Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 121

Mythic Journeys

2009

Mythic Journeys

2009
6
Mythic Journeys includes animation, documentary, story, atwork, and animation about the role of mythology & mysticism in modern society and storytelling, featuring interviews with Deepak Chopra and Michael Beckwith. Documentary footage is placed within a frame story for which Brian and Wendy Froud created the puppets and actors Mark Hamill, Lance Henriksen, and Tim Curry provided the voices.
Backyard

1984

Backyard

1984
6
Documentary film maker Ross McElwee returns to his family home in Charlotte NC. In filming his family, he captures a microcosm of Southern society.
Sun Come Up

2010

Sun Come Up

2010
6.2
Sun Come Up tells the story of some of the world's first environmental refugees, the Carteret Islanders. The film follows relocation leader Ursula Rakova and a group of young families as they search for new homes in war torn Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea.
Uksuum Cauyai: The Drums of Winter

1989

Uksuum Cauyai: The Drums of Winter

1989
5.5
This film gives an intimate look at a way of life of which most of us have seen only glimpses. Dance was once at the heart of Yupik Eskimo spiritual and social life. It was the bridge between the ancient and the new, the living and the dead and a person's own power and the greater powers of the unseen world.
How to Make a Book with Steidl

2010

How to Make a Book with Steidl

2010
5.5
For 40 years, Gerhard Steidl has combined the roles of printer and publisher, resolved to personally check each sheet leaving his printing shop in Göttingen. This perfectionism, combined with an unconditional love for books, for the traditional printing craft, and a commitment to the quality standards of manufacturing (in the original sense of the word, made by hand), has gained worldwide attention. The most internationally renowned photographic artists vie for the opportunity to collaborate with Gerhard Steidl, to conceive and produce the perfect publication with him.
Forbidden Voices

2012

Forbidden Voices

2012
5.8
Their voices are suppressed, prohibited and censored. But Yoani Sánchez, Zeng Jinyan and Farnaz Seifi are not frightened of their dictatorial regimes. These fearless women stand for a new, networked generation of modern resistance fighters. In Cuba, China and Iran their blogs shake the foundations of the state information monopoly - putting their lives at risk thereby.
Reportero

2012

Reportero

2012
6.5
On the road with experienced journalist Sergio Haro from the Mexican magazine Zeta. Risking his own life, the reporter of the Mexican weekly magazine tirelessly fights corruption and the drug cartels.
The Walking Dead Girls

2011

The Walking Dead Girls

2011
3.8
The Walking Dead Girls is a behind-the-scenes look into zombie culture in the United States and the obsession into ""Sexy Female Zombies"". What is it about Zombie Bimbos or ""Zimbies"" that are starting to gain the worlds interest? Why are zombies now in mainstream culture and seen in advertising from JCPenny and Sears? With interviews with zombie master maker George Romero and cult movie star Bruce Campbell from ZomBcon 2010 and so much more. ""The Walking Dead Girls"" is a sexy look into the zombie phenomenon created by George Romero that is 40 years in the making
Bending Steel

2013

Bending Steel

2013
6
The Cyclone, The Freakshow, The Mermaid Parade: all Coney Island icons. But Chris “Wonder” Schoeck has always preferred the Coney Island Strongman. Bending Steel follows the sweet, unassuming Schoeck as he parlays his extraordinary strength into the pursuit of his lifelong dream. Training with an elite group of men whose hands bend, drag, twist and shred metal, he tackles an enormous physical and mental challenge, taking a surprisingly emotional journey as a result.
Black Indians: An American Story

2004

Black Indians: An American Story

2004
6.2
James Earl Jones narrates this examination of the historical relationship between American Indians and African-Americans, who often merged their cultures to work and live together while mainstream white society shunned them. Through illuminating anecdotes and interviews, descendants of fused black and Indian families discuss the complications of their mixed heritage and how their culture was largely erased on official documents.
21 Up South Africa: Mandela's Children

