Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 40

First Contact

1982

First Contact

1982
6.8
First Contact is a 1983 documentary by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson which recounts the discovery of a flourishing native population in the interior highlands of New Guinea in 1930 in what had been thought to be an uninhabited area. It is based on the book of the same name by the same authors. Inhabitants of the region and surviving members of the Leahy brothers' gold prospecting party recount their astonishment at this unforeseen meeting. The film includes still photographs taken by a member of the expedition and contemporary footage of the island's terrain. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Fire Music

2021

Fire Music

2021
7
Although the free jazz movement of the 1960s and '70s was much maligned in some jazz circles, its pioneers - brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane - are today acknowledged as central to the evolution of jazz as America's most innovative art form. FIRE MUSIC showcases the architects of a movement whose radical brand of improvisation pushed harmonic and rhythmic boundaries, and produced landmark albums like Coleman's Free Jazz: A Collective Inspiration and Coltrane's Ascension. A rich trove of archival footage conjures the 1960s jazz scene along with incisive reflections by critic Gary Giddins and a number of the movement's key players.
Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap

2012

Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap

2012
6.7
SOMETHING FROM NOTHING: THE ART OF RAP is a feature length performance documentary about the runaway juggernaut that is Rap music. At the wheel of this unstoppable beast is the film's director and interviewer Ice-T. Taking us on a deeply personal journey Ice-T uncovers how this music of the street has grown to dominate the world. Along the way Ice-T meets a whole spectrum of Hip-Hop talent, from founders, to new faces, to the global superstars like Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West. He exposes the roots and history of Rap and then, through meeting many of its most famous protagonists, studies the living mechanism of the music to reveal 'The Art Of Rap'. This extraordinary film features unique performances from the entire cast, without resorting to archive material, to build a fresh and surprising take on the phenomenon that is Rap.
The Arrested Development Documentary Project

2013

The Arrested Development Documentary Project

2013
5.7
Featuring interviews from major cast and crew members, along with 200 fans from across the country, this documentary tells the whole story of this amazing and one of a kind tv show.
The Dissident

2020

The Dissident

2020
7.2
When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappears after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, his fiancée and dissidents around the world are left to piece together the clues to a brutal murder and expose a global cover up perpetrated by the very country he loved.
Lakota Nation vs. United States

2022

Lakota Nation vs. United States

2022
6.2
Poet Layli Long Soldier crafts a searing portrait of her Oyate’s connection to the Black Hills, through first contact and broken treaties to the promise of the Land Back movement, in this lyrical testament to resilience of a nation.
Big Men

2014

Big Men

2014
7.3
For her latest industrial exposé, Rachel Boynton (Our Brand Is Crisis) gained unprecedented access to Africa's oil companies. The result is a gripping account of the costly personal tolls levied when American corporate interests pursue oil in places like Ghana and the Niger River Delta. Executive produced by Steven Shainberg and Brad Pitt, Big Men investigates the caustic blend of ambition, corruption and greed that threatens to exacerbate Africa’s resource curse.
Home + Away

2018

Home + Away

2018
1
This coming-of-age story follows three students of El Paso's Bowie High and their search for the American dream, a dream inspired by family, fueled by sports, and complicated by the US/Mexican border.
The Gullspång Miracle

2023

The Gullspång Miracle

2023
6.6
Two Norwegian sisters receive a premonition from God that makes them buy an apartment in a tiny Swedish town, Gullspång. Meeting the seller, she is a dead-ringer of their older sister, who committed suicide 30 years ago.
Smash His Camera

2010

Smash His Camera

2010
6.9
A film centering on the life and work of Ron Galella that examines the nature and effect of paparazzi.
Loving Vincent: The Impossible Dream

2019

Loving Vincent: The Impossible Dream

2019
8
A documentary detailing the journey it took two passionate filmmakers to achieve their impossible dream, creating the world's first fully painted feature film.
Island in Between

2023

Island in Between

2023
6.3
The rural Taiwanese outer islands of Kinmen sit merely 2 miles off the coast of China. Kinmen attracts tourists for its remains from the 1949 Chinese Civil War. It also marks the frontline for Taiwan in its escalating tension with China.
Manhatta

1921

Manhatta

1921
6.7
Morning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city's upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor. The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.
Alan Pakula: Going for Truth

2019

Alan Pakula: Going for Truth

2019
6.5
"Alan Pakula: Going for Truth" encompasses the personal and professional life of Alan J. Pakula, a lauded filmmaker and extremely private man, who was unflinching in his commitment to bringing some of the most memorable movies of the last half of the 20th century to the big screen.
The Ice King

2018

The Ice King

2018
6.5
The greatest skater of all time, John Curry transformed a dated sport into an art form. Coming out on the night of his Olympic win in 1976, he became the first openly gay Olympian in a time when homosexuality was not even fully legal.
Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story

2022

Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story

2022
6.4
Robert Englund has become one of the most revolutionary horror icons of our generation. This intimate portrait captures the man behind the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise and features interviews with Englund, Lin Shaye, Eli Roth, Tony Todd and more.
The Museum

2017

The Museum

2017
8.2
The Museum is a film that observes, examines and ponders Israel's most important cultural institution, the Israel Museum. The film follows the visitors, observes the observers, listens to the speakers and descends to the storerooms, labs and conference rooms. The American museum director, the singing security guard, the Jerusalemite curator, the Haredi kashrut inspector, the Palestinian guide and the visitor who lost her vision are some of the characters that take part in a chain of activities which add up to the museum. For about 18 months director Ran Tal collected footage of the daily routine of the museum that seeks to both reflect and mold the Israeli legacy and culture.
California Typewriter

2017

California Typewriter

2017
6.9
A story about people whose lives are connected by typewriters. A meditation on creativity and technology featuring Tom Hanks, John Mayer, Sam Shepard, David McCullough and others.
Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

2015

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

2015
6.6
When Steve Jobs died the world wept. But what accounted for the grief of millions of people who didn’t know him? This evocative film navigates Jobs' path from a small house in the suburbs, to zen temples in Japan, to the CEO's office of the world's richest company, exploring how Jobs’ life and work shaped our relationship with the computer. The Man in the Machine is a provocative and sometimes startling re-evaluation of the legacy of an icon.
There's Something in the Water

2019

There's Something in the Water

2019
7.1
Elliot Page brings attention to the injustices and injuries caused by environmental racism in his home province, in this urgent documentary on Indigenous and African Nova Scotian women fighting to protect their communities, their land, and their futures.