Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 275

Tattoo Uprising

2019

Tattoo Uprising

2019
An examination of the artistic and historical roots of today's tattoo explosion.
John Szarkowski: A Life in Photography

1998

John Szarkowski: A Life in Photography

1998
Examining his double life as both curator and photographer, a career he abandoned and recently returned to with the publication of Mr. Bristol's Barn, this is a documentary on the man who helped establish photography for the first time as a true and different kind of art.
Birth Wars

2019

Birth Wars

2019
The film follows midwives and doctors in Guerrero and Chiapas, two of Mexico’s most marginalized and violent states, as they fight against huge odds to transform the current medical system towards one centered on respect for a woman’s health, needs and choices. The two main protagonists, find themselves at the crossroads of a clash of cultures.
Robert Motherwell: Summer of 1971

1972

Robert Motherwell: Summer of 1971

1972
At work on his Elegies and Windows series, Motherwell examines his place in the Abstract Expressionist movement, which he calls the first original American movement in the "mainstream," and its practitioners "the last romantics." He distinguishes between his large paintings and his intimate papier collée. Motherwell recollects the state of American art in the 1940s and the impact of European emigré painters on the younger generation of emerging artists. He discusses the significance of collage, or papier collée, as an artist's medium and explains how he first became involved with this process. Motherwell offers his interpretations of earlier directions in art and his response to the object oriented painting that emerged in America in the 1960s. A unique document of one of the founding members of the New York School. He died in 1991.
Paul Robeson: 20th Century Renaissance Man, Entertainer & Activist

1994

Paul Robeson: 20th Century Renaissance Man, Entertainer & Activist

1994
Paul Robeson was a celebrated African-American Actor, Athlete, Singer, Writer, and Civil Rights Activist. Robeson's many achievements are chronicled in this program, ranging from playing with the NFL to graduating from Columbia Law School, performing on Broadway and in Hollywood films to founding the American Crusade against Lynching as well as Council on African Affairs. Robeson was one of the most talented performers of his time and a dedicated humanitarian who ultimately sacrificed fame and fortune for what he believed in. His association with Leftist Politics during the era of the Cold War, and frequent denouncing of American political parties led to his eventual blacklisting with other prominent writers and artists during the McCarthy Era. His talents in all areas are remarkable, and his dedication to attaining a peaceful coexistence between all the people of the world is truly admirable.
Arab-Israeli Dialogue

1974

Arab-Israeli Dialogue

1974
The passionate final documentary from Lionel Rogosin, in which Palestinian poet Rashed Hussein and Israeli writer Amos Kenan seek dialogue toward a possible solution to the never-ending conflict. Never before have both sides discussed a mutual problem so frankly, and so willingly. Rogosin provides an open forum for two formidable intellects to discuss the fates of their nations, and the ever-receding possibility of peace.
No Small Matter

2019

No Small Matter

2019
A look at the issue of high-quality early care and education in America, from home to childcare to preschool; the tragic cost of getting it wrong; and the huge payoff - for our kids, our families and our country - of getting it right.
No Time for Quiet

2019

No Time for Quiet

2019
A group of young girls and gender-fluid youths discover the empowering strength of music through a GIRLS ROCK! camp in Melbourne.
Man on the Bus

2019

Man on the Bus

2019
Can a secret change who you are? Mysterious events unfold and reveal how Martha, a Polish holocaust survivor, managed to lead a double life in Australia. The vivacious Jewish artist and doting mother, died without ever revealing her secret. The film follows Martha’s daughter Eve, over a decade, as she unlocks the mystery behind the streets named Eve and Martha. Clues are found in old recordings and Martha’s home movies revealing a mystery man gazing into the lens. Eve’s investigation leads her to the Sobieski castle in the Ukraine, the site of a massacre where her grandmother died, and the Eichmann trial as she explores her parents’ holocaust survival and her father’s heroic escape from a concentration camp. When a ‘doppelgänger’ contacts Eve, her life is forever altered, as she uncovers lies, tracks down her mother’s young lover and reveals the family secret that led her to rewrite her entire life.
Call Us Ishmael

2018

Call Us Ishmael

2018
Each and every year hundreds of people flock to New Bedford, MA in bleak mid-winter to partake in a celebration like none other. They read this single book out loud over the course of two full days without stopping. All of these people have one thing in common: they are obsessed with Moby Dick, the book that most call the Great American Novel.
WITCH: We Intend to Cause Havoc

