Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 67

Death by Misadventure: The Mysterious Life of Bruce Lee

1993

Death by Misadventure: The Mysterious Life of Bruce Lee

1993
8.1
Death by Misadventure: The Mysterious Life of Bruce Lee exposes the truth behind Lee's death and the cover-up that ensued.
Joan Baez: I Am a Noise

2023

Joan Baez: I Am a Noise

2023
6.5
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.
Shaping Bamboo

1979

Shaping Bamboo

1979
For the 'Are'are people of the Solomon Islands, the most valued music is that of the four types of panpipe ensembles. With the exception of slit drums, all musical instruments are made of bamboo; therefore the general word for instruments and the music performed with them is "bamboo" ('au). This film shows the making of panpipes, from the cutting the bamboo in the forest to the making of the final bindings. The most important part of the work consists in shaping each tube to its necessary length. Most 'Are'are panpipe makers measure the length of old instruments before they shape new tubes. Master musician 'Irisipau, surprisingly, takes the measure using his body, and adjusts the final tuning by ear. For the first time we can see here how the instruments and their artificial equiheptatonic scale-seven equidistant degrees in an octave-are practically tuned.
Transplanting Hope

2018

Transplanting Hope

2018
NOVA takes you inside the operating room to witness organ transplant teams transferring organs from donors to recipients. Meet families navigating both sides of a transplant, and researchers working to end the organ shortage. Their efforts to understand organ rejection, discover ways to keep organs alive outside the body, and even grow artificial organs with stem cells, could save countless lives.
Raw! Uncut! Video!

2021

Raw! Uncut! Video!

2021
1
The rise and fall of homegrown gay porn studio Palm Drive Video. An exploration of how a devoted couple helped battle a devastating health crisis by promoting kinky sex.
Stanislavski: Lust for Life

2021

Stanislavski: Lust for Life

2021
A story about Konstantin Sergeievich Stanislavski, a twentieth-century theatre genius. Owing to his powerful extraordinary talent he managed to stay a true artist and a free spirit within the harsh Soviet system. In the film contemporary theater and film directors (Kirill Serebrennikov, Katie Mitchell, Lev Dodin and others) show how Stanislavski's method affects their everyday work. Each of the directors finds his or her own reflection in the mirror of his genius. In search of an answer to the question whether modern theatre really needs Stanislavski they discover that art lacks its most essential part – the human being.
Lost, Lost, Lost

1976

Lost, Lost, Lost

1976
7
Drawn from footage shot between 1949 and 1963, Jonas Mekas’s autobiographical diary film chronicles his early years in exile, capturing the struggle to build a new life in New York and his gradual discovery of a vibrant artistic community.
Banking on Bitcoin

2016

Banking on Bitcoin

2016
6.3
Not since the invention of the Internet has there been such a disruptive technology as Bitcoin. Bitcoin's early pioneers sought to blur the lines of sovereignty and the financial status quo. After years of underground development Bitcoin grabbed the attention of a curious public, and the ire of the regulators the technology had subverted. After landmark arrests of prominent cyber criminals Bitcoin faces its most severe adversary yet, the very banks it was built to destroy.
101 Seconds

2018

101 Seconds

2018
6
101 Seconds follows two families as they join the gun control movement after members of their families are killed in a mall.
Sirens

2022

Sirens

2022
5.4
True to their name, Slave to Sirens — the first and only all-woman thrash metal band in the Middle East — are utterly magnetic. Amid a backdrop of political unrest and the heartbreaking unraveling of Beirut, five bandmates form a beacon of expression, resistance, and independence. Director Rita Baghdadi follows founders and guitarists Lilas Mayassi and Shery Bechara as their tenderness, and sometimes bitterness, for one another grows in ways both unexpected and deeply moving. Joined by vocalist Maya Khairallah, bassist Alma Doumani, and drummer Tatyana Boughaba, these women negotiate their emotional journeys through young adulthood in tumultuous circumstances with grace, raw passion, and a ferocious commitment to their art. Their grit is tested as they grapple with the complexities of friendship, sexuality, and the destruction around them.
VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media

