Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 180

Not Going Quietly

2021

Not Going Quietly

2021
7
An intimate, inspiring look at activist and loving father Ady Barkan, diagnosed with ALS at age 32 and who, in spite of declining physical abilities, embarks on a nationwide campaign for healthcare reform.
Homeland Gone

2020

Homeland Gone

2020
1
Lebanon is a country hijacked by sects, money, and power. While citizens long for a collective identity to thrive as a community, politicians use the sectarianism for their corrupt ambitions. Unless there is a change, Lebanon will be lost forever.
Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra

2021

Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra

2021
8
Taking us through Bangarra Dance Theatre’s spectacular growth, we follow the story of how three young Aboriginal brothers — Stephen, David and Russell Page — turned the newly born dance group into a First Nations cultural powerhouse.
The Superfood Chain

2018

The Superfood Chain

2018
7
Every year, the western world is introduced to a new 'superfood' that boasts extraordinary nutritional features, and year after year we buy them. The Superfood Chain is a feature documentary that explores the facts and myths behind superfoods, and reveals the ripple effect of the 'Superfood' industry on farming and fishing families around the world.
That's Wild

2020

That's Wild

2020
1
The award-winning feature documentary That’s Wild tells the inspiring journey of three teenage boys at-risk from Atlanta attempting to climb four 12,000 ft snowcapped peaks in the heart of the Colorado wilderness, all while overcoming their own personal mountains.
Loving Krishna

1985

Loving Krishna

1985
10
Loving Krishna is about the worship of Krishna and the meaning of devotion. It explores the rural and urban character of the town of Vishnapur in West Bengal by examining the royal past, everyday life, work in traditional arts and crafts, bazaar exchange, and sacred rituals and festivals. Public and private devotional life is represented by detailed visual narratives of the Chariot Journey of Krishna, celebrated by the whole town, and the Birthday Festival commemorated on a much smaller scale of intimate family worship.
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

2019

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

2019
1
"PUSHOUT" is a feature length film confronting the criminalization and miseducation of African American girls that has led to their alarming high school dropout rate and increase into the juvenile justice system.
Michael Des Barres: Who Do You Want Me To Be?

2020

Michael Des Barres: Who Do You Want Me To Be?

2020
2
The son of a junkie aristocrat and a schizophrenic showgirl becomes a master of reinvention on a 50+ year journey through rock and roll, TV, and movies.
W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices

1996

W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices

1996
5
The long and remarkable life of Dr. William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B) Du Bois (1868-1963) offers unique insights into an eventful century in African American history. Born three years after the end of the Civil War, Du Bois witnessed the imposition of Jim Crow, its defeat by the Civil Rights Movement and the triumph of African independence struggles. Du Bois was the consummate scholar-activist whose path-breaking works remain among the most significant and articulate ever produced on the subject of race. His contributions and legacy have been so far-reaching, that this, his first film biography, required the collaboration of four prominent African American writers. Wesley Brown, Thulani Davis, Toni Cade Bambara and Amiri Baraka narrate successive periods of Du Bois' life and discuss its impact on their work.
Ordinary People

2002

Ordinary People

2002
8.5
Far right and anti-immigration politics have been on the rise worldwide. In Australia, as in many other western countries, as Ordinary People was filming, a new political force began drawing on the discontent of those who felt excluded from the promised benefits of globalisation. This revealing documentary follows One Nation candidate Colene Hughes over two years and two elections as her idealistic fervour slowly turns to disillusionment. Initially for Colene and her supporters, One Nation seems to offer true democracy and a way of knocking the country back into shape. But when Colene starts to question the control of party leaders, the gloves come off and, at the party’s annual general meeting, the two forces collide.
Secrets of Stonehenge

2010

Secrets of Stonehenge

2010
8
Dated to the late Stone Age, Stonehenge may be the best-known and most mysterious relic of prehistory. Every year, a million visitors are drawn to England to gaze upon the famous circle of stones, but the monument's meaning has continued to elude us. Now investigations inside and around Stonehenge have kicked off a dramatic new era of discovery and debate over who built Stonehenge and for what purpose. How did prehistoric people quarry, transport, sculpt, and erect these giant stones? Granted exclusive access to the dig site at Bluestonehenge, a prehistoric stone-circle monument recently discovered about a mile from Stonehenge, NOVA cameras join a new generation of researchers finding important clues to this enduring mystery.
Conrad Veidt: My Life

