Favorite Documentaries
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- DirectorLiz GarbusStarsWanda Jean AllenJesse JacksonDavid PressonThe Execution of Wanda Jean chronicles the life-and-death battle of Wanda Jean Allen, the first black woman to be put to death in the United States in the modern era."The Execution of Wanda Jean" chronicles the life-and-death battle of Wanda Jean Allen. By telling one woman's story, the film becomes an unforgettable exploration into one of America's most controversial moral and political dilemmas: the death penalty. "The Execution of Wanda Jean" is an unflinching investigation of the role that poverty, mental health, race, and sexuality play within the criminal justice system."
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsMaxine McNairWalter CronkiteChris McNairA documentary of the notorious racial terrorist bombing of an African American church during the Civil Rights Movement."On Sunday, September 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed by four members of a Ku Klux Klan-affiliated racist group. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, four African-American girls between the ages of 11 and 14 who had been attending the church's Sunday school, were killed in the blast. Director Spike Lee's somber 1997 documentary tells the story through new interviews and archival footage."
- DirectorErin Lee CarrStarsGary AllenViolet BlueJames A. CohenA probing look into the potential future of "thought policing" through the headline-making case of the NYPD "Cannibal Cop," who was charged with conspiring to kidnap and eat women."Filmmaker Erin Lee Carr examines the case of Gilberto Valle, a New York police officer accused of conspiring to kidnap and cannibalize women."
- DirectorMiri NavaskyKaren O'ConnorStarsSarah ChildressWill LymanArun RathExplore the shadow world of assisted suicide, where the lines between legality and criminality are blurred."In this groundbreaking 90-minute film FRONTLINE explores the underground world of assisted suicide and takes viewers inside one of the most polarizing social issues of our time – told not only by the people choosing to die, but also by their “assisters,” individuals and right-to-die organizations that put themselves in legal jeopardy by helping others to die."
- StarsRobin AllenLowell BergmanTim BrownFrom PBS and Frontline - Every day, nearly 7,000 people die in America. And when these deaths happen suddenly, or under suspicious circumstances, we assume there will be a thorough investigation, just like we see on CSI. But the reality is very different."Every day, nearly 7,000 people die in America. And when these deaths happen suddenly, or under suspicious circumstances, we assume there will be a thorough investigation, just like we see on CSI. But the reality is very different, and the result may mean murderers go free, innocent people go to jail and public health is threatened. FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman reports the results of a joint investigation with ProPublica, NPR, and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley."
- DirectorJohn ZaritskyStarsArthur BernardCraig EwertIvan EwertFrontline investigates suicide tourism by following a Chicago native as he travels to Switzerland in order to take his life with help of a nonprofit organization that legally assists suicides."Do we have the right to end our lives if life itself becomes unbearable, or when we enter the late-stages of painful, terminal illness? The questions, debated for centuries, have only grown more pressing in recent years as medical technology has allowed us to live longer lives, and several U.S. states have legalized physician-assisted suicide. With unique access to Dignitas, the Swiss non-profit that has helped over one thousand people die since 1998, Academy award-winning filmmaker John Zaritsky offers a revealing look at a couple facing the most difficult decision of their lives –and lets us see for ourselves as one Chicago native makes the trip to Switzerland for what will become the last day of his life."
- DirectorMiri NavaskyKaren O'ConnorStarsAlbert AlbertiDeborah AlbertiJerome GroopmanFrontline investigates the complex and often agonizing end-of-life choices that are made by physicians and families."FRONTLINE gains access to the ICU of one of New York’s biggest hospitals to examine the complicated reality of today’s modern, medicalized death. Here, we find doctors and nurses struggling to guide families through the maze of end-of-life choices they now confront: whether to pull feeding and breathing tubes when to perform expensive surgeries and therapies or to call for hospice. The film also offers an unusually intimate portrait of patients facing the prospect of dying in ways that they might never have wanted or imagined."
