Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 208

Travel

2025

Travel

2025
Breakdown in Maine

2024

Breakdown in Maine

2024
FRONTLINE, the Portland Press Herald and Maine Public investigate the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history and the missed opportunities to prevent it. The documentary examines breakdowns with police, military and mental health care in the lead-up to the Lewiston shooting in October 2023.
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.
Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad of Walter Day

2025

Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad of Walter Day

2025
A musical documentary following 74-year-old Walter Day - the father of esports and star of "The King of Kong" - as he battles a lawsuit threatening his legacy while fulfilling his dream of recording and performing the rock-opera style love songs he has been hearing in his head since having his heart broken at the height of the arcade era.
Banned Together

2025

Banned Together

2025
A diverse cast of visionary teenagers, stirring public protests, private threats, criminal charges, and drama-filled school board meetings: this is the explosive world of BANNED TOGETHER. The film pulls back the curtain on two of the most controversial issues in America today: book bans and curriculum censorship in public schools.
Mel Bochner: Thoughts Made Visible

1997

Mel Bochner: Thoughts Made Visible

1997
Filmed at the Yale University Art Gallery, "Mel Bochner: Thoughts Made Visible", approaches a major retrospective exhibition of the artist's early work while providing an opportunity to experience his notable, site-specific installations. Known for his use of common material, Bochner's elements are easily understandable yet his art is founded on the unexpected questioning of how simple things hold the ability to reveal eye-opening complexities. A relationship established through language, Bochner's work takes the form of a dialogue between practice and theory, defining his subject as "the contradiction between physical space and mental space." Bochner uses that contradiction to create visual think pieces, locating his own intention- and thus emotion- through his process, his sites, and the mind of his viewer.
Box of Treasures

1983

Box of Treasures

1983
In 1921 the Kwakiut'l people of Alert Bay, British Columbia, held their last secret potlatch. In 1980 at Alert Bay, the U'mista Cultural Centre (U'mista means "something of great value that has come back") opened its doors to receive and house the cultural treasures which were seized decades earlier and only then returned to the people. The center also took up activities such as recording stories told by elders so that some part of the past would always be alive and teaching children about their heritage in order to make them feel connected to their ancestors. This film documents the cultural significance of these events for today's Kwakiut'l people. It is an eloquent testimony to the persistence and complexity of Kwakiut'l society and to the struggle for redefining cultural identity for them.
How Not to Die

2023

How Not to Die

2023
The majority of premature deaths can be prevented through simple changes in diet and lifestyle. In How Not to Die, Dr. Michael Greger examines the fifteen top causes of death in America-heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, high blood pressure, and more. He explains how nutrition and lifestyle can sometimes trump prescription pills and other approaches, freeing us to live healthier lives.
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)
Sexy Inc. Our Children Under Influence

2007

Sexy Inc. Our Children Under Influence

2007
An analysis of the hypersexualization of the media environment and its effects on young people. Psychologists, teachers and school nurses criticize the unhealthy culture surrounding children, where marketing and advertising target younger and younger audiences and bombard them with sexual and sexist images.
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.
ROLLOUT

2022

ROLLOUT

2022
“Rollout“ is a vérité-style journey alongside residents of a tight-knit Kenyan community gripped by the “shadow pandemic of vaccine hesitancy,” as they face mounting pressure from a government they don’t trust, to get a vaccine they suspect may cause more harm than good.
The Atlanta Child Murders

2010

The Atlanta Child Murders

2010
A look back on the string of shocking murders of preteen, teenage, and young adult African-Americans in the city of Atlanta from 1979 to 1981.
Love and Sex in West Africa

2022

Love and Sex in West Africa

2022
Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal – when it comes to love and sex, these African countries are caught between tradition and modernity.
To Dye For: The Documentary

2025

To Dye For: The Documentary

2025
After discovering their child's life-altering sensitivity to synthetic dyes, parents and first-time filmmakers set out to uncover the impacts of these additives. They journey to meet with the world's leading synthetic dye experts, conducting in-person interviews with scientists, researchers, and impacted families. This exploration reveals a series of shocking stories and surprising discoveries.
World War II: The Fall of France

2001

World War II: The Fall of France

2001
Hitler attacks west invading Belgium and Holland, Operation Dynamo and the attempt to evacuate the British expeditionary force at Dunkirk culminating in the fall of France.
Taking Pictures

1996

Taking Pictures

1996
Before the 1970s, the Commonwealth Film Unit represented the people of PNG in a paternalistic way, as curiosities. The unit used pompous voice-overs telling viewers what they should believe. Les McLaren and Annie Stiven are two of a group of Australian filmmakers who have lived and worked in PNG during the past 25 years and who see their roles rather differently. Through their films, they have endeavoured to reflect Papua New Guineans' complexity of thought, language and culture, using a wide variety of filmic styles and techniques. The film features interviews with a variety of Australian filmmakers who have worked extensively in PNG, including Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson, Chris Owen, Dennis O'Rourke and Gary Kildea. This documentary is a fascinating tracing of PNG culture and history from the 1930s until today.