Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 239

Franklin

2022

Franklin

2022
Eighth-generation Tasmanian and environmentalist Oliver Cassidy embarks on a life-changing solo rafting trip down the beautiful yet remote Franklin River. His goal is to retrace his late father’s 14-day expedition to attend the blockade that helped save the World-Heritage listed national park from being destroyed by a huge hydroelectric dam project in the early 1980s.
Mystic Vision, Sacred Art

1996

Mystic Vision, Sacred Art

1996
This documentary provides an excellent introduction to the art of thangka, sacred Tibetan Buddhist painting, in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. Carefully filmed, it takes you through every step of the painting process of thangkas. It offers insight into the symbolic and religious meaning of thangkas and their importance for Tibetan Buddhist life.
Waves Apart

2022

Waves Apart

2022
A Jewish surfer confronts the dark, anti-semitic history of the sport he once found solace in.
The Feast in Dream Village

1988

The Feast in Dream Village

1988
The eastern Indonesian island of Sumba is the last island in the Malay archipelago where the majority of the people still follow their ancestral religion, called marapu. This film, shot in 1986, focuses on a challenge to the authority of the spirits and ancestors in a village ritual to restore fertility after a fire and famine. Narrated by the priests who communicate with the spirits in prayers and sacrifices, it documents a week of offerings, dancing and oratory in "Dream Village" in the western Kodi district. The name comes from a dream of prosperity the village founder once had, and dreams are also the ways in which priests are called to serve the spirits.
Ngaben: Emotion And Restraint In A Balinese Heart

2012

Ngaben: Emotion And Restraint In A Balinese Heart

2012
Ngaben: Emotion and Restraint in a Balinese Heart takes an impressionistic look at the ngaben from the perspective of a mourning son, Nyoman Asub, and reveals the intimacy, sadness, and tenderness at the core of this funerary ritual and the feeling and force that underlie an exquisite cultural tradition. Amidst ample cultural and interpretive understandings of the cremation ceremony, the film purposefully provides a personalistic, impressionistic, and poetic glimpse of the process and the complex emotions involved.
African Carving: A Dogon Kanaga Mask

1974

African Carving: A Dogon Kanaga Mask

1974
The Kanaga mask is used in deeply sacred rituals by the Dogon people of Mali. Carving this mask is as important a ritual as the ceremonies in which the mask is used. The carver, a blacksmith, finds the proper tree and, in a secret cave outside the village, he shapes the mask with gestures which repeat the movement of the dancers who will wear it. When a dancer wears the Kanaga mask he becomes the Creator symbolically. He touches the ground with his mask and directs a soul to Heaven. Although these dances are now frequently performed for the public, the meaning of Kanaga is retained by the Dogon who fear, respect and depend on the power of the mask.
In the Footsteps of Taytacha

1985

In the Footsteps of Taytacha

1985
In the Footsteps of Taytacha follows a group of Quechua-speaking musicians and dancers as they leave their remote villages high in the Andes Mountains of Peru and join thousands of other highlanders on the annual religious pilgrimage to the sacred peaks of Qoyllur-Rití. Quollur-Rití, the largest and most important religious ritual in the southern Andes, occurs only five days out of the year and involves walking both day and night in terrain over 4400 meters in altitude.
Weaving the Future

1997

Weaving the Future

1997
Weaving the Future is a video portrait of a unique indigenous community living in the Andean highlands of northern Ecuador. The story of the Otavalo Indians is not a stereotypical tale of "isolated people struggling to survive." Just the opposite. The people of Otavalo have successfully adapted their traditions of weaving and crafts to the international marketplace. Selling their textiles in the U.S., Europe and even in Japan, the Otavalos are by any measure the most prosperous Native people in South America. Theirs is a fascinating story of economic success and social change.
The Habits Of New Norcia

2000

The Habits Of New Norcia

2000
The stories in The Habits of New Norcia are told by former Western Australian Aboriginal child 'inmates' of the New Norcia Benedictine Mission who were separated from their families in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and confined in this "orphanage without orphans". In recent decades the New Norcia Monastery has been packaged as one of the State's leading cultural tourist attractions. "A unique blend of Spanish architecture, European art treasures and pioneer history," "Monks, Music & Mystery," "New Norcia, Australia's only monastic town," the brochures announce. Aboriginal testimony in the film challenges this revised and sanitised history. The documentary provides damming evidence of the continuing violence of the Mission against its victims by deliberate omission of their experience in the New Norcia museum, guided tours, art gallery and promotions — an omission that represents a cruel and wounding cover-up.
Accordion Dreams

