Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 237

Curious Worlds: The Art & Imagination of David Beck

2015

Curious Worlds: The Art & Imagination of David Beck

2015
2
David Becks highly original, intricate and kinetic artwork combines sculpture, painting, textiles, and mechanics on a scale that creates a genre all its own. Curious Worlds takes us into David Becks magical universe, to watch as he creates minutely detailed and often humorous animals, people and entire scenes that inspire profound wonder, delight and awe. A skilled woodworker, sculptor, painter and craftsman, Beck is recognized as a genuine American original. He is the only living artist to have three solo exhibits at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and his work is sought after by private art collectors across the country.
The Sweetest Sound

2001

The Sweetest Sound

2001
7
Alan Berliner uses the internet to track down 12 men who share his surname, and invites them over for dinner in New York.
Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press

1996

Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press

1996
7.7
This documentary examines the 80 year career of journalist George Seldes, his encounters with Lenin and J. Edgar Hoover, his long battle against press censorship, the tobacco lobby, and his eventual blacklisting.With Ben Bagdikian, Jeff Cohen, Daliel Ellsberg, Ralph Nader, and Marian Seldes
Inside Belarus: Putin's Puppet Regime

2022

Inside Belarus: Putin's Puppet Regime

2022
5.1
They share a common ideology and vision of totalitarian power yet reportedly, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko hate each other. As popular opposition in Belarus and the war in Ukraine force them closer and closer together, we examine the relationship between these two men. We also look back at Lukashenko’s rise to power and hear from some of the protestors brave enough to oppose him. Filmed undercover in Belarus in the weeks up to and just after the invasion of Ukraine.
My Year with Helen

2017

My Year with Helen

2017
4.8
With unique access to high-ranking candidate Helen Clark, filmmaker Gaylene Preston casts a wry eye on proceedings as the United Nations chooses a new Secretary General.
The Professor: Tai Chi's Journey West

2016

The Professor: Tai Chi's Journey West

2016
The Professor: Tai Chi's Journey West is the first major feature documentary about Tai Chi and one of its greatest masters, Cheng Man-Ching, a man who brought Tai Chi and Chinese culture to the West during the swinging, turbulent 60’s. Though Cheng is an important transformational figure, his teachings have been overlooked. This documentary film tells the story of his remarkable life and features Tai Chi as a martial art and a spiritual practice. Over the past decade, we have shot approximately fifty hours of footage in New York, North Carolina, and California.
A Hole in a Fence

2008

A Hole in a Fence

2008
The changing face of Red Hook -- a one-of-a-kind neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. -- is the subject of this rich examination of city living by filmmaker D.W. Young. The documentary peeks in on an urban farm run by local kids; an uphill struggle to save a portion of the waterfront; the infamous arrival of an IKEA store; and more. The film was an official selection at the 2008 San Francisco International Documentary Film Festival.
ruth weiss, the beat goddess

2019

ruth weiss, the beat goddess

2019
In a life that has spanned 92 creative years, ruth weiss is one of the most influential writers of the Beat Generation. Born to a Jewish family during the rise of Nazism, as a 10-year-old refugee, she escaped to the United States. ruth became a Jazz troubadour exemplifying the zeitgeist of Chicago, New Orleans, and San Francisco. The film further highlights ruth weiss' electrifying and intimate poetry with breathtaking images of exquisite modern dance, art, animation, and music to embody her oeuvre. This film documents not only weiss' gift to humanity but archives significant historical moments in our world's social and literary movements. As a contemporary of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Jack Kerouac, she innovated poetry to jazz.
Love Hate Love

2011

Love Hate Love

2011
It's been nine years since Liz Alderman's son Peter was murdered by terrorists. Every day since then she's faced the same two options; succumbing to the depths of despair or finding a way to survive. Esther Hyman knows about this choice. Her sister was killed when her bus was blown up, she too has had to continuously keep from being immobilized by sadness. And Ben Tullipan now lives minus two legs because of his encounter with a car bomb. Their lives, shattered by terrorists, are now on a new path and they're taking thousands of people along for the ride. 'Love Hate Love' follows these survivors as they search for honor, meaning and a new life's path.
Black and Cuba

