Documentaries about Photography
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29 titles
- DirectorZana BriskiRoss KauffmanStarsKochiAvijit HalderShanti DasTwo documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district.
- DirectorChristian FreiStarsJames NachtweyChristiane AmanpourHans-Hermann KlareDocumentary about war photographer James Nachtwey, considered by many the greatest war photographer ever.
- DirectorTrisha ZiffStarsErnest AlósJuan Diego BottoSebastian del AmoThe story of three lost boxes known as the Mexican Suitcase that were recovered in 2007. The boxes, misplaced in the chaos at the start of WWII, contained many of the Spanish Civil War negatives by the legendary photographer Robert Capa and fellow photographers Gerda Taro and David "Chim" Seymour.
- DirectorBarbara LeibovitzStarsAlan YentobPaula AbdulRuth AnselBarbara Leibovitz's intimate biography of her sister the photographer Annie Leibovitz.
- DirectorTom DonahuePaul Hasegawa-OverackerStarsCindy ShermanJohn WatersEric BogosianA documentary on art-scene commentator Paul Hasegawa-Overacker's relationship with enigmatic photographer Cindy Sherman.
- DirectorAdrian MabenStarsAdrian MabenCandice BergenTina BrownA camera crew follows Helmut Newton, the fashion and ad photographer whose images of tall, blond, big-breasted women are part of the iconography of twentieth-century erotic fantasy. He's on the go from L.A., to Paris, to Monte-Carlo, to Berlin, where he was a youth until he escaped from the Nazis in 1936. We see him on shoots, interviewing models, and discussing his work. It's not art and it's not good taste, he tells students. We meet June, his Australian-born wife, whom he married in 1948. Three actresses talk about working with Newton and how posing is different from acting. A heart attack in 1973 helps Newton re-focus, resulting in more personal photographic projects.
- DirectorAlfred GuzzettiSusan MeiselasRichard P. RogersStarsSusan MeiselasIn 1981, Susan Meiselas published "Nicaragua, June 1978 to July 1979," 70 photographs she took documenting the Sandinista revolution. Ten years later, Meiselas returns looking for the people who appear in the photographs: where are they now, what do they remember, what do they think of their country and of the revolution? She finds a woman who buried her husband when she was 14; she talks to those who fought the Guarda Nacional - some are disillusioned, some still have the fervor of revolution; she talks to mothers about their sons; she finds a Guarda member who became a Contra. And she offers her own reflections on time and history and on the moment and meaning of a photograph.
- DirectorJohn WalkerStarsJohn WalkerHarvey AtkinBlanche BrownPaul Strand (1890-1976) remains a curiously shrouded and paradoxical figure. While passionately devoted to humanity, he was happiest in the isolation of the darkroom.
- DirectorPhilippe SéclierFrom Texas to Montana, from Nebraska to Louisiana, from New York to San Francisco, An American Journey is a 15,000 mile odyssey through contemporary America seeking to understand the impact of Robert Frank's photographic book 'The Americans.'
- DirectorLawrence CumboStarsSteven Brian ConardSharbat GulaSteve McCurryThe fascinating journey to find the mysterious "Afghan Girl" whose haunting gaze captivated the world in a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazine cover.
- DirectorHeinz BütlerStarsHenri Cartier-BressonAlexander BrooksRobert DelpireArtist Henri Cartier-Bresson comments on several of his photographs. One of the last films shot with the photographer, also featuring Robert Delpire, Elliott Erwitt, Isabelle Huppert, Josef Koudelka, Arthur Miller, and Ferdinando Scianna.
- DirectorJohn MaloofCharlie SiskelStarsVivian MaierJohn MaloofDaniel ArnaudA documentary on the late Vivian Maier, a nanny whose previously unknown cache of 100,000 photographs earned her a posthumous reputation as one of the most accomplished street photographers.
- DirectorJuliano Ribeiro SalgadoWim WendersStarsSebastião SalgadoWim WendersLélia Wanick SalgadoThe life and work of photographer Sebastião Salgado, who has spent forty years documenting societies in hidden corners of the world.
- DirectorScott WillisStarsFrancesca WoodmanGeorge WoodmanBetty WoodmanThe story of a family that suffers a tragedy, but perseveres and finds redemption through each other and their work - making art.
- DirectorDavid MorrisJacqui MorrisStarsHarold EvansDon McCullinMichael ParkinsonTo many, Don McCullin is the greatest living war photographer, often cited as an inspiration for today's photojournalists. For the first time, McCullin speaks candidly about his three-decade career covering wars and humanitarian disasters on virtually every continent and the photographs that often defined historic moments. From 1969 to 1984, he was the Sunday Times of London's star photographer, where he covered stories from the civil war in Cyprus to the war in Vietnam, from the man-made famine in Biafra to the plight of the homeless in the London of the swinging sixties. Exploring not only McCullin's life and work, but how the ethos of journalism has changed throughout his career, the film is a commentary on the history of photojournalism told through the lens of one of its most acclaimed photographers.
