Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 106

Essene

1972

Essene

1972
7.2
Essene is about daily life in a Benedictine monastery and the resolution of conflict between personal needs and the institutional and organizational priorities of the community. In the Order, where the focus of life is the relationship of individual work and worship to the community as a whole, the brethren must cope with the same issues that arise in any community: rules, work, worship, values, love, and play.
Chemerical

2009

Chemerical

2009
6.8
'Chemerical' explores the life cycle of everyday household cleaners and hygiene products to prove that, thanks to our clean obsession, we are drowning in a sea of toxicity. An average North American family try to turn a new leaf by creating and living in a toxic free home. Chemerical tackles the 'toxic debate' in a truly informative and entertaining way, not only by raising awareness, but more importantly, by providing simple solutions. Sparking awareness through an interesting and inspiring dialogue of an issue that affects the lives of everyone, Chemerical will seek to catalyze a change in behavior. Focusing on the lives and foibles of a family that subsists on a chemical dependent lifestyle, and bit-by-bit revealing its impact and scope on their own well-being and that of their fellow humans, the film will relate and share their story as a basis for connecting the dots between our consumer choices and community concerns.
Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story

2012

Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story

2012
7
While filming a documentary in Mississippi in 1965, Frank De Felitta forever changed the life of an African-American waiter and his family. In 2011, Frank's son returns to the Delta to examine the repercussions of that fateful encounter.
The Beat Hotel

2012

The Beat Hotel

2012
4.5
The Beat Hotel, a new film by Alan Govenar, goes deep into the legacy of the American Beats in Paris during the heady years between 1957 and 1963, when Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso fled the obscenity trials in the United States surrounding the publication of Ginsberg’s poem Howl. They took refuge in a cheap no-name hotel they had heard about at 9, Rue Git le Coeur and were soon joined by William Burroughs, Ian Somerville, Brion Gysin, and others from England and elsewhere in Europe, seeking out the “freedom” that the Latin Quarter of Paris might provide.
Where Are You Taking Me?

2012

Where Are You Taking Me?

2012
6.2
A high society wedding, bustling city streets, a center for former child soldiers, a nightclub full of music and laughter: these are the many faces of today's Uganda, as wonderfully captured by filmmaker Kimi Takesue. Whether exploring the pulsating energy of the city or contemplating quiet moments in the country, her artful camera compositions and the lyrical pacing of the film allow us to truly engage and process the foreign land on our own terms. Documenting Uganda while it deals with day-to-day realities and the aftermath of its civil wars, Takesue, well aware of her perspective as an outsider, strives for simple, unadorned honesty. Employing a largely observational style, Takesue allows the sight and sounds-and the people-of Uganda to speak for themselves. Usually the people she records simply ignore the camera, but when someone does engage-whether it's a group of school children...
Art Is... The Permanent Revolution

2012

Art Is... The Permanent Revolution

2012
5.5
The anger and outrage captured by graphic artists have defined revolutions through the centuries. Printmakers have depicted the human condition in all its glories and struggles so powerfully that perceptions, attitudes and politics have been dramatically influenced. And the value and impact of this art is even more important today. In the new documentary, ART IS... THE PERMANENT REVOLUTION, three contemporary American artists and a master printer help explain the dynamic sequences of social reality and protest. Among the wide range of 60 artists on display are Rembrandt, Goya, Daumier, Kollwitz, Dix, Masereel, Grosz, Gropper, and Picasso. While their stirring graphics sweep by, the making of an etching, a woodcut and a lithograph unfolds before our eyes, as the contemporary artists join their illustrious predecessors in creating art of social engagement.
The Nine Lives of Marion Barry

2009

The Nine Lives of Marion Barry

2009
5.6
Many people remember Marion Barry as the philandering drug-addled mayor of the nation's capital. He's the poster boy for corruption, a pariah. Yet to others, Marion Barry is a folk hero who has dominated Washington D.C. city politics for over 40 years. Today, Barry is once again in the political limelight. Who is Marion Barry, really? A hero? A scoundrel?
NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting

