Documentary

Popular Documentary Movies

Man on Wire
Man on Wire
On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.
Man on Wire 2008
Tyson
Tyson
Director James Toback takes an unflinching, uncompromising look at the life of Mike Tyson--almost solely from the perspective of the man himself. TYSON alternates between the controversial boxer addressing the camera and shots of the champion's fights to create an arresting picture of the man.
Tyson 2008
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
At 14, best friends Robb Reiner and Lips made a pact to rock together forever. Their band, Anvil, hailed as the "demi-gods of Canadian metal" influenced a musical generation that includes Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. Following a calamitous European tour, Lips and Robb, now in their fifties, set off to record their 13th album in one last attempt to fulfill their boyhood dreams.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil 2008
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true "free lance, " goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson 2008
Trumbo
Trumbo
Through a focus on the life of Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976), this film examines the effects on individuals and families of a congressional pursuit of Hollywood Communists after World War II. Trumbo was one of several writers, directors, and actors who invoked the First Amendment in refusing to answer questions under oath. They were blacklisted and imprisoned. We follow Trumbo to prison, to exile in Mexico with his family, to poverty, to the public shunning of his children, to his writing under others' names, and to an eventual but incomplete vindication. Actors read his letters; his children and friends remember and comment. Archive photos, newsreels and interviews add texture. Written by
Trumbo 2008
Not Quite Hollywood
Not Quite Hollywood
As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock," a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene's most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.
Not Quite Hollywood 2008
Zeitgeist: Addendum
Zeitgeist: Addendum
Zeitgeist: Addendum premiered at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival. Director Peter Joseph stated: "The failure of our world to resolve the issues of war, poverty, and corruption, rests within a gross ignorance about what guides human behavior to begin with. It address the true source of the instability in our society, while offering the only fundamental, long-term solution."
Zeitgeist: Addendum 2008
Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown
Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown
A chronicle of the life, work and mind that created the Cthulhu mythos.
Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown 2008
American Teen
American Teen
A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.
American Teen 2008
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
Wild Combination is a visually absorbing portrait of the seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer Arthur Russell. Before his death in 1992, Arthur prolifically created music that spanned both pop and the transcendent possibilities of abstract art. Now, over fifteen years since his passing, Arthur's work is finally finding its audience. Wolf incorporates rare archival footage and commentary from Arthur's family, friends, and closest collaborators to tell this poignant and important story.
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell 2008
Beautiful Losers
Beautiful Losers
This documentary follows the lives and careers of a collective group of do-it-yourself artists and designers who inadvertently affected the art world.
Beautiful Losers 2008
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures
The egocentric documentary-maker Chris Waitt traces his romantic ineptitude and sexual impotence through awkward interviews with irate ex-girlfriends and stunts involving S&M parlours, Harley Street doctors and Viagra overdoses. The results are often hilarious, sometimes moving and speak directly to the hapless paramour in all of us.
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures 2008
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell 2008
American Carny: True Tales from the Circus Sideshow
American Carny: True Tales from the Circus Sideshow
Join Carnival Maestro Todd Robbins and award-winning filmmaker, Nick Basile, on a journey into a world of circus freaks, fire eaters, human blockheads, contortionists, professional lunatics and much, much more.
American Carny: True Tales from the Circus Sideshow 2008
Examined Life
Examined Life
Examined Life pulls philosophy out of academic journals and classrooms, and puts it back on the streets. Offering privileged moments with great thinkers from fields ranging from moral philosophy to cultural theory, Examined Life reveals philosophy's power to transform the way we see the world around us and imagine our place in it.
Examined Life 2008
I Think We're Alone Now
I Think We're Alone Now
Every celebrity deals with his or her share of obsessed fans. "I Think We're Alone Now" is a documentary that focuses on two individuals, Jeff and Kelly, who claim to be in love with the 80's pop singer Tiffany. Jeff Turner, a 50-year-old man from Santa Cruz, California has attended Tiffany concerts since 1988. Diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, he never had a girlfriend. Jeff spends his days hanging out on the streets of Santa Cruz, striking up conversations with anyone who has a moment to spare. Kelly McCormick is a 38-year-old hermaphrodite from Denver, Colorado, who claims to have been friends with Tiffany as a teenager. She credits Tiffany as the shining star who has motivated her to do everything in her life. Both Jeff and Kelly have been labeled stalkers by the media and other Tiffany fans. This film takes you inside the lonely lives these two characters, revealing the source of their clinging obsessions...
