More Daring Documentaries
Truth is still stranger than fiction.
| Wild Kingdom | ||
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Nanook of the North
Lengendary documentary on the life of an Eskimo family
pitting their strength against a vast and inhospitable
Arctic. Juxtaposes their struggle for survival against
the elements with the warmth of the little family as
they go about their daily affairs.
Nanook Revisited brings the story up to date.
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Grizzly Man
Acclaimed director Werner Herzog explores the life and
death of amateur grizzly bear expert and wildlife
preservationist Timothy Treadwell, who lived unarmed
among grizzlies for 13 summers
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Being Caribou
Environmentalist Leanne Allison and wildlife biologist
Karsten Heuer follow a herd of 120,000 caribou on foot,
across 1,500 kilomters of rugged Arctic tundra, from
Canada's central Yukon to coastal Alaska (the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge) and back again.
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| Don't Mess with Mother Nature | ||
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An Inconvenient Truth
Former Vice President Al Gore explains the facts of
global warming, presents arguments that the dangers of
global warning have reached the level of crisis, and
addresses the efforts of certain interests to discredit
the anti-global warming cause. Between lecture
segments, Gore discusses his personal commitment to the
environment, sharing anecdotes from his experiences.
Cannes film Festival, official selection; Sundance Film
Festival, official selection. Academy Award for Best
Documentary, 2006.
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When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four
Acts
The world watched in horror as Hurrican Katrina hit New
Orleans on August 29, 2005. Many were shocked, not only
by the scale of the disaster, but the slow, inept and
disorganized response of the emergency and recovery
efforts. Structured into four acts, each dealing with a
different aspect of the events that preceded and
followed Katrina's catastrophic passage through New
Orleans. Tells the heartbreaking personal stories of
those who endured this harrowing ordeal and survived to
tell the tale.
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Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance Tunnel into a metropolis of microorganisms beneath New York, swim through the kelp forests of the Pacific, & climb to the top of the mysterious mountains in Venezuela that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Lost World. Discover the environmental factors that spelled doom for great civilizations of the past. |
| Jocks | ||
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Hoop Dreams
This documentary follows two inner-city basketball
phenoms' lives through high school as they chase their
dreams of playing in the NBA.
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Murderball
A film about tough, highly competitive quadriplegic
rugby players. These men have been forced to live life
sitting down, but in their own version of the
full-contact sport, they smash each other in
custom-made gladiator-like wheelchairs. Tells the story
of a group of world-class athletes unlike any ever
shown on screen. In addition to smashing chairs, it
will smash every stereotype you ever had about the
disabled.
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Pumping Iron
In 1977, an independent documentary movie shed light on
the world of bodybuilding, becoming a hugh box office
hit and creating an international sensation. It
launched one man's multi-million dollar career. It
changed the world of bodybuilding and physical exercise
forever. Follows 5-time Mr. Olympia, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, as he gets ready to compete for his 6th
titles.
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| Fish or Fowl | ||
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Aliens of the Deep
James Cameron teams up with NASA scientists to explore
the Mid-Ocean Ridge, a submerged chain of mountains
that band the Earth and are home to some of the
planet's most unique life forms.
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The Wild Parrots of Telegraph
Hill
Follow the ups and downs of a flock of wild urban
parrots within the green niches of San Francisco. Along
the way meet unforgettable characters like Picasso and
Sophie, the inseparable parrot lovers, and Connor, the
lovable outcast of the flock.
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March of the Penguins
In the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of
time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and
start a family. This courtship will begin with a long
journey - a journey that will take them hundreds of
miles across the continent by foot, one by one in a
single file. They will endure freezing temperatures, in
brittle, icy winds and through deep, treacherous
waters. They will risk starvation and attack by
dangerous predators, under the harshest conditions on
earth, all to find true love.
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| What is Truth? | ||
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The Thin Blue Line
Errol Morris sets out to prove that a convicted
hitchhiker did not kill a Dallas policeman in 1976 -
and that the lowlife that fingered him did. Based on a
true story.
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Orson Welles's F for Fake
Trickery. Deceit. Magic. In this free-form documentary,
the legendary filmmaker gleefully engages the central
preoccupation of his career: the tenuous line between
truth and illusion, art and lies.