2001

Accordion Dreams

2001
The arrival of the European button accordion to Texas and its merging with traditional Mexican songs gave birth to an explosive new sound called conjunto. From the early pioneers to the new generation of accordionists experimenting with rock, blues, and metal, ACCORDION DREAMS captures yesterday's and today's squeezebox trailblazers. Produced and directed by critically-acclaimed filmmaker Hector Galan and narrated by singer/songwriter Tish Hinojosa, ACCORDION DREAMS features performance footage of conjunto greats like Valerio Longoria, Mingo Saldivar, Ruben Vela, Eva Ybarra, and Flaco Jimenez and the newer generation of accordionists like Joel Guzman, Jaime De Anda, Albert Zamora, and Jesse Turner.
Songs of the Homeland

1995

Songs of the Homeland

1995
Filmed on location throughout Texas, Songs of the Homeland tells the story of Tejano Music. This critically acclaimed documentary features images of the past and present and includes performances and interviews with musical pioneers such as Tony de la Rosa, Valerio Longoria, Lydia Mendoza, Isidro Lopez, Sunny Ozuna, Mingo Saldivar, and Little Joe Hernandez. Produced and Directed by Award Winning Filmmaker Hector Galán, Songs of the Homeland is an exuberant journey into the heart and soul of Tejano music. Songs of the Homeland tells the story of Tejano Music. This critically acclaimed documentary features images of the past and present and includes performances and interviews with musical pioneers such as Tony de la Rosa, Valerio Longoria, Lydia Mendoza, Isidro Lopez, Sunny Ozuna, Mingo Saldivar, and Little Joe Hernandez. Produced and Directed by Award Winning Filmmaker Hector Galán, Songs of the Homeland is an exuberant journey into the heart and soul of Tejano music.
Police on Trial

2022

Police on Trial

2022
FRONTLINE and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters from local journalism partner Star Tribune examine one of the most pivotal events in the history of race and policing in America.
GoldenEra

2023

GoldenEra

2023
GoldenEra is a documentary that tells the story of the creation and legacy of the video game GoldenEye 007 (1997) for the Nintendo 64.
The Harlem Hellfighters' Great War

2017

The Harlem Hellfighters' Great War

2017
Nicknamed the "Harlem Hellfighters", these African-Americans wanted to become ordinary citizens like everyone else. They saw fighting heroically in the trenches as their chance to achieve this. In 1918, the 15th New York National Guard Regiment became the most highly decorated unit of the First World War.
Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March

2022

Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March

2022
Explore the fight against Asian American hate following the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta. Examine how this critical moment of racial reckoning sheds light on the struggles, triumphs and achievements of AAPI communities.
Chasing

2022

Chasing

2022
An American athlete is fed up with silver medals, a pro baseball career foiled by injury, and narrowly missing out on the Olympic rowing team. Restless and looking for a win, he discovers a 3,000- mile rowing race. Jason aims to win the race and smash the record for the fastest crossing. Ten days in, two of the four men jump ship mid-Atlantic. Jason limps to the finish line, battered and humbled. One year later, he’s back with a new team. When seasickness and weather threaten his dream again, Jason faces an impossible task: 400 miles in just 5 days to beat the record.
A Kali Temple Inside Out

2018

A Kali Temple Inside Out

2018
This film portrays everyday life inside and around a Kali temple in the city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh (India). Its central characters are a priest and three devotees, who show why this temple is so important to them. The film offers a counterpoint to assumptions about religious differences and shows a more complex relationship informed by mutual friendship and shared religious aspirations.
The Incredible Lamont

2022

The Incredible Lamont

2022
Described as "Houdini with a sunnier disposition," illusionist Lamont Ream extends his magic beyond cards and coins to his work as a live-in caregiver.
Surviving Sex Trafficking

2021

Surviving Sex Trafficking

2021
Brave and resilient sex trafficking survivors around the world share their struggles to break free from their past and find hope for the future.
Trans Kashmir

2022

Trans Kashmir

2022
Once entertainers and employees of the royal courts, they were believed to have mystical powers. Today they fight for dignity in life and death. This film is about the extreme hardships, resilience and beauty of Kashmir’s Hijra (transgender) community and their growing movement for basic human rights.