Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 46

Treyf

1998

Treyf

1998
1
TREYF —“unkosher” in Yiddish— is an unorthodox documentary by and about two Jewish lesbians who met and fell in love at a Passover “seder”. With personal narration, real and imagined educational films, and haunting imagery, filmmakers Alisa Lebow and Cynthia Madansky examine the Jewish identity of their upbringings and its impact on their lives.
Donor Unknown

2011

Donor Unknown

2011
1
All JoEllen Marsh knew about her biological father was that he was Donor 150; but she wanted to know anything and everything she could about her father’s genealogy. Thanks to a social networking website called the Donor Sibling Registry designed specifically for donor offspring, that becomes a possibility. Marsh slowly unravels Donor 150′s side of her family tree; meeting, one-by-one, her new-found siblings and discovering a plethora of uncanny genetic similarities. (Donor 150 must have had some damn strong genes!) Marsh and her siblings would like to meet the man from whom these common genes were inherited. A New York Times article about Marsh caught Donor 150′s eye, and the rest is history…
Robert Rauschenberg: Retrospective

1979

Robert Rauschenberg: Retrospective

1979
This film includes important examples of the Robert Rauschenberg's diverse and extraordinary accomplishments, tracing his development from his student years and his earliest experiments to a retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It features Rauschenberg, John Cage and Merce Cunningham, and was released in 1979.
Double Take

2009

Double Take

2009
5.8
Director Johan Grimonprez casts Alfred Hitchcock as a paranoid history professor, unwittingly caught up in a double take on the cold war period. Subverting a meticulous array of TV footage and using 'The Birds' as an essential metaphor, DOUBLE TAKE traces catastrophe culture's relentless assault on the home, from moving images' inception to the present day.
Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It

2015

Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It

2015
6.6
A documentary exploring how money and the trading of value has evolved, culminating in Bitcoin.
Special Blood

2016

Special Blood

2016
10
Failed by a healthcare system that is largely ignorant of their existence, four patients with a life-threatening, rare disease learn to find strength in each other and their small, but strong community.
Nas: Time Is Illmatic

2014

Nas: Time Is Illmatic

2014
6.9
Time Is Illmatic is a feature length documentary film that delves deep into the making of Nas' 1994 debut album, Illmatic, and the social conditions that influenced its creation.
Four Horsemen

2012

Four Horsemen

2012
7.2
Documentary about the modern apocalypse caused by a rapacious banking system. 23 leading thinkers – frustrated at the failure of their respective disciplines – break their silence to explain how the world really works.
Rock Camp: The Movie

2021

Rock Camp: The Movie

2021
6.3
Summer camp meets Spinal Tap as we journey to Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, where dreamers from across America and around the world gather to shred with their heroes - and learn to rock like the legends. Rock Camp is an institution and cultural phenomenon that has been going on in Los Angeles, New York and other cities since 1996. The brainchild of music producer David Fishof, Rock Camp boasts a jaw-dropping array of rock star "counselors" that include Roger Daltrey, Alice Cooper, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Nancy Wilson, Joe Perry, Jeff Beck, Slash and countless other rock legends. The counselors teach, inspire and jam with the campers over the course of four days. Each Rock Camp concludes with all of the counselors and their respective campers, performing together.
Breaking the Maya Code

2008

Breaking the Maya Code

2008
6
The complex and beautiful hieroglyphic script of the ancient Maya was until recently one of the last great undeciphered writing systems. Based on the best-selling book by Michael Coe, called by the New York Times "one of the great stories of 20th century scientific discovery", Breaking the Maya Code traces the epic quest to unlock the secrets of the script across 200 years, nine countries and three continents.
A Perfect Candidate

1996

A Perfect Candidate

1996
5.6
The filmmakers follow Oliver North's unsuccessful 1994 bid for a Virginia Senate seat, focusing on North's campaign strategist, Mark Goodin, and a Washington Post reporter. Mudslinging ensues.
Ten Meter Tower

2016

Ten Meter Tower

2016
7.1
10 Meter Tower is a short film taking place in a swimming pool with 6 cameras aimed at the tallest diving tower. All focus is on the 43 people between 9 and 78 years old. They have one thing in common, this is the first time in their lives they climb up to the platform to make the decision whether to jump or not. The situation itself highlights a dilemma: to weigh the instinctive fear of taking the step out against the humiliation of having to climb down.
A Midwife's Tale

1998

A Midwife's Tale

1998
7.8
To understand eighteenth-century America through a woman's eyes, historian and author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich spent eight years working through Martha Ballard's massive but cryptic diary. "A Midwife's Tale" chronicles the interwoven stories of two remarkable women: an eighteenth-century midwife and healer and the twentieth-century historian who brought her words to light.
The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies

2013

The Sarnos: A Life in Dirty Movies

2013
5.9
A love story about the legendary sexploitation director Joe Sarno and his loyal wife and business partner Peggy. The film relates their part in the history of sex film, their lives between New York and Sweden, and their struggle to produce one last erotic film.
Night School

2016

Night School

2016
7
Indianapolis has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country. Night School follows three adult students living in the city’s more impoverished neighborhoods as they attempt to earn their diplomas while juggling other difficult responsibilities and realities. Through their stories, the filmmakers explore many issues that low-income Americans deal with, including unjust minimum wage and working conditions, arbitrary legal hindrances, and race and gender inequality.
The Welles Raft

2022

The Welles Raft

2022
The raft man Manuel Jacaré was swallowed by the sea when Orson Welles was filming It's All True in 1942. The fact evokes memories of the dictatorship of the Estado Novo, of World War II, of Ceará fishermen's struggle for labor rights and housing in their traditional space - target of real estate speculation.
Living in the Future's Past

2018

Living in the Future's Past

2018
5.6
Jeff Bridges, alongside prominent scientists and authors, weaves evolution, emergence, entropy, dark ecology, and what some are calling the end of nature, into a story that helps us understand our place among the species of Earth’s household.
DIG! XX

2024

DIG! XX

2024
Two rock bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, navigate fame, friendship, and fierce rivalry in a raw journey through the music industry. The 20th anniversary cut adds fresh footage and new perspectives.
Defining Hope

2017

Defining Hope

2017
We aren't dying the way we used to. We have ventilators, dialysis machines, ICUs-technologies that can "fix" us and keep our bodies alive-which have radically changed how we make medical decisions. In our death-denying culture, no matter how sick we get, there is always "hope." Defining Hope tells the story of patients dealing with life-threatening illness as they move between ICUs, operating rooms, hospice care and home. Diane is a nurse caring for end-stage cancer patients when she is diagnosed with ovarian cancer herself. 23-year-old Alena undergoes a risky brain surgery that destroys her short-term memory. 95-year-old Berthold lives with his elderly wife who struggles to honor his wish of dying peacefully at home. Defining Hope follows these patients and others- and the nurses that guide them along the way- as they face death, embrace hope, and ultimately redefine what makes life worth living.
Cunnamulla

2000

Cunnamulla

2000
5.6
Cunnamulla, 800 kilometres west of Brisbane, is the end of the railway line. In the months leading up to a scorching Christmas in the bush, there's a lot more going on than the annual lizard race. Here, Aboriginal and white Australians live together but apart. Creativity struggles against indifference, eccentricity against conformity.