Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 176

Munch 150

2013

Munch 150

2013
5
Many know Munch as the man who painted The Scream, but his complete works are remarkable and secure his place as one of the world's great artists. Munch 150 goes behind the scenes to show some of the process of putting the exhibition together - as well as touring Norway to provide an in-depth biography of a man who lived from the mid-19th century right through to the German occupation of Norway in the Second World War.
Robert Scheer: Above the Fold

2019

Robert Scheer: Above the Fold

2019
7
A documentary on the six-decades long career of a muckraking journalist, who was involved with the radical 196os magazine Ramparts, with the Los Angeles Times newspaper, and later with the Internet website Truthdig.
The Lost Pyramid

2008

The Lost Pyramid

2008
6
A study of the ruined Egyptian pyramid of the 4th dynasty pharaoh Djedefre, including evidence from a ten-year excavation which supports new theories about his reign and the pyramid's importance.
Breakthrough

2022

Breakthrough

2022
7
Breakthrough tells the story of a renegade scientist’s quest to find a cure for cancer, the disease that killed his mother. Texan Jim Allison is a 2018 Nobel Prize winner for discovering how to prompt a cancer patient’s own immune system into defeating their disease, but for decades he waged an often-lonely struggle against the painful skepticism of the medical establishment.
Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy

2019

Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy

2019
7
Cookbook author and environmental activist Diana Kennedy reflects on an unconventional life spent mastering Mexican cuisine.
Treasure Fleet: The Epic Voyage of Zheng He

2005

Treasure Fleet: The Epic Voyage of Zheng He

2005
9
Between 1405 and 1433, Admiral Zheng He of China led seven epic voyages to more than 30 countries, including Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Kenya and Tanzania. The admiral and his crew gathered knowledge and wealth from Indochina to Africa for China's Ming empire. These voyages were the biggest naval expeditions mounted at the time. Zheng He was bigger than life and could have changed the course of history. But after the seven voyages, he and his Treasure Fleet were forgotten by China, and the world, for six hundred years. National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita sets sail to discover why. To celebrate the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's maiden exploration voyage, Michael Yamashita traveled over 10,000 miles from Yunnan in China to Africa's Swahili coast taking over 40,000 pictures for the feature story on this great explorer, published in the July 2005 edition of National Geographic.
Atlantic Salmon: Lost at Sea

2018

Atlantic Salmon: Lost at Sea

2018
8
An epic journey through the oceanic kingdom of the Atlantic Salmon in an attempt to unravel the mystery of their life at sea. Salmon are plummeting to critical levels. The cause is mortality at sea. For the 1st time, using the latest DNA technology, scientists are tracking the salmon from the rivers into the vast North Atlantic and back again, in hopes of finding an answer before it's too late.
Decoding Watson

2019

Decoding Watson

2019
7.5
Thrust into the limelight for discovering the secret of life at age 25 with Francis Crick, influential Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson has thrived on making headlines ever since. His discovery of DNA’s structure, the double helix, revolutionized human understanding of how life works. He was a relentless and sometimes ruthless visionary who led the Human Genome project and turned Harvard University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory into powerhouses of molecular biology. With unprecedented access to Watson, his wife Elizabeth and sons Rufus and Duncan over the course of a year, American Masters explores Watson’s evolution from socially awkward postdoc to notorious scientific genius to discredited nonagenarian, also interviewing his friends, his colleagues, scientists and historians.
Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun

2008

Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun

2008
8
Zora Neale Hurston, path-breaking novelist, pioneering anthropologist and one of the first black women to enter the American literary canon (Their Eyes Were Watching God), established the African American vernacular as one of the most vital, inventive voices in American literature. This definitive film biography, eighteen years in the making, portrays Zora in all her complexity: gifted, flamboyant, and controversial but always fiercely original.
Four Feet Up

2008

Four Feet Up

2008
6
Four Feet Up is an intimate portrayal of child poverty in Canada by award-winning photographer and documentary filmmaker Nance Ackerman. Twenty years after the promise of the House of Commons 'to eliminate poverty among Canadian children,' 8-year-old Isaiah contemplates what 'less fortunate' means as he finds his voice through his own magical drawings and photographs. Four Feet Up invites us into the lives of this determined family, revealing an intimate and touching experience of child poverty in one of the world's richest nations.
Elephant Path – Njaia Njoku

