Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 254

Bad Nazi - Good Nazi

2021

Bad Nazi - Good Nazi

2021
He is known as the Nazi officer who saves "The Pianist" -Wladyslaw Szpilman, in the Roman Polanski film, but his German hometown from which he ran the local school and went to the war, still refuses to recognize him as a hero. 70 years after the end of the war, a group of residents demand to commemorate the Nazi Officer, Wilm Hosenfeld, in the local school and the reactions are stormy. In the meantime, Hosenfeld's grandchildren discover their grandfather's secret diaries in which he documented Nazi war crimes and they embark on a journey of discovery. During this journey, they will find out that their grandfather was a serial savior and aside from "The Pianist", another 60 people owe him their lives.
Forest for the Trees

2021

Forest for the Trees

2021
Award-winning war photographer Rita Leistner goes back to her roots as a tree planter in the wilderness of British Columbia, offering an inside take on the grueling, sometimes fun and always life-changing experience of restoring Canada’s forests. Leistner, who has photographed some of the world’s most dangerous places, credits the challenge of tree-planting for her physical and mental endurance. In Forest for the Trees, her first feature film, she revisits her past to share the lessons she learned. The film introduces us to everyday life on the “cut-block” and the brave souls who fight through rough terrains and work endless hours to bring our forests to life. The rugged BC landscape comes to life magically in Leistner’s photography, while the quirky characters and nuggets of wisdom shared around the campfire tell a sincere story of community.
Scenes from the Glittering World

2021

Scenes from the Glittering World

2021
At the farthest edge of the Navajo Nation, the purpose and future of the most remote high school in the continental United States is in question while three Indigenous youth grapple with ambitious dreams, family responsibilities, and the isolated nature of their community.
Dying for Drugs

2003

Dying for Drugs

2003
Every year many new drugs come to market which offer hope to the sick and dying. This documentary film investigates just how far drug companies are prepared to go to get their drugs approved, what they will do to make sure they get the prices they want, and what happens when profits are put before people.
Summoned: Frances Perkins and the General Welfare

2019

Summoned: Frances Perkins and the General Welfare

2019
In the depths of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt appointed Frances Perkins as the first woman on a presidential cabinet. Against overwhelming odds, she became the driving force behind Social Security, the 40-hour work week, the eight-hour day, minimum wage and unemployment compensation. Summoned: Frances Perkins and the General Welfare features compelling interviews with David Brooks, Nancy Pelosi, Amy Klobuchar, Lawrence O’Donnell and others while telling Perkin’s heroic story which explores the history of women in politics, Social Security, our attitudes toward immigration, poverty, Socialism, and the role of government. Without this context our current dialogue is ill-informed and diminished.
Diane Warren: Relentless

2025

Diane Warren: Relentless

2025
An intimate look at the life, career and process of one of the most accomplished songwriters of all time, Diane Warren.
Sleep Tight (Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite)

2009

Sleep Tight (Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite)

2009
A video diary of the things a Vancouver household had to do dealing with bed bugs.
American Gadfly

2021

American Gadfly

2021
A decade since his last campaign, 89-year-old former senator and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Gravel comes out of retirement when a group of teenagers convinces him to run for president one last time. Through the senator’s official Twitter account, the “Gravel teens” embark on an unlikely adventure to qualify him for the Democratic debates in order to advance an anti-war, anti-corruption, and direct democracy agenda in the 2020 presidential race. Working together, the young activists and the experienced politician confuse and amaze the generations between them.
Return to the Land of Souls

2009

Return to the Land of Souls

2009
In the 21st century many ancestral beliefs are struggling to survive in a hostile, fast-changing world. In southeast Ivory Coast, some Akan communities still make contact with the spirits through Komians or animistic priests who go into a trance and are possessed by the spirits of the Forest and the Waters. Jean Marie Addiaffi (1941-1999), a writer and intellectual from Ivory Coast, fought to conserve the Akans’ oral literature, myths and legends, and the knowledge and uses of the plants. In the film “Return to the land of souls”, Yéo Douley, a disciple of Jean Marie Addiaffi , will set out on a journey to visit his master’s grave and carry out a ritual libation. On his travel, he will attend the initiation rites of three people chosen by the spirits and witness one of them proclaimed as the new Komian or high animistic priest.
My Transgender Life: Paul Wears Dresses

2017

My Transgender Life: Paul Wears Dresses

2017
Follows the struggles of Stefonknee Wolscht, a trans woman trying to rebuild her life. Losing her home and her family, Stefonknee gives a first hand account of the many challenges trans people face. In her hometown, Stefonknee was known as a loving husband and father, a really good mechanic and a staunch Catholic but only she knew the truth; that she had been assigned to the wrong gender.
My Transgender Life: Male or Female?

