Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 277

Matisse

2014

Matisse

2014
MOMA & Tate Modern's landmark show explores the final chapter of Matisse's career when he began 'carving into colour,' creating his signature cut-outs. Audiences are invited to enjoy an intimate, behind-the-scenes documentary about this blockbuster exhibition with contributions from curators, historians and those who knew Matisse personally. Beautifully filmed footage of the exhibition featuring works including The Snail, Memory of Oceania, Large Composition with Masks and Blue Nudes is interwoven with Matisse's biography and behind-the-scenes material. Featuring special guests including Tate director Nicholas Serota; MoMA director Glenn Lowry; jazz musician Courtney Pine and Royal Ballet principal dancer Zenaida Yanowsky.
1.5 Stay Alive

2015

1.5 Stay Alive

2015
1.5 Stay Alive is part music video and part factual. In it, popular Caribbean musicians express their experiences with hurricanes, tropical storms and rising seas by composing and performing songs about climate change. Intertwined are insights by experts about effects of a 1.5 degree temperature increase . The film visits Belize, Costa Rica, Trinidad Tobago, Haiti, Honduras, Miami and Louisiana
Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei

2002

Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei

2002
The greatest athletes in the world today are neither the Olympic champions nor the stars of professional sports, but the "Marathon Monks" of Japan's sacred Mount Hiei. Over a seven year training period, these "running Buddha" figuratively circle the globe on foot. During one incredible 100-day stretch, they cover 52.5 miles daily - twice the length of an Olympic marathon. The prize they seek is not a pot of gold, but enlightenment in the here and now. This documentary program is about one of these amazing men - Tanno Kakudo and the magic mountain where he trains. It is the philosophy of Tendai Buddhism, which inspires him in his quest for the supreme. The viewer will learn about the monk's death-defying fast, his vegetarian training diet, his handmade straw running shoes, and other feats of endurance such as the mummifying fire ceremony. Based on the book "Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei" by John Stevens, published by Shambala Press.
We Are Not Princesses

2018

We Are Not Princesses

2018
We Are Not Princesses is a documentary film about the incredible strength and spirit of four Syrian women living as refugees in Beirut as they come together to tell their stories of love, loss, pain and hope through the ancient Greek play, Antigone.
Becoming More Visible

2016

Becoming More Visible

2016
The challenges and joys of being your true self as seen through the journey of four transgender youths as they strive to become more visible.
Atheist America

2017

Atheist America

2017
"The Atheist Experience," produced in Austin, Texas, is the only atheist TV show in the United States. Every Sunday afternoon, two atheists debate callers for one hour, on camera. ATHEIST AMERICA portrays the show, its protagonists, and the discussions between the hosts and callers. The debates between believers and skeptics are funny, touching and shocking in turn, and they're interspersed with footage of the very public religious displays common in the state of Texas. The film is an intimate, concentrated, and entertaining insight into the culture wars, and is sure to provoke inspiration as well as frustration, no matter which side of the divide you fall on.
The Coolbaroo Club

1996

The Coolbaroo Club

1996
Documentary about "The Coolbaroo Club", which was the only Aboriginal-run dance club in a city which practiced unofficial apartheid. During its lifetime, the Club attracted Black musicians and celebrities from all over Australia and occasionally from overseas. Although best-remembered for the hugely popular Coolbaroo dances attended by hundreds of Aborigines and their white supporters, the "Coolbaroo League", founded by Club members, ran a newspaper and became an effective political organization, speaking out on issues of the day affecting Aboriginal people.
Incidents of Travel in Chichen Itza

1997

Incidents of Travel in Chichen Itza

1997
Depicts how New Agers, the Mexican state, tourists, and 1920s archaeologists all contend to “clear” the site of the antique Maya city of Chichen Itza in order to produce their own idealized and unobstructed visions of “Maya” while the local Maya themselves struggle to occupy the site as vendors and artisans.
Gimme a Faith

