Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 116

Here One Day

2012

Here One Day

2012
7.3
When filmmaker Kathy Leichter moved back into her childhood home after her mother's suicide, she discovered a hidden box of audiotapes. Sixteen years passed before she had the courage to delve into this trove, unearthing details that her mother had recorded about every aspect of her life from the challenges of her marriage to a State Senator, to her son’s estrangement, to her struggles with bipolar disorder. HERE ONE DAY is a visually arresting, emotionally candid film about a woman coping with mental illness, her relationships with her family, and the ripple effects of her suicide on those she loved.
100 Years

2016

100 Years

2016
8
"100 Years" is the David vs. Goliath story of Elouise Cobell, a petite, Native American Warrior who filed the largest class action lawsuit ever filed against the United States Government and won a $3.4 billion settlement for 300,000 Native Americans whose mineral-rich lands were mismanaged by the Department of the Interior.
East Jerusalem / West Jerusalem

2014

East Jerusalem / West Jerusalem

2014
7.3
In Palestinian East Jerusalem, Singer-Songwriter David Broza records a new album with American, Palestinian and Israeli musicians in defiance of the Middle East's dark realities.
The Master Game

1998

The Master Game

1998
6.3
At the Vienna Art Academy in 1994, an unidentified person painted over 27 works by Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer. Rainer had become world-famous for his abstract art and, in particular, for his over-layering of photographs and overpainting of his own and other artists’ works. But who painted over the “overpainter”? Speculation rages: Did he attack his works himself? A year later, an unsigned letter surfaces claiming responsibility for the act directed against Rainer – and modern art in general – and accusing the artist of being complicit with “destructive modernism.” At the same time, Austria is shaken by a series of mail bombs by the Bajuwarian Liberation Army, in response to the supposed threat to Austria’s “German identity.” Are there connections between the overpainting event and the mail bombs? Or is this all just a game? A dream? Or perhaps a hallucination?
The War Show

2016

The War Show

2016
6.3
A Syrian radio DJ documents the experiences of herself and her friends as their dreams of overthrowing their elected government give way to the grim realities of sectarian death squads and extremism.
The Stairs

2016

The Stairs

2016
5.7
THE STAIRS tells the story of Marty, Greg and Roxanne, each of whom survived decades of street-involvement in Toronto's Regent Park. Using their experiences to ease the paths of others, each works in public health in their old neighbourhood while struggling to maintain their newly-found stability. Told over five years, The Stairs defies stereotypes about drug use, sex work and homelessness through an intimate portrait that is by turns funny, surprising and moving.
Sticky: A (Self) Love Story

2016

Sticky: A (Self) Love Story

2016
5
"Sticky" is everything your mother was too embarrassed to tell you about masturbation, in one stimulating documentary. Full of candid interviews from celebrated figures to everyday people, health care professionals, sex therapists, zoologists, anthropologists, and religious figures, this feature length doc answers age-old questions like: What is masturbation? Will it make me go blind? Is it "normal"? Is it wrong? And why are we so afraid to be caught in the act? In a world where confusion about sexuality remains at the root of so many societal problems - rape, sexual abuse, and the threat of sexually transmitted diseases - "Sticky" will help shatter misconceptions and myths surrounding this intimate aspect of human sexuality.
Broken Heart Land

2014

Broken Heart Land

2014
6.3
A conservative Oklahoma family is shattered when their gay teenage son commits suicide after a bitterly controversial town meeting discussing a proposal for Gay and Lesbian History Month. In their search to unravel the mystery behind his death, they discover a tragic secret, and begin to question their own civic responsibility as they undergo a harrowing transformation from private citizens to public defenders of their son's legacy.
Finding Kim

2016

Finding Kim

2016
5
50 year old Kim is transitioning from female to male gender over a period of two years. The story follows his life, surgery and struggles with his self-image and self-acceptance. Alongside Kim's narrative are interviews with luminaries in the field and trans community.
The Pulitzer At 100

2017

The Pulitzer At 100

2017
6
The Pulitzer at 100, by Oscar and Emmy winning director Kirk Simon, is a ninety-minute independent documentary released in conjunction with the Pulitzer Centennial in April 2016. This film is told through the riveting stories of the artists that have won the prestigious prize. With Pulitzer work read by Helen Mirren, Natalie Portman, Liev Schreiber, John Lithgow and Yara Shahidi; journalists include Carl Bernstein, Nick Kristof, Thomas Friedman, and David Remnick; authors include Toni Morrison, Michael Chabon, Junot Díaz, Tony Kushner, and Ayad Akhtar; and musicians Wynton Marsalis, David Crosby, and John Adams also share their stories.
Finding Babel

2015

Finding Babel

2015
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.
Ada for Mayor

2016

Ada for Mayor

2016
8.3
A first-person chronicle of the journey of Barcelona activist mayor Ada Colau in the form of a personal diary.
Molly & Mobarak

2004

Molly & Mobarak

2004
5.7
Molly & Mobarak is a 2003 Australian documentary directed by Tom Zubrycki. It follows a Hazara asylum seeker, 22-year-old Mobarak Tahiri, as he falls in love with 25-year-old Molly Rule, and faces possible deportation as his temporary visa nears expiration.
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.
Coming Out

2016

Coming Out

2016
5.7
Following a series of gay teen suicides, a deeply closeted student confronts his repressed sexuality in search of acceptance from his family, community, and himself.
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.
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.
Unseen: The Lives of Looking

2016

Unseen: The Lives of Looking

2016
5.2
Artist Dryden Goodwin's first feature-length essay film, focuses on four individuals with extraordinary relationships to looking: an international eye surgeon, a NASA planetary explorer, a leading human rights lawyer and the artist/filmmaker himself. Mixing Goodwin's closely observed drawings, live action and intricately woven soundtrack, the film explores different scales, forms and reasons for looking, in a poetic and metaphysically charged journey.
Chicana

1979

Chicana

1979
5.5
CHICANA traces the history of Chicana and Mexican women from pre-Columbian times to the present. It covers women's role in Aztec society, their participation in the 1810 struggle for Mexican independence, their involvement in the US labor strikes in 1872, their contributions to the 1910 Mexican revolution and their leadership in contemporary civil rights causes. Using murals, engravings and historical footage, CHICANA shows how women, despite their poverty, have become an active and vocal part of the political and work life in both Mexico and the United States.
Francis Bacon

1988

Francis Bacon

1988
6
Francis Bacon revolutionised figurative painting in the 20th century. The English painter unmasked his subjects in a provocative and ruthless manner. Deformed bodies, grimacing faces and the materiality of colour make us aware of brutality and sexuality, existential abysses and the fears of existence. Author Melvyn Bragg accompanies the painter throughout his day. This begins in his London atelier, leads us on to his favourite pub and ends up in gambling club in Soho.