Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 29

On Any Sunday

1971

On Any Sunday

1971
6.8
Documentary on motorcycle racing featuring stars of the sport, including film star Steve McQueen, a racer in his own right.
Up the Yangtze

2007

Up the Yangtze

2007
7.3
A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze - navigating the mythic waterway known in China simply as "The River." The Yangtze is about to be transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history. At the river's edge - a young woman says goodbye to her family as the floodwaters rise towards their small homestead. The Three Gorges Dam - contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle - provides the epic backdrop for Up the Yangtze, a dramatic feature documentary on life inside modern China.
Aalto

2020

Aalto

2020
6.1
Aalto is one of the greatest names in modern architecture and design, Aino and Alvar Aalto gave their signature to iconic Scandic design. The first cinematic portrait of their life love story is an enchanting journey of their creations and influence around the world.
Missing 411: The Hunted

2019

Missing 411: The Hunted

2019
6.9
Hunters have disappeared from wildlands without a trace for hundreds of years. David Paulides presents the haunting true stories of hunters experiencing the unexplainable in the woods of North America.
Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress

2019

Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress

2019
7.7
An account of the last two centuries of the Anthropocene, the Age of Man. How human beings have progressed so much in such a short time through war and the selfish interests of a few, belligerent politicians and captains of industry, damaging the welfare of the majority of mankind, impoverishing the weakest, greedily devouring the limited resources of the Earth.
Eating Animals

2018

Eating Animals

2018
6.7
An examination of our dietary choices and the food we put in our bodies.
Sustainable

2016

Sustainable

2016
7
This film weaves together expert analysis of America's food and farming system with a powerful narrative of one extraordinary farmer who is determined to create a sustainable future for his community.
Free to Run

2016

Free to Run

2016
7.2
Free to Run tells the amazing story of the running movement over the past five decades, the struggle for the right to run - especially for women – against conservative Federations, the explosion of grass roots road races and marathons, until the boom of running as a vast business enterprise.
God Knows Where I Am

2016

God Knows Where I Am

2016
6.4
Well-educated, New Hampshire mother, Linda Bishop, was determined to stay free of the mental health system after her early release from a 3 year commitment to New Hampshire State Hospital. Instead, she became a prisoner of her own mind, a fate which she documents in one of the most evocative and chilling accounts of mental illness and of our systemic failure to protect those suffering from it.
Shot! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock

2017

Shot! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock

2017
6.8
A reckless joyride into the darkest corners of popular music that delves deep into the mind of Mick Rock, the genius photographer who immortalized the seventies and the rise to rock stardom of many legendary musicians.
Boy 23: The Forgotten Boys of Brazil

2016

Boy 23: The Forgotten Boys of Brazil

2016
7.7
The film accompanies the investigation of the historian Sidney Aguilar after the discovery of bricks marked with Nazi swastikas in the interior of São Paulo. They then discover a horrifying fact that during the 1930s, fifty black and mullato boys were taken from an orphanage in Rio de Janeiro to the farm where the bricks were found. There they were identified by numbers and were submitted to slave labour by a family that was part of the political and economic elite of the country and who did not hide their Nazi sympathizing ideals.
The Fourth Phase

2016

The Fourth Phase

2016
6.5
Iconic snowboarder Travis Rice and friends embark on a multi-year mission to follow the North Pacific Gyre's flow. As Rice and the crew experience the highs and lows of a journey unlike any previously attempted, cutting-edge cinematography captures some of the world's most remote environments bringing breathtaking scenery and thrilling action to viewers worldwide.
Antarctica: Ice & Sky

2015

Antarctica: Ice & Sky

2015
6.2
Documentary about the work of Claude Lorius, who began studying Antarctic ice in 1957, and, in 1965, was the first scientist to be concerned about global warming.
Bikes vs Cars

2015

Bikes vs Cars

2015
6.8
Bikes vs Cars depicts a global crisis that we all deep down know we need to talk about: Climate, earth's resources, cities where the entire surface is consumed by the car. An ever-growing, dirty, noisy traffic chaos. The bike is a great tool for change, but the powerful interests who gain from the private car invest billions each year on lobbying and advertising to protect their business. In the film we meet activists and thinkers who are fighting for better cities, who refuse to stop riding despite the increasing number killed in traffic.
A German Youth

2015

A German Youth

2015
7
At the end of the 1960s the post-war generation began to revolt against their parents. This was a generation disillusioned by anti-communist capitalism and a state apparatus in which they believed they saw fascist tendencies. This generation included journalist Ulrike Meinhof, lawyer Horst Mahler, filmmaker Holger Meins as well as students Gudrun Ensslin and Andreas Baader.
The Visit: An Alien Encounter

2015

The Visit: An Alien Encounter

2015
6.1
“This film documents an event that has never taken place…” With unprecedented access to the United Nations’ Office for Outer Space Affairs, leading space scientists and space agencies, The Visit explores humans’ first encounter with alien intelligent life and thereby humanity itself. “Our scenario begins with the arrival. Your arrival.”
Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman

2015

Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman

2015
7.5
The world knows Paul Newman as an Academy Award winning actor with a fifty-plus year career as one of the most prolific and revered actors in American Cinema. He was also well known for his philanthropy; Newman's Own has given more than four hundred and thirty million dollars to charities around the world. Yet few know the gasoline-fueled passion that became so important in this complex, multifaceted man's makeup. Newman’s deep-seated passion for racing was so intense it nearly sidelined his acting career. His racing career spanned thirty-five years; Newman won four national championships as a driver and eight championships as an owner. Not bad for a guy who didn't even start racing until he was forty-seven years old.
Awake: The Life of Yogananda

2014

Awake: The Life of Yogananda

2014
6.8
An unconventional biography by Oscar nominee Paola di Florio and Sundance winner Lisa Leeman about Hindu mystic Paramahansa Yogananda who brought yoga and meditation to the West in 1920 and authored the spiritual classic "Autobiography of a Yogi," which became the go-to book for seekers from George Harrison to Steve Jobs.
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

2013

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

2013
7.1
The story of Alice Herz-Sommer, a German-speaking Jewish pianist from Prague who was, at her death, the world's oldest Holocaust survivor. She discusses the importance of music, laughter, and how to have an optimistic outlook on life.
The Epic of Everest

1924

The Epic of Everest

1924
7
The official record of Mallory and Irvine's 1924 expedition. When George Mallory and Sandy Irvine attempted to reach the summit of Everest in 1924 they came closer than any previous attempt. Inspired by the work of Herbert Ponting (The Great White Silence) Captain Noel filmed in the harshest of conditions, with specially adapted equipment, to capture the drama of the fateful expedition.