Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 154

The Polygon

2014

The Polygon

2014
6.5
The Polygon shines a light on the village of Sarzhal in East Kazakhstan, situated only 18kms from the perimeter of the former Semipalatinsk Test Site, that was home to over 600 nuclear detonations. Between 1949 and 1991 the Soviet Union detonated 116 above ground bombs, whose massive radioactive mushroom clouds were witnessed by thousands of innocent and unsuspecting Kazakh villagers. They gazed openmouthed at the spectacle, completely unaware that nuclear fallout was raining down on them, their children, livestock and homes. 20 years after the closure of The Polygon they are still suffering high rates of cancer, cancer related diseases and mental illness. The Polygon takes us on a journey from the twisted Cold War experiments to those victims who remain today, still suffering despite the emergence of Kazakhstan as a major economic player on the global stage.
Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas

2017

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas

2017
8
An offbeat, irreverent musical documentary that tells the story of a group of Jewish songwriters, including Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker and Johnny Marks, who wrote the soundtrack to Christianity’s most musical holiday. It’s an amazing tale of immigrant outsiders who became irreplaceable players in pop culture’s mainstream – a generation of songwriters who found in Christmas the perfect holiday in which to imagine a better world, and for at least one day a year, make us believe.
Enormous: The Gorge Story

2021

Enormous: The Gorge Story

2021
3.5
Enormous: The Gorge Story carves out the never-before-told story of the world’s most iconic music venue, The Gorge Amphitheatre. This music film investigates the venue’s unlikely evolution from a small winery created by a neurosurgeon to becoming one of the greatest outdoor music destinations in the world. Sign up to our mailing list for updates and original music content.
Little Gandhi

2016

Little Gandhi

2016
6
The story of iconic Syrian peace activist Ghiyath Matar whose brutal torture and death at the age of 26 outraged the international community and erupted into one of the most violent uprisings in modern history.
Prison State

2014

Prison State

2014
8
From PBS and Frontline: With unprecedented access, FRONTLINE investigates the impact of mass incarceration in America, focusing on a troubled housing project in Louisville, Kentucky, and a statewide effort to reverse the trend. There are some 2.3 million people behind bars in the U.S. today, but a disproportionate number come from a few city neighborhoods, and in some places the concentration is so dense that states are spending millions of dollars a year to lock up residents of single blocks. "Prison State" examines one community, Louisville's Beecher Terrace housing project, and follows the lives of four residents as they move in and out of custody, while Kentucky tries break that cycle and shrink its prison state.
Eat the Kimono

1989

Eat the Kimono

1989
5.5
EAT THE KIMONO is a brilliant documentary about Hanayagi Genshu, a Japanese feminist and avant-garde dancer and performer, who has spent her life defying her conservative culture's contempt for independence and unconventionality. She denounced Emperor Hirohito as a war criminal, and dismissed death threats made against her by right-wing groups.
Forever, Chinatown

2016

Forever, Chinatown

2016
8
Forever, Chinatown is a story of unknown, self-taught 81-year-old artist Frank Wong who has spent the past four decades recreating his fading memories by building romantic, extraordinarily detailed miniature models of the San Francisco Chinatown rooms of his youth.
Time of the Gods

1992

Time of the Gods

1992
5
The film explores what transformations in power and politics do to art, how much opportunism can be found in “pure” art and whether fascist symbols can ever regain their aesthetic innocence. The questions it addresses about the relationship between ethics and aesthetics make a valuable contribution to any discussion about art and power.
Leftovers

2017

Leftovers

2017
6.5
A journey across the country to understand why senior citizens are the fastest growing group of people going hungry in America. This journey will change your thinking about aging.
Building Bridges

2017

Building Bridges

2017
2.8
Heloisa receives a gift: a collection of super-8 films with images of enormous cataracts that once comprised the Seven Falls (Sete Quedas), a natural paradise destroyed by the construction of the world's largest hydroelectric plant, in the early 1980s. The construction of the plant, at the height of the Brazilian military regime, awakens memories of a past immersed in a political authoritarianism. The film starts from the relationship between Heloisa, the filmmaker, and her father, Alvaro, an engineer who had his moment of glory during the Brazilian military dictatorship. They question the political trajectory of Brazil.Projections and maps become the first bridges to connect with the past. However, it is the inescapable present that really strikes Alvaro and Heloisa as they position themselves on opposite sides.
Vietnam Symphony

2005

Vietnam Symphony

2005
8
In 1965 during the Vietnam War, students and teachers from the National Conservatory of Music in Hanoi were forced to flee to a small village in the countryside. With the help of villagers they built an entire campus underground where they lived, studied and played music for five years as the war raged around them. This documentary records the coming together of the former conservatory students and villagers for a reunion concert 30 years after the war, to paint a moving portrait of life in Vietnam then and now.
Fade to Black

2017

Fade to Black

2017
8
Peter Short, the charismatic CEO of a major Australian company, learns that he has only months to live after he is diagnosed with terminal oesophageal cancer. Not wanting to face a painful death, Peter decides to source the lethal drug Nembutal, giving him the option to end his own life peacefully. With the help of a rogue doctor who supplies the drug to suffering patients, Peter sets out to have voluntary euthanasia legalised in Australia.
Geek Girls

2017

Geek Girls

2017
5
When filmmaker Gina Hara sets out to explore the hidden half of nerd culture, she struggles through unexpected resistance. Welcome to the world of cute dresses, professional gamers, fake names and death threats.
Milk

2015

Milk

2015
7.5
Through an intimate and artistic lens, yet investigative and political, Milk brings a universal focus on the politics, commercialization and controversies surrounding birth and infant feeding over the canvas of stunningly beautiful visuals and poignant voices from around the globe.
Mighty Ground

2017

Mighty Ground

2017
8.5
A gifted singer, struggling with addiction on the streets of Skid Row, sets out on a journey to transform his life.
No Maps on My Taps

1979

No Maps on My Taps

1979
7
The remarkable spirit of tap dancers and their history provides a joyous backdrop for intimate portraits of hoofers Sandman Sims, Chuck Green, and Bunny Briggs.
Hot to Trot

2017

Hot to Trot

2017
1
Inside the fascinating but little-known world of same-sex competitive ballroom dance, Hot to Trot follows a small international cast of four men and women, on and off the dance floor, over a four-year period.
Cruel and Unusual

2017

Cruel and Unusual

2017
5
"Cruel and Unusual" is the story of three men who have spent longer in solitary confinement than any other prisoners in the US because of the murder of a prison guard in 1972 at Angola, the Louisiana state penitentiary. Robert King, Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox were convicted by bribed and blind eye witnesses and with no physical evidence. Targeted as members of the Black Panther party the film follows their struggle against the miscarriage of justice and their cruel and unusual treatment. Their story culminated in 2016 with the release of Albert Woodfox after 43 years in solitary confinement.
A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or: Surface Is Illusion But So Is Depth

1988

A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or: Surface Is Illusion But So Is Depth

1988
8
Director Philip Haas and artist David Hockney invite you to join them on a magical journey through China via a marvelous 72-foot long 17th-century Chinese scroll entitled The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour (1691-1698), scroll seven . As Hockney unrolls the beautiful and minutely detailed work of art, he traces the Emperor Kangxi’s second tour of his southern empire in 1689.
Reggae in a Babylon

1978

Reggae in a Babylon

1978
7
The young, gifted and black generation of the '70s who started the British Reggae movement is captured in this unique documentary. Groove to the smooth sounds and see rare footage.