Favorite Documentary Films
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- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAmilcar CabralFlorence DelayArielle DombasleA woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorPeter DavisStarsTin ChanChau DiemNgo Dinh DiemA startling and courageous landmark documentary that unflinchingly confronted the United States' involvement in Vietnam at the height of the controversy that surrounded it.
- DirectorAlbert MayslesDavid MayslesCharlotte ZwerinStarsPaul BrennanCharles McDevittJames BakerFour dogged door-to-door Bible salesmen travel from Boston to Florida on a seemingly futile quest to sell luxury editions of the Good Book to working-class Catholics.
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsRobert CrumbAline Kominsky-CrumbCharles CrumbAn intimate portrait of controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb and his traumatized family.
- DirectorJoão Moreira SallesStarsSantiago Badariotti MerloDocumentary about Santiago, a peculiar man who used to work for the director and his parents as a butler. The material was filmed in 1992 but, for some strange reason, the director felt he couldn't edit it and put it aside. In 2005 he remembers the unfinished film and starts its edition.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsRamiro CavazosLos Alegres De TeranLos Pinguinos del Norte"Chulas Fronteras" examines the origins and social significance of the traditional Tejano (or 'Tex-Mex') music that developed along the U.S.-Mexico border.
- DirectorJoshua OppenheimerAnonymousChristine CynnStarsAnwar CongoHerman KotoSyamsul ArifinA documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreCharlton HestonMarilyn MansonFilmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleStarsJohn L. LewisCarl HornNorman YarboroughA heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsWerner HerzogKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleA documentary following German auteur Werner Herzog as he deals with difficult actors, bad weather and getting a boat over a mountain, all in an effort to make his film Fitzcarraldo (1982).
- DirectorNick BroomfieldStarsAileen WuornosNick BroomfieldArlene Pralle1992, Florida, USA. Aileen Wuornos is claimed to be the world's first female serial killer.
- DirectorEmad BurnatGuy DavidiStarsEmad BurnatSoraya BurnatMohammed BurnatA documentary on a Palestinian farmer's chronicle of his nonviolent resistance to the actions of the Israeli army.
- DirectorAlbert MayslesLynn TrueDavid UsuiJourney into the hearts and minds of passengers aboard the Empire Builder, America's busiest long-distance train route.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsFrançois WertheimerAgnès VardaJean La PlancheVarda films and interviews gleaners in France in all forms, from those picking fields after the harvest to those scouring the dumpsters of Paris.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanDocumentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater where people stay trapped in their madness.
- DirectorJohn AppelStarsEgidio MecacciPaolo RossiAlma SaviniDocuments the summer days in 2003 leading up to the running of Siena's Palio, a horse race around the city center, that dates back hundreds of years. Seventeen neighborhoods compete. This film follows the contrada of Civetta (owl), which hasn't won since 1979. We see that glorious victory, we meet people young and old for whom each year's Palio is life's most important event, we see the drawing that assigns a horse to each contrada, and we observe the feasting and pageantry beforehand. Then, the running of the race: will Civetta experience the elation of victory or the bitterness of loss?
- DirectorSacha GervasiStarsRobb ReinerSteve 'Lips' KudlowTiziana ArrigoniSince 1978, Anvil has become one of heavy metal's most influential yet commercially unsuccessful acts. In 2006, after a fledging European tour Anvil sets out to record their thirteenth album and continue to follow their dreams.
- DirectorVictor KossakovskyStarsAnna Fyodorovna BelovaMikhail Fyodorovich BelovVasiliy Fyodorovich Belov"Belovy (the Belovs)" is a breathtaking portrait of a troubled peasant family. It's poetry in the form of a documentary that won many prizes. Beautifully shot in vintage black and white, the film tells the story of two times widow Anna Belova who lives together with her brother Mikhail. Blending the two personalities, Kosakovsky characterizes the true Russian soul: she is the rational worker, honest and strong - he is the drunken poet, the idealist, his philosophy fades into radical nonsense time after time.
- DirectorRobert DrewTHE CHAIR follows in the footsteps of lawyers Donald Moore and Louis Nizer as they fight to save Paul Crump from the electric chair. In the tense days leading up to a parole board hearing, the men work tirelessly to rescue Crump through an appeal of rehabilitation - unprecedented in the state of Illinois - and, after the hearing, anxiously await the governor's verdict. Allowing viewers to experience the high-pressure chain of events along with Crump, his prosecutors and his defenders, the film opens a window into the politics of punishment.
- DirectorEverardo GonzálezA series of stories with old thieves. Framed portraits in Mexico City from the 1970s and 1980s. From the corners of poverty and the prowess of being able to steal "honestly", a series of characters that make the old way of stealing endearing
- DirectorEmile de AntonioStarsJohn G. AdamsRoy M. CohnRay JenkinsAn unfiltered, unflinching document of the notorious 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, compiled entirely from raw TV footage (with no narration, music, or added scenes).
- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsFritz LangAlfreda KlebingerManfred EllingerA documentary that reveals what its subjects do in their respective basements.