Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 166

Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past

2017

Vince Giordano: There's a Future in the Past

2017
Bandleader Vince Giordano keeps the Jazz Age alive with his 11-member band The Nighthawks, vintage musical instruments, and a collection of more than 60,000 original arrangements from the 1920s and '30s.
Literary Ink: A Wizard’s Journey

2020

Literary Ink: A Wizard’s Journey

2020
In March 2018, elite tattoo artists from across the globe came together in Chattanooga, Tennessee to celebrate the intersection of literary fantasy and artistic magic at the inaugural Literary Ink convention. “Literary Ink: A Wizard’s Journey” explores the lives, dreams, techniques and artistic inspiration of four of these Tattoo Wizards.
Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open

2013

Paul Bowles: The Cage Door Is Always Open

2013
5
The American composer and author Paul Bowles was a man with a great deal of charisma and influence. When he moved to Tangier, Morocco, in 1949, half the world followed him to the enigmatic city. His marriage with author Jane Bowles was a loving relationship of opposites, even though both were homosexual. Based on exclusive interviews with Bowles shortly before his death interwoven with anecdotes recounted by his friends and co-workers, the film portrays a daring and visionary life as well as a relationship shaped by an interdependency that encompassed much more than sexuality.
This Land Is Our Land

2010

This Land Is Our Land

2010
For more than three decades, transnational corporations have been busy buying up what used to be known as the commons -- everything from our forests and our oceans to our broadcast airwaves and our most important intellectual and cultural works. In This Land is Our Land, acclaimed author David Bollier, a leading figure in the global movement to reclaim the commons, bucks the rising tide of anti-government extremism and free market ideology to show how commercial interests are undermining our collective interests. Placing the commons squarely within the American tradition of community engagement and the free exchange of ideas and information, Bollier shows how a bold new international movement steeped in democratic principles is trying to reclaim our common wealth by modeling practical alternatives to the restrictive monopoly powers of corporate elites.
Dukas Dilemma

2002

Dukas Dilemma

2002
Lobito Bound: A Journey to Africa's New Frontier

2025

Lobito Bound: A Journey to Africa's New Frontier

2025
As the world races for critical minerals, a new trade route is transforming Central Africa. Lobito-Bound: A journey to Africa’s new frontier follows explorer Dwayne Fields - in partnership with pan-African mobile provider Africell - from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic along the Lobito Corridor, tracing the impact of global power struggles on local lives. Through voices on the ground, the film explores whether the Lobito Corridor will bring real progress or simply shift the balance of control.
Ari's Theme

2024

Ari's Theme

2024
Childhood came easily to Ari Kinarthy, growing up as he did in a loving family environment that made him feel like time was limitless—until he was diagnosed with type-2 spinal muscular atrophy. Now, at 31, Kinarthy is a hugely accomplished music composer living with a condition that continues to weaken his muscles progressively, making him acutely aware of his own mortality.
Sally!

2024

Sally!

2024
8
Sally Gearhart was a charismatic radical lesbian activist, author, and academic who spearheaded the 1970s and 80s lesbian feminist movement yet has been largely forgotten. But the film SALLY is not just a straightforward biography of this “hidden figure” deserving more recognition. It also shows the symbiotic relationship between spokeswomen like Sally and movements for social change, which are necessarily collective. And it highlights Sally’s captivating iconoclasm and contradictions: SALLY is both a wild lesbian safari and a timely and deeply moving meditation on the tensions inherent in revolutionary movements: ideological principles versus human realities, separatism versus mainstreaming, and throwing down the gauntlet versus reaching across the aisle. Ultimately, Sally and compatriots’ key contributions can help guide our current, urgent battles for social justice.
Birth of a Movement

2017

Birth of a Movement

2017
6.4
In 1915, Boston-based African American newspaper editor and activist William M. Trotter waged a battle against D.W. Griffith’s technically groundbreaking but notoriously Ku Klux Klan-friendly The Birth of a Nation, unleashing a fight that still rages today about race relations, media representation, and the power and influence of Hollywood. Birth of a Movement, based on Dick Lehr's book The Birth of a Movement: How Birth of a Nation Ignited the Battle for Civil Rights, captures the backdrop to this prescient clash between human rights, freedom of speech, and a changing media landscape.
Sorolla: Journeys of Light

2017

Sorolla: Journeys of Light

2017
4
A journey through the life and work of the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), master of Nature, creator of light.
Futureproof

2005

Futureproof

2005
5
Big jumps are sick... and once again we have that category well covered. But there will always be a bigger jump or that extra one eighty added to the rotation that will dethrone last year's golden moment. So... what aspects of snowboarding can withstand the test of time? We spent the winter examining this question and came up with some answers that will have you waxing your board and watching the Weather Channel in September. You will see.
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

