Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 285

Threatened

2014

Threatened

2014
Deep in Brazil, where law and justice require first and last name, the struggle for a piece of land becomes a matter of life or death. "Threatened" shows peasants in the South and Southeast of Pará, who have to fight for a piece of land for farming and living.
Man Made

2018

Man Made

2018
From adoption and homelessness to navigating relationships and overcoming self-harm, the four transmen in MAN MADE all have something else in common: they are all bodybuilders. Through the lens of FTMFitCon, the world’s only FTM bodybuilding competition, we delve into the lives of Dominic, Rese, Mason, and Kennie as they define what it means to be a man while contextualizing that definition through the social, racial, and economic realities of their lives. For the men of MAN MADE, it’s not about winning—it’s about stepping on stage and being seen for everything they are.
Rise Up: The Movement that Changed America

2018

Rise Up: The Movement that Changed America

2018
When Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968, he left a legacy of profound change, yet there was still much unfinished work. This one-hour documentary explores the key battles in the Civil Rights Movement that transformed American society--from the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 to the Chicago Campaign which led to the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The special will uncover what it took to translate protest into real legislative change.
Mele Murals

2016

Mele Murals

2016
Mele Murals is a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture for a new generation of Native Hawaiians. At the center of the story are two renowned street artists - Estria Miyashiro (aka Estria) and John Hina (aka Prime) - a group of Native Hawaiian youth, and the rural community of Waimea. Set against the resurgence of Hawaiian language and culture of the past twenty years, Estria and Prime tell how their street art has taken them on personal journeys to discover their history, identity and responsibilities as Hawaiian people.
The Test and the Art of Thinking

2018

The Test and the Art of Thinking

2018
Parents, educators, students and college admissions professionals all intimately understand the financial, emotional and intellectual burden of the SAT/ACT—tests that are not only an integral part of the college admissions process for most American students, but also can be a rite of passage for teenagers in the United States. Even as adults, few of us forget our score, or how we felt about what it took to earn it. The Test & the Art of Thinking traces the history and evolution of the SAT/ACT as a major player on the pathway to higher education in America, and it documents its current power in our culture. In so doing, it strives to support individuals who are embarking on the road to college, by examining what the SAT/ACT measures and means, and asking a range of educational leaders, admissions professionals and stakeholders in the test—from tutors to parents to test designers—to grapple with the test’s use, ramifications and future.
Doing Jewish: A Story From Ghana

2017

Doing Jewish: A Story From Ghana

2017
A tiny community in rural Ghana recently discovered that the religion they have been practicing for centuries is Judaism. Filmmaker Gabrielle Zilkha explores their story from isolation to global connection and the challenges and rewards they face along the way.
That Which I Love Destroys Me

2015

That Which I Love Destroys Me

2015
A documentary on military PTSD, focusing on the experiences of two friends who are veterans of the war in Iraq.
Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power

2004

Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power

2004
Rob Williams was an African-American living in Monroe, North Carolina in the 1950s and 1960s. Living with injustice and oppression, many African-Americans advocated a non-violent resistance. Williams took a different tack, urging the oppressed to take up arms. Williams was stripped of his rank as leader of the local NAACP chapter, but he continued to encourage local African-Americans to carry weapons as a means of self-defense. Wanted on a kidnapping charge, Williams and his wife fled to Cuba. His radio show Radio Free Dixie could be heard in some parts of the United States.
My Heart Attack

2015

My Heart Attack

2015
Life is certainly stranger than fiction. Even if he’d tried, filmmaker Sheldon Cohen couldn’t have made up the events that led to his being rushed to an Emergency room one sunny summer afternoon. This is the true story of “a nice Jewish boy with Buddhist inclinations” who should have been the last person in the world to need cardiac surgery.
Otaiya: Japan's Hidden Christians

1997

Otaiya: Japan's Hidden Christians

1997
In the sixteenth century Portuguese Catholic missionaries introduced Christianity to Japan. The religion flourished for about fifty years, but by 1614 the Tokugawa government issued an edict that outlawed Christianity and expelled the missionaries from Japan. About 150,000 believers went underground and continued to practice their religion in secret. These people are known as the "Hidden Christians". Otaiya, meaning "Big Evening" is the Hidden Christian version of Christmas Eve. Through the occasion of this ceremony, the film tells the story of Japan's Hidden Christians. Made with the cooperation of contemporary Hidden Christians on the remote island of Narushima, the film features the only two remaining priests in the Goto Islands.
In Full Bloom... Transcending Gender

2015

In Full Bloom... Transcending Gender

2015
The feature-length documentary, 'In Full Bloom... transcending gender,' follows the courageous journey of thirteen transgender and two gay actors as they transform their lives through the use of monologue, dialogue and performance art while preparing for the world premiere of the stage play, 'Lovely Bouquet of Flowers: An Exploration of Non-Traditional Gender Voices.' Behind-the-scenes, rehearsal and performance footage are interwoven with compelling personal interviews from the cast, dealing with family, inner conflicts, discrimination, coming out, surgery, hormones and the complexities of sexual identity and orientation. By sharing their own journeys, the actors transcend transgender by speaking to issues, such as relationships, careers and spirituality. 'In Full Bloom... transcending gender,' challenges the viewer to move past stereotypes and to see the commonalities we all share as human beings.
The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen

