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Year
Popular Documentary Movies
The Pathfinders
It started with an order to land something on Mars - cheaply. In NASA's new era of "faster, better, cheaper," this mission had to create a radically different way of building a spacecraft. "The Pathfinders" tells the story of a small group of JPL'ers who dismissed warnings that a cut-rate mission to Earth's distant neighbor would cut short their careers.
With a Martian parachute that could not be tested in Earth's atmosphere, and the last-minute addition of a remote controlled vehicle that would not look out of place in a toy store, the Pathfinder mission was a doubter's dream.
Vet the future prospects of JPL and of a Mars program in its infancy, depended on bouncing successfully onto the rocky Red Planet and releasing a curious six-wheeled wanderer, in hopes of starting a revolution in space exploration.
Les Belges ça ose tout
Following in the wake of Benoît Poelvoorde and Philippe Geluck, comedians, actors and other Belgian singers have established themselves in France in recent years, in the media and on stage. But, if we appreciate them today, this was not always the case. In this documentary, director Olivier Monssens acts as the spokesperson for his compatriots. Through testimonies and delicious archive images, he returns to the not-so-distant era when our neighbors were considered friendly but somewhat idiotic people. The film is also an opportunity to understand what characterizes the Belgian spirit by focusing on some of its facets: humor and its famous local variation, self-deprecation, cinema and music.
Code of Survival
A documentary to inspire a different way of thinking and living. Can organic agriculture really feed the world? Or must we continue to poison ourselves and destroy the soil with genetic engineering and artificial chemicals?
Celebration of the Tercentenary of the Founding of The Premier Grand Lodge
THE UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND CELEBRATED ITS EPIC TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL IN 2017. Over 4,000 Freemasons from Provinces and Districts were joined by representatives from over 130 sovereign Grand Lodges from around the world to mark 300 years since the founding of the world’s first Grand Lodge for Freemasons. The audience witnessed a theatrical extravaganza which embraced the rich history and heritage of Freemasonry and featured a cast of renowned actors including Sir Derek Jacobi, Samantha Bond and Sanjeev Bhaskar.
A Pot of Boiling Oil
A short documentary about the making of Twin Peaks: The Return. David Lynch interacts with his cast while they tell some stories.
Claude Dilain, de la banlieue au Sénat. Au nom de la République
Viva Amiga
In 1985, a powerful new kind of computer was born. It was 10 years ahead of its time, and ready to take on Microsoft, IBM and Apple for control of the PC market. The Amiga computer revolutionized video, multimedia and digital art, with Andy Warhol being a big advocate. It was also known for being a fantastic video games machine. Despite the computer's manufacturer going bankrupt in early 1990's, the Amiga has a huge cult following worldwide to this day. This film documents the rise and fall of the Amiga in the marketplace, and gives an inside look at the passionate and eccentric community that surrounds it.
Jiabiangou Elegy: Life and Death of the Rightists
Jiabiangou Elegy recounts the persecution of inmates at the Jiabiangou labor camp in Jiuquan, Gansu province, and examines the way the victims’ final affairs were handled. During the Anti-Rightist Campaign of 1957–59, over three thousand people were sent to Jiabiangou for re-education through labor. These people were labeled rightists, counterrevolutionaries, and anti-party dissidents. Over a three-year period, more than two thousand died from abuse and hunger; only a few hundred were rescued in the end. The film includes interviews with the few remaining Jiabiangou survivors and their children, and presents the conflict between the preservation and destruction of memory.
The Road Movie
Anything can happen on Russian roads and is precisely shot by the dashboard camera. Super-objective video registration grows into the strong image of Russian national character – with its permanent awaiting for the miracle and habitual approach to real dramas. A forest on fire as a symbol of Russian hell, a military tank at a car wash and car chase in the vicinity of Kremlin shot with a dashboard cam at the same time when Boris Nemtsov, the leader of political opposition, was shot dead near Kremlin. Dashboard cam depicts life in it’s purity as an unbiased observer.
Winnerbäck - A Kind of Life
Lars Winnerbäck is one of Sweden's biggest artists for 15 years. At the same time he is one of those we know least about. Now Winnerbäck celebrates 20 years as an artist, despite barely filling 40. This documentary takes us closer to him than ever, while summarizing a musically unlikely career. But most of all, it gives an insight into an extremely complex human being, with all its weaknesses and characteristics reflecting an entire generation's feelings. In addition to Lars Winnerbäck is featured in the film Rolf Lassgård, Per Gessle and Melissa Horn. Director and producer are Øystein Karlsen, who is behind successes like Dag og Lilyhammer.