2013

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

2013
7.1
The story of Alice Herz-Sommer, a German-speaking Jewish pianist from Prague who was, at her death, the world's oldest Holocaust survivor. She discusses the importance of music, laughter, and how to have an optimistic outlook on life.
Truelove: The Film

2023

Truelove: The Film

2023
8
"Truelove: The Film" is a documentary feature film following Callie Truelove, a teenager with Williams syndrome who was blessed with the superpower of love. On this journey, Callie travels across America to meet other individuals with Williams syndrome who get to tell their stories and showcase the wondrous effects of this rare genetic disorder. Callie's goal is to spread her unique brand of unconditional love and awareness for Williams syndrome, while shining a light on these very pure and precious souls, so that together they can help to heal this fractured world. With the help of some recognizable faces, audiences will get a glimpse of what it's like to see life through Callie's unburdened eyes, while humans of this planet get to realize that there is no better medicine for all the negativity and darkness in life - than a dose of Truelove.
Skyscraper Symphony

1929

Skyscraper Symphony

1929
5.8
A montage of the skyscrapers of Manhattan opens with a succession of stationary views of the upper portions of numerous buildings. This is followed by a wide variety of fluid shots, which also begin to show more and more of the surrounding city, in addition to the skyscrapers themselves.
Ram Dass: Fierce Grace

2001

Ram Dass: Fierce Grace

2001
6.1
Once a symbol of '60s counterculture and psychedelic drug use, Ram Dass has since become a renowned speaker and author on the topics of aging, spirituality, and overcoming the mistakes of the past. This documentary chronicles his journey from his affiliations with LSD advocate Timothy Leary to his endeavor to continue remaking himself after his stroke in 1997.
Four Feet Up

2008

Four Feet Up

2008
6
Four Feet Up is an intimate portrayal of child poverty in Canada by award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Nance Ackerman. Twenty years after the promise of the House of Commons 'to eliminate poverty among Canadian children,' 8-year-old Isaiah contemplates what 'less fortunate' means as he finds his voice through his own magical drawings and photographs. Four Feet Up invites us into the lives of this determined family, revealing an intimate and touching experience of child poverty in one of the world's richest nations.
Clearing the Air: The War on Smog

2025

Clearing the Air: The War on Smog

2025
In July 1943, dark, smoky clouds suddenly descended over Los Angeles, causing residents to complain of burning eyes, nausea, and difficulty breathing. People couldn’t see across the street and visibility was so bad that cars crashed. With World War II raging, many feared a chemical attack by the Japanese, but it soon became evident that no foreign enemy was to blame. The waves of pollution called “smog” — a combination of “smoke” and “fog” — continued and the cause remained a mystery. It was the beginning of an epic struggle for clean air involving years of scientific investigation and civic pressure, bringing together people across ideological divides in a remarkable example of bipartisanship. Their work would lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air Act, which have had an enduring effect on the quality of air Americans breathe.
A Wicked Eden

2021

A Wicked Eden

2021
7
Goddess Snow and her close friends Ceara Lynch, Princess Rene, Astro Domina, Princess Meggerz and Sarah DiAvola have built a supportive underground punk scene of fetish content creators, empowering each other, their clients, fans and the rest of the adult population to engage in the fight for a shame-free, consensual, and safe exploration of one’s sexuality. Dancing between the worlds of online fetish content creation, and in-person domination sessions, Goddess Alexandra Snow has built a thriving empire which supports the empowerment of women, sex workers, and anyone who has ever felt like a misfit.
The Immortalists

2014

The Immortalists

2014
6.3
Two eccentric scientists struggle to create eternal youth in a world they call “blind to the tragedy of old age.” As they battle their own aging and suffer the losses of loved ones, their scientific journeys ultimately become personal.
Jane: An Abortion Service

1995

Jane: An Abortion Service

1995
1
This fascinating political look at a little-known chapter in women's history tells the story of "Jane", the Chicago-based women's health group who performed nearly 12,000 safe illegal abortions between 1969 and 1973 with no formal medical training. As Jane members describe finding feminism and clients describe finding Jane, archival footage and recreations mingle to depict how the repression of the early sixties and social movements of the late sixties influenced this unique group. Both vital knowledge and meditation on the process of empowerment, Jane: An Abortion Service showcases the importance of preserving women's knowledge in the face of revisionist history. JANE: AN ABORTION SERVICE was funded by the Independent Television Service (ITVS) with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.