Top Rated Documentary Movies on Free Services - Page 498

A Step Apart

1992

A Step Apart

1992
Some experts say the American family isn't working anymore. In this production, seven step families bare their hearts and tell what it takes to make a step family work. A must-see for any step family members.
Kufi Krew: An American Story

2022

Kufi Krew: An American Story

2022
Fast friends and founders of the first Muslim fraternity in the United States struggle with forbidden love, cultural taboos and generational conflict in this heart-warming story about coming-of-age in America.
The Sun Never Sets

2012

The Sun Never Sets

2012
Smithsonian Magazine once asked the rhetorical question, 'Can a weekly paper in rural New Mexico raise enough hell to keep its readers hungry for more, week after week?' The Rio Grande Sun, published in Espanola, New Mexico is considered one of the best weekly newspapers in the country. The Sun is known for its investigative reporting. It broke the story that its own rural community had the highest per capita heroin overdose rate in the country. It has led the fight for open records and open meetings in a county where political shenanigans are the rule. The film follows the Sun's reporters and editors as they write about the news, the sports, the art and culture of a large rural county. John Burnett, an NPR correspondent, reports on the Sun's Police Blotter--'the best in the country.' Tony Hillerman, the celebrated author and newspaper editor, speaks eloquently about the value of community newspapers. The Sun Never Sets is narrated by Bob Edwards, Peabody Award winning news anchor.
I for Iran

2014

I for Iran

2014
During language classes the director is not only taught basic Persian by her teacher, he also opens the gates to Iranian history and culture. Gradually, the lessons morph into a poetic, visual collage that questions the term freedom and the meaning of revolution.
Legends and Idols

2022

Legends and Idols

2022
Armed with just his talent, follow Willard Snow as he attempts to open an art gallery, while painting portraits of Rock Star Legends on canvass and instruments. This is the American Dream rising out of paint and iphones.
Songbirds

2022

Songbirds

2022
The Songbirds guitar museum hosted the world's largest collection of vintage guitars. Covid-19's devastating blow to the music industry forced the museum to permanently close. This documentary film explores the final hours and cultural impact of this special collection.
Soaring Over America

2010

Soaring Over America

2010
Created from public television's popular Over series, this is a tour unlike any other! Fly above landscapes and landmarks in Alaska; the Pacific Northwest; California; the Southwest; Chicago; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and everywhere in between.
Adriatic - United Sea of Europe

2022

Adriatic - United Sea of Europe

2022
Adriatic - United sea of Europe is a fascinating journey between Italy and the Balkans to discover the Slavic and Albanian communities that settled in central Italy, in the Molise region, as early as the 15th century, following the Ottoman invasion of the Balkan Peninsula. The documentary is divided into two chapters: the first dedicated to the Italian-Albanians, the second to the Italian-Croats.
No Job For a Woman

2011

No Job For a Woman

2011
Martha Gellhorn, Ruth Cowan, Dickey Chappelle: Three tenacious journalists who forged legendary reputations as war correspondents during a time when battlefields were considered no place for a woman. Their repeated delegation to the sidelines to cover the “woman’s angle” succeeded in expanding the focus of war coverage to bring home a new kind of story— a personal look at the human cost of war. Featuring an abundance of archival photos and interviews with modern female war correspondents, as well as actresses bringing to life the written words of these remarkable women.
Ralph Erskine

1986

Ralph Erskine

1986
The British architect based in Stockholm looks back on major projects of a long career inspired by European Modernism combined with his personal sensitivity to nature and community. Erskine is especially valued for his vital understanding of social interaction, exemplified in commissions for universities and housing complexes built from Scandinavia to Italy. The architect takes the camera on a tour of his buildings while offering revealing comments and interpretations.
Higher Grounds

2020

Higher Grounds

2020
Panama is reimagining coffee, and driving new standards for both quality and economics. Explores variety, farming practice, and processing innovation—notions traditionally associated only with winemaking. Through collaborative competition, Panamanian growers are banding together to raise the bar for coffee worldwide. Featuring interviews with award-winning coffee producers in Panama and global coffee celebrities, as well as stunning footage of Panama’s breathtaking highlands, Higher Grounds concludes with a hard look at the sustainability of specialty coffee, the implications for developing-region producers, and how Panama offers a model for the rest of the world.
Cats of Malta

2022

Cats of Malta

2022
A documentary celebrating the island’s stray cats and the volunteers who show the large population unconditional love and support.
The Art of Dissent

2021

The Art of Dissent

2021
"The Art of Dissent" celebrates the resilience and power of artistic engagement in Czechoslovakia before and after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion. The documentary's main protagonists - Václav Havel, banned singer Marta Kubisová, and the underground rock group the Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) - became the most recognizable dissidents during the 1970-80s. Havel bridged the disparate clusters of individuals and fused the literary, musical, political, and philosophical nonviolent elements into a hybrid network that eventually toppled the totalitarian regime in 1989.
Horny Kid - A film essay

2022

Horny Kid - A film essay

2022
The filmmaker's mother describes stories of his lustful youth over the phone, causing them to reflect on his current love life at the age of 30.
Behind the Card

2022

Behind the Card

2022
The sports card industry grows into a place for investors and collectors to become millionaires overnight. A piece of cardboard can turn into a huge investment.
Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

2009

Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness

2009
A documentary on what is it that makes us who we are: an African an African, a Jew a Jew, an Arab an Arab, a white person white -and what do we make of our apparent differences? Not so long ago, all human cultures assumed a natural and unassailable hierarchy - Europeans on the top, blacks on the bottom and everybody else in the middle. The work of the anthropologist Melville Jean Herskovits helped upend many of these assumptions. Herskovits: A Jew at the Heart of Blackness is the journey of a man into international race politics and its consequences for him -and us- in the first half of 20th century, when the battleground in the earliest "culture wars" was newspapers, radio shows, movies and cartoon, all infused with propaganda that explained why Caucasians dominated the world and other peoples as part of life's natural and inevitable order.
Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini

2024

Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini

2024
The documentary begins when the fictionalized drama ends. Sara spent three years volunteering to save refugees on the same journey that made her so famous, and was suddenly arrested in Aug. 2018, accused by Greek authorities of running a criminal enterprise with charges including “international espionage and people smuggling.” If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison and the end of her humanitarian career. Shot over three years, the film follows Sara’s fight for justice and journey of self-discovery.
Kisho Kurokawa From Metabolism to Symbiosis

1993

Kisho Kurokawa From Metabolism to Symbiosis

1993
A portrait of the internationally acclaimed Japanese architect who employs Buddhist ideas and western modernism to achieve intercultural architecture.
Unsettled History: America, China, and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid

2022

Unsettled History: America, China, and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid

2022
Doolittle's Raiders pull off a one-way bombing run over Tokyo and ditch their planes in and along the coast of China, where they are rescued by Chinese villagers, guerrillas, and missionaries. That generosity triggers horrific retaliation by the Japanese that claims an estimated quarter-million lives and prompts comparisons to the 1937-38 Rape of Nanking. The memory of the Raiders and their rescuers is kept alive by their children and grandchildren.
The Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith

2011

The Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith

2011
The journey of Senator Margaret Chase Smith from Skowhegan to Washington D.C. included obstacles such as 1950s gender bias and McCarthyism. Along the way Senator Smith became the first woman in history to serve in both the U.S. House and Senate. Hosted by Jack Perkins, the film includes insightful interviews with Senators Olympia Snow, Susan Collins, and Bill Cohen.