2018

Elephant Path – Njaia Njoku

2018
9.5
An indelible tale of friendship and commitment set against the luminous beauty of the Central African Rainforest. Together, elephant behavioral biologist, Andrea Turkalo, and indigenous tracker, Sessely Bernard, will be tested by the realities of war and the limits of hope for the majestic animals they have committed their lives to study and protect.
Alone on the Island of the Blue Dolphins

2018

Alone on the Island of the Blue Dolphins

2018
7
A documentary about the true story that inspired the novel Island of the Blue Dolphins, telling the story of a 12 year-old Native American girl who was left alone for 18 years on San Nicolas Island, the most remote of California's Channel Islands, during the 19th century. The 'Lone Woman' survived with her dog for 18 years before being 'rescued' and brought to Santa Barbara. She died there and is buried in the Santa Barbara Mission.
Liberty: 3 Stories about Life & Death

2003

Liberty: 3 Stories about Life & Death

2003
1
This extraordinary film interweaves the stories of three close lesbian friends: Joyce Fulton, who died over the course of two years from a brain tumor; Mary Bell Wilson, who, with indefatigable courage, faces up to her own losing battle with lymphoma; and Nan Golub, a black-leather-jacketed, platinum-dyed New York city artist, very much alive. Liberty demystifies death, dispels misinformation about age and sexual orientation and reminds us that life is worth living, even worth celebrating.
Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70

2018

Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70

2018
6
A special documentary to mark the seventieth birthday of HRH the Prince of Wales. For this observational documentary, film-maker John Bridcut has had exclusive access to the prince over the past 12 months, both at work and behind the scenes, at home and abroad. He speaks to those who know him best, including HRH the Duchess of Cornwall and the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex. His sons discuss their upbringing and their feelings about the prince's working life.
Coach Jake

2018

Coach Jake

2018
10
At 70 years old, Martin "Coach Jake" Jacobson is the most winning high school coach in New York City history. Both on the soccer field and off, this season may be his toughest yet. With a rapidly advancing liver disease and age taking its toll, his legacy as a winner is on the line as the clock on his life and career begin to wind down. A documentary by Ian Phillips.
Firestorm

2003

Firestorm

2003
10
After suffering heavy losses of aircraft during attacks on German factories, Winston Churchill orders cities to be targeted in order to smash German morale and reduce the number of workers available for the Nazi war machine. Hundreds of thousands of German civilians are killed as incendiary bombs turn the center of cities like Hamburg and Dresden into tornados of fire. Sixty years later, a new debate is underway over the reasons for this lethal bombing campaign. Were these relentless aerial attacks on German cities, which killed so many and destroyed so much, a necessary tactic in the war against Hitler? Or was it an act of revenge by the British and Americans? Using rare film footage (much of it in color) and stirring interviews with historians, former bomber pilots and survivors of the destruction, this extraordinary film brings to light the devastating allied air campaign against Nazi Germany.
It's Criminal

2017

It's Criminal

2017
8
A documentary about privilege, economics, justice and injustice via a class taught at Dartmouth College that mixes students and incarcerated women.
Araucaria Araucana

2018

Araucaria Araucana

2018
8
In the Southern Andes, a living being survives since 200 million years: the "Araucaria Araucana" with its incredible history, little known and forever linked to an Amerindian people of Chile: Pehuenches. This isolated community survived during centuries thanks to the Araucarias. A perfect harmony between man and nature, forever upset by the invasion of the Spanish colonists, the conflicts of territories and the increase of logging. Protected today, this sacred forests are the refuge of a unique and wild nature; but fires threaten this balance. What remain of these people and the link with this tree? What can they teach us about our environmental problems?
Post Truth Times

2018

Post Truth Times

2018
7
Great Barrier Reef 3D

2018

Great Barrier Reef 3D

2018
8
What comes to mind when you think of the largest structure built by living creatures? China's sprawling Great Wall? Or maybe the skyscrapers of New York and Dubai? The truth is, no human feat of construction can compare to the sheer size and majesty of the Great Barrier Reef--spanning more than 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia and home to countless unique species of aquatic life. Narrated by acclaimed Australian actor Eric Bana, Great Barrier Reef lets us experience the awe of this natural cityscape and introduces us to the visionaries and "citizen scientists" who are helping us better understand and protect the reef. Grab your mask and snorkel and come on an unforgettable adventure with sea turtles and manta rays, witness the birth of baby seahorses, participate in a coral watch expedition, and discover the exotic splendor of fluorescent corals at night as Great Barrier Reef captures the natural beauty and exquisite strangeness of this awesome, bizarre, and vibrant living world.