Documentary
Comedian and actor Rachel Bloom muses on birth, death, cosmic uncertainty and pungent trees in this whimsical and reflective musical comedy special.
Stolen is a 2009 Australian documentary film that uncovers slavery in the Sahrawi refugee camps controlled by the Polisario Front located in Algeria and in the disputed territory of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco, written and directed by Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw. It had its world premiere at the 2009 Sydney Film Festival,[1] where a controversy started after one of the participants in the documentary, Fetim, a black Sahrawi, was flown to Australia by the Polisario Liberation Front to say she wasn’t a slave.
This extreme sports documentary details what happened when a number of talented surfers who have gathered for a major competition decide to brave the waves even after the event was cancelled because of a storm that made the waves …
Documentary exploring the long-term repercussions of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s and 1960s on both the servicemen present, who often had no training or protective gear, and their descendants. From a host of cancers to cardiovascular disease and a surprisingly high number of children born suffering from birth defects or auto-immune conditions, many veterans believe their exposure to these tests caused their poor health.
The 17th century saw London plunge into a series of devastating disasters. The Civil War, a murderous plague, and the destruction of the great fire should have all but destroyed the small medieval city, but somehow it not only survived – it thrived. Dan Cruickshank explores how London survived the travails of the 17th century.
As one of the most successful independent comic book creators, Mignola has inspired generations of writers and artists. This feature-length documentary explores the legacy of the legendary comic book creator behind Hellboy. The film delves into Mignola’s career, from his early days at Marvel to his success with Hellboy, featuring insights from Neil Gaiman on the Mignolaverse and Rebecca Sugar on Mignola’s influence on Steven Universe.
The untold story of the high-profile murder trial of Justin Ross Harris following the death of his toddler son in the hot summer of 2014.
750 miles. Icy water. No motors. No support. Described as the Iditarod on a boat with a chance of drowning or being eaten by a Grizzly bear, this epic endurance race attracts intrepid, unhinged characters who find their edge on this punishing course.
Iconic makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin was one of the most in-demand makeup artists in the world in the 1980s and ’90s and died mysteriously in 2002. Aucoin knew from an early age that the world of makeup was his calling, and his life and work are recalled through interviews with some of his famous clients, including Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.
A documentary on the 1924 Olympic Game in Paris.
The Battle of Orgreave, recounted by those who lived through it, is contextualised through the history of the British mining union and a government that was hell-bent on breaking it.
A compilation episode of the wildlife documentary series presented by David Attenborough, uncovering the secrets of animals across the globe.
The birth of the atomic bomb changed the world forever. In the years before the Manhattan project, a weapon of such power was not even remotely imaginable to most people on earth. And yet, with war comes new inventions. New ways of destroying the enemy. New machines to wipe out human life. The advent of nuclear weapons not only brought an end to the largest conflict in history, but also ushered in an atomic age and a defining era of “big science”. However, with the world now gripped by nuclear weapons, we exist constantly on the edge of mankind’s total destruction.
A documentary exploring Lev Parnas’ involvement in the Trump-Ukraine scandal that resulted in the former president’s impeachment, detailing Parnas’ unexpected entanglement with Trump and Giuliani, leading to his incarceration.
An international investigation into the Rajneesh movement. One of the world’s biggest and most successful cults, it had communes in more than 30 countries in the 70s and 80s and was portrayed in the Netflix series Wild Wild Country’ But until now, a central truth about the organization has remained hidden.
In 2012, after nearly a decade apart, original Killswitch Engage vocalist Jesse Leach reunited with the band he helped start back in 1999. The critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated 2013 effort Disarm The Descent ensued. The band were once again back in the studio and back on the road where they belong, eventually leading to the release of their 2016 follow-up album Incarnate. This documentary is an honest, raw look at the unique personalities behind a band who have made a name for themselves by never giving up or giving in. This is the untold story of Killswitch Engage.