2008

21 Up South Africa: Mandela's Children

2008
6.2
Documentaries that revisit a group of children every seven years is brought to post-apartheid South Africa. Here, filmmaker Angus Gibson interviews 11 young people of various races and backgrounds as they turn 21. The result is an insightful look at how they've changed and the issues they face such as crime, race relations, education and the AIDS epidemic which has killed three of the original 14 children.
Metamorphoses

2013

Metamorphoses

2013
6.5
Documentary about one of the most severely contaminated regions in the world, located in the southern Ural Mountains.
American Mystic

2010

American Mystic

2010
5.5
Documentary about three young people, each a member of a fringe religious community, who have separated themselves from mainstream America in order to live immersed in their faiths. Set against depressed but quintessentially American landscapes - the former revivalist district of upstate New York, old mining country in the mountains of northern California, and the stark badlands of South Dakota - the film interlaces three very intimate, apolitical portraits of young individuals trying to lead more extraordinary, mystical lives.
Sound of Heimat - Deutschland singt

2012

Sound of Heimat - Deutschland singt

2012
8.5
In the musical road movie, New Zealand musician Hayden Chisholm sets out on a journey of discovery across Germany in search of German folk music. As a stranger with an unbiased view of German culture and an open ear for the lyrics and melodies of modern and traditional musicians, he encounters a lively diversity of regional customs and activities. In Sound of Heimat – Deutschland singt, directors Arne Birkenstock and Jan Tengeler also shed light on the ambivalent attitude toward folk music and the understanding of one's own homeland that is so widespread in Germany. These are topics that have been forgotten in many places due to past ideologization and the "ideal world" of the Musikantenstadl.
Whisky: The Islay Edition

2010

Whisky: The Islay Edition

2010
5.2
“WHISKY: the Islay edition” yearns for a chesterfield and a glass of whisky as it transports the viewer to a sanctum of the Scottish gold. It doesn’t just inform us about whisky, it evokes the finesses of the liquor, the art of tasting, the craft of distillation, the history of the distilleries and the richness of the isle of Islay itself. The documentary takes us to a small Scottish island called Islay. It is the home of 8 world famous whisky distilleries. The complete process of making whisky is divided in 8 parts. The 8 distilleries represent each a part of this process, in order of appearance: Ardbeg, Kilchoman, Bowmore, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Bruichladdich.
Gut Renovation

2013

Gut Renovation

2013
4.5
Su Friedrich's personal essay charting the destruction of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. After living in the neighborhood for 20 years, the filmmaker was one of many who were forced out after the city passed a rezoning plan allowing developers to build luxury condos where there were once thriving industries, working-class families, and artists. Filmed over many years, it is a scathing portrait of one neighborhood's demolition and transformation.
Waiting for Fidel

1975

Waiting for Fidel

1975
5.8
This feature-length documentary from 1974 takes viewers inside Fidel Castro's Cuba. A movie-making threesome hope that Fidel himself will star in their film. The unusual crew consists of former Newfoundland premier Joseph Smallwood, radio and TV owner Geoff Stirling and NFB film director Michael Rubbo. What happens while the crew awaits its star shows a good deal of the new Cuba, and also of the three Canadians who chose to film the island. (NFB)
The Revolutionary

2011

The Revolutionary

2011
5
Documentary about the life of Sidney Rittenberg, an American who spent over 30 years in China and was an active participant in the Chinese communist revolution.
Bible Quiz

2013

Bible Quiz

2013
6.8
Mikayla hopes to win the National Bible Quiz championship and the heart of her team captain.
Salma

2013

Salma

2013
5
When Salma, a young Muslim girl in a south Indian village, was 13 years old, her family locked her up for 25 years, forbidding her to study and forcing her into marriage. During that time, words were Salma’s salvation. She began covertly composing poems on scraps of paper and, through an intricate system, was able to sneak them out of the house, eventually getting them into the hands of a publisher. Against the odds, Salma became the most famous Tamil poet: the first step to discovering her own freedom and challenging the traditions and code of conduct in her village.