2016

The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen

2016
For six decades Angela Bowen, classical dancer and teacher, black lesbian feminist activist, and professor has influenced and inspired untold numbers speaking out as strongly for the Arts, Black and Women's Rights as she has for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The film depicts Bowen's life across the decades, from the early fifties, with historic footage, photographs and interviews including her dance mentor, dance partner, former husband, partner, children, activists, scholars, and dance and university students. Bowen's candid and compelling stories allow us to understand how race, class, gender, age, and sexuality played into her decisions and choices, her mission, and strategies for survival. Passionate Pursuits is intended to challenge and inspire diverse audiences to pursue their own dreams with tenacity and courage, but not for themselves alone.
Tales of the Waria

2011

Tales of the Waria

2011
While many in the Western world view Islam as socially repressive, in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, exists a community of biological men who live openly as women-- the warias. As four warias strive to find romance, intimacy, and acceptance, they encounter unique obstacles that force them to make extraordinary sacrifices to keep the ones they love.
A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden

1987

A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden

1987
A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden was the first film to document the klezmer revival, tracing the efforts of two founding groups, Kapelye and Boston's Klezmer Conservatory Band, to recover the lost history of klezmer music. For nearly a millennium, this vigorous and soulful music was part of the celebration of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. In the early decades of this century, the music took root in America. Klezmer musicians learned hundreds of tunes by ear and their ears were open to Gypsy, Ukrainian and Greek melodies of the old world, as well as to the new sounds of American jazz. Music born in Eastern Europe lived on in the imaginations of composers for New York's Yiddish theater, men whose tunes entered the mainstream through such unlikely adapters as the Andrew Sisters. Eventually Klezmer went underground as its audience assimilated into mainstream American culture.
The Harvest

2017

The Harvest

2017
Gurwinder comes from Punjab, he’s been working for years as a farm hand in Agro Pontino, not far from Rome. Since he first came in Italy, he’s been living with the rest of the Sikh community in Latina province. Hardeep is also Indian, but her stress is Roman, and she works as a cultural mediator. She, born and raised in Italy, is trying to free herself from the memories of a family that emigrated in another age, while he is forced, against his faith, to take methamphetamine and doping to bear the heavy work pace, to be able to send money in India.
To The Land of Bliss

2002

To The Land of Bliss

2002
To the Land of Bliss is an intimate portrayal of the Chinese Pure Land Buddhist way of dying and living. In 1998, the filmmaker/anthropologist Wen-jie Qin returned to her home region in Sichuan Province in southwest China to research the post-Mao revival of Buddhism. During her fieldwork on the sacred mountain Emei, an eminent monk named Jue Chang passed away. People in the community laughed and cried at the departure of their beloved teacher. They gathered to escort his body through a rite of fire and to observe his consciousness rise to a paradise known as the Land of Bliss of Amita Buddha. The filmmaker captured some of the wonders and mystery from her search with these Chinese Pure Land Buddhists for the door to Amita Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life.
Full Circle

2002

Full Circle

2002
In the summer of 2001, under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, a totem pole in the Peabody Museum at Harvard University was returned to its original owners' ancestors, a Tlingit community in Southeast Alaska. The journey of the pole began a hundred years ago when it was removed by the Harriman Expedition from the deserted village of Gash at Cape Fox. The totem pole makes its way from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Ketchikan, Alaska, where the Cape Fox community holds a ceremony to welcome home artifacts taken by the Expedition.
Leon Trotsky: A Personality in the 20th Century

2013

Leon Trotsky: A Personality in the 20th Century

2013
Leon Trotsky is considered one of the most controversial revolutionary figures of his time. Was he a practical revolutionary or a naive idealist? On the practical side, he was the mastermind behind the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917, and was totally ruthless during the ensuing Civil War. As an idealist, he was committed to the pursuit of international revolution, but created many political enemies. After Lenin's death, Trotsky lost in a power struggle with Stalin, and later was expelled from the Communist Party. Trotsky was exiled from the Soviet Union, eventually finding refuge in Mexico. In 1940, Stalin ordered his assassination, and Trotsky died after being struck in the head with an ice-pick. History records that Trotsky was a master theoretician, a skillful propagandist and a brilliant orator.
Art With a Message: Protest, Propaganda, Satire and Social Comment

1988

Art With a Message: Protest, Propaganda, Satire and Social Comment

1988
This program investigates the ways various art forms are used to sway minds and to argue political causes. Examples include Napoleon and Hitler; artist such as Daumier, Hogarth and Shann; writers Dickens, Swift and Orwell; and pop artists who mock popular ideals.
Odd People Out

2004

Odd People Out

2004
"Odd People Out" tracks the process of marginalization and the repression of homosexuals during the first two decades of the Cuban revolution through the biography of the writer Reinaldo Arenas—as told by himself and other intellectuals and artists who shared his life and suffered the repression of a regime that named them “extravagant.” For many years none of them existed; they were considered non-people. Filmed clandestinely in Cuba in 2003, "Odd People Out" was never exhibited on the island.