Grand Coulee Dam
During the darkest days of the Depression when construction was started on Grand Coulee Dam, everything about it was described in superlatives. It would be the "Biggest Thing on Earth," the salvation of the common man, a dam and irrigation project that would make the desert bloom, a source of cheap power that would boost an entire region of the country. Of the many public works projects of the New Deal, Grand Coulee Dam loomed largest in America's imagination, promising to fulfill President Franklin Roosevelt's vision for a "planned promised land" where hard-working farm families would finally be free from the drought and dislocation caused by the elements.
Desert Lions of the Namib - Departure and Return
Two years after the moving documentary "Desert Warriors: Lions of the Namib", we find the five young lions who have grown up well. After leaving the lands of their childhood, they went in search of females with whom they could found new clans.
Dai Vernon: The Spirit of Magic
In addition to the insight provided by performers who knew Vernon, including Max Maven, Herb Zarrow, John Carney, Jackie Flosso, Ricky Jay, Steve Freeman and Persi Diaconis, it was an important opportunity for Vernon's children, Edward and Derek Verner, to share their own thoughts and feelings about their father, the magician. It also featured black-and-white silent footage of a younger Vernon demonstrating sleight-of-hand which we had converted and professionally retouched for the film. While the film was very well received, it was only available briefly for purchase as a VHS cassette, which was subsequently pirated. The film pops up regularly online, always low-quality copies of copies shared without any credit to those who made the project possible.
One and Not Done
Examines the life and career of John Calipari, one of the most polarizing figures in modern college basketball, weaving his story around that of his 2015–16 Kentucky team.
Songs of the Underground
A documentrary portrait of some of Greece’s underground music artists, and their songs of resistance and anger.
Anti-Hero: The Body Corporate
The Body Corporate made by Anti-Hero skateboards. That wasn’t the original title we had in mind. We were pushing for “Reality Breakdown”. But things changed along the way. The video itself came out a lot different than the video we thought we were making, and that’s not a bad thing. This is the video we came back from New Zealand with. It morphed from wanting to tell a story about skating being an act of defiance, a path away from the status quo & spoon fed commercialism & all that lazy stuff, to being the story of what drew these guys to skateboarding & why it sticks so strongly with some of us. In the end it still speaks to those other ideas, though not said out-loud. These guys poured their hearts into this thing & we couldn’t be more stoked on how it came out. We hope you dig it.
Prime Video
I Am Another You
Through the eyes of a young drifter who rejects society's rules and intentionally chooses to live on the streets, Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang explores the meaning of personal freedom – and its limits.
Year 13
A new cinematic offering from the captivating mind of Jim Greco, with guest appearances from Jeremy Klein, Chris Pastras, Jason Lee, and Danny Sargent. Shot by Tobin Yelland and Joey Sinko. Enjoy...
The Sky is Falling: Three Months in the Life of Ustym Holodnyuk
A film about the ideals that filled the hearts of Ustym and his peers during three months of the revolution. Ustym's character is revealed not through stories told by his family or friends or what he did, but instead through his concerns and motivations for which he stood on the Maidan. It is a personal story told plainly and directly by people from his generation about their shared experience. That experience reveals a sense of community with Ustym, not as a historical figure but like a dear friend whose pain and tragedy of fate becomes your own. This film forces the audience to not just feel remorse for a 19 year old who died on Institutstka Street three years ago, but also experience an anguish for their own wasted hopes and absence of initiative.
Dreaming Murakami
When Mette Holm begins to translate Haruki Murakami's debut novel Kaze no uta o kike, Hear the Wind Sing, a two-meter-tall frog shows up at an underground station in Tokyo. The Frog follows her, determined to engage the translator in its fight against the gigantic Worm, which is slowly waking from a deep sleep, ready to destroy the world with hatred. As Mette struggles to find the perfect sentences capable of communicating what Murakami's solitary, daydreaming characters are trying to tell us, the boundary between reality and imagination begins to blur.
Freevee
Lost in Vagueness
It's a music documentary that tells the story of Roy Gurvitz, who created Lost Vagueness, at Glastonbury and who, as legendary founder, Michael Eavis says, reinvigorated the festival. With the decadence of 1920's Berlin, but all in a muddy field. A film of the dark, self-destructive side of creativity and the personal trauma behind it.
Legion of Brothers
Afghanistan, immediately post-9/11: Small teams of Green Berets arrive on a series of secret missions to overthrow the Taliban. What happens next is equal parts war origin story and cautionary tale, illuminating the nature and impact of 15 years of constant combat, with unprecedented access to U.S. Special Forces.