2016

VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media

2016
5.3
This lively documentary explores the rise and fall of physical media from the origin of film all the way through the video store era into digital media, focusing on B-movie and cult films. With icons like Joe Bob Briggs (MonsterVision), Lloyd Kaufman (Toxic Avenger), Greg Sestero (The Room), Debbie Rochon (Return to Nuke 'Em High), Deborah Reed (Troll 2), Mark Frazer (Samurai Cop), James Nguyen (Birdemic) and many others.
Mozart's Sister

2024

Mozart's Sister

2024
For the first 18 years of her life, Mozart’s sister shared equal billing with her brother. Musical partners and collaborators, Wolfgang Mozart and Maria-Anna Mozart played together before Kings and Queens, and were the talk of Europe. What happened to her? Forced into retirement by age 16 because she was a woman, a stunning new investigation explores why she was retired against her will and the explosive theory: did Maria-Anna Mozart continue to compose in secret?
Breaking a Monster

2015

Breaking a Monster

2015
3.2
As seventh-graders, band members of Unlocking The Truth spend their weekends playing metal music in Times Square—often to substantial crowds. After signing with a 70-year-old manager, they are soon on their way to a $1.8 million record deal.
Word Wars

2004

Word Wars

2004
6.3
The classic board game, Scrabble, has been popular for decades. In addition, there are fanatics who devote heart and soul to this game to the expense of everything else. This film profiles a group of these enthusiasts as they converge for a Scrabble convention where the word game is almost a bloodsport.
In Hollywood's Backyard: Topanga in the 1970s

2017

In Hollywood's Backyard: Topanga in the 1970s

2017
Filmmakers (and canyon residents) Alexander and Anne Christine Von Wetter filmed this documentary for German Television in the early 1970s as a revealing close-up of an extraordinary period in America. The camera masters and 16mm negative were consequently lost to a devastating fire. Luckily, a lone VHS copy had been made, which spent the next 30 years on the studio shelf. The VHS was found heavily damaged, but a restoration team managed to salvage a fair grade of quality, which has since been remastered.
Denial

2016

Denial

2016
2.3
Every day our changing climate pushes us closer to an environmental catastrophe, but for most the problem is easy to ignore. David Hallquist, a Vermont utility executive, has made it his mission to take on one of the largest contributors of this global crisis-our electric grid. But when his son Derek tries to tell his father's story, the film is soon derailed by a staggering family secret, one that forces Derek and David to turn their attention toward a much more personal struggle, one that can no longer be ignored. - Written by Aaron Woolf
Dark Suns

2019

Dark Suns

2019
6.6
An epic investigation into countless murders in Mexico. Presented in chapters, the film unfolds methodically through unsettling testimonials, sketching a portrait of an entire country transformed into a gigantic mass grave thanks to a climate of impunity established by both criminal gangs and state authorities.
Sexters

2013

Sexters

2013
3
Examining the modern phenomenon of "sexting"; the sending of dirty messages and naughty pictures via a mobile phone.
David Macaulay: Pyramid

1989

David Macaulay: Pyramid

1989
How did ancient Egyptians build the Great Pyramid at Giza, joining two million blocks of heavy stone with amazing precision? Who were the leaders who built these enormous structures, and what did these tombs signify? Host David Macaulay explores the history, mythology, and religions of Egypt's people, combining live footage and animation. Take a rare look at the mummy of Ramses II and buried treasure in the sacred Valley of the Kings.
Meditation on Violence

1949

Meditation on Violence

1949
5.6
Chao-Li Chi shadow boxes indoors and practices with a sword outdoors. Theoretically, the film describes in a single continuous movement three degrees of traditional Chinese boxing, Wu-tang, Shao-lin, and Shao-lin with a sword. A long sequence of the ballet-like, sinuous Wu-tang becomes the more erratic Shao-lin; in the middle, there is an abrupt change to leaping sword movements, in the center of which, at the apogee of the leap, there is a long held freeze-frame.