Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 156

The Women's Olamal: The Organisation of a Maasai Fertility Ceremony

1985

The Women's Olamal: The Organisation of a Maasai Fertility Ceremony

1985
5
A documentary investigating the events leading up to a fertility ceremony of the Maasai women in Loita, Kenya.
William The Conqueror

2013

William The Conqueror

2013
1
Blending drama with the explanations of passionate historians and specialists, this enriched historical reconstruction traces 60 years in the life a man who transformed the Middle Ages and laid the foundation of modern Europe, William The Conqueror.
A Place of Rage

1991

A Place of Rage

1991
1
Featuring enlightening interviews with Angela Davis, June Jordan, and Alice Walker, this essential documentary is an exuberant celebration of Black American women and their achievements. Within the context of the civil rights, Black power, feminist, and LGBT movements, the trio reassess how women such as Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer revolutionized American society and the world.
Timoteo's Fabulous Ragged Circus

2014

Timoteo's Fabulous Ragged Circus

2014
6
The comedian Timoteo is the leader of a cross-dresser circus that has toured through Chile for forty years. Today his advanced age and health are reason for concern regarding the continuity of the show.
101 Seconds

2018

101 Seconds

2018
6
101 Seconds follows two families as they join the gun control movement after members of their families are killed in a mall.
Black & Gold

2001

Black & Gold

2001
6
In 1994, the Latin Kings became the Latin King and Queen Nation. They claimed to have abandoned their criminal past and to be following in the footsteps of the Black Panthers and the Young Lords.
Mom's Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers' Custody Movement

2006

Mom's Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers' Custody Movement

2006
1
While the fight for LGBTQ Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum, the 1970s witnessed horrific custody battles for lesbian mothers. Mom's Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers’ Custody Movement revisits the early tumultuous years of the lesbian custody movement through the stories of five lesbian mothers and their four children. Narrated by Kate Clinton, the documentary interviews the sons and daughters who were separated from their mothers, the mothers themselves, and one woman who made the difficult decision to flee with her children.
Wallowitch & Ross: This Moment

1999

Wallowitch & Ross: This Moment

1999
1
Documentarian Richard Morris examines both the onstage and offstage lives of veteran cabaret entertainers John Wallowitch and Bertram Ross. Since 1984, Wallowitch and Ross have been a performing duo, entertaining nightclub audiences with such acid-tongued musical parodies as "If You Don't Love Me, I'll Kill Myself -- Or Maybe I'll Kill You" and "Don't Do To Me What Woody Did To Mia." Wallowitch and Ross have also been lovers for 30 years, who met while while both were active in the New York creative community; Ross spent close to three decades as a dancer with the Martha Graham company and Wallowitch is a Julliard-trained pianist and songwriter with over 1,000 compositions to his credit. Morris exmines Wallowitch and Ross both as artists and members of the gay community without patronizing or exploiting them in the process.
David Macaulay: Roman City

1994

David Macaulay: Roman City

1994
9
The glories of Ancient Rome are explored in ROMAN CITY, based on David Macaulay's acclaimed book. This animated and live-action video recounts life in Verbonia, a fictional city in Gaul. A well-planned town with all modern conveniences, it is threatened by conflict between conquerors and conquered. Macaulay also visits Pompeii, Herculaneum, Ostia, Nimes, Orange, and Rome, to view actual Roman architecture and engineering greatness.
Between Land and Sea: A Year in the Life of an Atlantic Surf Town

2018

Between Land and Sea: A Year in the Life of an Atlantic Surf Town

2018
4
Against the backdrop of Ireland’s stunning west coast, this film digs deep into the day to day lives of the surf community, taking the audience beyond the bluster of the typical adrenaline fueled film to create a very real portrait of those who choose the surf lifestyle.
George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus

2018

George: The Story of George Maciunas and Fluxus

2018
7
In 1961 Lithuanian American artist and impresario George Maciunas established the avant-garde art movement Fluxus. George details the rise of Fluxus following a sensationalized tour of “concerts” in Europe in 1962, and continuing in New York for most of the 1960s and ’70s. During this time Maciunas was converting the dying industrial buildings of Soho into a network of artists’ lofts, creating one of the first official real estate co-ops of artist-owned buildings. Maciunas’s life and legacy—as recounted by artists of his generation, including Yoko Ono and Jonas Mekas—ignited debates that remain pivotal to artists working today.
Act & Punishment: The Pussy Riot Trials

2015

Act & Punishment: The Pussy Riot Trials

2015
1
Russian activists Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich decide to separate from the well-known activist group Voina and create their own group named Pussy Riot that would express their ideas of female independence, combining activism, feminism, and punk rock music. Their defeat in court becomes their moral victory, as Pussy Riot are cheered on by thousands of their new-found fans.
Chris and Bernie

1975

Chris and Bernie

1975
7
The story of two young single mothers who join forces to make a new kind of family unit for themselves and their children.
New York: The City and the World

2001

New York: The City and the World

2001
10
Episode Seven of the New York: A Documentary. In the aftermath of World War II, southern African-Americans moved north and Puerto Rican immigrants poured into the city, a trend which would continue for the next thirty years. Robert Moses waged a campaign of urban renewal, including adding highways to the city, hastening white flight to the suburbs. The destruction of the old Penn Station in 1963 and the protests against Moses's plans for the Lower Manhattan Expressway led to the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, ensuring the survival of New York's most architecturally important buildings and neighborhoods. Social and financial crises in the 1960s and 1970s took a toll on the city, but New York's revival since the 1970s has been enduring.
Narcissister Organ Player

2018

Narcissister Organ Player

2018
1
This hybrid performance/documentary film explores how the artist’s complex family history, in particular her relationship with her mother, compelled her to create the masked, erotic performance character Narcissister.
In A League Of Their Own

2004

In A League Of Their Own

2004
10
A look at the 2003/2004 Celtic season
Man on Fire

2018

Man on Fire

2018
8
Grand Saline, Texas, was a sleepy, unremarkable town—until a white preacher lit himself on fire to protest the town's racism in 2014. The subject of this film is deceptively straightforward: A minister commits suicide by setting himself on fire. He leaves behind a letter that frames his decision as a religious response to the intolerable racism of America's past and present, particularly in his Texas hometown. The aftermath is befuddling: There are townspeople who can recall incidents of racial violence and hate speech, and those who have never seen anything of the kind. Black folk in surrounding towns who share rumors and fears about acts of violence, and white folk who say you can't believe everything you hear. Fellow ministers who share the desire to be liberated from a racist past, and churchgoers who believe only mental illness could explain such a suicide.
Collusion

2015

Collusion

2015
10
A groundbreaking documentary exposing the extent of collusion between Loyalist paramilitaries and the British security forces in Northern Ireland during 'the Troubles'.
Fail State

2018

Fail State

2018
7
This in-depth documentary explores the dark side of American higher education, exposing predatory for-profit colleges and the tactics they use to defraud students and the government.
Pink Floyd: Behind the Wall

2000

Pink Floyd: Behind the Wall

2000
7
Members and crew members of the band Pink Floyd tell the story of their band up to their historic performance of The Wall at Earls Court.