Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 235

Becoming 13

2006

Becoming 13

2006
Explores the intimidating terrain of girlhood by following three 12-year-olds over the period of one year. As these girls move from childhood to maturity, it's clear that peer pressure is an important influence, but as the films shows, the greatest influence in a young girl's life is family.
Waking the Green Tiger

2011

Waking the Green Tiger

2011
Seen through the eyes of activist, farmers and journalists, Waking the Green Tiger follows an extraordinary campaign to stop a huge dam project on the Upper Yangtze river in southwestern China. Featuring astonishing archival footage never seen outside China, and interviews with a government insider and witnesses, the documentary also tell the history of Chairman Mao's campaigns to conquer nature in the name of progress. An environmental movement takes root when a new environmental law is passed, and for the first time in China's history, ordinary citizens have the democratic right to speak out and take part in government decisions. Activist test this new freedom and save a river. The movement they trigger has the potential to transform China.
Right Out of History: The Making of Judy Chicago's Dinner Party

1980

Right Out of History: The Making of Judy Chicago's Dinner Party

1980
For five years, feminist artist Judy Chicago worked with a community of four hundred other artists, craftspeople and researchers to create The Dinner Party, a monumental tribute to women of spirit and accomplishment throughout the ages -- women whose names have been banished "right out of history". For over four of those five years, filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas followed the progress of The Dinner Party, recording for posterity the alternately painstaking and exhilarating process of creating this work of unprecedented scale and beauty.
Takeover

1980

Takeover

1980
About Aborigines and Australian politics. On 13 March 1978 the Queensland Government announced its intention to take over management of the Aurukun Aboriginal Reserve from the Uniting Church. The people of Aurukun complained bitterly, believing that the Church was more sympathetic to their aims and fearing that the State was merely seeking easier access to the rich bauxite deposits on their Reserve. When the Federal Government took the side of the Aborigines the stage was set for national confrontation. Shows the situation at Aurukun during those crucial three weeks.
Sip'ohi, el lugar del manduré

2011

Sip'ohi, el lugar del manduré

2011
Gustavo Salvatierra returns to his hometown, Sipo’hi, in the Chaqueño (the impenetrable forest in the north of Argentina), with the aim of listening and collecting stories of Wichí culture, transmitted orally from generation to generation.
Children of Labor: A Finnish-American History

1977

Children of Labor: A Finnish-American History

1977
How Finnish immigrants came into contact — and conflict — with industrial America. Three generations of Finnish-Americans recount how they coped with harsh realities by creating their own institutions: churches, temperance halls, socialist halls, and cooperatives.
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.
Julia Robinson and Hilbert's Tenth Problem

2008

Julia Robinson and Hilbert's Tenth Problem

2008
Julia Robinson and Hilbert's Tenth Problem features a heroine driven by the quest to solve one of the central problems of modern mathematics. She rises above formidable obstacles to assume a leading role in her field. Julia Robinson was the first woman elected to the mathematical section of the National Academy of Sciences, and the first woman to become president of the American Mathematical Society. While tracing Robinson's contribution to the solution of Hilbert's tenth problem, the film illuminates how her work led to an unusual friendship between Russian and American colleagues at the height of the Cold War.
After the Rape: The Mukhtar Mai Story

2008

After the Rape: The Mukhtar Mai Story

2008
In 2002, a woman from the Pakistani countryside named Mukhtar Mai made world headlines. After the rumour that her 12-year-old brother was having a relationship with a woman from another clan, Mukhtar was gang-raped by order of the village council. Instead of committing suicide, she spoke out and the six men were sentenced to death, although five of them were eventually acquitted. Against all the codes of her society, Mukhtar took her case to the Supreme Court. After the Rape doesn't comment on the outcome of her case. What the film does show is the environment that the assertive Muhktar managed to create in the wake of the incident.
One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das

2013

One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das

2013
7.5
Krishna Das is on a journey to India to discover legendary spiritual teacher Neem Karoli Baba, through drug addiction and depression, to his eventual emergence as a world-famous Kirtan singer.
The Rise of DIY Art, Craft, & Design

2009

The Rise of DIY Art, Craft, & Design

2009
Handmade Nation documents the new wave of art, craft and design that is capturing the attention of the nation. It is the feature film debut of director, author, artist & curator Faythe Levine. Levine traveled to 15 cities and covered more than 19,000 miles to interview artists, crafters, makers, curators and community members.
Hasten Slowly: The Journey of Sir Laurens van der Post

1997

Hasten Slowly: The Journey of Sir Laurens van der Post

1997
An hour-long documentary about author Laurens van der Post, whose autobiographical novel was the basis for the film "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" directed by Nagisa Oshima.
Calling the Ghosts

1996

Calling the Ghosts

1996
Movie about tortured and humiliated women in concentration camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the Garden of Sounds

2010

In the Garden of Sounds

2010
«Nel giardino dei suoni» («In The Garden of Sounds») is a touching, poetic exploration of the relationship between mind, body and sound, and a cinematic journey to the borders of communication. Nicola Bellucci tells the extraordinary story of Wolfgang Fasser, a blind musician and soundscape artist who works with severely handicapped children, helping them to find their place in a world not made for them. On his own way into the darkness, Fasser discovered the world of sounds, a parallel universe to our visual world. His far-reaching explorations of sound’s effect on mind and body led him to the field of music therapy.
Omar & Pete

2005

Omar & Pete

2005
Omar and Pete are determined to change their lives. Both have been in and out of prison for more than 30 years — never out longer than six months. This intimate and penetrating film follows these two longtime African-American friends after what they hope will be their final release. Their lives take divergent paths in their native Baltimore as one wrestles with addiction and fear while the other finds success and freedom through helping others. With extraordinary cooperation from Maryland's innovative reentry programs — many run by former drug addicts and convicts themselves — Omar & Pete also provides a rare glimpse into an intense and very personal web of support.
Becoming Barack

2009

Becoming Barack

2009
A revealing portrait of Barack Obama's formative years in Chicago, featuring the oldest videotape interview Obama, from 1993.
Hadrian

2008

Hadrian

2008
Documentary film, made for TV, about the Roman emperor Hadrian.
Beyond Belief

2007

Beyond Belief

2007
4
When terrorists shattered their lives, two women set off on an extraordinary journey to rebuild themselves and the lives of women half a world away.
The Atlanta Child Murders

2010

The Atlanta Child Murders

2010
A look back on the string of shocking murders of preteen, teenage, and young adult African-Americans in the city of Atlanta from 1979 to 1981.
Never Enough

2010

Never Enough

2010
Michele Gitlin has 700 sweaters. In touch with the pain as well as the pleasure of over-collecting, she calls Ron “Disaster Master” Alford for help. Ron, a de-cluttering expert who believes that “clutter begins in the head, and ends up on the floor,” determines that Michele is a hoarder with a rating of 8 (out of ten) on his “clutter index.” Ron also visits a retired Marine with 7,800 Beanie Babies and a home shopping addict whose purchases are literally burying him. Never Enough is a meditation on materialism, consumerism, mental illness and the social fabric of our lives.