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Derrida
Documentary about French philosopher Jacques Derrida.
Combines excerpts of his speaking to groups,
interviews, and biographical materials.
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| Smart People | ||
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Wordplay
A journey into the world of Will Shortz, the crossword
puzzle editor at The New York Times. Shortz has spent
his entire lifetime studying, creating and editing
puzzles, and has built a huge following along the way
including Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.
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Spellbound
Follows the lives of eight young Americans who share
one goal: to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee in
Washington, D.C. The Bee is as intense a competition as
any Olympic match, for both the spellers and their
families. The unbearable pressure becomes even more
extraordinary when it is felt by ordinary teenagers.
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Nobelity
A look at the world's most pressing problems through
the eyes of Nobel laureates. Follow filmmaker Turk
Pipkin in his journey to find enlightening answers
about the kind of world our children and grandchildren
will know.
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| Fundamentalists Gone Wild | ||
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Jesus Camp
A first-ever look into an intense training ground that
recruits born-again Christian children to become an
active part of America's political future. Follow these
children at summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota
as they hone their 'prophetic gifts'. Includes sermon
footage and interviews with disgraced megachurch pastor
Ted Haggerity.
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Israel, Islam, and Armageddon
Fundamentalist documentary in which writer and speaker
Dave Hunt attempts to correlate current events with
Biblical passages, and describes mainstream media
reporting as "misinformation and propaganda".
Fascinating look at the stark worldview of premillenial
dispensantionalism.
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The Many Faces of Benny Hinn
Benny Hinn is Televangelism's Shooting Star, Pray TV's
Man of The Hour. The Many Faces of Benny Hinn is a
unique blend of searing exposes by some of the world's
leading new organizations, the biting satire of
DoorTV's Godstuff (as seen on Comedy Central's The
Daily Show) and Hinn's own outrageous statements
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| And Now for Something Completely Different | ||
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Unseen Cinema Early American Avant-Garde Film,
1894-1941
This seven-disc collection offers 155 avant-garde films
from 1894 to 1941. Disc 1. The mechanized eye:
experiments in technique and form (161 min.) -- Disc 2.
The devil's plaything: american surrealism (161 min.)
-- Disc 3. Light rhythms: music and abstraction (168
min.) -- Disc 4. Inverted narratives: new directions in
storytelling (155 min.) -- Disc 5. Picturing a
metropolis: New York City unveiled (152 min.) -- Disc
6. The amateur as actor: discovering paradise in
pictures (175 min.) -- Disc 7. Viva la dance: the
beginnings of cine-dance (155 min.).
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By Brakhage
Double-disc set features: new high-definition digital
transfers of all twenty-six films, video encounters
with the filmmaker, reflections on selected films by
Brakhage expert Fred Camper, optimal image quility:
RSDL dual-layer edition. Includes the controversial
autopsy documentary, The Act of Seeing With One's
Own Eyes.
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Avant-Garde Experimental Cinema of the 1920s
and '30s
In the latter half of the 20th century, Raymond Rohauer was one of the nation's foremost proponents of experimental cinema. Programming diverse films at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles, and making the films in his personal archive available for commercial distribution, he helped preserve and promote avant-garde cinema. |
| Subcultures | ||
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Dark Days
Documentary about a community of homeless people living
in a train tunnel beneath Manhattan. Depicts a way of
life that is unimaginable to most of those who walk the
streets above: in the pitch black of the tunnel, rats
swarm through piles of garbage as high-speed trains
leaving Penn station tear through the darkness. For
some of those who have gone underground, it has been
home for as long as 25 years.
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The Endless Summer
A documentary on the search for the perfect wave, in
which two Californians take off with their surfboards
for Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii.
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Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
A global journey to find out why heavy metal music has
been consistently stereotyped, dismissed and condemned
and yet is loved so passionately by its millions of
fans.
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| The Song Remains the Same | ||
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Imagine
A biographical documentary using home movies,
interviews, tv footage, songs and reminiscences of
friends and family. Lennon's own voice provides the
narration.
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Strange Fruit
A history of the anti-lynching protest song made famous
by Billie Holiday. Includes footage of Billie Holiday
performing the song.
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Amazing Grace
Documentary explores the moving history of the
timeless, inspiritional hymn "Amazing grace", and
traces the lyrics back to its author, John Newton, and
English slave ship captain turned country preacher.