I Think We're Alone Now 2008
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Boogie Man is a comprehensive look at political strategist, racist, and former Republican National Convention Committee chairman, Lee Atwater, who reinvigorated the Republican Party’s Southern Strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. He mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush and played a key role in the elections of Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story 2008
Secrets of the Dinosaur Mummy
Secrets of the Dinosaur Mummy
A group of fossil hunters uncover not only the bones of a 77 million year old dinosaur, but its mummified and fossilized 'body'. After excavating the duckbill nicknamed 'Leonardo', scientists begin a battery of tests including a radiographic autopsy. Journey along with a team of paleontology experts as they make several astonishing discoveries including the creature's last meal and never-before-seen internal organs.
Secrets of the Dinosaur Mummy 2008
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels
THE WILD WORLD OF TED V. MIKELS, a new documentary by Kevin Sean Michaels (no blood relation to Ted, but the same spirit), is a rollicking look at the independent cinema and film pioneering of Ted V. Mikels, who has been producing films for over 60 years. Way before limited-budget action films became termed as "grindhouse," Ted was wowing audiences with his own special brand of guts, gore, humor, violence and most of all -- style. THE CORPSE GRINDERS 1 + 2, THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES, 10 VIOLENT WOMEN, MISSION: KILLFAST, THE BLACK KLANSMAN, THE DOLL SQUAD, THE WORM EATERS and GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS are some of Ted's films that have made their cinematic mark.
The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels 2008
My First War
My First War
At the age of 28, I was drafted as a soldier in the Second Lebanese War. Instinctively, I grabbed my video camera. The movie recalls the lack of justice in this unnecessary war and the loss of valuable lives. This was my personal earthquake and the nation as a whole. (Yariv mozer)
My First War 2008
Carts of Darkness
Carts of Darkness
In the picture-postcard community of North Vancouver, filmmaker Murray Siple follows men who have turned bottle-picking, their primary source of income, into the extreme sport of shopping cart racing. Enduring hardships from everyday life on the streets of Vancouver, this sub-culture depicts street life as much more than stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. The films takes a deep look into the lives of the men who race carts, the adversity they face, and the appeal of cart racing despite the risk.
Carts of Darkness 2008
American Meth
American Meth
Actor Val Kilmer narrates this powerful film exploring the methamphetamine epidemic that's ravaged blue-collar America. Putting a human face on the problem, filmmaker Justin Hunt reveals the damage being done by this rural drug of choice, as well as the steps being taken by communities across the nation to wipe out the scourge. From Wyoming to New Mexico, Montana and Oregon, American Meth paints a picture of both devastation and hope.
American Meth 2008
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon
The outrageous story of 1970s porn icon Jack Wrangler, and how he rose to the top of the gay, and then straight, adult film industry.
Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon 2008
Beyond Our Ken
Beyond Our Ken
To the Australian media Kenja is a 'secretive cult', their leader described in Parliament as a 'seedy conman'. Despite preparing to fight yet another court case Ken Dyers and Jan Hamilton allow a film crew unprecedented access to the 'spiritual evolvement centre' they founded in 1982. How can the view from inside Kenja be so different to the one outside? Through remarkable verite footage and candid interviews, Beyond Our Ken explores the anatomy and ambiguity of the 'cult' enigma.
Beyond Our Ken 2008
The End of Poverty?
The End of Poverty?
The End of Poverty? asks if the true causes of poverty today stem from a deliberate orchestration since colonial times which has evolved into our modern system whereby wealthy nations exploit the poor. People living and fighting against poverty answer condemning colonialism and its consequences; land grab, exploitation of natural resources, debt, free markets, demand for corporate profits and the evolution of an economic system in in which 25% of the world's population consumes 85% of its wealth. Featuring Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz, authors/activist Susan George, Eric Toussaint, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera and more.
The End of Poverty? 2008
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ‎– Déjà Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ‎– Déjà Vu
CSNY/Déjà Vu is a 2008 film directed by Bernard Shakey, a pseudonym for Neil Young. It focuses on the career of Crosby Stills Nash and Young, its musical connection to its audience and the turbulent times with which its music is associated as the band goes on their 2006 Freedom of Speech tour.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ‎– Déjà Vu 2008
Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension
Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension
Determined to understand the repeating patterns he was finding in nature, French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot used an early form of computer imagery to produce his own versions, coining the recurring shapes fractals. This installment of the PBS series "Nova" examines the rules of these self-similar patterns and explores the ways these fascinating geometric configurations can be applied in the fields of science, medicine and the arts.
Fractals: Hunting the Hidden Dimension 2008
Gunnin' for That #1 Spot
Gunnin' for That #1 Spot
The film follows 8 of the top high school basketball players in the US at the time of filming, in 2006. The plot centers around the first annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic game at the legendary Rucker Park in Harlem.
