Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 256

Christo: Works in Progress

1974

Christo: Works in Progress

1974
“Christo: Works in Progress” takes us around the world on a showcase of the artist’s grand environmental installations. With both critique and praise from members of the communities that have hosted Christo and his works, the film takes a deep look into the process and outcome of pieces such as Wrapped Coast, Running Fence, and Wrapped Walkways. While discussing his inspirations and motives, Christo states, “The work of art is not the fabric, steel poles and cable, the work of art is the hills and the ocean, the sky, the gates, the rocks, the people, the light- this is the work of art.” (Christo Vladimirov Javacheff) Though his work may appear to be visually distracting from the landscapes he creates in, Christo’s aim is to bring attention to the land itself and encourage people to take note of their surroundings.
Robert Motherwell: Summer of 1971

1972

Robert Motherwell: Summer of 1971

1972
At work on his Elegies and Windows series, Motherwell examines his place in the Abstract Expressionist movement, which he calls the first original American movement in the "mainstream," and its practitioners "the last romantics." He distinguishes between his large paintings and his intimate papier collée. Motherwell recollects the state of American art in the 1940s and the impact of European emigré painters on the younger generation of emerging artists. He discusses the significance of collage, or papier collée, as an artist's medium and explains how he first became involved with this process. Motherwell offers his interpretations of earlier directions in art and his response to the object oriented painting that emerged in America in the 1960s. A unique document of one of the founding members of the New York School. He died in 1991.
I Had an Abortion

2005

I Had an Abortion

2005
Underneath the din of politicians posturing about "life" and "choice" and beyond the shouted slogans about murder and rights, there are real stories of real women who have had abortions. Each year in the US, 1.3 million abortions occur, but the topic is still so stigmatized it's never discussed in polite company. Powerful, poignant, and fiercely honest, I HAD AN ABORTION tackles this taboo, featuring 10 women - including famed feminist Gloria Steinem - who candidly describe experiences spanning seven decades, from the years before Roe v. Wade to the present day.
Halving the Bones

1996

Halving the Bones

1996
A Japanese-American woman seeks to understand her heritage through the experiences of her immigrant mother and grandmother.
Edgar Degas: The Unquiet Spirit

1980

Edgar Degas: The Unquiet Spirit

1980
Ann Turner delves into the atmosphere of the works and reveals, besides Degas the gifted draughtsman and painter, also an experimental graphic artist, sculptor, photographer and poet.
The Debt of Dictators

2005

The Debt of Dictators

2005
Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei

2002

Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei

2002
The greatest athletes in the world today are neither the Olympic champions nor the stars of professional sports, but the "Marathon Monks" of Japan's sacred Mount Hiei. Over a seven year training period, these "running Buddha" figuratively circle the globe on foot. During one incredible 100-day stretch, they cover 52.5 miles daily - twice the length of an Olympic marathon. The prize they seek is not a pot of gold, but enlightenment in the here and now. This documentary program is about one of these amazing men - Tanno Kakudo and the magic mountain where he trains. It is the philosophy of Tendai Buddhism, which inspires him in his quest for the supreme. The viewer will learn about the monk's death-defying fast, his vegetarian training diet, his handmade straw running shoes, and other feats of endurance such as the mummifying fire ceremony. Based on the book "Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei" by John Stevens, published by Shambala Press.
Incidents of Travel in Chichen Itza

1997

Incidents of Travel in Chichen Itza

1997
Depicts how New Agers, the Mexican state, tourists, and 1920s archaeologists all contend to “clear” the site of the antique Maya city of Chichen Itza in order to produce their own idealized and unobstructed visions of “Maya” while the local Maya themselves struggle to occupy the site as vendors and artisans.
We Buy, Who Pays?

2002

We Buy, Who Pays?

2002
A short documentary about sweatshops and their working conditions in India.
She

1970

She

1970
A consciously modern depiction of working women in East Germany – labourers and managers in a garment factory talk about relationships and family planning, raising children and career qualifications, women’s rights and equality in the socialist (meritocratic) society. In conversations with a doctor, the women also have a chance to voice their personal concerns, as well as their feelings about the birth control pill, a subject that caused a stir at the time.
Agnes Martin: With My Back to the World