Includes archival film footage, and variations sung by
different performers.
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| Lost Childhoods | ||
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49 Up
The seventh installment in Michael Apted's Up Series.
In 1964, 14 children from diverse backgrounds were
interviewed about their lives and dreams. Every seven
years, Apted has been back to talk to them, examining
the progression of their lives.
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Born into Brothels
While living in the red light district of Calcutta,
documenting life in the brothels, New York-based
photographer Zana Briski embarked on a project by which
she gave cameras to the children of prostitutes and
taught them photography, awakening within them hidden
talent and creativity and giving them a means to
transform their lives.
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Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood
Hills
Damien Echols is a teen who dresses in all black and
listens to heavy metal. He and his two friends are
accused of the murder of three little boys, and are
instantly condemned by a retribution-hungry public. Now
they try to defend themselves against a dubious lack of
proof.
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| Gone Fishin' | ||
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Fishing with John
The fact that John Lurie knows nothing about fishing doesn't stop him from taking his celebrity guests to exotic fishing locales. Montauk with Jim Jarmusch -- Jamaica with Tom Waits -- Costa Rica with Matt Dillon -- Maine with Willem Dafoe -- Thailand with Dennis Hopper, Part one -- Thailand with Dennis Hopper, Part two. |
Man of Aran
Documents the life of a family in a small fishing
village in the Aran Islands, Ireland, as it struggles
to win the daily battle against its magnificent
opponent--the sea.
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Jean Painlevé
A collection of experimental and documentary films
centering around aquatic plants, animals and the
surreal.
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| War! Unh! What is it Good For? | ||
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The Fog of War
The story of American politics and military policies as
seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of
Defense, under President Kennedy and President Johnson,
Robert S. McNamara. McNamara is a controversial and
influential political figure. He offers a candid
journey through some of the most seminal events in
contemporary American history. He offers insights into
the 1945 fire bombing of Tokyo, the Cuban Missile
Crisis, and the effects of the Vietnam War.
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Why We Fight
Explores a half-century of U.S. foreign policy from
World War II to the Iraq War, revealing how, as Dwight
Eisenhower had warned in his 1961 Farewell Address,
political and corporate interests have become
alarmingly entangled in the business of war. On a
deeper level, what emerges is a portrait of a nation in
transition--drifting dangerously far from her founding
principles toward a more imperial and uncertain future.
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The Memphis Belle
Two versions of the William Wyler 1944 Memphis Belle
documentary are contained on disc one: a widescreen
version created through a high-definition transfer of
the Smithsonian holding, and a full screen
digitally-restored version with color correction. Disc
two contains bonus material.
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| A Salute to Corporate America | ||
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The Corporation
The Corporation charts the spectacular rise of the
corporation as a dramatic, pervasive presence in our
everyday lives. With a deft mix of humor, visual
panache and seriousness, this documentary is a timely,
entertaining critique of global conglomerates.
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The Yes Men
With poker-faced impersonation as their weapon, and World Trade Organization officials as their target, the Yes Men pull off one bold prank after another in an effort to raise political consciousness. And when their outrageous stunts are actually swallowed - hook, line and sinker - the Yes Men must up the satrical ante and push the art of public spectacle to hilarious new heights. |
The Persuaders
Examines the "persuasion industries" of advertising and
public relations. Shows how marketers have developed
new ways of integrating their message into the fabric
of our lives. Explores how the culture of marketing has
come to shape the way Americans understand the world
and themselves and how the techniques of the persuasion
industries have migrated to politics.
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| Scary People | ||
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The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni
Riefenstahl
Interviews with Leni Riefenstahl, now in her nineties,
flash- backs and modern film sequences tell the story
of the most famous woman film director of all time.
Known for her films made during the Third Reich,
Riefenstahl's story is a controversial one. Best known
for her film Triumph of the will, the film made of the
1934 Nazi Party Congress, it proved to be her undoing
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The Net. The Unabomber, LSD and the
Internet
Explore the incredibly complex back-story of Ted
Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber. Exquisitely crafted
inquiry into the rationale of this mythic figure
situates him within a late 20th century web of
technology.
