Top Rated Documentary Movies on Free Services - Page 153

Growing Up Female

1971

Growing Up Female

1971
5.7
Focuses on the socialization of American females. It tells the story of six women and girls. The first film to emerge from the modern women's movement in the early 1970s.
Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream

1998

Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream

1998
7
This film discusses the effect on how major American films in Hollywood were influenced by the Eastern European Jewish culture that most of the major movie moguls who controlled the studios shared. Through clips of various films, the filmmakers illustrate the dominant themes like that of the outsider, the outspoken American patriotism, and rooting for the underdog in society.
Argentinian Lesson

2013

Argentinian Lesson

2013
6.5
Polish director, his wife and children are leaving Siberia for Argentina. For their little son, this trip will not only be an encounter with an unknown language. Influenced by their Argentinian friend, Janek enters the fascinating world of imagination, and is introduced to the bitterness of childhood prematurely contaminated by the problems of grown-ups.
Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square

1998

Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square

1998
6.5
This film illustrates the life of the film director, Shui-Bo Wang in The People's Republic of China. We learn of the life of the director in his own words and images from a child steeped in the values of Chinese communism exemplified by Chairman Mao, to a young man striving to live up to those ideals both as an artist and a soldier.
The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein

1992

The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein

1992
6.5
The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein is a 1992 short animated documentary directed by Joyce Borenstein about her father, the Canadian painter Sam Borenstein. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. In Canada, it was named best short documentary at the 12th Genie Awards.
Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo

1991

Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo

1991
7.7
The story of Estelle Ishigo, one of the few Caucasians interned with Japanese Americans during World War II. The wife of a Japanese American, Ishigo refused to be separated from her husband and was interned along with him. Based on the personal papers of Estelle Ishigo and her novel Lone Heart Mountain.
The Ax Fight

1975

The Ax Fight

1975
5.7
The Ax Fight (1975) is an ethnographic film by anthropologist and filmmaker Tim Asch and anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon about a conflict in a Yanomami village called Mishimishimabowei-teri, in southern Venezuela. It is best known as an iconic and idiosyncratic ethnographic film about the Yanomamo and is frequently shown in classroom settings.
City of Photographers

2006

City of Photographers

2006
7.8
A film about the fearless photographers and photojournalists who documented strikes, demonstrations, protests etc during the Chilean military regime of Augusto Pinochet, sometimes risking their very lives.
Mercedes Sosa: The Voice of Latin America

2013

Mercedes Sosa: The Voice of Latin America

2013
6.7
Almost fifty years ago, Mercedes Sosa drafted together with other young artists, the so-called "Manifesto del Nuevo Cancionero" (The New songbook Manifesto). Apart from the millions of records she sold, the thousands of concerts she made all over the world, her countless fans and detractors, Mercedes Sosa left behind an indelible legacy. This film is a deep intimate journey into Mercedes Sosa's world, not only as an artist but as human being. An autobiography through her own voice, with never seen before archive and several international artists giving their testimony about Mercedes's.
Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams

2013

Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams

2013
7.3
Documentary presented by Professor Simon Schaffer which charts the amazing and untold story of automata - extraordinary clockwork machines designed hundreds of years ago to mimic and recreate life. The film brings the past to life in vivid detail as we see how and why these masterpieces were built. Travelling around Europe, Simon uncovers the history of these machines and shows us some of the most spectacular examples, from an entire working automaton city to a small boy who can be programmed to write and even a device that can play chess. All the machines Simon visits show a level of technical sophistication and ambition that still amazes today.
The Castle Project

2013

The Castle Project

2013
4.5
As an architect begins renovations to convert an old castle to a hotel, he uncovers more than he was expecting. He and his team of contractors experience hauntings and find what could be a portal to the afterlife.
The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper

1988

The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper

1988
4.2
A panel of experts examines the five main suspects in the Jack the Ripper murders and determines which of them is the most likely to have committed the crimes.
A.K.A. Doc Pomus

