Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 209

Mabo: Life of an Island Man

1997

Mabo: Life of an Island Man

1997
On June 3rd 1992, six months after Eddie "Koiki" Mabo's tragic death, the High Court upheld his claim that Murray Islanders held native title to land in the Torres Strait. The legal fiction that Australia was empty when first occupied by white people had been laid to rest. Mabo-Life of an Island Man tells the private and public stories of a man so passionate about family and home that he fought an entire nation and its legal system. Though his greatest victory was won only after his death, it has forever ensured his place - on Murray Island and in Australian history.
Savage Memory

2011

Savage Memory

2011
Founding father of Anthropology, Bronislaw Malinowski's work raises powerful and disturbing questions today. This is a look at his legacy and the imprints it has made on the generations that followed.
Sky Burial: A Tibetan Death Ritual

2005

Sky Burial: A Tibetan Death Ritual

2005
Sky Burial follows the ritual of "jha-tor", the giving of alms to birds in a northern Tibetan monastery - where the bodies of the dead are offered to the vultures as a final act of kindness to living beings. At the Drigung Monastery lamas chant to call the consciousness from the body. Juniper incense is burned to summon the vultures. Special body breakers, or "rogyapas", unwrap the bodies and cut away the flesh. The bones are crushed and mixed with tsampa, roasted barley flour. The entire body is consumed by the birds, assuring the ascent of the soul. The sky, or the universe, is where the sacred world lies. To merge with the sky after death is a holy event, one that replaces the sufferings of this world with peace.
Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip

2003

Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip

2003
7.4
In the spring of 1903, on a whim and a fifty-dollar bet, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car hoping to become the first person to cross the United States in the new-fangled "horseless carriage." Most people doubted that the automobile had much of a future. Jackson's trip would prove them wrong.
Firestorm '77 The True Story of the Honda Canyon Fire

2022

Firestorm '77 The True Story of the Honda Canyon Fire

2022
Military commanders, fearful of the Base’s cold war secrets being compromised, attempted to control the protocols and procedures of the civilian fire fighters called upon to battle the1977 Honda Canyon Fire on Vandenberg Air Force Base. They intead offered up their own untrained personnel to fight a conflagration that, for all intents and purposes, should have never been fought and couldn’t be beaten.
TRANS

2012

TRANS

2012
5
An up-close and very personal journey into the transgender world through the memorable stories and the unusual lives of a remarkable cast of characters.
Michael Kirby: Don't Forget the Justice Bit

2010

Michael Kirby: Don't Forget the Justice Bit

2010
Filmed during and after his time on the High Court of Australia, this documentary about Justice Michael Kirby explores the personal, moral and spiritual convictions of one of our most compassionate and incisive legal minds. Michael Kirby reveals himself in this film through a long-form interview in a way he has never done before. It was only at the age of 61 he publicly revealed for the first time that he had been in a homosexual relationship since 1969 with partner Johan van Vloten. This film represents the first time Johan has spoken publicly about their life together.
Nat Bates For Mayor

2017

Nat Bates For Mayor

2017
Nat Bates For Mayor tells the story of the outrageous 2014 mayor's race in Richmond, home to the second largest refinery in California. In a brazen move, Chevron spent more than $3 million to back 83-year-old African American stalwart Nat Bates. Bates makes a Faustian bargain with the city's corporate behemoth in a cagey attempt to preserve the long-standing but waning power of Richmond's African-American working class community, whose rich history dates back to the formation of the Kaiser shipyards during World War Two.
Curiosity, Adventure and Love

2016

Curiosity, Adventure and Love

2016
One woman’s journey through a century of love, war and discovery. Curiosity, Adventure & Love is a the story of a woman raised by fate to go boldly where few young women of her time and upbringing would go, into the arms of chance and life. A young American woman leaves her country and all security behind, to begin an adventure in the Philippines that would witness the birth of a nation, a cruel war and Occupation and reconstruction. Jessie is a striking personality, somewhere between Scarlett O’Hara and Amelia Earhart, who knew no boundaries and flew far ahead of her times, without regard to sex or society. Her story of a century well-lived is both rich and one that should restore our faith in our own humanity.
Best Boy

1979

Best Boy

1979
6.4
In this documentary, the director follows the day-to-day activities of his retarded, middle-aged cousin Philly, over a three-year period.
Once Upon a Time in Iraq: Fallujah