2018

Gimme a Faith

2018
Evangelical Christians in the Bible Belt try to convert newly arrived Chinese international students.
Alternative Facts; The Lies of Executive Order 9066

2018

Alternative Facts; The Lies of Executive Order 9066

2018
Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 is a documentary feature film about the false information and political influences which led to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. Alternative Facts sheds light on the people and politics that influenced the signing of the infamous Executive Order 9066 which authorized the mass incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans. The film will expose the lies used to justify the decision and the cover-up that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Alternative Facts will also examine the parallels to the current climate of fear, attitudes towards immigrant communities, and similar attempts to abuse the powers of the government.
Tongues of Heaven

2013

Tongues of Heaven

2013
Set in Taiwan and Hawaiʻi, territories where languages of the Austronesian family are spoken, this documentary focuses on the questions, desires and challenges of young indigenous peoples to learn the languages of their forebears— languages that are endangered or facing extinction.
The Secret History of The White House

2019

The Secret History of The White House

2019
Piecing together information from secret sources and a two-hundred-year evolution of the White House, investigative journalists and government insiders weigh in on the mystery of an unusual white box and a top-secret construction project dubbed the "Big Dig" that took place outside of the West Wing from 2007-2012. Using little known images, previously classified material and detailed graphics, the search for truth reveals not only what secrets might lay below the White House, but how their existence could affect democracy as we know it.
We Buy, Who Pays?

2002

We Buy, Who Pays?

2002
A short documentary about sweatshops and their working conditions in India.
Digitalkarma

2019

Digitalkarma

2019
A film about the four-year journey of a girl named Rupa. It is the story of her dream and her endeavor to escape from a predetermined destiny. The tea gardens lost in the misty hills of northeastern Bangladesh are the background to Rupa’s struggle. She fights against a life of hardships and against the perspective of an arranged marriage. Will she search independence or give in to the pressure of this ancient land?
This Changed Everything

2016

This Changed Everything

2016
This Changed Everything: 500 Years of the Reformation celebrates the fruits of the Reformation while exploring difficult questions about the cost of division: Could schism have been avoided? Is there hope for reunification? What did Jesus really mean when He prayed for His followers to be "one"?
One Shot. One Life

2013

One Shot. One Life

2013
In traditional martial arts, mastery of the art is not acquired through technical skill alone. In following ‘The Way’ one must look beyond technique. In Japanese archery or Kyudo, hitting the target is not enough. In order to shoot correctly we are told to “Shoot from the Heart”. As Takeuchi sensei says “As a national team member I had to hit the target no matter what. Eventually all that technique became obsolete in exchange to express myself through the bow”. This is One Shot. One Life. Zen of Japanese Archery.
Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins

1996

Father Roy: Inside the School of Assassins

1996
The struggle by a Vietnam war hero turned priest to find and reveal the truth about secret CIA torture training at a US military base.
Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt

1984

Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt

1984
A portrait of Salford-born poet, storyteller and comic, John Cooper-Clarke. His poems, a satirical blend of humour and social comment, are delivered at a fast pace, often with musical backing. His style, and that of his contemporary Linton Kwesi Johnson, have influenced a generation of younger poets involved in a revival of popular poetry in Britain.
She

1970

She

1970
A consciously modern depiction of working women in East Germany – labourers and managers in a garment factory talk about relationships and family planning, raising children and career qualifications, women’s rights and equality in the socialist (meritocratic) society. In conversations with a doctor, the women also have a chance to voice their personal concerns, as well as their feelings about the birth control pill, a subject that caused a stir at the time.
Friends in High Places

2001

Friends in High Places

2001
In Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), the cult of nat spirit worship has survived both the triumph of a devastating military dictatorship and the widespread adoption of Buddhism. At the center of the cult are the spirit mediums, often homosexual men, who communicate with the nats and take on their flamboyant characteristics in ecstatic rituals. Guided by two lively 70-year olds, director Lindsey Merrison explores the role of the spirit mediums in Burmese society in this fascinating documentary.