Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 212

Nelson Algren: The End Is Nothing, the Road Is All...

2015

Nelson Algren: The End Is Nothing, the Road Is All...

2015
An in-depth feature length documentary of one of America's greatest and least understood authors, Nelson Algren. This never before told compelling life story reveals a unique literary voice through rare interviews, archival footage and the gritty noirish voice of Algren on Algren. Kurt Vonnegut and Studs Terkel, literary giants in their own right, sing songs of praise along with many of his old friends, which makes this film seem like a hymn from the grave. This stylishly produced film embeds us in the 1950's cold war world when Algren worked. Algren's touching love affair with Simone de Beauvoir weaves it's way through the film along with the damaging impact of FBI and CIA surveillance.
Sisters in Law

2005

Sisters in Law

2005
6.6
Set in Kumba in South West Cameroon Sisters in Law follows Adultery, Rape and Abuse cases led by a Female Judge.
El Facilitador

2024

El Facilitador

2024
This documentary addresses two political scandals that marked Luis Lacalle Pou's administration: Alejandro Astesiano and Sebastián Marset, two names that were previously unknown to most citizens.
Keith Haring: Street Art Boy

2020

Keith Haring: Street Art Boy

2020
7.5
In the 1980s Keith Haring blazed a trail through the galleries and nightclubs of downtown New York's art scene. Rebellious and ingenious, Haring chose to operate both inside and outside the art world. Inspired by the city's graffiti scene, he made New York's subways, tarpaulins and walls his canvas. This new feature documentary blends stunning archive and an edgy soundtrack, with tender and candid first-hand accounts of Haring. It tells the extraordinary story of an artist who lived and created with a boundless energy, throughout the social, cultural and political counter-revolution of the 1980s.
Losing Iraq

2014

Losing Iraq

2014
8
Examines the unfolding chaos in Iraq and how the U.S. is being pulled back into the conflict. Drawing on interviews with policymakers and military leaders, the film traces the U.S. role from the 2003 invasion to the current violence, showing how Iraq itself is coming undone, how we got here, what went wrong, and what happens next.
Deep in Vogue

2019

Deep in Vogue

2019
4.3
Explore the power of dance in an intoxicating portrait of a club scene in the heart of Manchester. (BFI Flare 2019)
On the Starting Line

2019

On the Starting Line

2019
5.2
A portrait about a Cuban family and Jenni, a professional 100 m sprinter…
American Street Kid

2018

American Street Kid

2018
Filmmaker, Michael Leoni heads to the streets of LA to shine a light on the epidemic of homeless youth in America. Once inside their world he realizes he can no longer be an observer; every day is a matter of life or death and he'll do anything to get them off the streets.
Kamp Katrina

2007

Kamp Katrina

2007
Kamp Katrina, a cinéma vérité documentary, follows the in-depth lives of a small group of people who have taken refuge in a garden transformed into a tent city by an extraordinary New Orleans couple, Ms. Pearl and her husband, David. Carnivalesque Films latest documentary uses tragedy as a tool to clarify and illuminate the chaos and madness of life. This film has no political targets; instead, it focuses on the struggle of these individuals to pick up their lives and face responsibilities in the face of loss, grief, and hope.
Best and Most Beautiful Things

2016

Best and Most Beautiful Things

2016
5.8
Off a dirt road in rural Maine, a precocious 20-year-old woman named Michelle Smith lives with her mother Julie. Michelle is quirky and charming, legally blind and diagnosed on the autism spectrum, with big dreams and varied passions. Searching for connection, Michelle explores love and empowerment outside the limits of “normal” through a provocative fringe community. Will she take the leap to experience the wide world for herself? Michelle’s joyful story of self-discovery celebrates outcasts everywhere.
Obama at War

2015

Obama at War

2015
Military and diplomatic leaders examine some of the choices President Barack Obama faces regarding the Islamic State and the civil war in Syria.
An Ecology of Mind

2010

An Ecology of Mind

2010
4.6
A portrait of Gregory Bateson, celebrated anthropologist, philosopher, author, naturalist, and systems theorist. His story is lovingly told by his youngest daughter, Nora, with footage from Gregory's own films shot in the 1930s with his wife Margaret Mead in Bali and New Guinea, along with photographs, filmed lectures, and interviews.
Midsummer in Newtown