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The Rainbow Man/John 3:16
Presents the story of Rollen Stewart, also known as the
Rainbow Man, who achieved notoriety in the late 1970s
by appearing in the crowd at thousands of televised
sporting events wearing a rainbow-colored afro wig and
carrying signs encouraging the audience to be saved by
Jesus Christ. Follows his obsession with attracting
attention from the media, and his descent into violent
behavior.
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| Too Old to Rock and Roll? | ||
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No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Bonus features including never before seen footage and
rare concert performances by Bob Dylan. Includes
everyone's prolific favorites: 'Like a Rolling Stone,'
'Blowing In The Wind,' 'Mr. Tamborine Man' &
others. Directed by Martin Scorsese.
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I'm Your Man
The life and work of Leonard Cohen is celebrated in
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. The documentary also
includes performances and interviews by artists that
Cohen has inspired including U2, Beth Orton, Jarvis
Cocker, Rufus Wainwright, and more.
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The Ramones: End of the Century
Never mind the bollocks and the Sex Pistols,
the Ramones created punk rock. Special features:
Theatrical trailer ; Deleted scene "Clem Burke as Elvis
Ramone" ; Joey Ramone radio interview from FM 106.3 ;
Johnny Ramone interview excerpts ; Richie Ramone
interview excerpts ; Marky Ramone drum techniques ; Joe
Strummer interview excerpts ; Tommy Ramone interview
excerpts ; Debbie Harry and Chris Stein interview
excerpts ; "Who wrote what on the first 3 albums" by
Tommy Ramone.
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| Tradition! | ||
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Old Believers
Chronicles the descendants of immigrants and exiles in
these remote lands. The results are three poetic,
intimate documentaries that capture the unique lives
and customs of people unknown to most of the world.
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The Wedding Camels
An account of a marriage among the Turkana, an isolated
pastoral tribe of the dry thorn-country of northwestern
Kenya. Shows the tensions that arise during bridewealth
negotiations between the two families, and how these
strain the old friendship between the bride's father
and his future son-in-law.
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Grass
A documentary in which Merian C. Cooper, Ernest
Schoedsack, and Marguerite Harrison travel through Asia
Minor and Iraq to reach a tribe of nomads in Iran known
as the Bakhtyari. They follow the tribe on its
forty-eight day trek across deserts, streams, and
mountains to reach pasture for their flocks. These
three people were the first Westerners to cross the
Zardeh Kuh Pass and the first to make this migration
with the tribes.
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| You Are What You Eat (or Drink) | ||
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Biotechnology: Friend or Foe?
Genetic science holds the keys to life itself. How
should this knowledge be used? Enhanced by outstanding
3-D computer animations and microscopic imaging, this
engaging program, featuring Dr. Cary Fowler ... takes a
balanced look at the biotechnological revolution. Among
the numerous topics surveyed are genetic engineering,
cloning, gene therapy, genetically modified food crops,
gene patenting, DNA fingerprinting, gene banks, and the
use of transgenic animals for organ transplants. An
overview of heredity, natural selection, and the
mechanics of DNA is provided.
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The Future of Food
Documents the trend of unlabeled genetically-modified
foods which have become increasingly prevalent in
grocery stores. Unravels the complex web of market and
political forces that are changing the nature of what
we eat. Explores organic and sustainable agriculture as
alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture.
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Coke's Water Bomb: The Dasani
Fiasco.
On a British sitcom, two characters bottled tap water
and sold it as Peckham Spring Water. More recently,
Coca-Cola launched its purified-water lifestyle drink,
Dasani, in the U.K. The connection was not overlooked.
This program tracks Dasani's progressive PR nightmare
in Britain -- first as newspapers screamed "Coke Sells
Tap Water for 95p," and then as Coca-Cola recalled
500,000 bottles due to potentially carcinogenic
contamination at their factory. It also considers an
even larger problem as worldwide Coke sales continue to
flatten: without Dasani, the soft drink giant has no
bottled water product for the lucrative European
market.
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| Women's Voices | ||
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The Lost Tribe
Ex-Mormon-lesbian comedian Sue Ann Post attends the
annual conference of Affirmation, an organization of
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Mormons in Salt
Lake City Utah. An observational documentary following
Sue Ann's funny, bizarre and confronting journey to
Mormon Zion as she performs for an audience of
predominately devout, excommunicated gay Mormons.