Monogamish
Recovering from a heartbreaking divorce, independent filmmaker and son-of-an-Italian-Prince Tao Ruspoli takes to the road to talk to his relatives, advice columnists, psychologists, historians, anthropologists, artists, philosophers, sex workers, sex therapists, and ordinary couples about love, sex & monogamy in our culture. What he discovers about his very unconventional family, and about the history and psychology of love and marriage leads him to question the ideal of monogamy, and the traditional family values that go with it.
Those Who Jump
In northern Morocco lies the Spanish enclave of Melilla: Europe on African Land. On the mountain above live over a thousand hopeful African migrants, watching the land border, a fence system separating Morocco and Spain. Abou from Mali is one of them – the protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it. For over a year, he has ceaselessly persisted in attempting to jump the fence.
Uncertain
A keen observation of a sun-dappled and still-watered swamp, Uncertain contemplates a frequently overlooked and enigmatic town whose lake, and only real source of income, comes under threat from an aquatic nuisance of the botanical variety. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a site so-named, there is a lack of consensus about the Texas town's origin: whether the result of a surveyor's confusion when marking an early map, or steamboat captains' belief that docking there was an unknowable, impossible task, an auspicious beginning is offered for the unsettled and yearning inhabitants.
From Scratch: The Birth of Hip Hop
A deep exploration into the historical, cultural, political and musical elements that created the genre, featuring present-day conversations with music legends.
Multitude and Minority
A theater troupe is traveling to Kosovo to stage a show there. The theme of a play called "Speech Disorder" is whether we can radically change our own identity? While on a journey, the director, the dramaturg and the actors are discussing who they are actually. They meet their former colleague, an actor, who in the meantime became a monk and lives in a monastery.
Prime Video
Trains: Two Centuries of Innovation
Nearly 200 years ago, the train revolutionized our lives. It redrew the maps of states and nations, and changed concepts of distance and time like no other invention before. What visionaries imagined the development of the railroad? How did we get from the first chugging locomotives to the smooth giants of speed we see today? How does France's extensive rail network keep running smoothly, 24/7?
Attenborough and the Giant Elephant
David Attenborough investigates the remarkable life and death of Jumbo the elephant - a celebrity animal superstar whose story is said to have inspired the movie Dumbo. Attenborough joins a team of scientists and conservationists to unravel the complex and mysterious story of this large African elephant - an elephant many believed to be the biggest in the world. With unique access to Jumbo's skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History, the team work together to separate myth from reality. How big was Jumbo really? How was he treated in captivity? And how did he die? Jumbo's bones may offer vital clues.
All Good Gifts: The Making of "Godspell"
A behind the scenes documentary of the stage production of Godspell.
Wrong Elements
Uganda, 1989. A young Acholi rebel guided by spirits, Joseph Kony, forms a new rebel movement against the government: the LRA, The Lord’s Resistance Army. An “army” that grew by abducting teenagers – more than 60 000 over 25 years – of which less than half came out of the bush alive. Geofrey, Nighty and Mike, a group of friends, as well as Lapisa, were among these youths, abducted at 12 or 13. Today, in their effort to rebuild their lives and go back to normal, they revisit the places that marked their stolen childhood. At the same time victims and murderers, witnesses and perpetrators of horrific acts that they did not fully understand, they are forever the "Wrong Elements" that society struggles to accept. Meanwhile, in the immensity of the Central African jungle, the Ugandan army still continues to hunt the last scattered LRA rebels. But Joseph Kony is still out there, on the run.
Essence of Healing: The Journey of American Indian Nurses
Essence of Healing is a documentary exploring the life journeys of 14 American Indian nurses - their experiences growing up, their experiences in nursing school, and their experiences on the job. They are part of a larger story - a historical line of care and compassion that has run through hundreds of indigenous tribes for thousands of years.
Pattern Recognition
To celebrate the BFI's Thriller season, filmmaker Daniel Cockburn explores the power of sound to terrify and unsettle. Using sounds from Hollywood's best-known thriller and horror films, Cockburn makes familiar noises frightening and leaves us wondering... What's that sound? And why won't it stop?
Charlottesville: Race and Terror
On Saturday 8/12/2017, hundreds of white nationalists, alt-righters, and neo-Nazis traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia to participate in the “Unite the Right” rally. By Saturday evening three people were dead – one protester, and two police officers – and many more injured. “VICE News Tonight” correspondent Elle Reeve went behind the scenes with white nationalist leaders, including Christopher Cantwell, Robert Ray, David Duke, and Matthew Heimbach — as well as counter-protesters. VICE News Tonight also spoke with residents of Charlottesville, members of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Charlottesville Police. From the neo-Nazi protests at Emancipation Park to Cantwell’s hideaway outside of Virginia, “VICE News Tonight” provides viewers with exclusive, up close and personal access inside the unrest.