Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 118

Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl

2007

Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl

2007
6
On April 26th, 1986, reactor four at Chernobyl nuclear power station explodes, sending an enormous radioactive cloud over Northern Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus. The danger is kept a secret from the rest of the world and the nearby population who go about their business as usual. May Day celebrations begin, children play and the residents of Pripyat marvel at the spectacular fire raging at the reactor. After three days, an area the size of England becomes contaminated with radioactive dust, creating a 'zone' of poisoned land. Based on Mario Petrucci's award-winning book-length poem (split over two books), 'Heavy Water: a film for Chernobyl', and the shorter version 'Half Life: a Journey to Chernobyl", tells the story of the people who dealt with the disaster at ground-level: the fire-fighters, soldiers, 'liquidators', and their families.
Geraldine Ferraro: Paving The Way

2013

Geraldine Ferraro: Paving The Way

2013
7
A documentary by Donna Zaccaro about the political trailblazer, Geralidine Ferraro. Featuring interviews with Bill and Hillary Clinton, George and Barbara Bush, Walter Mondale, and Geraldine Ferraro herself, among others, this is a heartwarming and engrossing portrait of the first woman who was nominated for vice president, whose legacy still reverberates today.
District of Second Chances

2024

District of Second Chances

2024
A quest for redemption is unfolding in Washington, D.C. Thanks to forward-looking “Second Chance” legislation, three men who were sentenced in their youth to life in prison have the chance to plead for release.
Caravaggio: The Soul and the Blood

2018

Caravaggio: The Soul and the Blood

2018
6.7
An exciting and unsettling cinematic journey through the life, work and torments of Caravaggio.
Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird

2011

Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird

2011
In this full-length documentary, Mary Murphy explores the enduring power, popularity & mystery that is Harper Lee. She interviews Oprah Winfrey, Wally Lamb Anna Quindlen, James McBride and others, and with rare cooperation from Harper Lee’s family and friends tells the story of a novel that became an American classic. In the newest edition of the film, Harper Lee from Mockingbird to Watchman, Murphy examines the rediscovered novel and its place alongside To Kill A Mockingbird.
McCurry: The Pursuit of Colour

2022

McCurry: The Pursuit of Colour

2022
6.9
If something of import has taken place in our lifetimes, chances are that Steve McCurry has photographed it, from the wars in the Arab world to the 9/11 attacks. Denis Delestrac’s documentary on the photographer charts McCurry’s journey through a restless life spent on constant move, chronicling our times and living with the intense loneliness and trauma that came along with his work. Today, surrounded by a loving family, McCurry is finally home but never not in the pursuit of color.
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

2021

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

2021
6.8
A documentary 33 years in the making. A director and friend of Kurt Vonnegut seeks through his archives to create the first film featuring the revolutionary late writer.
Sidemen: Long Road To Glory

2016

Sidemen: Long Road To Glory

2016
6
An intimate look at the lives and legacies of piano player Pinetop Perkins, drummer Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, all Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf sidemen. The film captures some of the last interviews and their final live performances together, before their deaths in 2011. The historic live shows are accompanied by performances and personal insights from many of the blues and rock stars these legendary sidemen inspired including; Bonnie Raitt, Gregg Allman, Derek Trucks, Shemekia Copeland, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Joe Perry, Joe Bonamassa and Johnny Winter.
Occupation: Native

2017

Occupation: Native

2017
9
The Aboriginal story has been buried deep beneath the 247-year-old accepted Australian narrative. In OCCUPATION: NATIVE, Aboriginal filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas, bites back at Australian history.
Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story

2007

Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story

2007
The real life story of the events surrounding the fight for and against public housing and racial integration in Yonkers, New York in the 1980s as portrayed in the HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero.
A Year in Champagne

2014

A Year in Champagne

2014
6.2
The exploding cork. Endless tiny bubbles floating up and up in the glass. An indulgence. A celebration. A seduction. A triumph. This is the essence of Champagne, isn’t it? But it’s not just bubbles in a glass that makes the wine, or the mystique. Only sparkling wine produced within the boundaries of the Champagne region is truly “Champagne.” At first glance, the region is not an obvious source of romance. Champagne’s history is grim and bloody, swept by war and destruction from Attila the Hun to the filthy trenches of WWI and the Nazi depredations of WWII. The environment for winemaking is desperately hard — northerly latitude, chalky soil, copious rain, frost, rot. Yet it’s these difficulties that help make the wine unique.
Into the Spotlight