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Shirin Neshat: The Woman Moves
An acclaimed photographer, filmmaker, and video artist, Iranian-born Shirin Neshat addresses the complex forces shaping the identity of Muslim women throughout the world and explores the social, political, and psychological dimensions of women's experiences. |
War Zone
Filmmaker Maggie Hadleigh-West uses a video camera to
demonstrate the gender rules of the street, where
access to women's bodies is regarded as a male right.
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| Oil, the Original Energy Drink | ||
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Investigates the birth and death of the electric car,
as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable
living in the future.
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The Curse of Oil
Presents a global history of the oil industry and the
political consequences of the ever expanding
consumption of oil. Maintains that a number of
conflicts like Nasser's seizure of the Suez Canal, the
Iran-Iraq war and the war in Iraq were ultimately over
the control of oil supplies.
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The End of Suburbia
Through interviews with scientists and policy makers
this documentary explores the premise that American
suburbs, built on the easy availability of fossil
fuels, may become untenable.
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| Iraq: Mission Accomplished? | ||
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My Country My Country
Working alone in Iraq over eight months, director/cinematographer Laura Poitras creates an extraordinarily intimate portrait of Iraqis living under U.S. occupation.
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Control Room
A chronicle which provides a rare window into the
international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of
Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet.
Criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials
for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly
condemned for frequently airing civilian casualties as
well as footage of American POW's, the station has
revealed (and continues to show the world) everything
about the Iraq War that the Bush administration does
not want the public to see.
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Uncovered: The War on Iraq
Top CIA analysts, UN weapons inspectors, Pentagon officials, politicians, and many others from both sides of the aisle dissect the evidence and evaluate the Bush administration's case for leading the United States into war with Iraq. Features the controversial 2004 documentary Soldiers Pay from director David O. Russell. |
| Legendary Documentaries | ||
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Grey Gardens
Portrait of the relationship between Edith Bouvier
Beale and her grown daughter, Little Edie, once and
aspiring actress in New York who left her career to
care for her aging mother in their East Hampton home,
and never left again. The aunt and cousin of Jacqueline
Kennedy Onassis feed their cats and raccoons and rehash
their pasts behind the walls of their decaying mansion,
Grey Gardens.
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Harlan County, USA
In 1973, when the Brookside coal miners voted for the
United Mine Workers union, the Duke Power Company
refused it. Barbara Kopple documented the struggle
between the miners and the company, causing a big
uproar.
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Salesman
A landmark documentary ... Captures in vivid detail the
bygone era of the door-to-door salesman. While laboring
to sell a gold-embossed version of the Holy Word, Paul
Brennan and his colleagues target the beleaguered
masses, then face the demands of quotas and the
frustrations of life on the road. Following Brennan on
his daily rounds, the Maysles discover a real-life
Willy Loman, walking the line from hype to despair.
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| You Call That Art? | ||
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Andy Warhol
Through on-camera interviews and still and motion
picture footage the entire length of Andy Warhol's
career in art is explored from the 1940's until his
death in 1987.
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Edvard Munch
A biography of Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard
Munch and the effect his upbringing in Norway had on
his work and whose raw, modern work The
Screamshocked the bourgeois world.
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Five Films About Christo &
Jeanne-Claude
The 30 year collaboration between acclaimed filmmakers
Albert and David Maysles, and the renowned
environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
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| Nazis | ||
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Triumph of the Will
This film, commissioned by Adolf Hitler to record the
1934 Nazi party rally in Nuremberg, is the "most
powerful piece of propaganda ever produced". Included
are many scenes of gatherings, marches, and parades.
The viewer will also hear speeches given by Hitler,
Goering, Goebbels, and Hess as well as samples of
monumental architecture designed by Albert Speer.
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The Nazi Officer's Wife
One Jewish woman's true story of surviving the
Holocaust by marrying a Nazi officer. Narrated by Susan
Sarandon, this documentary provides a unique
perspective in its story of defiance and strength.
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Germany Awake!
A documentary on World War II German motion pictures
and their use as propaganda tools. Includes clips from
26 films made between 1933 and 1945, including Jud
Suess and the Rothschilds.
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This page is maintained by Matt Benzing.
