Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 123

Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm

2007

Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm

2007
5.3
This is the story of one simple invention, the vibrator, and its relationship to one complex human behavior, the female orgasm.
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

2011

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

2011
5
The film features 85-year-old Mr. Armstrong, an African American barber in Birmingham, Alabama, as he experiences the manifestation of an unimaginable dream: the election of the first African American president. This colorful and courageous activist of the Civil Rights era casts his vote, celebrates Obama's victory and proudly unfurls the American flag as he is inducted into the Foot Soldiers Hall of Fame. Mr. Armstrong links the magnitude of the present paradigm shift with challenges he faced in the past: from his sons' integration into an all white school to the Bloody Sunday march for voting rights. The documentary raises questions about democracy and patriotism in the face of adversity, and the vigilance and action required to ensure continued forward movement to end racial injustice.
All In This Tea

2007

All In This Tea

2007
7
During the 1990s, David Lee Hoffman searched throughout China for the finest teas. He's a California importer who, as a youth, lived in Asia for years and took tea with the Dali Lama. Hoffman's mission is to find and bring to the U.S. the best hand picked and hand processed tea. This search takes him directly to farms and engages him with Chinese scientists, business people, and government officials: Hoffman wants tea grown organically without a factory, high-yield mentality. By 2004, Hoffman has seen success: there are farmer's collectives selling tea, ways to export "boutique tea" from China, and a growing Chinese appreciation for organic farming's best friend, the earthworm.
Battle for Brooklyn

2011

Battle for Brooklyn

2011
5
An intimate look at the very public and passionate fight waged by residents and business owners of Brooklyn’s historic Prospect Heights neighborhood facing condemnation of their property to make way for the polarizing Atlantic Yards project, a massive plan to build 16 skyscrapers and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets.
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop

2009

Gogol Bordello Non-Stop

2009
6.3
A vibrant chronicle of one of today's most notorious and revered live bands, Gogol Bordello Non-Stop follows Eugene Hütz s gypsy-punk brigade around the world as they spread their liberating libertine musical gospel. Filmmaker Margarita Jimeno tracks their raucous gigs from 2001 to 2006, from NYC to Italy, as the band rises from dingy basements to festival main-stages. The cast is a rotating circus of polyglot personalities from Israel, Russia and America, who dish on their music, their heritage, and their favored vices. Hütz, a sardonic mustachioed Ukrainian immigrant and the group ringleader, fuses his gypsy heritage with a love of punk rock and burlesque. Part carnival barker, social organizer, and poet, he s a mesmerizing presence on-stage and off. Gogol Bordello Non-Stop is an artful documentary that mixes flamboyant costumes, intricate dance choreography, a relentless beat and an explosive energy not seen since the dawn of rock n roll.
Meditate and Destroy

2007

Meditate and Destroy

2007
4.8
Author Noah Levine uses his personal experience and punk-rock sensibilities to connect with young people within juvenile halls and urban centers around the country. Tattoos, motorcycles, and a punk rock soundtrack are featured in this look at how Buddhism has a place in the world of punks.
9 Star Hotel

2007

9 Star Hotel

2007
6.3
Slipping through the predawn darkness over highways, through traffic and across the border, Palestinian construction workers go to work clandestinely in Israel every day. Haar's raw, handheld photography follows workers who build their own border shanty community to enter Israel more easily, with no choice but to risk their lives simply to earn a living.
Qallunaat!

2007

Qallunaat!

2007
5.7
Qallunaat! Why White People Are Funny is an irreverent look at Western Civilization through Inuit eyes. Inspired by the satirical essays of Zebedee Nungak, the film turns the tables on generations of anthropologists, teachers, adventurers and administrators who went North to pursue their Arctic Dreams. Now it’s their turn to be poked, prodded, examined and explained. A new generation of Inuit is ready to take on the Qallunaat at their own game. Grounded in their own traditions but educated in the South, they have a unique perspective on the culture that has come to dominate the planet. And they are not afraid to speak their minds.
Lenny Bruce: Without Tears

1972

Lenny Bruce: Without Tears

1972
3.3
The outrageous, groundbreaking comic Lenny Bruce, whose iconoclastic material in a conservative era got him into tragic trouble, is profiled by a close friend, Fred Baker, who prefers to remember the laughs Lenny Bruce's memory evokes instead of the tears. By presenting Bruce's landmark skits on the Steve Allen Show, his failed TV pilot episode and a candid interview with Nat Hentoff, Bruce's genius and anguish show through the dramatic and tragic trajectory of his career from aspiring artist to hunted "lawbreaker".
Pregnant in America