2012

A.K.A. Doc Pomus

2012
5.1
Doc Pomus’ dramatic life is one of American music’s great untold stories. Paralyzed with polio as a child, Brooklyn-born Jerome Felder reinvented himself as a blues singer, renaming himself Doc Pomus, then emerged as one of the most brilliant songwriters of the early rock and roll era, writing “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “This Magic Moment,” “A Teenager in Love,” “Viva Las Vegas,” and dozens of other hits. Spearheaded and co-produced by his daughter, Sharyn Felder, and packed with incomparable music and rare archival imagery, this documentary features interviews with collaborators and friends including Dr. John, Ben E. King, Joan Osborne, Shawn Colvin, Dion, Leiber and Stoller, and B.B. King, as well as passages from Doc’s private journals read by his close friend Lou Reed.
Brakhage

1998

Brakhage

1998
7
BRAKHAGE explores the depth and breadth of the filmmaker’s genius, the exquisite splendor of his films, his magic personal charm, his aesthetic fellow travelers, and the influence his work has had on generations of other creators. While touching on significant moments in Brakhage’s biography, the film celebrates Brakhage’s visionary genius, and explores the extraordinary artistic possibilities of cinema, a medium mostly known only for its commercial applications in the form of narratives, cartoons, documentaries, and advertising. BRAKHAGE combines excerpts from Brakhage’s films and films of other avant-garde filmmakers (eg, George Kuchar, Jonas Mekas, Willie Varela, Bruce Elder, and others); interviews with Brakhage, his friends, family, colleagues, and critics; archival footage of Brakhage spanning the past thirty-five years; and location shooting in Boulder, Colorado and New York.
Janapar

2012

Janapar

2012
6.3
23-year-old Tom Allen is all set for a 9–5 career in IT. Trouble is, he can’t help wondering whether there’s more to life. So Tom sets off on the ultimate adventure: cycling around the world. Despite his lack of experience, Tom cycles and camps his way across three continents, encountering a vivid cast of friends and foes. But the journey takes an unlikely detour when he falls in love with Tenny, a feisty Iranian-Armenian. When her parents forbid her from taking to the open road, Tom is faced with the ultimate dilemma: stay with Tenny or continue his adventure alone? Janapar – named after the Armenian word for journey – is an honest and life-affirming tale of finding what you’re looking for when you least expect it.
Carmel

2009

Carmel

2009
7
Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitaï offers a look impressionist long history of armed conflict in their nation.
College Boys Live

2009

College Boys Live

2009
4
In a quiet Orlando, Florida, suburb three young men struggle to escape the wreckage of their pasts and create new lives for themselves. Their new home is CollegeBoysLive.com, a voyeur web cam house rigged with 32 cameras, where their every move is watched by thousands of paying members. The site's creator claims CollegeBoysLive.com is simply about showing that "it's okay to be gay." But the neighbors insist it's a pornographic whorehouse and sue to have them evicted. This intimate and provocative documentary examines a complex subculture, but at its heart is the universal search for family and acceptance
Sign Painters

2014

Sign Painters

2014
6.8
There was a time, as recently as the 1980s, when storefronts, murals, banners, barn signs, billboards and even street signs were all hand-lettered with brush and paint. Today, the proliferation of computer-designed, die-cut vinyl lettering and inkjet printers has ushered a creeping sameness into our landscape. Fortunately, there is a growing trend to seek out traditional sign painters and a renaissance in the trade. SIGN PAINTERS is a history of the craft and features the stories of more than two dozen sign painters working in cities throughout the United States.
What Is Neorealism?

2013

What Is Neorealism?

2013
7.4
Filmmaker Kogonada unpicks what defines the Golden Age of Italian cinema with a side-by-side comparison of two edits of the same film, one according to Italian director Vittorio De Sica, and the other according to Hollywood producer David O. Selznick.
Inside the Mind of Leonardo

2013

Inside the Mind of Leonardo

2013
7
Inside The Mind of Leonardo is based on the artist’s private journals dating from the Italian Renaissance. With over 6,000 pages of handwritten notes and drawings, da Vinci’s private journals are the most comprehensive documents that chronicle the work of the world’s most renowned inventor, philosopher, painter and genius. Using this precious collection of writings and drawings to recount Da Vinci’s story in his own words, and combining them with stunning visual effects and 3D technology, we re-create the mindscape and ideas of mankind’s greatest polymath.