Top Rated Documentary Movies on Hoopla - Page 102

Finding Babel

2016

Finding Babel

2016
6.3
The subversive masterpieces of Russian-Ukrainian writer Isaac Babel challenged the reality of life under rising totalitarianism, and led to his arrest and execution in 1940. In Finding Babel, Andrei Malaev-Babel confronts complex traces of a turbulent history that echo in his grandfather's writing and in the conflicts of today's Ukraine and Russia. Babel's fiction is woven into Andrei's search with ethereal animation that puts the viewer, like Babel's readers, between fantasy and reality.
What He Did

2015

What He Did

2015
3
In 1988, emerging Danish playwright Jens Michael Schau killed his partner of 13 years, the acclaimed author Christian Kampmann, in a fit of jealous rage. The scandal gripped the nation as Schau pleaded guilty and accepted his prison sentence. Now released, Schau is a remorseful recluse who fears the gaze of friends he and Kampmann once shared. Under the weight of his conscience, he has never broken his silence about his horrifying act, until now.
Future Baby

2016

Future Baby

2016
6.7
A look at the world of in vitro fertilization and the rapidly-advancing science of childbearing.
Amargosa

2000

Amargosa

2000
7.7
The inspirational story of Marta Becket: 76-yr old singer, writer, dancer, painter, visionary, and her creation Amargosa.
Bugs

2016

Bugs

2016
6.7
Although scientists and agribusiness have started touting edible insects as the future of sustainable food, the notion of eating bugs hasn’t exactly gained much popularity among the general public. Head Chef Ben Reade and Lead Researcher Josh Evans from the Nordic Food Lab in Denmark are looking to change that. With a focus on food diversity and deliciousness, they set out on a globe-trotting mission to take on the politics of the palate, sampling grubs in the Australian outback, pillaging giant wasp nests in Japan and attending food expos where entrepreneurs pitch their flavorless farmed crickets. Along the way, they put their own haute cuisine spin on local insect delicacies, whipping up dishes like cricket and grasshopper ravioli, maggot cheese gelato and bee larva ceviche.
Killing Ed

2016

Killing Ed

2016
7
KILLING ED is an exposé about the corruption, politics and anti-democratic efforts to privatize U.S. public schools. The documentary investigates the worst case scenario: a rapidly expanding, taxpayer-funded, Texas-based charter school network - America's largest - operated by a global Islamic organization known as the Gülen Movement.
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist

1998

Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist

1998
7.7
A look at the confluence of the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and blacklists with the post-war activism by African Americans seeking more and better roles on radio, television, and stage. It begins in Harlem, measures the impact of Paul Robeson and the campaign to bring him down, looks at the role of HUAC, J. Edgar Hoover and of journalists such as Ed Sullivan, and ends with a tribute to Canada Lee. Throughout are interviews with men and women who were there, including Dick Campbell of the Rose McLendon Players and Fredrick O'Neal of the American Negro Theatre. In the 1940s and 1950s, anti-Communism was one more tool to maintain Jim Crow and to keep down African-Americans.
Mad Tiger

2015

Mad Tiger

2015
6.7
Two best friends spent the last fifteen years touring the country in their performance art punk band. When one of them decides to quit, they both face deeper challenges than expected.
Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran's Ultimate Party

2016

Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran's Ultimate Party

2016
6.7
The story of a famously lavish five-day party held by the Shah of Iran in 1971 to celebrate 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. The event was held at a specially constructed oasis surrounded by a city of tents and attended by 60 world leaders, who enjoyed a five-course banquet and a pageant featuring thousands of soldiers dressed in historical costume. However, the decadence on display had far-reaching consequences, breeding resentment of the Shah's regime among the Iranian people.
The Incomparable Rose Hartman

2016

The Incomparable Rose Hartman

2016
5
With a career spanning decades Photographer Rose Hartman is known for her iconic photos from Studio 54 and the fashion world, her boisterous personality, and ever presence capturing the New York social scene. The film follows Rose through her life of entrée as she put the lives of the glamorous and famous on film that serves as one of the few visual histories of NYC.
Roaring Abyss

2016

Roaring Abyss

2016
7
A sound journey accros the mountains, deserts and forests of Ethiopia and its cultural universe. Roaring Abyss will take you through an inedit collection of music recordings of unvaluable importance for the transmission and preservation of the African heritage.
The Anthropologist

2016

The Anthropologist

2016
10
Margaret Mead is the best known anthropologist of all time. How can her legacy guide a species that today faces unprecedented changes to its environment? THE ANTHROPOLOGIST is a follow up to the Sundance hit and Emmy nominee THE LINGUISTS.
My Talk with Florence

2015

My Talk with Florence

2015
6.3
A minimalist interview-film, dealing with one of the most disturbing life-stories from the twentieth Century. An oral history about abuse, resistance and survival.
Origins

2014

Origins

2014
8.8
"Origins" takes a journey through the biological roots of where we have come from and where we have gone. Using fire as a metaphor for technology, the film looks at the advances of our civilization and how the recklessness of unchecked technology is now choking out the environment and poisoning our bodies. Interviews with the biggest names in the health and green space create compelling context and arguments for how we can better coexist with nature. "Origins" shows how man, technology, and nature can walk together in balance.
Althea

2014

Althea

2014
7
Althea Gibson’s life and achievements transcend sports. A truant from the rough streets of Harlem, Althea emerged as a most unlikely queen of the highly segregated tennis world in the 1950s. Her roots as a sharecropper’s daughter, her family’s migration north to Harlem in the 1930s, mentoring from Sugar Ray Robinson, David Dinkins and others, and fame that thrust her unwillingly into the glare of the early Civil Rights movement, all bring her story into a much broader realm of the American story.
Box 25

2015

Box 25

2015
5.7
Documentary about the relation between Panama and the United States, during the building of the Panama Canal.
A Flickering Truth

2016

A Flickering Truth

2016
5
Afghanistan's film history might well have have been lost forever, if not for the brave custodians who risked their lives to conceal films from the Taliban regime. This is a chronicle of their attempts to preserve and restore thousands of hours of film.
Colin Hay: Waiting for My Real Life

2015

Colin Hay: Waiting for My Real Life

2015
5.3
The story of singer-songwriter Colin Hay, former front-man of Men At Work. We follow Hay from his earliest days in Scotland, through his family's emigration to Australia, to the massive, worldwide success of his band, to the depths of addiction and failure, to a slow climb back up the ladder seeking relevance, artistic freedom and ultimately, transcendence.
Mission Control Texas

2015

Mission Control Texas

2015
7
"The Atheist Experience," produced in Austin, Texas, is the only atheist TV show in the United States. Every Sunday afternoon, two atheists debate callers for one hour, on camera. "Mission Control Texas" portrays the show, its protagonists, and the discussions between the hosts and callers. The debates between believers and skeptics are funny, touching, and shocking in turn, and they're interspersed with footage of the very public religious displays common in the state of Texas. The film is an intimate, concentrated, and entertaining insight into the culture wars, and is sure to provoke inspiration as well as frustration, no matter which side of the divide you fall on.
Angel Azul

2014

Angel Azul

2014
7
Through the hauntingly beautiful lure of Jason deCaire's Taylor's underwater, life-like statues we witness the birth of an artificial coral reef, learn how we are inextricably connected to the ocean and everything in it, and are left to consider how our choices will determine what we leave to future generations.