- DirectorSusan Morgan CooperStarsEddie AdamsMarc AnthonyPeter ArnettIn 1968, in 1/500th of a second Eddie Adams photographed a Saigon police chief, General Nygoc Loan, shooting a Vietcong guerrilla point blank. Some say that photograph ended the Vietnam war. The photo brought Eddie fame and a Pulitzer, but Eddie was haunted by the man he had vilified. He would say, "Two lives were destroyed that day, the victim's and the general." Other's would say three lives were destroyed. Eddie Adams, like most artists, was tortured by his need for perfection. Nothing he did ever satisfied him. He carved out many careers shooting covers for Life, Time, and even Penthouse. Yet, somehow, he was always pulled back into documenting wars, 13 all together. Finally he hit the wall and couldn't take it anymore. He began shooting celebrities because "It doesn't take anything from you." Eddie was comfortable with kings and coal miners. During his time with Parade magazines he photographed Clint Eastwood, Louis Armstrong, Mother Teresa, and Pope John Paul.
- DirectorLuis LopezTrisha ZiffStarsGerry AdamsAntonio BanderasGael García BernalA documentary on the iconography of Che Guevara.
- DirectorEmad BurnatGuy DavidiStarsEmad BurnatSoraya BurnatMohammed BurnatA documentary on a Palestinian farmer's chronicle of his nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army.
- DirectorCheryl DunnStarsBoogieMartha CooperBruce DavidsonEverybody Street" highlights the lives and work of New York's iconic street photographers and the unparalleled city that has inspired them for decades.
- DirectorJennifer BaichwalStarsShelby Lee AdamsChad BakerDonnie BentonThe meaning of art itself comes into question in this documentary about Shelby Lee Adams' controversial photos of families in Appalachia.
- DirectorIan McCluskeyStarsChristine BernstenEric DiIlioFrank DiMarcoShe was beautiful, smart, and searching. He was an emerging genius in the world of photography. When they met, they fell instantly in love. Setting off across the West with camera and typewriter in the depths of the Great Depression, Charis Wilson and Edward Weston transformed photography, and each other. Now age 90, Charis Wilson recounts her years with Weston with great humor, candor, and some regret. Combining insight from leading scholars, rare archival images, and convincingly authentic reenactments, Eloquent Nude presents a remarkable true story of love and loss, travel and adventure, and an intimate look at the making of Modern photography.
- DirectorEric BrickerStarsFrances AndertonWim de WitBeth Edwards HarrisNarrated by Dustin Hoffman, VISUAL ACOUSTICS celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the worldÕs greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream.
- DirectorSteven CantorPeter SpirerStarsSally MannVirginia MannJessie MannAn intimate portrait of the photographer and the complex, enigmatic pictures she takes of her children
- DirectorBen ShapiroStarsRussell BanksCostanza Theodoli BraschiGregory CrewdsonA documentary shot over a decade with unprecedented access to photographer Gregory Crewdson that bares the artist's process.
- DirectorLeon GastStarsFloyd AbramsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonJoseph BasileA film centering on the life and work of Ron Galella that examines the nature and effect of paparazzi.
- DirectorDon HahnStarsMike CarrollMike Carroll was one of the first photographers to travel to Romania after the fall of the communist regime in 1989. When he arrived, he walked into one of the most horrific scenes of the 20th century. His incredible photographs and heart wrenching stories of the pediatric AIDS epidemic in Romania ran in the Boston Globe and New York Times and opened the eyes of the western world to the plight of the Romanian children. What followed was a twenty-year odyssey for Mike and his colleagues as they fought to bring help to a population of children in need, in a country that they hardly knew.
- 20141h 30m7.2 (189)64MetascoreDirectorThomas Allen HarrisStarsArthé AnthonyAnthony BarbozaHugh BellA film that explores how African American communities have used the camera as a tool for social change from the invention of photography to the present. This epic tale poetically moves between the present and the past, through contemporary photographers and artists whose images and stories seek to reconcile legacies of pride and shame while giving voice to images long suppressed, forgotten, and hidden from sight.
- DirectorShannah Laumeister SternStarsBert SternShannah Laumeister SternAlbert D'Annibale"Bert Stern: Original Mad Man" is the definitive voyage into the life and work of one of America's most influential photographers. Photographing the world's most alluring women in fashion and Hollywood for the past 50 years -- Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn among them -- minted Stern as a celebrity in his own right.