- DirectorMiri NavaskyKaren O'ConnorA behind the scenes look at a funeral home as an undertaker and his family care for both the living and the dead."In this moving and powerful film, FRONTLINE enters the world of Thomas Lynch, a poet, and undertaker whose family for three generations has cared for both the living and the dead in a small Michigan town. Through the intimate stories of families coming to terms with grief, mortality, and a funeral’s rituals, the film illuminates the heartbreak and beauty in the journey taken between the living and the dead when a loved one dies."
- DirectorRobert GreenwaldStarsLee ScottDon HunterJon HunterA look at the impact of the retail giant on local communities."The controversial retail giant Walmart faces the scrutiny of filmmaker Robert Greenwald in this documentary showcasing the adverse effects the behemoth inflicts on communities and individuals. Conducting interviews with former and current Walmart employees, Greenwald gets an insider's look into some of the corporation's alleged nefarious and exploitative labor practices. The film also explores the economic impact of Walmart on small businesses and communities."
- DirectorJames KeachStarsGlen CampbellKim CampbellRonald PetersenAs he struggles with Alzheimer's disease, country-music legend Glen Campbell embarks on his farewell tour in the U.S., Australia, and Europe.
- DirectorEllen HovdeAlbert MayslesDavid MayslesStarsEdith Bouvier BealeEdith 'Little Edie' Bouvier BealeBrooks HyersMeet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Camelot.
- DirectorBenjamin StatlerStarsDaniel RoebuckSarah ScottAugust EmersonTom Grant, a private investigator once hired by Courtney Love, reveals his take on the death of Kurt Cobain.
- DirectorLilibet FosterStarsJai CourtneyAndy WhitfieldIndigo WhitfieldAs though life is imitating art, actor and sex-symbol, Andy Whitfield, had just become a star as the lead in the hit television series,'Spartacus,' when he is faced with his biggest personal challenge - life-threatening cancer. 'Be Here Now' is a feature documentary that follows him on his dramatic journey to cure himself. Confirmed in matching affirmative tattoos, he and his charismatic wife and their two children, commit to taking Andy's healing into their own hands and living life fully, not in the shadows of the disease. Each step tests their limits and strength of character, while revealing their tenderness, humor and determination. And, as each person goes through their own transformations, the film becomes an inspiring and universal story of courage, love and resilience.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsBill PaxtonLori JohnstonLewis AbernathyJames Cameron and Bill Paxton, director and actor of the 1997 film Titanic, travel to the final undersea resting place of the ill-fated ship of dreams.
- DirectorJon GreenhalghStarsJohn du PontDave SchultzMike GostigianDocumentary filmmaker Jon Greenhalgh examines the life of Dave Schultz, a professional wrestler who was part of 'Team Foxcatcher', funded by multi-millionaire John du Pont.
- DirectorJonathon NarducciIs there such thing as love before first sight? This doc explores the mail-order bride industry, chronicling on a group of Ukrainian women and the Western men they marry, in a search for modern love.
- DirectorLinda Bloodworth-ThomasonStarsCindy BitneyDavid CroneJessica MitchellShane Bitney Crone's plans to marry Tom Bridegroom in California after the same-sex marriage law is passed takes a tragic turn when his partner of six years accidentally dies and Tom's family refuses Shane from attending the funeral.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsLucille BillingsleyZella GrahamCal HarbertsA documentary about a pet cemetery in California, and the people who have pets buried there.
- DirectorEric WalterStarsDaniel LutzSusan BartellLaura DiDioFor the first time in 35 years, Daniel Lutz recounts his version of the infamous Amityville haunting that terrified his family in 1975.
- DirectorHavana MarkingMarc MorgensternStarsRebecca HumphriesNoel BidermanLouise Van Der VeldeThe shocking story of the Ashley Madison hacking scandal.
- DirectorChristopher CannucciariStarsCharlie ShremNancy CannucciariPaul VignaBitcoin is the most disruptive invention since the Internet, and now an ideological battle is underway between fringe utopists and mainstream capitalism. The film shows the players who are defining how this technology will shape our lives.