - to follow his TV-obsessed dad and explore how television consumption has evolved from one generation to the next.
In Jackson Heights

2015

In Jackson Heights

2015
6.8
Legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman (At Berkeley, National Gallery) explores the culture, politics and daily life of the Queens, NYC district of Jackson Heights, which lays claim to being the most diverse neighbourhood in the world.