Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 240

Chronique paysanne en Gruyère

1990

Chronique paysanne en Gruyère

1990
The shooting of this peasant chronicle in the Gruyère region of Switzerland lasted a whole year, from July 1989 to July 1990.
Jamesie, King of Scratch

2007

Jamesie, King of Scratch

2007
An engaging and spirited musical journey to the Caribbean, this documentary focuses on Scratch band music, an indigenous, grass-roots form of folk music from the Virgin Islands. 79-year old James Brewster was an uncompromising, humorous, and provocative musician known for his playful compositions and lively performances and is the legendary 'King of Scratch'.
Ellsworth Kelly: Fragments

2007

Ellsworth Kelly: Fragments

2007
Cameras record artist Ellsworth Kelly as he creates sculptures for the US Embassy in Beijing. With all his equipment around him, Ellsworth undertakes a big task as his creates he next masterpieces.
Prisoners in Freedom City

2007

Prisoners in Freedom City

2007
Civil rights activist Hu Jia was held under house arrest from 2004 to 2008 in the upscale eastern suburbs of Beijing. One day Hu picked up a video camera and began to document things outside the window: his watchers, shepherds tending their flocks, spiders in the rain, and his fellow activist and wife, Zeng Jinyan, going to and from work under the unnervingly close watch of plainclothes police.
The Poetry of Exactitude

2009

The Poetry of Exactitude

2009
Since 1946, Lucien Mouchet has been making small-scale reproductions of carousels and fairground scenes that existed in the past or are still in operation today. A machinist by trade, Mouchet retired nearly two decades ago, but his obsession with precision and detail has continued. To date, he has created 48 carousels; each is a functioning masterpiece that is constructed to be exactly 1/20 scale of the original. Mouchet works from photographs and measurements he has taken over the years of carousels that have toured France and across Europe. Mouchet tediously prepares shop drawings and hand-tooled parts, analyzing the different modes of assembly and the varying principles of movement. He combines an expertise in engineering with whimsical recreations of the carnival atmosphere, replete with electrical motors, lights, signage, transport trucks and miniature people, made by him and hand-painted by his wife, Georgette.
First Leipzig Autumn Salon

2008

First Leipzig Autumn Salon

2008
In 1984, the “First Leipzig Autumn Salon” took place – a risk and a caesura for Dammbeck. Bypassing every state institution, six painters, sculptors and filmmakers organised an art exhibition. It was the first and last of its kind. This recapture of public space through art challenged the government’s monopoly on power and triggered similar activities by other artists in the art centres of the GDR. A brave signal to the SED who saw this exhibition as a “counter-revolutionary development”. After that, there were only two options: regress or leave.
Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story

2007

Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story

2007
Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story follows three families during one city's battle for equal housing opportunity and civil rights enforcement.
Treasure of the Lisu

2010

Treasure of the Lisu

2010
In a mountain village in southwestern China, just south of Tibet, one of the last remaining traditional bearers of the Lisu ethnic group is amid the mountains of new changes seeping into every crevice of their lives. Will their tradition survive?
Jeff Wall: Retrospective

2007

Jeff Wall: Retrospective

2007
Jeff Wall is one of the most important and influential photographers working today. His work played a key role in establishing photography as a contemporary art form.
Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos

2008

Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos

2008
A wonderfully moving introduction to the plight of the Palestinians, in simple, everyday terms, with a captivating narration by eyewitness Anna Baltzer. Baltzer, a Jewish-American Columbia graduate and Fulbright scholar, presents her discoveries as a volunteer with the International Women's Peace Service in the West Bank, documenting human rights abuses and supporting Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation. Baltzer's presentation provides those interested in the issue with critical information and documentation that can be difficult to obtain through mainstream media sources, and to encourage informed action. Topics include checkpoints, settlements, Israeli activism, Zionism, 1948 War & refugees, censorship, the Wall, and environmental devastation. The granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, Baltzer works to address the injustices of today in light of those of the past. She is author of the book Witness in Palestine.
My Nose

2007

My Nose

2007
This personal documentary reveals the complexities of a single woman living in a beauty-obsessed world with her original yet imperfect nose. It's a tale that anyone who has ever obsessed over their own "imperfection" will easily relate to MY NOSE explores filmmaker Gayle Kirschenbaum's mother's preoccupation with her nose, the intricacies of the mother/daughter relationship, and asks what drives people into the plastic surgeon's office. Will she live happily ever after with the nose I was born with? Will she end up having a nose job? And how will her decision affect their relationship? Official Selection at dozens of festivals including the Miami Jewish Film Festival and the UK Jewish Film Festival.
Who Owns the Past?