2016

Midsummer in Newtown

2016
In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, a theater production comes to Newtown, Connecticut, seeking to cast local children in a rock-pop version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The project is aimed at healing the hearts and minds of a community devastated by the school shooting that occurred just over one year prior to production.
A Quiet Inquisition

2014

A Quiet Inquisition

2014
8
At a public hospital in Nicaragua, Ob/Gyn Dr. Carla Cerrato must choose between following a law that bans all abortions and endangers her patients or taking a risk and providing the care that she knows can save a woman's life. In 2007, Dr. Cerrato’s daily routine took a detour. The newly elected government of Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary who converted to Catholicism to win votes, overturned a 130-year-old law protecting therapeutic abortion. The new law entirely prohibits abortion, even in cases of rape, incest, or when a woman’s life is at stake. As Carla and her colleagues navigate this dangerous dilemma, the impact of this law emerges—illuminating the tangible reality of prohibition against the backdrop of a political, religious, and historically complex national identity. The emotional core of the story—the experiences and situations of the young women and girls who are seeking care—illustrate the ethical implications of one doctor's response.
The Curators of Dixon School

2012

The Curators of Dixon School

2012
Public schools don’t have to be a minefield of metal detectors, minimal expectations, and mind-numbing routine. An alternative exists right here in Chicago, at the Dixon Elementary Public School in the Chatham neighborhood, where former principal Joan Crisler and her successor Sharon Dale have implemented the idea that art should be an integral part of the learning environment, with museum-quality works openly adorning the halls. The results, in terms of student performance and morale, have been spectacular, but, as this inspiring but pragmatic documentary demonstrates, there are no miracle solutions: Crisler’s protégé Carol Briggs has an uphill battle applying the same approach at another school, and recent budget cuts have left even the most successful programs vulnerable to the axe.
Big Bucks Big Pharma - Marketing Disease and Pushing Drugs

2006

Big Bucks Big Pharma - Marketing Disease and Pushing Drugs

2006
5.2
Big Bucks, Big Pharma pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in some instances created, for capital gain. Focusing on the industry's marketing practices, media scholars and health professionals help viewers understand the ways in which direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising glamorizes and normalizes the use of prescription medication, and works in tandem with promotion to doctors. Combined, these industry practices shape how both patients and doctors understand and relate to disease and treatment. Ultimately, Big Bucks, Big Pharma challenges us to ask important questions about the consequences of relying on a for-profit industry for our health and well-being.
A Gesar Bard's Tale

2013

A Gesar Bard's Tale

2013
As a boy, Dawa was an illiterate Tibetan nomad whose life revolved around herding yaks. At 13, his life changed: through a series of visions, Dawa acquired the gift of telling the epic story of Tibet’s King Gesar. Now, at 35, Dawa receives a salary from the government as a guardian of national cultural heritage and is regarded as a holy man by his community. When an earthquake reduces his hometown to rubble, redevelopment of the region takes a giant leap forward. In the midst of such seismic shifts, Dawa seeks healing from King Gesar and other divine protectors of the land.
Francis Bacon and the Brutality of Fact

1984

Francis Bacon and the Brutality of Fact

1984
In his London studio, Francis Bacon discusses his work and approach with David Sylvester. His representations of the human figure in portraits and triptychs link him to the distorted realism of Van Gogh and Picasso, who also portrayed the intensity of life that Bacon calls “the brutality of fact.”
Kim Swims

2017

Kim Swims

2017
7.7
The inspiring true story of an accomplished open water swimmer's attempt to become the first woman to swim 30 miles through a stretch of cold, rough and shark-inhabited waters off of the San Francisco coast.
A Composer’s Notes: Philip Glass and the Making of an Opera

1986

A Composer’s Notes: Philip Glass and the Making of an Opera

1986
This documentary by Michael Blackwood looks at the development and production of Glass' opera Akhnaten. The film follows two productions by the Württemberg State Theater, Stuttgart, and the Houston Grand Opera.