Favourite documentaries
*in no particular order
*list contains spoilers!
*list contains spoilers!
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24 titles
- DirectorAmir Bar-LevStarsMarla OlmsteadLaura OlmsteadMark OlmsteadA look at the work and surprising success of a four-year-old girl whose paintings have been compared to the likes of Picasso and has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars.Spoilers: The film documents the rise and fall of four-year-old wunderkind Marla and (in the process) scrutinizes the nature of filtered truth in documentary filmmaking.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsSimon YatesJoe SimpsonBrendan MackeyThe true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.A beautifully shot, edge-of-your-seat, climbing adventure. (I usually avoid reenacted documentaries but it works perfectly here.)
- DirectorBertram VerhaagStarsJane ElliottMartin Luther KingIn only 15 minutes with some 30 people Jane Elliott manages to build up a realistic microcosmos of society today with all its phenomena and feelings. As already known from the ill reputed Milgram experiment, even participants who knew the "rules" are unable to remain uninvolved. What starts as a game turns into cruel reality which causes some participants' emotions to erupt with unforeseen intensity ...How does racism work? In Jane Elliott's workshop white, blue eyed Americans are the target of discrimination for a single day - with lasting consequences. Informative, evocative and suspenseful.
- DirectorBanksyStarsBanksyMr. BrainwashSpace InvaderFollowing the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world.Spoiler warning: Starts out as a run-of-the-mill street art documentary but quickly blossoms into a satirical study of the battle between art and commerce.
- StarsCharlie BrookerTim KeyDoug StanhopeHosted and written by Charlie Brooker, this sardonic series follows and critiques both current news stories and the way television portrays them."The news itself is becoming less of an easily digestible summary of events and more of a grotesque entertainment reality show with heavy emphasis on emotion and sensation and a swaggering, comically theatrical sense of its own importance. Well, this show is gonna put an end to all of that for ever (or at least 29 minutes)." ~ Charlie Brooker 2009
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsKokoPenny PattersonSaul KitchenerA documentary that follows Dr. Penny Patterson's current scientific study of Koko, a gorilla who communicates through American Sign Language.Spoiler alert: Koko, a Talking Gorilla: an ethically questionable experiment with findings that remain controversial to this day. Whatever the good intentions somehow no one comes out of this looking very good.
- StarsRobert DurstAndrew JareckiCharles BagliFilmmaker Andrew Jarecki examines the complicated life of reclusive real estate icon Robert Durst, the key suspect in a series of unsolved crimes.
- StarsCharlie BrookerLiz May BriceKevin EldonA comedic documentary series in which Charlie Brooker uses a mix of sketches and jaw-dropping archive footage to explore the gulf between real life and television."A cynical and humorous look at how TV has ruined your life. Don't say it didn't! It did.
- StarsIain StewartLeo HouldingVictor BakerIn each episode, geologist Dr. Iain Stewart explains the effects and importance of a specific force of nature, such as wind or volcanism. He also examines the various ways in which it shapes planet earth itself and influences life on it, often in conjunction with other natural forces, and sometimes with lifeforms, as in the 'apocalyptically' grave case of global warming.Visually stunning, informative and presented with an evident passion for the subject.
- DirectorMark AchbarJennifer AbbottStarsMikela JayRob BeckwermertChristopher GoraDocumentary that looks at the concept of the corporation throughout recent history up to its present-day dominance.
- DirectorJosh AronsonStarsJaime Leigh AllenJemma BrahamFreeda CatIf you could make your deaf child hear, would you? Academy Award-nominated Sound and Fury follows the intimate, heart-rending tale of the Artinians, an extended family with deaf and hearing members across three generations. Together they confront a technological device that can help the deaf to hear but may also threaten deaf culture - and their bonds with each other. For Peter Artinian and his wife, both of whom are deaf, a surgical ear implant for their five-year-old daughter Heather means a choice between two worlds - an unfamiliar hearing world and the deaf world, a robust culture in its own right united by a uniquely visual and artistic language. Heather Artinian - precocious, vivacious, and avidly curious about implant surgery - is caught between her deaf parents and her hearing grandparents, as they argue passionately about her future. The debate is sometimes silent, but by no means quiet. When all is done, Sound and Fury speaks volumes about the choices we make and the battles we fight in order to be heard..
- DirectorJonathan KarshStarsSusan TomAnthony TomFaith TomDocumentary following Susan Tom of Fairfield, California and her 11 adopted special needs children.
- StarsTilda SwintonRichard WollocombeTom HiddlestonThe history of these beautiful Islands from their creation as uprising lava to their being studied by Darwin to their modern day inhabitants.
- DirectorAndrew JareckiStarsArnold FriedmanJesse FriedmanDavid FriedmanDocumentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.
- DirectorJeffrey BlitzStarsAngela ArenivarUbaldo ArenivarJorge ArenivarSpellbound follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee.
- DirectorJosh FoxStarsJosh FoxDick CheneyPete SeegerAn exploration of the fracking petroleum extraction industry and the serious environmental consequences involved.
- CreatorJon CasimirAndrew DentonStarsWil AndersonRussel HowcroftTodd SampsonThe Gruen Transfer (TGT) is a show about advertising, how it works, and how it works on us. Hosted by the inimitable Wil Anderson, TGT decodes and defuses the commercial messages that swirl through our lives, with the help of a panel of ad industry experts.
- DirectorHeidi EwingRachel GradyStarsMike PapantonioLou EngleBecky FischerA documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.
- DirectorPaul AlmondStarsDouglas KeayBruce BaldenJacqueline BassettIn this the first installment, we get a chance to meet some of the individuals who took on the responsibility of the 7 Up project, 21-years-ago - Tony, Bruce, Suzi, Nick and Peter.1964: First part of a groundbreaking documentary series that follows 14 children (from different social and economic backgrounds) as they grow up and find their way in life. New episodes are filmed every seven years (7 Up!, 7 Plus Seven, 21 Up...). The latest episode 56 Up aired in 2012 and featured 13 of the original 14 participants.
- StarsDesmond MorrisEileen DalyWendy-Ann PaigeA man is an extraordinarily strong, having a loud voice, enterprising and in a high degree gregarious monkey. Time to study the pattern of her behavior.
- StarsSteven AveryDolores AveryLaura NiriderFilmed over a 10-year period, Steven Avery, a DNA exoneree who, while in the midst of exposing corruption in local law enforcement, finds himself the prime suspect in a grisly new crime.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsTony BrooksDiana DavisTerry WoodA horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.
- DirectorEmma CooperStarsLouis TherouxLauren DrainSteve DrainLouis returns to the Phelps family to find that several members have left the cult, and that they are being sued.
- StarsDavid ClewsStephen DrewMr. GoddardA group of GCSE students face the most important year in their education.