2000

Who Owns the Past?

2000
This documentary, narrated by Academy Award winner Linda Hunt and directed by Jed Riffe, tells the story of how the discovery of a 9,000-year-old skeleton on the banks of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, reignited the conflict between anthropologists and Native peoples over the control of human remains found on ancestral Indigenous lands.
St. Paul's Cathedral

1943

St. Paul's Cathedral

1943
A stately film about the history of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, with a focus on the architecture and individuals buried there, and the impact of the Blitz.
Arrows of Fire

2010

Arrows of Fire

2010
A father, his adult son, and two mates head off on a journey to discover the grittiest, most beautiful bush the country has to offer. Yet what they find is something they were not prepared for, confronting their own mortality. Arrows of Fire is more than just a chronicle of a picturesque ride in the Australian Outback. It takes four men on a journey into their physical and mental limits on their quest for life through adventure.
Storm Under the Sun

2007

Storm Under the Sun

2007
Storm Under the Sun is a documentary about one of the "political storms" by Mao Zedong that fell upon the intellectuals of China in the 50's. Centered around the Hu Feng Case, the documentary traces the synergy that generated such an event, Mao's personal involvement in every step, and various victims' reaction to and realizations following the humiliation and accusations.
Welcome to Shelbyville

2011

Welcome to Shelbyville

2011
Set in America's rural south, on the eve of the recent election a town deals with issues of immigrant integration and reckons with its segregated past.
Killer Volcanoes

1997

Killer Volcanoes

1997
Documentaries by Katia and Maurice Krafft feature some of the amazing footage shot by the renowned volcanologists, who perished in 1991 while filming a volcano in Japan. The duo documented more active and erupting volcanos than any other scientists in the world, and their dedication shows in Deadly Peaks and Killer Volcanos, two educational films that capture the scientists on the edge of a hot ash blast and floating on a lake of sulfuric acid. The films visit Mount Kilimanjaro and examine some of the less-known dangers such as carbon monoxide gas that builds under crater-formed lakes. They also take an in-depth look at the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the lengths to which people will go to save their communities. Venturing to places where most people would never dare, the Kraffts gave their lives to promote the study of volcanos and left behind a legacy of courage in the name of science. --Shannon Gee
Autumn Gem

2009

Autumn Gem

2009
Meet the "Chinese Joan of Arc," Qiu Jin (Qiu Jin ) (1875-1907), a radical women's rights activist who defied tradition to become the leader of a revolutionary army. Qiu Jin boldly challenged traditional gender roles and demanded equal rights and opportunities for women. She was the first woman to lead an armed uprising against the corrupt Qing Dynasty, for which she was arrested and executed. She became the first female martyr for China's 1911 Revolution and is celebrated as a national heroine today. While Qiu Jin is a familiar figure in China, she is largely unknown outside of the country. AUTUMN GEM is the first documentary feature on Qiu Jin in the U.S. Using scholar interviews, archival materials, and dramatic recreation scenes based on her original writings, AUTUMN GEM brings the story of Qiu Jin to life.
Tales of the Waria

2011

Tales of the Waria

2011
While many in the Western world view Islam as socially repressive, in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, exists a community of biological men who live openly as women-- the warias. As four warias strive to find romance, intimacy, and acceptance, they encounter unique obstacles that force them to make extraordinary sacrifices to keep the ones they love.
A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden

1987

A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden

1987
A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden was the first film to document the klezmer revival, tracing the efforts of two founding groups, Kapelye and Boston's Klezmer Conservatory Band, to recover the lost history of klezmer music. For nearly a millennium, this vigorous and soulful music was part of the celebration of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. In the early decades of this century, the music took root in America. Klezmer musicians learned hundreds of tunes by ear and their ears were open to Gypsy, Ukrainian and Greek melodies of the old world, as well as to the new sounds of American jazz. Music born in Eastern Europe lived on in the imaginations of composers for New York's Yiddish theater, men whose tunes entered the mainstream through such unlikely adapters as the Andrew Sisters. Eventually Klezmer went underground as its audience assimilated into mainstream American culture.