2019

Conrad Veidt: My Life

2019
1
German actor Conrad Veidt is best remembered for playing Nazi Major Strasser in Casablanca. In reality, he was an ardent anti-fascist who left Nazi Germany for Britain, falsely claiming to be Jewish in solidarity with his Jewish wife. Using clips from Veidt’s films, acclaimed director Mark Rappaport imagines the actor narrating his life and career from the silent era—including his leading roles in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Man Who Laughs through to his Hollywood years where he often played a Nazi.
KPFA On the Air

2000

KPFA On the Air

2000
4.5
Novelist Alice Walker narrates a documentary about the oldest independent radio station in the world, KPFA radio.
Occupation: Native

2017

Occupation: Native

2017
9
The Aboriginal story has been buried deep beneath the 247-year-old accepted Australian narrative. In OCCUPATION: NATIVE, Aboriginal filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas, bites back at Australian history.
Meet the Mennonites

2020

Meet the Mennonites

2020
8
Like the Amish, the ultra-conservative Christian community of the Mennonites reject modern society and live a life frozen in the 19th century. Nearly all Mennonites live in self-sufficient colonies, embracing isolation, which helps protect them from the temptations of the modern world. Now, for the first time, one of these communities has agreed to open their doors to our cameras.
The Girl on the Bridge

2020

The Girl on the Bridge

2020
6
In the increasing public discourse on mental health, Leanne Pooley’s inspiring and fearless documentary tracks an extraordinary young woman’s journey from suicide survivor to advocate for those struggling. The fact it leaves you hopeful and with tangible advice makes it vital viewing.
The Johnstown Flood

2003

The Johnstown Flood

2003
6
On a stormy day in May of 1889, the South Fork Dam impounding Conemaugh Lake exploded, unleashing a 40-foot wall of water. The bustling industrial city of Johnstown, PA, in the valley below was reduced to a wasteland, killing more than 2,200. This heavily dramatized documentary reviews the factors that led to the dam's collapse, while dramatic reenactments and survivors' personal testimonies detail the horror.
Part Three: Born Under the Red Flag 1976–1997

1997

Part Three: Born Under the Red Flag 1976–1997

1997
6
What happened next could never have been anticipated and forms the story line for the final film of the trilogy; Born Under The Red Flag examines China’s remarkable transformation after Mao’s death. In just 15 years, under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, China raced forward at an astonishing pace to become a never-before-seen hybrid of communism and capitalism. The world’s most populous nation has reinvented itself, changing from a relatively undeveloped and isolated nation into an economic giant and a major international power. For many Chinese, this transformation has brought unprecedented prosperity, but it has also raised troubling questions of national identity and social inequality.
Part Two: The Mao Years 1949–1976

1994

Part Two: The Mao Years 1949–1976

1994
7
The trilogy continues with The Mao Years, a look at the next period of modern China’s history: Mao Zedong’s rule, from 1949 to his death in 1976. The film begins with the celebrations marking the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, a moment of great hope for millions of Chinese. But the quarter-century of Mao’s rule was as turbulent as the decades which preceded it. Interludes of relative calm and increased prosperity were interrupted repeatedly by violent campaigns, purges, and a famine in which killed more than 30 million people. It culminated in Mao’s colossal and tragic experiment, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. When Mao died in 1976, people were exhausted by the turmoil and longed for stability.
Slow News

2020

Slow News

2020
6
“Slow News” is a contemporary story, a look on reality. It is an analytical documentary film, with a “destruens part” and a “construens part”: arises from the awareness that digital is one of the concauses of the crisis of journalism. But at the same time, it is in the digital world that there are chances to get out of this crisis, because the web is an ecosystem and, like all ecosystems, contains prey and predators, problems and solutions. Because the digital world is real. Digital is part of reality and as we shouldn’t demonize it. Digital is a medium. Men and women acts. “Slow News” is a journey around the world, looking for all those journalistic realities that have chosen to slow down or be “viral responsibly”.