2020

Once Upon a Time in Iraq: Fallujah

2020
In this documentary from filmmaker James Bluemel (“Once Upon a Time in Iraq,” “Exodus”), U.S. Marines, journalists and ordinary Iraqis share their experiences of what would become the bloodiest battle of the Iraq War, and how its consequences have reverberated for two decades.
Cuba's Wild Revolution

2019

Cuba's Wild Revolution

2019
7.7
As the largest island in the Caribbean, Cuba is host to spectacular wildlife found nowhere else on the planet: from the jumping crocodiles of the Zapata swamp to the world's tiniest hummingbird, from thousands of migrating crabs to giant, bat-eating boas that lie in wait for easy prey. Decades of a socialist, conservation-minded government, American embargoes and minimal development have left the island virtually unchanged for 50 years. As international relations ease, what will become of this wildlife sanctuary?
The Sheik

2014

The Sheik

2014
7.4
When Khosrow Vaziri became the World Wrestling Federations Iron Sheik and camel-clutched his way to fame in the 1980s, he achieved the American Dream by personifying a foreign villain. Losing his world championship belt to Hulk Hogan became a defining moment in professional wrestling. These days, the Sheiks smackdowns are on Twitter, where hes gained a new following. Once an Olympic hopeful, bodyguard to Irans Shah and pop culture icon, we witness Vaziri struggling with addiction and despair as a family man. But with the help of Torontos Magen brothers, the Sheik begins a road to redemption and renewed status as a public figure. Showcasing his powerful past and at times painful present, this is an insightful look at one of wrestlings biggest stars, but also a powerful story of personal sacrifice that, in the Sheiks own words, will make you humble.
Searching for Mr. Rugoff

2019

Searching for Mr. Rugoff

2019
7
The feature documentary Searching for Mr. Rugoff is the story of Donald Rugoff, who was the crazy genius behind Cinema 5, the mid-century theater chain and film distribution company. Rugoff was a difficult (some would say impossible) person but was also the man who kicked art films into the mainstream with outrageous marketing schemes and pure bluster. Rugoff's impact on cinema culture in the United States is inestimable, and his influence on the art film business-from the studio classics divisions to the independent film movement to the rise of the Weinsteins-is undeniable. Yet, mysteriously, Rugoff has become a virtually forgotten figure. The story is told through the eyes of former employee Ira Deutchman, who sets out to find the truth about the man who had such a major impact on his life, and to understand how such an important figure could have disappeared so completely.
Far from the Tree

2019

Far from the Tree

2019
6.8
Parents of children who have Down syndrome, dwarfism or autism share intimate stories of the challenges they face. Tracing their joys, challenges, tragedies, and triumphs.
The Price of Sex

2011

The Price of Sex

2011
6.6
The Price of Sex is a documentary about young Eastern European women who’ve been drawn into a netherworld of sex trafficking and abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear and violence. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal investigative journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.
Danny Says

2015

Danny Says

2015
6.9
DANNY SAYS is a documentary unveiling the amazing journey of Danny Fields. Fields has played a pivotal role in music and culture with seminal acts including: the Doors, the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, MC5, Nico, the Ramones and beyond.
Time Indefinite

1993

Time Indefinite

1993
6.9
After documentarian Ross McElwee gets married, a series of misfortunes follow: his grandmother dies, his wife miscarries, and then his father dies less than a week later. Shaken by the sudden string of deaths, McElwee becomes depressed. After spending time with his friend and former high school poetry teacher, Charlene, he goes to meet his brother, a doctor. In a series of interviews, McElwee contemplates his morbid preoccupation with death and tries to figure out how to shake it off.
Eye on the Guy: Alan B. Stone & the Age of Beefcake

2006

Eye on the Guy: Alan B. Stone & the Age of Beefcake

2006
3.7
Alan B. Stone: astute businessman, quiet suburbanite - and master of the homoerotic pin-up. Eye on the Guy: Alan B. Stone & the Age of Beefcake explores the little-known world of Montreal's physique photography scene - a distinct gay subculture that emerged in the '50s and '60s - through the life and work of one of its most creative figures. Before the first wave of gay liberation, and long before Calvin Klein's poster boys marched into public view, Stone was taking hundreds of erotic photos of men and running an international mail-order business from his Montreal basement.
Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting

2021

Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting

2021
8
Examining the movement that is ending the use of Native American names, logos, and mascots in the world of sports and beyond.