Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 27

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show

2014

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show

2014
6.4
“Showrunners” is the first ever feature length documentary film to explore the fascinating world of US television showrunners and the creative forces aligned around them. These are the people responsible for creating, writing and overseeing every element of production on one of the United State’s biggest exports – television drama and comedy series. Often described as the most complex job in the entertainment business, a showrunner is the chief writer / producer on a TV series and, in most instances, the show’s creator. Battling daily between art and commerce, showrunners manage every aspect of a TV show’s development and production: creative, financial and logistical.
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

1989

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

1989
6.9
On the eve of 1987's Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, surviving families and friends of people who have died of AIDS prepare panels to be added to a large-scale memorial quilt project. Drawing from the sea of names memorialized, director Robert Epstein focuses on the lives of six people. Alongside the intimate profiles offered, through news footage and interviews, Epstein puts the AIDS crisis in the larger context of social and government response to the disease.
Break the Game

2023

Break the Game

2023
Record-breaking gamer Narcissa Wright grapples with her toxic obsession for attention and her space in the streaming community after coming out as transgender, all while attempting to set a new world record for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The Taste of Mango

2024

The Taste of Mango

2024
In this hypnotically cinematic love letter flowing through time and generations, director Chloe Abrahams probes raw questions her mother and grandmother have long brushed aside, tenderly untangling painful knots in her family’s unspoken past.
That Sugar Film

2014

That Sugar Film

2014
6.8
One man's journey to discover the bitter truth about sugar. Damon Gameau embarks on a unique experiment to document the effects of a high sugar diet on a healthy body, consuming only foods that are commonly perceived as 'healthy'. Through this entertaining and informative journey, Damon highlights some of the issues that plague the sugar industry, and where sugar lurks on supermarket shelves.
56 Up

2012

56 Up

2012
7.2
When a cross-section of seven-year-olds were interviewed for 7 Up in 1964 it was immediately evident that their social backgrounds influenced their attitudes towards life. While the upper class children were confident and self-assured, those from middle and working class backgrounds were resigned to a challenging life of hard work. This premise was put to the test every seven years when the same group were interviewed about the progression of their lives. 49 years in the making, the changes that occurred to the original 14 make for fascinating television and are in many ways the stories of all our lives. From success and disappointment, marriage and childbirth, to poverty and illness, nearly every facet of life has been captured on film. Now, at the age of 56, the group are once more brought together and, with the benefit of hindsight, assess whether their lives have been ruled by circumstance or self-determination.
War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us

1996

War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us

1996
2.7
Seven New Zealand women speak about their lives during World War II: some lost husbands, some got married, some went into service themselves. The director lets the women tell their stories simply, alternating between them talking and archival footage of the war years.
It's Not Yet Dark

2016

It's Not Yet Dark

2016
7.4
The story of Simon Fitzmaurice, a young filmmaker who becomes completely paralyzed from motor neuron disease but goes on to direct an award-winning feature film through the use of his eyes.
Stormchasers

1995

Stormchasers

1995
6
Track monsoons, hurricanes, blizzards, and tornadoes. Take a journey around the planet to experience our most extreme storms and to witness the dramatic--and often perilous--efforts of scientists in the pursuit of understanding weather.Join meteorologists in the cockpit of a P-3 weather plane as they penetrate the eye of a hurricane; and in the tense, decisive moments on the road as they focus their radar on an approaching tornado, traveling to the heart of severe storms to learn what makes weather systems tick. Experience the bumpy ride into the sudden and spectacular calm of a hurricane’s eye, or the commando-like raid to the very brink of a killer tornado, and experience one of the elemental joys of doing science: that of confronting nature head-on to divine its awesome secrets.
Room 237

2012

Room 237

2012
6.1
A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.
Leviathan

2012

Leviathan

2012
6.5
An experimental portrait of the North American commercial fishing industry through the lens of GoPro cameras placed on a fishing vessel off the coast of New England.
Harmontown

2014

Harmontown

2014
6.6
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
Joan Baez: I Am a Noise

2023

Joan Baez: I Am a Noise

2023
6.6
Since her debut at the age of 18, musician, civil rights campaigner and activist Joan Baez has been on stage for over 60 years. For the now 82-year-old, the personal has always been political, and her friendship with Martin Luther King and her pacifism have shaped her commitment. In this biography that opens with her farewell tour, Baez takes stock in an unsparing fashion and confronts sometimes painful memories.
In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid

1994

In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid

1994
A documentary overview and ideological critique of the South African film industry and cinema's historical relationship with apartheid.
Holy Silence

2020

Holy Silence

2020
7
As World War II looms, Pope Pius XI calls on a humble American priest to help him challenge the evils of Nazism and anti-Semitism. But death intervenes, and Pope Pius XII now carries out a very different response to Hitler and the Holocaust.
Serving in Secret: Love, Country, and Don't Ask, Don't Tell

2023

Serving in Secret: Love, Country, and Don't Ask, Don't Tell

2023
Tracing the U.S. military's long history of discrimination against the gay community and one couple's personal journey for acceptance.
The Thief Collector

2022

The Thief Collector

2022
6.9
In 1985, Willem de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre,” one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century, vanished into the Arizona desert after being cut from its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. 32 years later, the $160 million painting was found hanging in the home of Jerry and Rita Alter in rural New Mexico.
The Real Cancun

2003

The Real Cancun

2003
3.9
Sixteen American college students drink, flirt, fight and canoodle during their Spring Break vacation in Cancun, Mexico.
Educating Peter

1992

Educating Peter

1992
6.4
A young boy with down syndrome attends his first year in a "regular" classroom. This documentary traces that year and the changes that take place for Peter, his teacher, and the other students. Oscar-winning documentary short from 1992.
Skate Dreams

2022

Skate Dreams

2022
5.5
Skate Dreams, the first feature documentary about the rise of women’s skateboarding, profiles a group of women whose pursuit of self-expression, equality, and freedom have created an international movement on and off their skateboards. From their boycott of the X-Games, to their defiance of traditional skateboarding gatekeepers, through grueling worldwide skate competitions in the run up to the Olympics, Skate Dreams showcases the charismatic personalities, indomitable spirits and amazing talent of these trailblazing pioneers.