In 1970, Blood, Sweat and Tears was one of the biggest bands in the world. They had exploded on the scene with both daring and promise, selling millions of records, winning multiple Grammy Awards including Album of the Year (beating out The Beatles’ Abbey Road) and headlining the legendary Woodstock festival. In demand for concert and TV appearances, BS&T was a darling of the mainstream and rock press, icon of the counterculture and inspiration for a generation of horn-based bands. Their future was limitless. And then it all went wrong.
From hooliganism and violence through to the ecstasy and the rise of rave culture, Andy Swallow, co-founder of West Ham’s ICF and later Centreforce 883, opens up about his life for the very first time.
Shot through the seasons over the period of 16 months, the documentary dives into the cold water swimming community of Gaddings Dam, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, home to the UK’s highest beach. The film tracks the breathtaking landscape and its community of wild swimmers, as they use the restorative powers of cold water to reconnect with their mental health, identity and the natural environment.
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From the mighty Amazon’s icy source to its plume reaching as far as the Caribbean, National Geographic Explorer teams conduct groundbreaking research to take the pulse of one of the planet’s integral and endlessly magical resources. From the health of river turtles and pink dolphins to the migration of Andean bears, extreme urgency is met by equally hopeful solutions.
Unveils the transformative fifty-year history of a world-changing culture, illustrating hip-hop’s journey from outsider status to the pinnacle of power. This documentary showcases the pivotal contributions of artists who created some of the most powerful political songs of all time and explores the experiences of rappers who interacted with presidents and performed inside the world’s most famous residence. Starting from the blighted neighborhoods that created the culture as a result of oppressive presidential policies, this film describes the complex web of influence, culture and celebrity that is now a permanent feature of American politics.
A documentary detailing an indiscriminate terrorist attack that left 71 dead in Kenya.
On April 28, 1997, Morné and Celeste Nurse’s firstborn was born – a baby girl they named Zephany. Three days later, that baby disappeared from her crib. They continued to search for her for 17 years after her second daughter, Cassidy, went to a new school in 2015 and met someone who looked like her. DNA tests have shown that she is their lost daughter. Zephany, who grew up as Miché Solomon, was taken to a place of safe custody and the woman she had known as her all her life was arrested and eventually sent to prison. However, Miché chose to stay with her abductor and not by her biological parents. This documentary tells a moving story of hope and loss
Between 1865 and 1920, Finnish immigrants brought traditional arts to America, including woven and braided rag rugs. As a hallmark of Finnish ethnic culture, rag rugs and their makers hold special places in the hearts of Finnish America. Cultural sociologist Michael Loukinen brings us into the homes and to the workrooms of traditional weavers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He portrays the interwoven world of cultural beliefs, aesthetic practices, and family history that each rug represents. From the treasured family-memory heirloom, from each carefully protected rug to its threadbare, tattered clump on a tractor seat, these rugs are an art form that embodies several Finnish American cultural values.
When the immigrants came to America, their cultures entered the “great melting pot.” In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Finnish immigrants mixed their musical traditions with many other cultures, creating a sound that was unique to the “Copper Country.”
The deep northern forests of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are home to small villages of Finnish Americans—communities carved out from the forest where Finnish language, cultural worldview, and traditional arts remain crucial to social life more than a century after immigration. In this beautiful and rugged north country, the extraordinary, ordinary descendants of Finnish immigrants still eke out modest lives to this day on old farmsteads, working with the resources they have available to them, showing their creativity and ingenuity in simply getting by and making do, and living in ways not dissimilar from their ancestors who migrated three or four generations ago.
Featuring two-time world champion magician Shawn Farquhar, this documentary explores the unique relationship between the art of magic and playing cards.
Moscow, Russia, December 2016. Edward Snowden, Larry Lessig and Birgitta Jónsdóttir meet for the first time in a secret place. Apparently, Russia is interfering in the US presidential elections while it mourns the death of its ambassador to Turkey. Snowden carefully chooses his interviews, so nobody really knows something about him. As the world prepares for Christmas, they gather to discuss the only issue that matters, their common struggle: how to save democracy.