2019

WITCH: We Intend to Cause Havoc

2019
The film follows the 21st Century formation of WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc), Zambia's most popular rock band of the 1970s, and documents the life of its lead singer, Jagari, whose name is an Africanisation of Mick Jagger's. Through the resurrection of a music that was forgotten by many and unheard by most, the film explores the life of a former African rock-star, and the excitement around the rediscovery of his music by Western fans, many of whom had yet to be born when his last album was released.
Takeover

1980

Takeover

1980
About Aborigines and Australian politics. On 13 March 1978 the Queensland Government announced its intention to take over management of the Aurukun Aboriginal Reserve from the Uniting Church. The people of Aurukun complained bitterly, believing that the Church was more sympathetic to their aims and fearing that the State was merely seeking easier access to the rich bauxite deposits on their Reserve. When the Federal Government took the side of the Aborigines the stage was set for national confrontation. Shows the situation at Aurukun during those crucial three weeks.
Massacre River

2019

Massacre River

2019
Pikilina is a Dominican-born woman of Haitian descent. Racial and political violence erupts when the country of her birth, the Dominican Republic, reverses birthright citizenship and she and 200,000 others are left stateless.
In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid

1994

In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid

1994
A documentary overview and ideological critique of the South African film industry and cinema's historical relationship with apartheid.
Bulky Trash

1991

Bulky Trash

1991
In early summer 1989, Helke Misselwitz portrays young musicians in a band who produce their music on other people’s waste items. The four boys call themselves "Bulk Rubbish" and they drum out their resentment, having grown up on the new housing estates of East Berlin. A straight-up picture of the GDR youth is presented here, which in no way conforms to the official image. The film crew concentrates on the observation of the boy Enrico and his mother Erika: when the mother marries in the West, her son decides to stay in East Berlin, bidding her farewell at the border-crossing. Only shortly after, the tables are turned again: as the events in Berlin leading up to the fall of the Wall are practically captured live from the film crew, Enrico insists on maintaining his cultural identity, even after the fall of the Wall. The "Bulk Rubbish" musicians want to remain citizens of their own state and perceive the looming reunification with scepticism.
Che: Rise and Fall

2009

Che: Rise and Fall

2009
Che: Rise and Fall, was entirely shot in Cuba at the time the remains of the legendary warrior were being airlifted from Bolivia to his final resting place in Santa Clara. The documentary brings out, for the first time, the voice of his brothers in arms in Sierra Maestra, Congo and Bolivia. But above all, that of Alberto Granados with whom the young CHE Guevara rode on a motorcycle out of Argentina on a trip that will end, tragically, sixteen years later in the jungles of Bolivia.
I Had an Abortion

2005

I Had an Abortion

2005
Underneath the din of politicians posturing about "life" and "choice" and beyond the shouted slogans about murder and rights, there are real stories of real women who have had abortions. Each year in the US, 1.3 million abortions occur, but the topic is still so stigmatized it's never discussed in polite company. Powerful, poignant, and fiercely honest, I HAD AN ABORTION tackles this taboo, featuring 10 women - including famed feminist Gloria Steinem - who candidly describe experiences spanning seven decades, from the years before Roe v. Wade to the present day.
7 Days in Kigali, the week when Rwanda changed

2014

7 Days in Kigali, the week when Rwanda changed

2014
What happened in Rwanda in 1994 was not simply the spontaneous eruption of inter-ethnic hatred. It was planned genocide, on an industrial scale. Something that was prepared for at least a year in advance. Lists were made. Weapons were collected. RTLM radio spent months conditioning their audience to believe that one sector of their population represented a threat.
On The Wings of Brancusi

2018

On The Wings of Brancusi

2018
Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), the most important sculptor of the first half of the 20th century, has been a fascinating and enduring influence on a generation of contemporary American artists. Insights into Brancusi’s legacy are presented by Carl Andre, Lynda Benglis, Ellsworth Kelly, Martin Puryear, Richard Serra, and Joel Shapiro, with additional commentary on Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Roy Lichtenstein, Isamu Noguchi,and Claes Oldenburg. In 1995, Anne d’Harnoncourt, Director Emeritus of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, asked Checkerboard to document the PMA’s acclaimed retrospective on Brancusi for the Museum’s archive. The resulting footage became the genesis of the documentary.
Lili

2020

Lili

2020
A young mother flees her country in the midst of a revolution, revealing to her daughter a history of abandonment that crosses three continents and four generations.