Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 223

Kabelbel

2014

Kabelbel

2014
Kabelbel follows a group of villagers as they are taught the art of canoe making and seafaring by clan elders. Intergenerational differences and a sense of social change emerge along the way, along with a profound sense of cultural pride. Shot entirely on the remote island of Masahet in Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland Province, Kabelbel captures the daily rhythm of contemporary village life and reveals with great nuance the importance of custom and tradition in a changing world.
Ngaben: Emotion And Restraint In A Balinese Heart

2012

Ngaben: Emotion And Restraint In A Balinese Heart

2012
Ngaben: Emotion and Restraint in a Balinese Heart takes an impressionistic look at the ngaben from the perspective of a mourning son, Nyoman Asub, and reveals the intimacy, sadness, and tenderness at the core of this funerary ritual and the feeling and force that underlie an exquisite cultural tradition. Amidst ample cultural and interpretive understandings of the cremation ceremony, the film purposefully provides a personalistic, impressionistic, and poetic glimpse of the process and the complex emotions involved.
Ein Versprechen

2012

Ein Versprechen

2012
Triptych: 3 Women Making Art

2014

Triptych: 3 Women Making Art

2014
Women and art rarely get serious attention in our culture, and older women in art are virtually ignored. In TRIPTYCH: 3 Women Making Art, we see three artists who debunk the myth of the older woman as a used up and useless part of society. In fact, these women have remained vibrant and creative well into their sixties and seventies.
Embracing Dyslexia

2013

Embracing Dyslexia

2013
Embracing Dyslexia is a thought-provoking exploration of dyslexia from and insider's perspective, weaving together interviews with parent, adult dyslexics, and experts to provide an accurate portrayal of a learning difference that affects 15 to 20 percent of the population. Parents share emotional stories of their children's struggles with reading, writing, and spelling and the impact the word dyslexia had on their lives. Adult dyslexics speak candidly of the struggles and successes they had in school. And experts define what dyslexia is and illustrate how effective tutoring, classroom accommodations, and recognizing and fostering the natural strengths of a child with dyslexia can take them from feeling stupid and experiencing failure on a daily basis to believing in themselves and knowing that they can be successful.
Shepherds of Paradise

2011

Shepherds of Paradise

2011
Seventy five year old Gafoor comes from a long line of shepherds, known as Bakerwals in Kashmir. The nomadic lifestyle is all that he has ever known. His life is very challenging. He has to rebuild his house on the mountains in Kashmir every year because of the damage from hostile weather. Gafoor and his family has to travel from the plains of Jammu to the mountains of Kashmir in summer, covering a distance of almost 300 Kms on foot, and reverse the trip in winter, to graze the herd of 200 animals which include sheep, goats, a cow and a few ponies . He has the huge responsibility of taking the entire caravan safely to Kashmir and then back to Jammu. The journey as always is difficult because of the steep terrain and unpredictable weather. It will take them 27 days to reach Kashmir.
Bring the Sun Home

2013

Bring the Sun Home

2013
Women. Illiterate. Coming from villages with no light. They leave their villages in South America to go in India to become solar engeneers. They will bring solar light back home.
Panama Canal

2011

Panama Canal

2011
On August 15th, 1914, the Panama Canal opened, connecting the world's two largest oceans and signaling America's emergence as a global superpower.
Behind the Orange Curtain

2012

Behind the Orange Curtain

2012
Behind the Orange Curtain is a documentary that delves into the staggering problem of teenage drug abuse in one of the most affluent counties in the country. Young, privileged teenagers are dying of drug overdoses in record numbers in Orange County, California. This documentary film will set out to ask the question.....why?
Life and Death at Preah Vihear

2014

Life and Death at Preah Vihear

2014
Why are two modern Buddhist countries fighting over an ancient Hindu temple because of a bad French map from the early twentieth century? By documenting this modern conflict over an ancient temple this film addresses a critical question for our times: How does culture matter in matters of war?
Normal People Scare Me

2006

Normal People Scare Me

2006
A filmmaker with high-functioning autism documents others who have the disorder.
Memoirs of a Movie Palace: The Kings of Flatbush

1980

Memoirs of a Movie Palace: The Kings of Flatbush

1980
When Brooklyn's Kings Theater -- one of five "Wonder Theaters" in the New York area -- closed its doors in 1977, the neighborhood mourned. In a series of interviews, local aficionados of the palace as well as its projectionist, its organist, and former employees, reminisce about the Kings and its charmed days gone by.
Beyond Recognition

