Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 231

Dreams and Nightmares

1974

Dreams and Nightmares

1974
A study of Spain during the years 1936-1973, focusing on the involvement of the United States in the affairs of that country.
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.
Discovering Buñuel

2012

Discovering Buñuel

2012
Luis Bunuel, the father of cinematic Surrealism, made his film debut with 'Un Chien Andalou' in 1929 working closely with Salvador Dali. Considered one of the finest and controversial filmmakers with, 'L’Age d’Or' (1930), attacking the church and the middle classes. He won many awards including Best Director at Cannes for 'Los Olvidados' (1950), and the coveted Palme d’Or for 'Viridiana' (1961), which had been banned in his native Spain. His career moved to France with 'The Diary of a Chambermaid' with major stars such as Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve.
Smokin' Fish

2011

Smokin' Fish

2011
Cory Mann is a quirky Tlingit businessman hustling to earn a living in Juneau, Alaska. He gets hungry for smoked salmon, nostalgic for his childhood and decides to spend a summer smoking fish at his family's traditional fish camp. The unusual story of his life and the untold history of his people interweave with the process of preparing traditional food as he struggles to pay his bills, keep the IRS off his back, and keep his business afloat. By turns tragic, bizarre, or just plain ridiculous, Smokin' Fish tells the story of one man's attempt to navigate the messy zone of collision between the modern world and an ancient culture.
Namatjira the Painter

1974

Namatjira the Painter

1974
Traces the life and artistic development of the Aboriginal painter, the late Albert Namatjira. His environment, his introduction to painting, his subsequent success with beautifully original landscapes and his influence on fellow Aborigines are recorded.
Steve Jobs: Consciously Genius

2012

Steve Jobs: Consciously Genius

2012
This unauthorized documentary examines the influential life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, the visionary CEO who forever altered how Americans used computers and digested music.
Mon père, la révolution et moi

2013

Mon père, la révolution et moi

2013
8
A documentary tragicomedy of a father-daughter relationship, told by the subjective perspective of the young director. She tries to understand how a revolutionary could have become a criminal and an alcoholic, and why he abandoned his family. Freely juggling between documentary, fiction and animation, the director takes us on a journey around the world. The daughter of a former communists visits the ports of the revolt, where communities are trying to realize the concrete utopia.
Waiting for John

2014

Waiting for John

2014
If you had never heard of an airplane, would you think it was a miracle when one arrived? Waiting for John tells the story of America's incredible impact on a remote island in the South Pacific and the birth of an extraordinary religion, the John Frum Movement, considered the last surviving cargo cult. We follow the John Frum believers today as they struggle to preserve a culture in danger of being lost to the modern world.
Family Business

1982

Family Business

1982
Howie Snyder is an archetype: a retired Marine colonel in his mid-40s, a prototypical American entrepreneur struggling to make his business go. Howie's Shakey's Pizza franchise in Muncie, Indiana employs his whole family: wife, nine children and Howie himself. He is the representative of the American Dream: the chance to invest long hours and hard work in exchange for financial security for oneself and family.
The Motherhood Archives

2013

The Motherhood Archives

2013
Archival montage, science fiction, and an homage to '70s feminist filmmaking are woven together to form The Motherhood Archives, a lyrical essay film excavating hidden histories of childbirth in the twentieth century.
Night Labor

2013

Night Labor

2013
Night Labor follows Sherman Frank Merchant, a forty-six year old 6'6" Downeaster during his transition from an independent and rugged clam digger by day to manning a factory at night. With his white smock, arsenal of knives, and signature black beret, Sherman performs the tasks of preparing and arranging tools for the day laborers who arrive to their 6am shift.
Haiti Untold

2012

Haiti Untold

2012
Documentary from Isabelle DePelteau and Dan Shannon
Never A Neverland

2014

Never A Neverland

2014
Imagine a kingdom where an entire populace is being devastated by an invisible plague, leaving only children to reign. Here, hundreds of thousands of children are raising children and are left to fend for themselves in a cruel and frightening world. This is not a fairy tale. This kingdom is Swaziland, Africa's last remaining absolute monarchy. It has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, leaving 1/3 of its population orphaned or vulnerable. Without radical intervention to this preventable disease, there will be NO ADULTS in Swaziland by the year 2030. NEVER A NEVERLAND documents the reality of a kingdom moving towards extinction and the hope of a people working to ensure that Swaziland never becomes a 'Neverland'.
The Hungry Tide

2012

The Hungry Tide

2012
Only metres above sea level, the nation of Kiribati is on the front line of climate change. Maria Tiimon, a Kiribati woman living in Sydney, is passionate about her homeland and, despite her shyness, is determined to raise the world's awareness of its predicament.
Big Dream

2014

Big Dream

2014
Big Dream follows the intimate stories of seven young women who are breaking barriers and overcoming personal challenges to follow their passion in science, math, computing & engineering.
Cerro rico, tierra rica

2012

Cerro rico, tierra rica

2012
Towering above the city of Potosí, Cerro Rico is an enormous conical mountain and the richest silver field in mining history. It provided the Spanish Empire half of the world's silver during colonial times. Bolivia has recently discovered it also contains half of the world's lithium reserves in the Salar de Uyuni, located also in the Potosí region. The parallel stories of these two unique sites help create a compelling observational mosaic of mining life in Latin America: an elegy to the high plateaus of the Andes mountains and a stunning record of manual labor in southwestern Bolivia.
Stages

2009

Stages

2009
The film follows the Danish band Duné for two years, chronicling their rise from average high school students to stars on stages in Germany, Russia and Japan.
Raising Shrimp

2013

Raising Shrimp

2013
Documentary - America's most popular and iconic seafood is really a cheap foreign import. Raising Shrimp paints the economic and medical perils of an outsourced food supply,and follows Ted, an engineer, and Andy, an ecologist, on a quest for a better shrimp. In Texas, they find fishermen pushed from riches to rags by imports. In Belize, they find shrimp farmers striving for a natural balance with jungles and lagoons, but again globalization takes its toll, and the best farm collapses. Back home in the U.S. pioneering farmers harness the power of bacteria to grow shrimp inside a darkened warehouse without any waste. Encouraged, Andy and Ted see that raising shrimp this way offers hope for all. - Andy Danylchuk, Ted Caplow
Daughters of Dolma

2013

Daughters of Dolma

2013
Dolma is the Tibetan name of Tara, a Buddhist female deity, and means 'she who saves'. Dolma is regarded as a Bodhisattva of compassion and action. She is known as the mother of all buddhas. Our team felt that Dolma relates to the message we would like to convey via our movie and used her name in the documentary title. One of the main legends about her origin as a bodhisattva tells a story of a young princess who lived in a different world millions of years ago. Her name is Jnanachandra.
The Paper Mirror

2012

The Paper Mirror

2012
Charissa King O'Brien's intimate short documentary captures this pivotal collaboration between two influential artists, as world-renowned painter Riva Lehrer completes a compelling portrait of Alison Bechdel ("Dykes to Watch Out For," "Are You My Mother," "Fun Home") over the course of two years, yielding a highly satisfying work of psychological insight