Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 172

Rio Breaks

2009

Rio Breaks

2009
10
RIO BREAKS is more than just a film about surfing. It follows the story of two best friends, Fabio and Naama, as they navigate their way between the pitfalls of life in the slums and the joys of surfing on their favorite beach. Their goal: to win the contest and become professional surfers. Thirteen-year-old Fabio and 12-year-old Naama live at Favela do Pavao, an enormous slum near Arpoador Beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Pavao is home to Commando Vermelho (CV), or Red Command, one of Rio's most heavily armed drug gangs. It's the Red Command who sets the rules and regulates life in the community. Their presence is ubiquitous, with armed soldiers constantly patrolling the hills and regulating the various points of sale. Fabio lives in an area of the favela called Vietnam, the poorest and most violent part of the slum.
Inside Hana's Suitcase

2009

Inside Hana's Suitcase

2009
7
A Theatrical Documentary Synopsis "Inside Hana's Suitcase", is the poignant story of two young children who grew up in pre-WWII Czechoslovakia and the terrible events that they endured just because they happened to be born Jewish. Based on the internationally acclaimed book "Hana's Suitcase" which has been translated into 40 languages
Off the Straight & Narrow

1999

Off the Straight & Narrow

1999
1
A look at TV since the 1960's shows that Gays and Lesbians have come a long way but still have a long ways to go to a balanced and realistic depiction on television.
Plunder: The Crime of Our Time

2009

Plunder: The Crime of Our Time

2009
6
Plunder: The Crime of Our Time is a hard-hitting investigative film by Danny Schechter. The "News Dissector" explores how the financial crisis was built on a foundation of criminal activity uncovering the connection between the collapse of the housing market and the economic catastrophe that followed.
She's a Boy I Knew

2007

She's a Boy I Knew

2007
1
Using interviews, animation, old family footage, and voice mail, Vancouver filmmaker Gwen Haworth documents her gender transition partially through the voices of her anxious but loving family, best friend, and wife. Calling for a new era of DIY transgender self-representation, Haworth's feature debut is a comic, heartbreaking, and uplifting autobiography that breaks away from the marginalized depictions of trans people that populate mainstream media and focuses on the interpersonal relationships of a family who unexpectedly find their bonds strengthening as they overcome their preconceptions of gender and sexuality.
Monumental: David Brower's Fight for Wild America

2004

Monumental: David Brower's Fight for Wild America

2004
6
From the moment David Brower first laid eyes on the beauty of the Yosemite Valley, he wanted to the fight to preserve the American wilderness for future generations. The story of a true American legend, Monumental documents the life of this outdoorsman, filmmaker and environmental crusader, whose fiery dedication and activism not only saved the Grand Canyon (among other accomplishments) but also transformed the Sierra Club into a powerful national political force, giving birth to the modern environmental movement. Seen through Brower's own eyes - he was an accomplished filmmaker, and his stunning footage is included here-- a 1956 raft trip down Glen Canyon, before its damming, evokes the awful sadness of losing public land we've failed to protect. And in period footage of Brower's early rock-climbs (done in sneakers, with hemp ropes) and of his training in the 10th Mountain Division (who defeated the Nazis in the high Alps).
Tupac Shakur: Thug Immortal

1997

Tupac Shakur: Thug Immortal

1997
2
THUG IMMORTAL is an intimate look at Tupac's life told through never-before-seen footage and interviews with his close friends, revealing an artist who grew up a thug, but one who soon tired of that lifestyle and its trappings, revealing a Tupac far different from the one most of America knows.
The Hidden History of Rome

2002

The Hidden History of Rome

2002
5
Rome was famed for the decadence of its ruling class, however, what about the ordinary citizens of these ancient cultures? How did they lead their day to day lives in an age when the average life expectancy was little more than forty? Did they believe in the Pagan Gods? What were their sex lives like? What did they do for entertainment? How ordinary Romans lived is, for the most part ...
Felipe González, la infancia de un líder

2008

Felipe González, la infancia de un líder

2008
Porvenir, Texas

2019

Porvenir, Texas

2019
In the early morning hours of January 28th, 1918, the west Texas border town known as Porvenir ceased to exist. Discover the true story behind the 1918 massacre of 15 Mexican men in this tiny border town. 100 years later, the film asks what led to the events of that fateful night and reveals the tensions that remain along the border a century later.
Shop 'Til You Drop: The Crisis of Consumerism

2010

Shop 'Til You Drop: The Crisis of Consumerism

2010
Are we too materialistic? Are we wantonly destroying the planet with our pettiness? Where is the source of all that energy and endless consumer desires? The document calls for a direct confrontation with these questions. Focusing on the long-term deteriorating ecological and mental realm of American consumerist culture and all the chaotic materialism, he reaches beneath the surface of the commercial world to show that the consequence of growth is impoverishment - the slow and steady depletion of natural resources and basic human values. It shows the connection between the limits of consumerism and our own well-being, and encourages people to develop a critical view of the current economic situation.
Travel

2025

Travel

2025
Mallamall

2012

Mallamall

2012
Retail is a 2500-year-old tradition in India with 95% of the trade being run by small entrepreneurs. But the retail scene in India is undergoing a rapid change. Malls are sprouting like mushrooms between huts and tenements. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. Mallamall is a visual and sensory portrayal of the burgeoning industry through the stories of people whose lives depend on retail.
Metropia

2025

Metropia

2025
The Middle Passage

1997

The Middle Passage

1997
"Explores the 400-year era of the transatlantic slave trade, when millions of Africans were kidnapped and shipped to the Americas. Features interviews with scholars, oral histories and a dramatic recreation of the Middle Passage" (The History Channel).
Luce mia

2016

Luce mia

2016
It was the spring of 2010 when I discovered that I was ill with leukemia. I was 29 years old and had never been in a hospital before. The fear, the chemotherapy, the waiting. After six months, everything seemed to be getting better, and a year and a half later, my first daughter, Nora, was born. So, three years later, I decided to return to the ward where everything had begun, to try to make sense of what had happened to me. Inside those rooms, I met Sabrina, who was going through what I had experienced. "Leucemia" is the story of our meeting, our journey together, and our shared experiences. It is the story of our friendship and our leukemia. (The author)
Fight the Power: The Movements That Changed America

2021

Fight the Power: The Movements That Changed America

2021
“Looks at the impact key movements throughout U.S. history have had in shaping our society, laws and culture. From the labor movement of the 1880s, women's suffrage and civil rights, to the LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter movements, protest is in the American DNA and this documentary gives an unfiltered look at the ways it has evolved the world in which we live.”
The ABC of Internal Combustion Engines

1947

The ABC of Internal Combustion Engines

1947
Another of the Power Primer series of GM American Industrial Films, this one looking at the internal combustion engine.
Plongeons

1936

Plongeons

1936
From ski jumping to jumping into the Doubs: “Plongeons” is Armand Girard's sporting epic. The watchmaker from Le Locle, who commissioned the film from the Geneva-based company Cinégram S.A., performs physical feats in front of the camera. The most spectacular of these is a jump from a height of 40 meters into the Doubs on 19 July 1936, a record that remained unmatched for a long time. The landscapes of the Jura serve as the backdrop for Girard's sporting achievements, which go beyond nature and physical culture.
The Sorrow and the Pity

1971

The Sorrow and the Pity

1971
From 1940 to 1944, France's Vichy government collaborated with Nazi Germany. Marcel Ophüls mixes archival footage with 1969 interviews of a German officer and of collaborators and resistance fighters from Clermont-Ferrand. They comment on the nature, details and reasons for the collaboration, from anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and fear of Bolsheviks, to simple caution.