2003

Agnes Martin: With My Back to the World

2003
A groundbreaking documentary on the internationally renowned painter, designated by ARTnews Magazine one of the world's top-ten living artists. This documentary was shot over a period of four years, from 1998 through 2002, Agnes Martin's ninetieth year. Interviews with Martin are inter-cut with shots at work in her studio in Taos, New Mexico, with photographs and archival footage, and with images of her work from over five decades. It is a venue for Martin to speak about her work, her working methods, her life as an artist, and her views about the creative process. She also discusses her film, "Gabriel" and reads from her poetry and lectures. In keeping with Martin's chosen life of solitude, she alone appears in the documentary.
Roses in December

1982

Roses in December

1982
The film begins with the exhumation of four American women tortured, raped, and murdered by the right-wing government of El Salvador on December 2, 1980. The women — Dorothy Kazel, an Ursuline; Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Maryknoll mission sisters; and Jean Donovan, a young laywoman from Cleveland — were providing food, shelter, medical care and burial to the poor. They were targeted for assassination by a death squad within the U.S.-supported Salvadoran military as part of a policy of suppressing the poor and “liberation theology.” The award-winning documentary focuses primarily on the life of Jean Donovan through archival news footage, interviews, home movies, and diary readings.
Love Letters

1983

Love Letters

1983
Citations from love letters and poems written between Karl Marx and his fiancée Jenny von Westphalen during their teenage years are combined with images, paintings, and beautiful, atmospheric landscapes of places connected to Marx.
Performing the Border

1999

Performing the Border

1999
A video essay set in the Mexican-U.S. border town of Ciudad Juarez, where U.S. multinational corporations assemble electronic and digital equipment just across from El Paso, Texas. This imaginative, experimental work investigates the growing feminization of the global economy and its impact on Mexican women living and working in the area. Looking at the border as both a discursive and material space, the video explores the sexualization of the border region through labor division, prostitution, the expression of female desires in the entertainment industry, and sexual violence in the public sphere.
Witness to Revolution: The Story of Anna Louise Strong

1984

Witness to Revolution: The Story of Anna Louise Strong

1984
The daughter of a Nebraska minister, Anna Louise Strong earned a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Chicago. But it was in the Pacific Northwest, where she witnessed the 1916 Everett massacre and chronicled the 1919 Seattle General Strike, that her political vision took shape. In Moscow she helped found the first English language newspaper, in Spain her many visits resulted in her book, Spain in Arms; and in China she interviewed Mao in a Yan'an cave in 1946. She is buried in Beijing in a special cemetery for martyrs of the revolution.
Living At Risk

1985

Living At Risk

1985
Originally broadcast on PBS, the film features the Barrios, a middle-class family both activated and fractured by the conflict. Instead of fleeing their country, the siblings are guided by a religious and socialist desire to help those most vulnerable and destitute, mostly peasants in the rural areas.
Zulay, Facing the 21st Century

1989

Zulay, Facing the 21st Century

1989
Made over a span of eight years, this documentary is structured as a conversation between anthropologist Mabel Prelorán and Zulay Saravino, who has left her Ecuadorian mountain village to explore opportunities in Los Angeles. Working the land and making textiles to sell, Zulay’s industrious family sent all of their daughters to school — at the time an unusual move in Quinchuqui — and raised an intelligent, independent daughter whose literacy, business sense and introduction to the Preloráns led her to try her luck in the States. Devoted to her village, she relates a mesmerizing account of Otavaleñan traditions and reflects on her experiences in the US.
Witches in Exile

2004

Witches in Exile

2004
In Ghana, women accused of witchcraft are torn from their families and banished to isolated "witch villages." This film follows accused witches through their daily struggle to survive in the Kukuo Witches Camp in Northern Ghana. As government agencies attempt to abolish this age-old tradition, these women find themselves caught between their society's deeply rooted beliefs and its drive toward modernization. Witches in Exile captures a country at a dramatic and emotional crossroads.
Controlling Interest

1978

Controlling Interest

1978
The first account on film of the growth of multinational corporations, their impact on people at home and abroad, and their influence on U.S. foreign policy. This is the film that helped kick-off the anti-globalization movement. Upon release, it quickly became a standard "audio-visual text" for those concerned about the growing impact of multinational corporations on global affairs. The film examines how the ever-increasing concentration and velocity of capital affect employment in the U.S., shape patterns of development in the Third World, and influence our nation's foreign policy.
The Journey of the Lion

1992

The Journey of the Lion

1992
Brother Howie is a Jamaican Rastifari who dreams of the land of his ancestors: Africa. On a journey in search of his roots and his identity he travels through three continents and (with great humor and sensitivity) discovers the world and Africa.