A shocking BBC investigation into serious sexual abuse allegations by Mohamed al Fayed, the former owner of luxury department store Harrods. The Egyptian billionaire businessman, who died last year aged 94, is accused of multiple counts of rape and attempted rape by the women who worked for him. At the time of many of the alleged attacks, Al Fayed was the owner of London’s luxury department store Harrods, the iconic Ritz Paris hotel and English football club Fulham FC. The BBC has heard testimony from over 20 survivors, with 13 featured in the film. With horrifying accounts of abuse that spanned Al Fayed’s 25-year reign at Harrods, for the first time the scale and seriousness of these allegations are exposed, as well as the system that helped cover it up. A web of corruption and fear that extended from the shop floors to the highest levels of the organization is revealed. Brave survivors now break their silence.
In this hour, MSNBC goes inside the world of Bryon Widner, a former skinhead “pit bull”, as he undergoes painful treatments to remove the physical representation of the hate he had exhibited to the world for more than half his life. Erasing Hate is produced by Bill Brummel Productions. MSNBC broadcast a forty-four-minute television version of the film in 2011. A feature-length film version, approximately ninety minutes, is available for theatrical, international broadcast, streaming and educational distribution.
Living by the mantra ‘it’s easier to raise boys than to repair broken men’, martial arts sensei Jason Wilson tenderly guides his often-troubled young Detroit students with a beautifully effective blend of compassion and tough love.
On the shores of Jeju Island, a fierce group of South Korean divers fight to save their vanishing culture from looming threats.
November 1st 2007 was ‘All Saints’ Day’, a public holiday in Italy. International student Meredith Kercher’s Italian flatmates were out of town visiting family and fellow student, American Amanda Knox was at her boyfriend’s, Raffaele Sollecito, house. That evening, Meredith went over to see three British friends. That was the last time Meredith was seen alive. This documentary looks at these events.
Hull, England, 1970. In a run-down commune in a tough port city, a group of social misfits – mostly working class, mostly self-educated – adopted new identities and began making simple street theater under the name COUM Transmissions. Their playful performances gradually gave way to work that dealt openly with sex, pornography, and violence. COUM lived on the edges of society, surviving on meager resources, finding fellowship with others marginalized by the mainstream. At the core of the group were two artists, Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti. As their work evolved, Cosey embarked on a career modeling for pornographic magazines, which she claimed for herself as a conceptual artwork, using it to forge a specific position in relationship to 1970s feminism. In performances, Genesis pushed himself to extremes, testing the limits of the human body.
In ’90s Argentina, the murder of a high school student sparks widespread protests. Retold by her loved ones, this documentary shows their fight for justice.
Diddy faces shocking new charges and a high-profile indictment. TMZ digs into the federal case against the notorious bad boy.
BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Morgan Matthews was given unprecedented access to the behind-the-scenes of the final days of the final two Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 and 2. Hear the personal stories of the faces we know, and those we don’t, as we come to the end of one of the most successful eras in cinema history. Special feature on select editions of Deathly Hallows 1 & 2.
Two days in the life of priest Father Fred Stadtmuller whose New Mexico parish is so large he can only spread goodness and light among his flock with the aid of a mono-plane. The priestly pilot is seen dashing from one province to the next at the helm of his trusty Piper Club administering guidance (his plane, the Flying Padre) to unruly children, sermonizing at funerals and flying a sickly child and its mother to a hospital.
A man suffers a minor car accident, and a week later constructs a new identity, claiming he can’t “remember” being a father. Nearly twenty years later, his amnesia persists, yet no brain damage or physical cause are ever found. Enthralling and thought-provoking, “Forgetting Dad” offers an award-winning case study of dissociation, parental abandonment, and family enmenshment in mental illness.