Popular Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 99

Sans Soleil

1983

Sans Soleil

1983
7.4
A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.
The Venerable W.

2017

The Venerable W.

2017
6.6
A view of the religious tensions between Muslims and Buddhist through the portrait of the Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, leader of anti-Muslim movement in Myanmar.
Hard Hat Riot

2025

Hard Hat Riot

2025
On May 8, 1970, construction workers violently clashed with students demonstrating against the Vietnam War in lower Manhattan. The workmen, who came to be known as “hardhats,” were at the cutting edge of a new kind of class war. With the war in Vietnam raging on, it was the sons of the working class who were doing most of the fighting. Workmen saw the protesting students as privileged “draft dodgers” disparaging the country and those who fought for it. On the other side, many student activists saw the workers as pawns, unwilling to see the changes that America needed. Hard Hat Riot tells the story of a struggling metropolis, a flailing president, a divided people, and a bloody juncture when the nation violently diverged ― culminating in a new political and cultural landscape that radically redefined American politics and foreshadowed the future.
Black Is… Black Ain’t

1995

Black Is… Black Ain’t

1995
5.6
African-American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs was working on this final film as he died from AIDS-related complications in 1994; he addresses the camera from his hospital bed in several scenes. The film directly addresses sexism and homophobia within the black community, with snippets of misogynistic and anti-gay slurs from popular hip-hop songs juxtaposed with interviews with African-American intellectuals and political theorists, including Cornel West, bell hooks and Angela Davis.
Predator on the Reservation

2019

Predator on the Reservation

2019
FRONTLINE and The Wall Street Journal investigate the decades-long failure to stop a government doctor accused of sexually abusing Native American boys for years, and examine how he moved from reservation to reservation despite warnings.
3-D Rarities

2015

3-D Rarities

2015
6
Selections include Kelley's Plasticon Pictures, the earliest extant 3-D demonstration film from 1922 with incredible footage of Washington and New York City; New Dimensions, the first domestic full color 3-D film originally shown at the World’s Fair in 1940; Thrills for You, a promotional film for the Pennsylvania Railroad; Stardust in Your Eyes, a hilarious standup routine by Slick Slavin; trailer for The Maze, with fantastic production design by William Cameron Menzies; Doom Town, a controversial anti-atomic testing film mysteriously pulled from release; puppet cartoon The Adventures of Sam Space, presented in widescreen; I’ll Sell My Shirt, a burlesque comedy unseen in 3-D for over 60 years; Boo Moon, an excellent example of color stereoscopic animation…and more!
The Will to See

2021

The Will to See

2021
9
An old-time war reporter, philosopher and writer, BernardHenri Lévy is sent by a group of newspapers (Paris Match, La Repubblica, The Wall Street Journal, Der Stern, and others) to bear witness and report from places in the world where suffering and misery is at its peak: where wars are going on under our noses, the world’s fate is being determined, and no one, it seems, is paying attention. An unflinching look at the most urgent humanitarian crises around the globe.
The Last Tasmanian

1978

The Last Tasmanian

1978
6.3
The story of the genocide of the Tasmanian aborigine population by British settlers. Specifically Truganini, the last living full-blood aborigine.
Finding Phong

2015

Finding Phong

2015
4.9
Phong grew up in a small town in the center of Vietnam - the youngest of six children. From the time she was young, Phong felt like she was a girl with a mismatched boy's body. Not until she moved to Hanoi to attend university at age 20 did Phong discover that she was not the only one in the world with this predicament. Her dream to 'find herself' by physically changing sex becomes a reality several years later. The movie follows Phong's struggle during these years, with excerpts from an intimate video journal, along with encounters with family, friends and doctors - all of whom must come to terms with Phong determination to become a "complete girl".
The Dark Matter of Love

2012

The Dark Matter of Love

2012
6.3
Eleven year old Masha Kulabokhova is about to be adopted into fourteen year old Cami Diaz's family. Masha grew up in a Russian orphanage; Cami was born and raised in Wisconsin and has been the exclusive focus of her parents' love her whole life. The process of Masha becoming part of the Diaz family is going to change both girls forever. The Dark Matter of Love follows Masha as she leaves Russia to the spend her first year as part of the Diaz family, who have also adopted five year old twin boys Marcel and Vadim. When the reality of bonding with children who have grown up in institutions turns out to be more difficult than they ever imagined, the Diaz's hire two of the world's best developmental psychologists to help them build their new family - through science. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, The Dark Matter of Love melds the story of the Diaz family learning to love, with rare archive footage of science experiments exploring parent-child love.
Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise

2015

Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise

2015
6.6
Using only archive film and a new musical score by the band Mogwai, Mark Cousins presents an impressionistic kaleidoscope of our nuclear times – protest marches, Cold War sabre-rattling, Chernobyl and Fukishima – but also the sublime beauty of the atomic world, and how x-rays and MRI scans have improved human lives. The nuclear age has been a nightmare, but dreamlike too.
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

2005

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

2005
6.2
This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.
Saving the Dead Sea

2019

Saving the Dead Sea

2019
As the Dead Sea shrinks, engineers prepare a daring solution: connect it with the Red Sea by way of a massive desalination plant. If it works, it could stabilise the lake and ease regional tensions.
Mystic Mass

2014

Mystic Mass

2014
Every year, thousands of Shia Muslims meet in the village of Nabatiyyeh in Lebanon to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, assassinated in 680 A.D. It is by far the most important religious event in the Shia cult, and leads to the formation of immense mass movements all around the world. Mystic Mass describes extensively this 24h ceremony, and deconstructs its indivisible, ever united, mystic mass, since its formation early in the morning of Ashoura, up to its dissolution in the afternoon of the same day.
Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road

2021

Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road

2021
6.2
Join The Beach Boy's Brian Wilson on an intimate journey through his legendary career as he reminisces with Rolling Stone editor and longtime friend, Jason Fine. Featuring a new song written and performed by Wilson and interviews with Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Jonas, Linda Perry, Jim James, Gustavo Dudamel and Al Jardine.
Womanhouse

1974

Womanhouse

1974
7
Held in 1972 at 533 N. Mariposa Street, Los Angeles was one of the most important cultural events in the United States: "Womanhouse," a feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro.
A Run for More

2022

A Run for More

2022
1
As a transgender woman in Texas, Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe expected to encounter resistance to her campaign for city council. She did not anticipate questioning her relationship to identity, activism and civic engagement. On the campaign trail, she finds herself on an unexpected journey of self-discovery and healing.
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.
AÏT ATTA: Nomads of the High Atlas

2020

AÏT ATTA: Nomads of the High Atlas

2020
8
The Aït Atta tribe of the High Atlas mountain range in Morocco preserves their ancestral right of access to the agdal, a communal land management system that dates back hundreds of years. The film follows Ben Youssef family’s arduous transhumance journey from the desert-like landscape of Nkob to the green pastures of Agdal Igourdane, throughout uneven terrain of steep climbs and descents of these High Atlas mountains. They migrate each summer with their 800 goats, donkeys, mules, camels and dogs, as they embark on this formidable journey on foot.
Breath of Life

2015

Breath of Life

2015
6.5
Dr. Richard Dawkins and Dr. Robert Trivers talk about the potential for an environmental catastrophe and why humans are destroying the world.