2023

Into the Spotlight

2023
On the heels of a tragedy and the COVID-19 pandemic, a Dallas-based theatre troupe comprised of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are determined to write, rehearse, and perform their 11th annual original musical.
Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles

1999

Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles

1999
1
One of the most enigmatic artists of the 20th century, writer, composer and wanderer Paul Bowles (1910-1999) is profiled by a filmmaker who has been obsessed with his genius since age nineteen. Set against the dramatic landscape of North Africa, the mystery of Bowles (famed author of The Sheltering Sky) begins to unravel in Jennifer Baichwal's poetic and moving Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles. Rare, candid interviews with the reclusive Bowles--at home in Tangier, as well as in New York during an extraordinary final reunion with Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs--are intercut with conflicting views of his supporters and detractors. At the time in his mid-eighties, Bowles speaks with unprecedented candor about his work, his controversial private life and his relationships with Gertrude Stein, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, the Beats, and his wife and fellow author Jane Bowles.
Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis

1990

Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis

1990
8
"Butoh: Body on the Edge of Crisis" is a visually striking film portrait shot on location in Japan with the participation of the major Butoh choreographers and their companies. Although Butoh is often viewed as Japan's equivalent of modern dance, in actuality it has little to do with the rational principles of modernism. Butoh is a theater of improvisation which places the personal experiences of the dancer on center-stage. By reestablishing the ancient Japanese connection of dance, music, and masks, and by recalling the Buddhist death dances of rural Japan, Butoh incorporates much traditional theater. At the same time, it is a movement of resistance against the abandonment of traditional culture to a highly organized consumer-oriented society.
Runaway

2001

Runaway

2001
6
RUNAWAY follows the stories of five young girls who arrive at a refuge in Iran’s capital city Tehran, having run away from abusive or neglectful families. Some are in despair, others are simply mischievous; but somehow they must all learn to face the future.
Do Women Have a Higher Sex Drive?

2018

Do Women Have a Higher Sex Drive?

2018
8
For years men have thought women had a lower sexdrive? Can men be proven wrong again? The film explores the the scientific, historical, biological and social aspects behind the female sex drive and female gaze.
The Altruism Revolution

2015

The Altruism Revolution

2015
8
For generations, we have believed that man is driven by ruthless self-interest. But over the past decade, this idea has been increasingly challenged. New research from fields as diverse as political science, psychology, sociology and experimental economics is forcing us to rethink human actions and motivation. ‘The Altruism Revolution’ examines the scientific reasons behind the call for a more caring society.
War Comes to America

1945

War Comes to America

1945
7
The seventh and final film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight World War II propaganda film series. This entry attempts to describe the factors leading up to America's entry into the Second World War.
AllSeasons

2021

AllSeasons

2021
7.2
Once you get hooked, the way you feel changes your world forever. Learn more about a sport where each season brings a small revolution, in which you can progress in so many ways. In #Allseasons we will show you how love for the wind drives kitesurfers to live their passion all year round. You will meet people who plan their week following wind forecast no matter if it is hot Summer or cold Winter.
Rock Bottom Riser

2021

Rock Bottom Riser

2021
1
From the earliest voyagers who navigated by starlight to the discovery of habitable planets by astronomers, Rock Bottom Riser examines the all-encompassing encounters of an island world at sea. As lava continues to flow from the earth’s core on the island of Hawaii—posing an imminent danger—a crisis mounts. Astronomers plan to build the world’s largest telescope on Hawaii’s most sacred and revered mountain, Mauna Kea. Based on ancient Polynesian navigation, the arrival of Christian missionaries, and the observatory’s ability to capture the origins of the universe, Rock Bottom Riser surveys the influence of settler colonialism, the search for intelligent life, and the discovery of new worlds as we peer into our own planet’s existence.