2016

My Transgender Life: Male or Female?

2016
The documentary covers what it's like to grow up in the wrong gender and eventually transition. The decision to transition from one gender to another is a life changing one not just for the transgender person themselves but also for their family and friends. Here are the Stories of Tien, Pina, James, Sandy-Leo, Kinnon, Evan and Gayle.
Beauty Mark

2008

Beauty Mark

2008
Diane Israel, a former world-class triathlete, becomes a psychotherapist after battling anorexia. She shares her story while interviewing champion athletes, body builders and models about self-image.
The Story Won't Die

2021

The Story Won't Die

2021
THE STORY WON’T DIE, from Award-winning filmmaker David Henry Gerson, is an inspiring, timely look at a young generation of Syrian artists who use their work to protest and process what is currently the world’s largest and longest ongoing displacement of people since WWII. The film is produced by Sundance Award-winner Odessa Rae (Navalny). Rapper Abu Hajar, together with other creative personalities of the Syrian uprising, a post-Rock musician (Anas Maghrebi), members of the first all-female Syrian rock band (Bahila Hijazi + Lynn Mayya), break-dancer (Bboy Shadow), choreographer (Medhat Aldaabal), and visual artists (Tammam Azzam, Omar Imam + Diala Brisly), use their art to rise in revolution and endure in exile in this new documentary reflecting on a battle for peace, justice and freedom of expression. It is an uplifting and humanizing look at what it means to be a refugee in today’s world and offers inspiring and hopeful vantages on a creative response to the chaos of war.
Cecil Balmond: Visionary Engineer and Architect

2009

Cecil Balmond: Visionary Engineer and Architect

2009
"Cecil Balmond: Visionary Engineer and Architect" is a compelling documentation of a unique thinker and practitioner at the height of his architectural career. Through his conversation with architecture theorist and critic, Sanford Kwinter, Balmond reveals his vision and talent while the two tour his retrospective exhibition at the Graham Foundation in Chicago. Since the early 1980s Balmond has collaborated with many of today's important contemporary architects such as Toyo Ito, Rem Koolhaas and Daniel Libeskind. With his astounding aesthetic algorithms, Balmond has introduced innovative structural concepts that have resulted in some of the most challenging buildings in the canon of contemporary architecture.
Out in the Ring

2022

Out in the Ring

2022
A look at the lives of LGBTQ professional wrestlers past and present, and the history of LGBTQ representation in professional wrestling, told through a combination of archival footage and interviews with out performers, wrestling journalists and historians, friends and allies.
A Game of Three Halves: Where the F%*ck Is Hamish?

2021

A Game of Three Halves: Where the F%*ck Is Hamish?

2021
Guts and glory are at stake in the Saturday recreational soccer league. This hilarious animation perfectly captures the highs and lows of coaxing together a motley crew to show up on time and game ready every week, but at the end of the day it's all worth it for the beautiful game.
The Body Fights Back

2020

The Body Fights Back

2020
A feature documentary about five people navigating the paradoxes of diet culture. While promises of happiness, desirability and perfection are irresistible, joy and contentment remain out of reach. Personal stories from vastly different backgrounds quickly merge into a shockingly similar experience of battling one’s body. Self-starvation and compulsive exercise bring temporary satisfaction, only to be replaced with binging and purging soon after. Surprisingly, none of it has much to do with food.
Emily @ the Edge of Chaos

2021

Emily @ the Edge of Chaos

2021
Emily @ the Edge of Chaos interweaves Emily Levine’s live performance with animation, appearances by scientists, and animated characters. The film uses physics, which explains how the universe works, to explain our metaphysics – the story of our values, our institutions, our interactions. Using her own experience and a custom blend of insight and humor, provocation and inspiration, personal story and social commentary, Emily takes her audience through its own paradigm shift: from the Fear of Change to the Edge of Chaos.
A New Spirit in Painting: 6 Painters of the 1980's

1984

A New Spirit in Painting: 6 Painters of the 1980's

1984
Explores the paths being forged by six modern artists, giving us rare insight into the minds behind this rousing new wave of painting.
Unmarked

2020

Unmarked

2020
African-American gravesites and burial grounds for enslaved persons have been lost or are disappearing throughout the South, through neglect and nature reclaiming the solemn tombstones and markers. Restoration and preservation of these forgotten sites by those with a personal connection or appreciation of their historical significance is on the rise, but much work remains to be done.