2015

Black and Cuba

2015
7.3
'Black and Cuba' follows street-smart students, who are outcasts at an elite Ivy League university, as they band together and adventure to Cuba to see if revolution is truly possible. While filming their poignant encounters with AfroCuban youth, breathtaking sites and moving hip-hop performances, the travelers confront realities behind myths of color-blindness and social mobility. This edgy and artful documentary of their journey uncovers renewed hope for equality and human rights. 'Black and Cuba' is the feature film directorial debut of international human rights advocate and scholar Robin J. Hayes, PhD.
Živeli! Medicine for the Heart

1987

Živeli! Medicine for the Heart

1987
This little-known Blank gem is a portrait of the Serbian-American communities of Chicago and California, highlighting their history in this country, their music, dancing, and religion.
Part Three: Born Under the Red Flag 1976–1997

1997

Part Three: Born Under the Red Flag 1976–1997

1997
6
What happened next could never have been anticipated and forms the story line for the final film of the trilogy; Born Under The Red Flag examines China’s remarkable transformation after Mao’s death. In just 15 years, under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, China raced forward at an astonishing pace to become a never-before-seen hybrid of communism and capitalism. The world’s most populous nation has reinvented itself, changing from a relatively undeveloped and isolated nation into an economic giant and a major international power. For many Chinese, this transformation has brought unprecedented prosperity, but it has also raised troubling questions of national identity and social inequality.
Breaking Trail

2021

Breaking Trail

2021
Emily Ford, 28, Black, LGBTQ, sets out with Diggins a borrowed female Alaskan Husky sled dog to become the first woman and person of color to thru-hike the 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail in winter. As the 69-day journey through subzero temperatures tests her physical and mental endurance, Emily and her canine protector develop an unbreakable bond as they embrace the unexpected kindness of strangers and discover they've become figureheads in the movement to make the outdoors more accessible for everyone. What begins as an extraordinary physical journey also becomes a spiritual adventure.
Mimi and Dona

2014

Mimi and Dona

2014
6.5
What happens when love runs out of time? For a 92-year-old mother, Mimi, who has cared 64 years for her daughter, Dona, who has an intellectual disability, it means facing the inevitable -- she will not outlive her daughter -- and finding her daughter a home. This poignant, heartbreaking and, at times, humorous documentary traces this process through the story of a wonderfully quirky and deeply connected mother-daughter duo. The film spotlights the challenges of aging caregivers of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities -- some 4.6 million Americans, 75 percent of whom live at home with family -- and details the ripple effects of Dona's disability on three generations of a Texas family.
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet

2002

Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet

2002
6.2
Tells the story of the seventh century prophet who changed world history in 23 years, and continues to shapes the lives of more than 1.2 billion people. The film takes viewers not only to ancient Middle Eastern sites where Muhammad's story unfolds, but into the homes, mosques and workplaces of some of America's estimated seven million Muslim to discover the many ways in which they follow Muhammad's example.
Poetry Is an Island, Derek Walcott

2014

Poetry Is an Island, Derek Walcott

2014
Intimate portrait of poet, playwright, painter and filmmaker Derek Walcott, set in his beloved native island, St Lucia.
Somewhere With No Bridges

2022

Somewhere With No Bridges

2022
Twenty years after a beloved local fisherman, Richie Madeiras, goes missing off the shores of Martha's Vineyard, a distant cousin locates Richie's kind, indelible spirit in the stories of family, friends, and the sweeping sea which has defined their lives. A stirring, lyrical journey beneath the brusque, reticent surface of a New England fishing community.
Effacement

1980

Effacement

1980
Explores the tension between a Japanese theatrical mask-maker and the mask itself.
It Happens to Us

1972

It Happens to Us

1972
7
Released a year before Roe v. Wade, this short film by Amalie Rothschild lays out the dire realities of illegal abortion, interviewing women from a variety of backgrounds who made the choice to terminate a pregnancy.
The Coolbaroo Club

1996

The Coolbaroo Club

1996
Documentary about "The Coolbaroo Club", which was the only Aboriginal-run dance club in a city which practiced unofficial apartheid. During its lifetime, the Club attracted Black musicians and celebrities from all over Australia and occasionally from overseas. Although best-remembered for the hugely popular Coolbaroo dances attended by hundreds of Aborigines and their white supporters, the "Coolbaroo League", founded by Club members, ran a newspaper and became an effective political organization, speaking out on issues of the day affecting Aboriginal people.