Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 256

February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four

2003

February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four

2003
On February 1, 1960, four college students changed American history. Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil began a sit-in at a white only lunch counter in Greensboro. This act of bravery is noted as one of the vital moments in the American Civil Rights Movement. Offering a portrait of how four young men whose courage at led other non-violent protests through the '60s.
The Discoverers

1993

The Discoverers

1993
4.8
The advance of civilization has always depended on the few courageous individuals who are willing to risk reputation and life to seek out the new. This program chronicles the story of some of the world's pathfinders and innovators in a variety of fields, from Madame Curie and Sir Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein. Archival photographs, film clips, interviews, re-enactments, and scholarly commentary are used to tell the story of the discoverers.
Yuri Vella's World

2003

Yuri Vella's World

2003
The documentary follows Yuri Vella, writer and social activist of the Forest Nenets living in West-Siberia. To give his grandchildren proper education in their natural environment, he establishes an elementary school in his winter camp.
The First Women

2024

The First Women

2024
8
The documentary presents a group of women who are close to the 60s and share a common past: they were the base of the first women’s soccer team in Brazil.
Songs of Pasta'ay

1989

Songs of Pasta'ay

1989
The Pasta’ay, which means "the festival of the legendary little people," is a significant ritual held every other year in the Saisiat aborigine group in Taiwan. Every ten years, they hold the Great Ritual. This film focuses on the Great Ritual in 1986. It tries to convey the Saisiat people’s affection for and belief in the legendary little people. At the same time, the film brings into light Saisiat people’s ambivalence towards tourist invasion, and their dilemma of being caught between tradition and modernization. Structured by the Pasta’ay songs’ movements, the film breaks down to 15 chapters. It carefully juxtaposes the visual with the aural elements, which are conveyed in the conceptual dichotomy between “the real” and “the artificial.”
Alaskan Nets

2021

Alaskan Nets

2021
In Alaska's last native reserve, two cousins lead their local basketball team to its first state championship in more than thirty years. That quest is the only thing that will bring life back to a remote island that has been rocked by tragedy.
Rudy Burckhardt: Man in the Woods

2003

Rudy Burckhardt: Man in the Woods

2003
A detailed look at a remarkable artist who died in 1999 at age 85. Aspects of Burckhardt's work in photography, film, and painting are examined in interviews with Rudy Burckhardt, painter Yvonne Jacquette, and curators Robert Storr (former Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York) and Brian Wallis (Chief Curator, International Center of Photography, New York). In his studio in New York, Burckhardt discusses his photography and its significance within its historical framework. In the woods near his summer home in Maine, the viewer sees Burckhardt's easel and painting in front of the scene he is depicting. Whether in city or country, Burckhardt appreciated and transformed the chaos he discovered.
New York Composers: Searching for a New Music

1996

New York Composers: Searching for a New Music

1996
A look at six young virtuoso composers at the forefront of contemporary music. Featuring: Tan Dun, Michael Gordon, Phil Kline, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Lois V Vierk, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich. With the participation of the Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can All Stars, Reigakusha, and others. Filmed in the composers’ studios and at rehearsals and performances.
Agave: The Spirit of a Nation

2018

Agave: The Spirit of a Nation

2018
6.6
In Mexico, families have passed down the tradition of distilling agave for generations and now, this once obscure Mexican drink is everywhere. Discover, how one delicate plant has carried the weight of a nation and the people trying to protect it.
I Was a Teenage Feminist

2005

I Was a Teenage Feminist

2005
1.7
Why is it that some young, independent, progressive women in today's society feel uncomfortable identifying with the F-word? Join filmmaker Therese Shechter as she takes a funny, moving and very personal journey into the heart of feminism. Armed with a video camera and an irreverent sense of humor, Shechter talks with feminist superstars, rowdy frat boys, liberated Cosmo girls and Radical Cheerleaders, all in her quest to find out whether feminism can still be a source of personal and political power.
Homo Sapiens 1900

1998

Homo Sapiens 1900

1998
6.9
Homo Sapiens 1900 is a 1998 documentary directed by Peter Cohen, about various eugenics methods that were in practice in Europe during the first part of the 20th century. Eugenics is to be the scientific credo of the 20th century. The man credited with its invention, Francis Galton, says it is based on the concept that the evolution of man is crippled by the ill-conceived - those unfit to breed. The study of eugenics thus would concern itself with distinguishing the weed from the good flowers.
Written on Water: A Modern Tale of a Dry West

2016

Written on Water: A Modern Tale of a Dry West

2016
Examines the conflicts, politics, economics, and groundwater depletion in the High Plains region, with a focus on the Ogallala Aquifer. Farmers and communities survive on the precious waters of the Aquifer, yet it is being depleted at alarming rates.
Fight the Power: The Movements That Changed America

2021

Fight the Power: The Movements That Changed America

2021
“Looks at the impact key movements throughout U.S. history have had in shaping our society, laws and culture. From the labor movement of the 1880s, women's suffrage and civil rights, to the LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter movements, protest is in the American DNA and this documentary gives an unfiltered look at the ways it has evolved the world in which we live.”
The Search for the Palace Letters

2024

The Search for the Palace Letters

2024
This remarkable documentary tells the story of Professor Jenny Hocking, the historian who took on the Australian Government and HM Queen Elizabeth II in a landmark legal battle - and won.
My Mother's Village

2001

My Mother's Village

2001
In a documentary that spans two continents and several generations, acclaimed director John Paskievich delves into the experience of exile and its impact on the human spirit. Almost fifty years after his family fled Ukraine for freedom in Canada, the filmmaker visits his parents' homeland. It's a place both familiar and foreign. Drawing on his years growing up in Winnipeg, Paskievich explores how children of refugees and immigrants are caught between two worlds. While they struggle to put down roots in a new country, they must also preserve traditions of a distant land they have never known. Paskievich's journey through Ukraine is interwoven with stories of displacement from other prominent Ukrainian Canadians--authors George Melnyk and Fran Ponomarenko, filmmaker Bohdana Bashuk, director Halya Kuchmij and dancer Lecia Polujan. A rich tapestry of memory and history, My Mother's Village brings to light the humour, anger, joy and complexity of living between borders.
India's forgotten people

2020

India's forgotten people

2020
8.5
Dream's Gate

2023

Dream's Gate

2023
8.5
Driven by the desire to understand her inner truth as a marginalised woman in Iran, Negin Ahmadi embarks on a self-exploring precarious adventure to meet the Kurdish women fighters in the war zone of North Syria.
SEAT 20D

2019

SEAT 20D

2019
9
A woman who lost her son in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing channels her grief through the creation of a sculpture garden.
Kurtal Snake Spirit

2003

Kurtal Snake Spirit

2003
Kurtal – Snake Spirit tells the story of Spider, a sprightly 80 year old Aboriginal elder who travels from Fitzroy Crossing into the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia to visit a jila - a sacred waterhole. Spider is one of the main custodians responsible for the practices that take place there. For the first time, he is taking his family and community elders back to his birthplace, where he will communicate with their ancestors through Kurtal, the Snake Spirit in an ancient ritual. This unique documentary examines the ongoing change faced by a remote Aboriginal community and their determination to maintain their close links to birthplace and country. It shows the passing on of traditional knowledge from father to son and grandson, and the vital and sustained connection to ancestry and customs. It is a celebration of strong tradition and culture thriving through the spirit and willingness of the next generation.
ReFashioned

2021

ReFashioned

2021
3
Three passionate Hong Kongers strive to disrupt the textile and recycling industries by innovating sustainable solutions to change mindsets and transition towards a circular economy before the landfills overflow.