Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 148

Fly Like a Girl

2020

Fly Like a Girl

2020
7
Follows women who dared to aim higher from Lego-loving young girls who includes female pilots in her toy airplanes, to a courageous women who helped lead shuttle missions to space.
The Witches of Hollywood

2020

The Witches of Hollywood

2020
6.5
A documentary studying the archetype of the witch in Hollywood cinema from the 1930s to the present and shows, between the lines, how it is linked to the social history of female power.
Wild Daze

2020

Wild Daze

2020
8.5
In Africa, poachers brutally maim and kill elephants for their ivory, much of which is exported to China or smuggled into the United States. The profits help fund terrorist organisations, and are used to buy guns and artillery. WILD DAZE takes an unflinching look at these problems from various perspectives, and shows how the slaughter has decimated the elephant population, left survivors traumatised, and seriously harmed the forests of Eastern and Southern Africa.
I am not a hero

2020

I am not a hero

2020
8.8
As the world attempts to grapple with the strange new reality precipitated by COVID-19, essential workers are risking their lives daily. This guerilla documentary, shot in Brussels Erasmus University Hospital during the first few months of the lockdown, tells their story.
Takeout

2020

Takeout

2020
7
Filmmaker Michal Siewierski embarks on an audacious journey to expose the real reasons behind the Amazon forest fires and the alarming rate of deforestation in Brazil. Ranging from people’s food choices, to major political corruption, corporate greed and crimes against people and nature. Takeout tackles the facts and stories that traditional media outlets are too afraid to cover.
No Limits: The Thalidomide Saga

2016

No Limits: The Thalidomide Saga

2016
9
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker John Zaritsky returns to the story that has fascinated and compelled him for years - thalidomide and it's effect on the survivors of "the worst drug disaster in history." In this, his third film on the subject, he reconnects with some of the thalidomide victims he originally profiled when they were young, and introduces us to some new people who have been active in the fight for justice. He also highlights some recently released information about German pharmaceutical giant Grünenthal, who aggressively marketed the drug, and are now selling it again under a different usage, but still with no compensation for those who's lives they affected so deeply. The indefatigable spirit of the extraordinary thalidomide victims is cast against the callousness disregard of the drug's manufacturers in a film that lays out the story from it's beginnings in the late 50s to the current state of affairs in the present day. —Philip Webley
Conversion

2021

Conversion

2021
1
A psychologist practicing conversion therapy has a chance encounter with a young gay activist, resulting in his own epiphany concerning the very practice he was conducting.
Bombardier Blood

2020

Bombardier Blood

2020
1.5
In an attempt to complete the Seven Summits, a do-or-die mountaineer with a severe bleeding disorder risks his life in order to shine a light upon the disturbing lack of access to life-sustaining medicine around the world.
Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution

2020

Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution

2020
8
A documentary chronicling the role of Black heroism in America's Revolutionary War.
Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough

1997

Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough

1997
6.5
A profile of the life of actor Walter Matthau.
Truth to Power

2020

Truth to Power

2020
4
The Grammy-winning lead singer of System of a Down, Serj Tankian helps to awaken a political revolution on the other side of the world, inspiring Armenia's struggle for democracy through his music and message.
Born to Play

2020

Born to Play

2020
1
Spends a season with the Boston Renegades, a womens' tackle football team on the path to redemption after going undefeated but losing their championship the previous year. These unpaid athletes put their bodies on the line while maintaining full-time careers that support their lifelong dream… proving that football is for everyone.
Anna/Nana/Nana/Anna

2020

Anna/Nana/Nana/Anna

2020
2.5
A tribute to actresses, approaching their presence in and out the screen, humanizing the icons. From the Ukrainian Anna Sten to the French Anna Karina, we can see some close-up faces that marked the history of the cinema, and whose demand is more relevant than ever.
The Age of Anxiety

2012

The Age of Anxiety

2012
6
The Age of Anxiety is a film that delves into a crisis in motion according to the World Health Organization, disorders related to dread are the most prevalent mental illnesses on the globe at the moment. Is this a disease of modernity? Or is our highly competitive and material culture itself undermining our nerves? The Age of Anxiety explores these questions, while also investigating the role that pharmaceutical companies and even the psychiatric profession play in this phenomenon. Is our anxiety fueling an industry that in turn is profiting from and exploiting our dread in a vicious and self-perpetuating cycle?
Runner

2019

Runner

2019
7.3
A refugee marathoner strives to raise his new country's flag at the Olympics.
Denise Ho: Becoming the Song

2020

Denise Ho: Becoming the Song

2020
1
This timely documentary explores the singer's remarkable journey from Cantopop superstar to outspoken political activist, putting her life and career on the line in support of Hong Konger's struggle to maintain their political freedom.
Far East Deep South

2020

Far East Deep South

2020
8.5
When a Chinese-American family travels from California to Mississippi to visit the grave of their ancestors, they stumble upon surprising revelations. Along the way, they meet a diverse group of local residents and historians, who shed light on the racially complex history of the early Chinese in the segregated South. Their emotional journey also leads them to discover how the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 impacted their family and how deep their roots run in America.
Portraits and Dreams

2020

Portraits and Dreams

2020
6
Revisit photographs created by Kentucky school children in the 1970s and the place where their photos were made. Photographer and artist Wendy Ewald, who guided the students in making their visionary photographs, returns to Kentucky and learns how the lives and visions of her former students have changed.
Street Fighting Men

2017

Street Fighting Men

2017
10
In a rapidly changing America where mass inequality and dwindling opportunity have devastated the black working class, three Detroit men must fight to build something lasting for themselves and future generations.
Part One: China in Revolution 1911–1949

1989

Part One: China in Revolution 1911–1949

1989
8
The first film, China in Revolution, describes the epic upheaval that began in China with the fall of the last emperor in 1911. Over the next four decades, the Chinese people were caught up in struggles with warlords, foreign invasion and a bitter rivalry between the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Party. The film highlights the two figures who came to shape events, Chang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. First they worked as allies to unite the country and then they fought a bloody civil war that was won by the Communists in 1949.