2008

Pregnant in America

2008
4
Pregnant In America is the true story of Steve and Mandy Buonaugurio, a young, adventurous, expectant couple, who decide to take a daring and potentially dangerous approach to having their first child--outside the modern American medical system. What they learn about hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, midwives, and home birth as they travel across the United States and Europe interviewing experts and confronting birthing situations, exposes them to some shocking and disturbing realities about America¹s maternity care system and what is happening to women and babies. Ultimately, what they learn impacts on and alters the outcome of their own pregnancy.
Earth Days

2009

Earth Days

2009
6.3
The story of our growing awareness and understanding of the environmental crisis and emergence, during the 1960s and '70s, of popular movement to confront it.
Grandma, a Thousand Times

2011

Grandma, a Thousand Times

2011
5.2
Teta Kaabour is an 83-year old family matriarch and sharp-witted queen bee of an old Beiruti quarter. She’s been gripped as of late by the silence of her once-buzzing household where she raised children and grandchildren. Resigned to Argileh smoking and day-long coffee drinking on a now-empty balcony, Teta now invokes the deepest memories of her violinist husband who died twenty years ago. She claims a preparedness to re-unite with him.
Fresh

2009

Fresh

2009
7.8
FRESH is more than a movie, it’s a gateway to action. Our aim is to help grow FRESH food, ideas, and become active participants in an exciting, vibrant, and fast-growing movement.
The Ritchie Boys

2004

The Ritchie Boys

2004
7
During WWII, the U.S. formed an elite intelligence unit -- mostly German Jewish academics -- at Camp Ritchie, Maryland. Tasked with devising ways to break the morale of the SS, these men are often credited with bringing an early end to the war. Some of these heroes, who are now in the eighties, are reunited in this documentary.
Only When I Dance

2009

Only When I Dance

2009
6.3
Defying the idea that ballet is an art form steeped in the history of the wealthy white elite, this documentary captures the dreams of two black children from the Favela in Brazil, who, despite constant prejudice and doubt, are both determined to beat the odds and follow their dreams to use dancing as an escape rarely found in their tough day to day lives.
Bustin' Down the Door

2008

Bustin' Down the Door

2008
6
During the winter of 1975 in Hawaii, surfing was shaken to its core. A group of young surfers from Australia and South Africa sacrificed everything and put it all on the line to create a sport, a culture, and an industry that is today worth billions of dollars and has captured the imagination of the world. With a radical new approach and a brash colonial attitude, these surfers crashed headlong into a culture that was not ready for revolution. Surfing was never to be the same again.
Inside the Koran

2008

Inside the Koran

2008
3.7
In this eye-opening film, director Antony Thomas goes deep into the heart of the Muslim world to explore the history and current state of Islam. He attempts to ascertain what Islam's Holy Book actually says about such subjects as equality, punishment, peace, other faiths and suicide bombing. As with most holy books, the paradoxes contained within lead to an extremely wide range of interpretations, and as such can be "used for ultimate grace or as an alibi for appalling acts and beliefs." Thomas investigates how Islam's teachings in the Koran are very tactfully being employed by nations and powerful leaders alike to further their own political, cultural, and social norms.
Training Rules

2009

Training Rules

2009
4.3
Examines how women's collegiate sports, caught in a web of homophobic practices, collude in the destruction of the lives and dreams of many of its most talented athletes.
Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh

1993

Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh

1993
5
Ladakh, or Little Tibet, is a wildly beautiful desert land high in the western Himalayas. It is a place of few resources and an extreme climate. Yet, for more than a thousand years, it has been home to a thriving culture. Traditions of frugality and co-operation, coupled with an intimate and location-specific knowledge of the environment, enabled the Ladakhis not only to survive, but to prosper. Then came development. Now in Leh, the capital, one finds pollution and divisiveness, inflation and unemployment, intolerance and greed. Centuries of ecological balance and social harmony are under threat from modernisation. The breakdown of Ladakh's culture and environment forces us to re-examine what we really mean by progress - not only in the developing parts of the world, but in the industrialized world as well. The story of Ladakh teaches us about the root causes of environmental, social and psychological problems, and provides valuable guidelines for our own future.
Act of God

2009

Act of God

2009
5.2
A Canadian documentary feature film that investigates the effects of being struck by lightning.