Gunnin' for That #1 Spot 2008
Between the Folds
Between the Folds
Depicts a cast of fine artists and eccentric scientists (from MIT and NASA) who have devoted their lives to the unlikely medium of modern origami. Through their determination to reinterpret the world in paper, they arouse a fascinating mix of sensibilities towards art, form, expressiveness, creativity and meaning
Between the Folds 2008
The Deadline
The Deadline
Travelling aboard a Greenpeace ship along the West Coast of Africa The Deadline unravels a multi-billion dollar pirate fishing scam. Hidden far out at sea and without surveillance, fish are caught by unhygienic unlicensed rusting trawlers using slave labor. Set within a high seas drama this catch is then smuggled back to port in official European Union boxes through the Canary Islands for Westerner's dinner plates with no one the wiser it has been stolen from the poorest people on the planet.
The Deadline 2008
The Dungeon Masters
The Dungeon Masters
The Dungeon Masters explores the subculture of role-playing games, specifically Dungeons & Dragons, which for over 30 years has offered gamers the chance to escape their mundane lives and participate in a world they might otherwise never experience. Popularity and power are based on creativity and imagination rather than social status or wealth, and success is based not on who you know but on what you do.
The Dungeon Masters 2008
Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action
Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action
Captures the exciting movement of Spiritual Activism that is exploding around the planet, and the powerful personalities who are igniting it.
Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action 2008
The Green Rush
The Green Rush
This sympathetic documentary looks at the issues confronting one group of Northern California pot growers and articulates the frustrations they face in a unique business that many regard as the most practical way to feed their families. For decades, outlaw marijuana cultivation has been a huge "hidden" industry fueling much of the region's economy, but pot farmers have remained subject to harassment and arrest by federal law-enforcement agencies.
The Green Rush 2008
Four Seasons Lodge
Four Seasons Lodge
From the darkness of Hitler's Europe to the mountains of the Catskills, Four Seasons Lodge follows a community of Holocaust survivors who come together each summer to dance, cook, fight and flirt-and celebrate their survival.
Four Seasons Lodge 2008
The Devil's Music
The Devil's Music
Where is Erika Spawn and does she have blood on her hands? The Devil's Music documents the strange story of the notorious shock-rocker whose rise to fame was marred by a series of violent incidents and terrifying rumours.
The Devil's Music 2008
I Need That Record!
I Need That Record!
Guerilla filmmaker Brendan Toller unleashes I NEED THAT RECORD! THE DEATH (OR POSSIBLE SURVIVAL) OF THE INDEPENDENT RECORD STORE, "an elegy for a vanishing subculture...a lively, bittersweet film that examines - with caustic humor, brutal candor, and, ultimately, great affection - why roughly 3,000 indie record stores have closed across the nation over the past decade," (Johnathan Perry, Boston Globe). A tour-de-force tale of greed, media consolidation, homogenized radio, big box stores, downloading, and technological shifts in the music industry told through candid interviews, crestfallen record store owners, startling statistics, and eye-popping animation. Fat cats or our favorite record stores? You decide. Featuring- IAN MACKAYE, NOAM CHOMSKY, MIKE WATT, THURSTON MOORE, LENNY KAYE (Patti Smith), CHRIS FRANTZ (Talking Heads), GLENN BRANCA, PATTERSON HOOD (Drive By Truckers), PAT CARNEY (Black Keys) , LEGS MCNEIL, BOB GRUEN, BP HELIUM, and many indie record stores across the U.S.
I Need That Record! 2008
Rough Aunties
Rough Aunties
Fearless, feisty and resolute, the "Rough Aunties" are a remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten children of Durban, South Africa. This newest documentary by internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto (SISTERS IN LAW, DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE) follows the outspoken, multiracial cadre of Thuli, Mildred, Sdudla, Eureka and Jackie, as they wage a daily battle against systemic apathy, corruption and greed to help the most vulnerable and disenfranchised of their communities.
Rough Aunties 2008
The Third Jihad
The Third Jihad
The Third Jihad, the newest offering from the producers of the captivating documentary film, Obsession, explores the existence of radical Islam in America and the emerging risk that this “homegrown jihad” poses to national security, western liberties and the “American way of life.”
The Third Jihad 2008
The Perfect Cappuccino
The Perfect Cappuccino
The Perfect Cappuccino is a documentary about of one woman's obsession with finding that perfect blend of espresso and milk.
The Perfect Cappuccino 2008
Westinghouse: The Life and Times of an American Icon
Westinghouse: The Life and Times of an American Icon
American engineer George Westinghouse revolutionized the American electricity system in the late 1880s with his endorsement of AC power distribution. This historical documentary chronicles Westinghouse's legendary rivalry with Thomas Edison and the birth of his many inventions, including the rail-road air brake.
Westinghouse: The Life and Times of an American Icon 2008
1 2