2005

NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting

2005
6.8
A worldwide culture develops around graffiti art.
Theater of War

2008

Theater of War

2008
6.2
A behind-the-scenes look at The Public Theater's production of Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage" that examines the playwright's life and ideas.
Kid Icarus

2008

Kid Icarus

2008
6.5
18-year-old Leigh lives in a trailer park on the outskirts of Los Angeles, attends community college, has no real friends and works part time at Home Depot. With an obsession for Steven Spielberg and enrolled in a film production class, he sets out to make his cinematic debut. He hopes the film will be his ticket out of his mundane life and into a world of popularity, women and success. And he just may be on his way, if he doesn't self-destruct first.
Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque

2005

Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque

2005
6.8
Life and work of the founder of the Cinémathèque Française.
London in the Raw

1964

London in the Raw

1964
3.8
Influenced by the worldwide success of Italian 'Mondo' movies, British low-budget movie mogul Arnold Louis Miller concocted this exploitation-style documentary. Peering behind the grimy net curtains of London life into seedy bars and clubs, and burrowing beneath the glittering façade of the capital's glamorous cocktail lounges and casinos, "London in the Raw" presents a cynical, sometimes startling, vision of life in 1960s London.
Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady

2012

Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady

2012
7.2
Margaret Thatcher - The Iron Lady is the first major documentary to look back on the development and impact of this remarkable woman, whom commentators of both the political left and right agree changed the face of 20th Century politics forever. Featuring many excerpts from her powerful speeches and insightful contributions from her political supporters and detractors, a portrait emerges of a woman whose strength of conviction eventually becomes the weakness of intransigence.
Live Nude Girls Unite!

2000

Live Nude Girls Unite!

2000
4.5
Documentary look at the 1996-97 effort of the dancers and support staff at a San Francisco peep show, The Lusty Lady, to unionize. Angered by arbitrary and race-based wage policies, customers' surreptitious video cameras, and no paid sick days or holidays, the dancers get help from the Service Employees International local and enter protracted bargaining with the union-busting law firm that management hires. We see the women work, sort out their demands, and go through the difficulties of bargaining. The narrator is Julia Query, a dancer and stand-up comedian who is reluctant to tell her mother, a physician who works with prostitutes, that she strips.
Obscene

2008

Obscene

2008
5
A look at the life and work of American publisher Barney Rosset, who struggled to bring controversial works like "Tropic of Cancer" and "Naked Lunch" to publication.
When China Met Africa

2011

When China Met Africa

2011
5.4
A cinematic feature documentary about China's foray into Africa told through the lives of Chinese adventurers & Zambian power brokers as they negotiate the tricky waters of this rapidly expanding and vital relationship.
Deep Blues

1992

Deep Blues

1992
8.5
This warm 90 minutes documentary shows us unknown blues musicians from Mississippi. They play everywhere : on the streets, in dirty little bars, in a barber shop, in big clubs. The film really captures the true faces of blues and shows us that this music had nothing to do with nostalgia or record company hypes. Documentary on the Delta blues.
Convento

2010

Convento

2010
6.2
A Dutch family left Holland to transform a 400 year old monastery into a home, artist's workshop, and nature preserve. Filmed entirely in remote village in Portugal, Convento bends the rigid structure of documentary filmmaking, blurring the lines of information and surrealism Featuring the renowned kinetic artist Christiaan Zwanikken and his family.
Payback

2012

Payback

2012
5.8
An adaptation of Margaret Atwood's book examining the metaphor of indebtedness.
China Heavyweight

2012

China Heavyweight

2012
6
In southwestern China, state athletic coaches scour the countryside to recruit poor, rural teenagers who demonstrate a natural ability to throw a good punch. Moved into boxing training centers, these boys and girls undergo a rigorous regimen that grooms them to be China’s next Olympic heroes but also prepares them for life outside the ring. As these young boxers develop, the allure of turning professional for personal gain and glory competes with the main philosophy behind their training – to represent their country. Interconnected with their story is that of their charismatic coach, Qi Moxiang, who – now in his late thirties and determined to win back lost honor – trains for a significant fight.