2014

Beyond Recognition

2014
After decades struggling to protect her ancestors' burial places, now engulfed by San Francisco's sprawl, a Native woman from a federally unrecognized tribe and her allies occupy a development site to prevent desecration of sacred ground. When this fails to stop the development, they vow to follow a new path: to establish the first women-led urban Indigenous land trust. BEYOND RECOGNITION tells the inspiring story of women creating opportunities to preserve Native culture and homeland in a society bent on erasing them. Through cinema verite, interviews, and stunning footage of the land, the film introduces Corrina Gould, Johnella LaRose, and Indian People Organizing for Change as they embark on an incredible journey to transform the way we see cities. The film invites viewers to examine their own relationship to place, revealing histories that have been buried by shifting landscapes.
Dolphins

2013

Dolphins

2013
Marine biologists and activists follow the fascinating social and intellectual lives of the ocean's most human-like creatures: dolphins.
Blueberry Soup

2013

Blueberry Soup

2013
Following a national crisis, the citizens of Iceland rallied together to collectively write the first ever crowdsourced constitution. A deeply touching account of an eclectic group of individuals reinventing democracy through the rewriting of the nation's constitution, proving that Iceland is not a broken country but instead an intricate web of concerns, ideas, and ultimately creative solutions.
Three Strings For Two Storytellers

2013

Three Strings For Two Storytellers

2013
The very ancient tradition of a storyteller going from one valley to the next spreading news from the outside world is in decline. A couple with great experience with this street art, Gai Ying Mu and her husband Gai Ming He, only perform upon request. Unfortunately, to make a living from this art has become more and more difficult. Now, ten years after first filming, the Director returns to the family when the couple is to give a performance in a neighboring valley. Even if the casting of the little orchestra is bigger - three young apprentices now accompany the duo - the few spectators are much less enthusiastic than before. However, the show goes on and our couple adapts the old stories to current realities. The tradition of ancient storytelling remains alive: ancestral China stands up against the assaults of modernity.
The Yangtze River's Green Sailors

2012

The Yangtze River's Green Sailors

2012
Descending from a long line of fishermen on the Yangtze River, Liu Gujun had to redefine his professional activity when the construction of the famous Three Gorges Dam began. His father, who has recently passed away, had to stop fishing the river due the growing pollution that the dam has created and asked his son to start cleaning the river. In the Chinese tradition of respect for the elder, Lui Gujon took the last wishes of his father very seriously. As such, he puts all his energy and invests every penny of his personal wealth into the ambitious project of cleaning up the river. For lack of sufficient grants from the government, Liu even contracts heavy loans to build a small flotilla of cleaning boats.
The New Shelter

2012

The New Shelter

2012
A terrible flood destroys the home of the AH family in a small village in China's Southern Guangdong province. Life was already a constant struggle for them, but this disaster turns their existence into a nightmare. Over a period of 12-months the filmmaker follows the family during the challenging period of building a new shelter. During this time they will have to confront many obstacles, material and emotional as well as those associated with local and regional governments, which in the end profoundly changes them forever.
The Last Village

2013

The Last Village

2013
In Gansu Province, the Minquin community struggles with the affects of desertification. Surrounded by the Tengri and Badanjilin deserts, the villages of the region are beginning to be engulfed underneath sand dunes. Many villagers decide to leave their homeland. However, several elders have chosen to stay. They prefer instead to remain close to their roots and try to fight against desertification by planting trees. Following the story of these peoples, we are immersed in one of the worldwide ecological battles of the 21st Century. Desertification is a problem that largely overwhelms the Chinese frontiers. But on a broader scale, many environmental specialists claim that one third of the earth's surfaces are threatened by this phenomenon. It is a story we should all heed.
The Graduates

2012

The Graduates

2012
This Song GAO directed documentary follows the stories of Feng Haitao, Li Yuchun, and Jin Lian after they graduate from the Sichuan Normal University. As they seek employment in one of China's largest cities, Chengdu, the program makes us question the validity of a college diploma and whether wealth is more important than education. Following each graduate from the moment they receive their diplomas, we track their highs and lows as the pressures of the modern world are thrust upon them. As we become more connected with their lives we start to wonder that even with China's growing influence in the world, are there still enough jobs for China's next generation of graduates?