Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 118

How To Smell A Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy

2014

How To Smell A Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock at his Farm in Normandy

2014
4.8
In the year 2000, Les Blank, along with co-filmmaker Gina Leibrecht, visited Richard Leacock (1921-2011) at his farm in Normandy, France and recorded conversations with him about his life, his work, and his other passion: cooking! With the flair of a seasoned raconteur, Leacock recounts key moments in his seventy years as a filmmaker and the innovations that he, D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles and others invented that revolutionized documentary filmmaking, and explores the mystery of creativity. With the passing of both Blank and Leacock, the documentary is a moving insight into the lives of two seminal figures in the history of film.
Facing the Music

2001

Facing the Music

2001
6.8
Anne Boyd, one of Australia's leading contemporary composers, teaches music at the publicly funded University of Sydney. This documentary chronicles a year in the life of an academic department that's under the financial gun.
Signed: Lino Brocka

1987

Signed: Lino Brocka

1987
3.8
Documentary filmmaker Christian Blackwood profiles controversial Filipino director Lino Brocka, detailing his rags-to-riches rise in the mainstream film industry of the Philippines. Primarily using interviews with the effusive director himself, Blackwood allows Brocka to describe, in his own terms, the common thematic threads tying together his work, from his own homosexuality to the political repression suffered by Filipinos at the hands of Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorial government.
The Last Season

2014

The Last Season

2014
5.8
In search of the lucrative matsutake mushroom, two former soldiers discover the means to gradually heal their wounds of war. Roger, a self-described 'fall-down drunk' and sniper in Vietnam, and Kouy, a Cambodian refugee who fought the Khmer Rouge, bonded in the bustling tent-city known as Mushroom Camp, which pops up each autumn in the Oregon woods. Their friendship became an adoptive family; according to a Cambodian custom, if you lose your family like Kouy, you must rebuilt it anew. Now, however, this new family could be lost. Roger's health is declining and trauma flashbacks rack his mind; Kouy gently aids his family before the snow falls and the hunting season ends, signaling his time to leave.
Audrey Hepburn: Remembered

1993

Audrey Hepburn: Remembered

1993
7.2
Audrey Hepburn was one of the movies' best-loved stars, blessed with beauty, talent, an elegant sophistication and an enduring aura of youthful innocence. As Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, she spoke for the world's suffering children and families, earning an affection and admiration that only increased with news of her untimely death. From the star herself we learn of her career and the family and friendships that were her priority.
Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man

1988

Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man

1988
7
A retrospective of the life and career of actor Cary Grant, including clips from his films and interviews with his friends and co-workers.
Animals and More Animals

1994

Animals and More Animals

1994
5.5
This fascinating French documentary chronicles the reopening of the Zoology Hall in the Paris Museum of Natural History in 1993. It had been closed for almost thirty years and it took three years of hard work to restore it and the stuffed creatures within.
Kate Bornstein Is a Queer & Pleasant Danger

2014

Kate Bornstein Is a Queer & Pleasant Danger

2014
3.5
For decades, performance artist and writer Kate Bornstein has been exploding binaries and deconstructing gender. And, her own identity. Trans-dyke. Reluctant polyamorist. Sadomasochist. Recovering Scientologist. Pioneering Gender Outlaw. Kate Bornstein Is a Queer and Pleasant Danger, joins her on her latest tour capturing rollicking public performances and painful personal revelations as it bears witness to Kate as a trailblazing artist theorist activist who inhabits a space between male and female with wit, style, and astonishing candor. By turns meditative and playful, the film invites us on a thought provoking journey through Kate's world to seek answers to some of life's biggest questions.
Del mero corazón

1979

Del mero corazón

1979
5
A lyrical journey through the heart of Chicano culture as reflected in the love songs of the Tex-Mex Norteña music tradition. Performers include, Little Joe & La Familia, Leo Garza, Chavela Ortiz, Andres Berlanga, Ricardo Mejia, Conjunto Tamaulipas, Chavela y Brown Express and more.
Thomas Hart Benton

1989

Thomas Hart Benton

1989
7.5
Thomas Hart Benton's paintings were energetic and uncompromising. Today his works are in museums, but Benton hung them in saloons for ordinary people to appreciate.
See No Evil

2014

See No Evil

2014
7.2
Poetic, painful documentary about three retired apes: a film star, a scientist and a cripple. They look back at their lives and the intriguing relationship between humans and apes. Who watches whom, and who learns from this?
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

2014

Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

2014
6.2
The film explores the role of photography, since its rudimentary beginnings in the 1840s, in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present. The dramatic arch is developed as a visual narrative that flows through the past 160 years to reveal black photography as an instrument for social change, an African American point-of-view on American history, and a particularized aesthetic vision.
Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity

2014

Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity

2014
5.2
Born to Fly pushes the boundaries between action and art, daring us to join choreographer Elizabeth Streb and her dancers in pursuit of human flight.
Your Day Is My Night

2014

Your Day Is My Night

2014
5.5
Immigrant residents of a “shift-bed” apartment in the heart of New York City’s Chinatown share their stories of personal and political upheaval. As the bed transforms into a stage, the film reveals the collective history of the Chinese in the United States through conversations, autobiographical monologues, and theatrical movement pieces. Shot in the kitchens, bedrooms, wedding halls, cafés, and mahjong parlors of Chinatown, this provocative hybrid documentary addresses issues of privacy, intimacy, and urban life.
Resonance: Beings of Frequency

2012

Resonance: Beings of Frequency

2012
7.1
Resonance: Beings of Frequency uncovers for the very first time, the actual mechanisms by which mobile phone technology can cause cancer. A deeper look at how every single one of us is reacting to the largest change in environment this planet has ever seen
Following the Ninth: In the Footsteps of Beethoven's Final Symphony

2012

Following the Ninth: In the Footsteps of Beethoven's Final Symphony

2012
8.8
Part road trip, part adventure story, FOLLOWING THE NINTH is an inspirational film about Beethoven's Choral Symphony, its majestic power to liberate us, to shield us against suffering, to provide hope and resilience during dark times. Filmed on five continents and in 12 countries, FOLLOWING THE NINTH is the story of four lives that have been transformed and repaired by the music, expressed most vividly in the prophecy of the Ode to Joy: “Alle Menschen werden Brüder”(All Men Will Be Brothers).
Levitated Mass

2013

Levitated Mass

2013
7.9
The artist behind the sensation of a $10 million, 22-city tour, and the international media storm that ensued.
The Family Jams

2011

The Family Jams

2011
5
A young group of influential musicians tours the country, living and singing together in a Utopian expression of togetherness and family.
Discovering Lennon

2010

Discovering Lennon

2010
7.8
A show commemorating the 30th anniversary of the former Beatle's death. His contemporaries and current commentators reflect on the role of John Lennon, the artist and radical thinker.
Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro

2013

Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro

2013
3.5
Combining over twelve years of footage and narrated by their twin sons, TWO: The Story of Roman & Nyro, follows legendary songwriter Desmond Child and his lifelong partner's loving journey to create their new modern family.