Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 205

Yorky Billy

1980

Yorky Billy

1980
YORKY BILLY is set in Ngurgdu (Spring Peak) in the Northern Territory, an area irrevocably disturbed by uranium mining. There, 80-year-old William Alderson (known as "Yorky Billy") reflects on his life in the outback. Yorky's mother was an Aboriginal woman who died when he was three, and his father was an Englishman who spent 45 years in Australia and "tried everything" as a prospector, railwayman, drover and buffalo hunter, often with his young son working with him. After the WWII, Yorky married an Aboriginal woman and worked in various jobs. He and his wife had a large family, and in 1977, Yorky Billy recorded his story and died soon thereafter, and was buried near his father at Ngurgdu. Filmed simply with minimal editing, this is a poignant, elegiac reflection on a disappearing way of life, capturing Yorky's slow and quiet rhythm of speech, his wry humour, and with his weather-beaten face only just emerging from the deep shadows inside his corrugated iron shack.
Crook Hat and Camphoo

2005

Crook Hat and Camphoo

2005
Alyawarr elders from central Australia, who worry about the survival of traditional skills and culture, pass on the skills and knowledge for making spears and woomera (spear-throwers).
Hard Hat Riot

2025

Hard Hat Riot

2025
On May 8, 1970, construction workers violently clashed with students demonstrating against the Vietnam War in lower Manhattan. The workmen, who came to be known as “hardhats,” were at the cutting edge of a new kind of class war. With the war in Vietnam raging on, it was the sons of the working class who were doing most of the fighting. Workmen saw the protesting students as privileged “draft dodgers” disparaging the country and those who fought for it. On the other side, many student activists saw the workers as pawns, unwilling to see the changes that America needed. Hard Hat Riot tells the story of a struggling metropolis, a flailing president, a divided people, and a bloody juncture when the nation violently diverged ― culminating in a new political and cultural landscape that radically redefined American politics and foreshadowed the future.
Souvenirs De Voyage

2017

Souvenirs De Voyage

2017
The Mayor

2019

The Mayor

2019
The true and incredible story of a small mountain town electing a dog for mayor. At a time when our country feels more divided than ever and when acts of kindness are seemingly few and far between, a four-legged politician may be the answer.
Guns, Bombs & War: A Love Story

2021

Guns, Bombs & War: A Love Story

2021
Could we find Love beyond Hate, could we find Peace beyond War? Can we heal, in Oneness, our Humanity and the World?
Rooted in the West Bank

2024

Rooted in the West Bank

2024
Atta’s family has farmed the Baqa’a Valley in the West Bank for centuries, but since Israel’s 1967 occupation, their land has been confiscated piecemeal by Israeli settlers, their homes and ancient farming terraces attacked and demolished. Spanning 25 years of a farmer’s struggle to stay steadfast, this is a moving testimony to the depth of one man’s humanity in the face of intensifying settler violence and intimidation.
Little Potato

2024

Little Potato

2024
This Documentary offers a poetic portrait of the film-maker’s grandmother, Shou Ai Xia, who suffers from dementia. It explores the fading memories of her ordinary life and the vivid hallucinations reflecting her decades of commitment to the Chinese Communist Party, providing a pathway beyond the traditional views of dementia.
Clearing the Air: The War on Smog

2025

Clearing the Air: The War on Smog

2025
In July 1943, dark, smoky clouds suddenly descended over Los Angeles, causing residents to complain of burning eyes, nausea, and difficulty breathing. People couldn’t see across the street and visibility was so bad that cars crashed. With World War II raging, many feared a chemical attack by the Japanese, but it soon became evident that no foreign enemy was to blame. The waves of pollution called “smog” — a combination of “smoke” and “fog” — continued and the cause remained a mystery. It was the beginning of an epic struggle for clean air involving years of scientific investigation and civic pressure, bringing together people across ideological divides in a remarkable example of bipartisanship. Their work would lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air Act, which have had an enduring effect on the quality of air Americans breathe.
If Everyone Knew

2022

If Everyone Knew

2022
One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, but many women feel ashamed to speak about it. If Everyone Knew documents three women's journeys with baby loss. They tell their personal stories to encourage wider understanding and acceptance.
Twin Towers: Legacy

2025

Twin Towers: Legacy

2025
In this follow up to Robert Port's Twin Towers, follow the journeys of NYPD Detective Joe Vigiano's children in their call to service in an effort to honor their father’s memory, first in the Marine Cops and then as sworn officers in the NYPD.
Beyond the Summit

2022

Beyond the Summit

2022
After an accident, Sebastian (Zuko), who was a professional mountaineering guide, lost the mobility of his legs. However, through a great feat he undertakes at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, he proves that limits only exist in our minds.
Don't Get Sick After June: American Indian Healthcare

2010

Don't Get Sick After June: American Indian Healthcare

2010
Declared wards of the state, Native Americans were promised housing, education and healthcare in numerous treaties with the US Government. Like so many other federal promises, these too have not been met. The budget shortfall to the Indian Health Service continues. Add to this generational trauma of subjugation, reservations, boarding schools and alienation, their health and their healthcare is in a critical state. This is the story of the program's inception of our government's obligation to America's first people.
Der große Weinskandal

2025

Der große Weinskandal

2025
The Flying Fercos

2024

The Flying Fercos

2024
The Flying Fercos delves into the lives of a family who shared their home-and their stage-with over 20 lions, tigers, and panthers.
Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America

2010

Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America

2010
Kim, a Duluth, MN mother of three, is at the center of this compelling exploration of gender violence. As Kim and her daughters flee to a domestic violence shelter, we follow the harrowing struggles in a single-parenting survivor's quest to find work, housing and peace of mind. This multi-level narrative also examines the causes of domestic violence and solutions that have evolved to stop it.
Reclamation: The Story of the Atlanta Child Murders

2006

Reclamation: The Story of the Atlanta Child Murders

2006
Artist William Scarbrough investigates the Atlanta Child Murders.
Means of Grace

1996

Means of Grace

1996
Ann Clements Conger was an ambitious journalist in the 1940's. In the 1950's she became a mother, and torn between her domestic roles and her career, she began a frightening journey into the world of hallucinations, tranquilizers and institutionalization. Diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia, she, like thousands of other American women, was committed against her will, and given electric shock therapy. Through the use of home movie footage, archival footage and dramatizations, Means of Grace raises questions about social control, definitions of madness, the nuclear family, women's roles and the Cold War. We meet her daughter, the filmmaker, as she wrestles with questions of doubt, shame, understanding and resoultion.
Paquidermo

2025

Paquidermo

2025
In the municipality of Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas, there is a secondary school that is the target of stray bullets due to frequent clashes between organized crime groups in the vicinity of the campus. A meeting of teachers reveals a decline in student enrollment due to this situation, which could lead to the school's closure. Based on observations of daily life at the school and various interviews, a complex reality emerges involving art, education, and insecurity in Mexico.
Vladimir Kagan: A Life of Design

2022

Vladimir Kagan: A Life of Design

2022
This portrait of Vladimir Kagan-noted furniture designer, sculptor, and writer-documents his creative process, from initial drawings and design ideas through the creation of the Gigi and Gabriella chairs. His long career and continued inventiveness had a seminal influence on Twentieth Century design.