1. Out of Darkness: The Mine Workers' Story
OUT OF DARKNESS: THE MINE WORKERS' STORY is a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple . Historical film footage and photographs are integrated with first-hand accounts of UMWA history and of the Pittston strike of 1989-90.
2. One Continuous Take: Kay Mander's Life in Film
Kay Mander kept training and social issues to the fore in the 1940s with her innovative documentaries. Mander, now living in Kirkcudbrightshire, recalls her life and work, with clips from many of her films.
3. John Holmes: The Man, the Myth, the Legend
A fine documentary that details the sordid life of 1970s pornographic actor John Holmes, from the stories of his fellow actors, his ex-wives, and directors. Clips of his work are shown and insight on what made the man tick are given. Despite all his flaws, you can't help but admire him for what he was.
4. Ruth Stone's Vast Library of the Female Mind
After tragedy strikes, acclaimed poet Ruth Stone retreated to the margins of the literary world, working tirelessly to provide for her children, and transforming her intense grief into poetry, using simple, startling language.
5. Under the Willow Tree: Pioneer Chinese Women in Canada
A rich and little-known part of Canadian history unfolds through the stories of the first Chinese women to come to Canada and of subsequent generations of Chinese Canadian women. It is an amazing tale of courageous women who left behind their families, knowing they would never see them again and of girls who were shipped off to the New World to marry men they had never met. These are the women who fought against the many forms of racism they faced in Canada while, at the same time, challenging sexism within their own communities. By passing on language, culture, and values to their children, these women defined what it means to be Chinese Canadian. Beautiful old photographs from family albums, the recollections of seven women who grew up in Canada in the first half of the 20th century, and the memories of narrator and director, Dora Nipp, whose grandfather came to Canada in 1881 to build the railway, create a remarkable story of stunning impact.
6. Cierzo (Cierzo)
At the border between Navarre and Aragon we find the moors known as the Bardenas Reales, characterized by the dust and the omnipresence of the northern wind. This is a portrait of a land, but also a journey through Pilar’s memories. It is a glance at the past but also the present, and about how everything has changed, for better or worse.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
7. Grandfather Sky
A young Native American man on his way to visit his uncle learns about his Navajo heritage by attending tribal gatherings, traditional ceremonies and listening to old folktales.
8. Herds West
Short film on the cattle industry and movement of cattle along the production line.
9. Against Oblivion (Contre l’oubli)
Contre l'Oubli is a compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea on behalf of a political prisoner. Jean Luc Godard and Anne Marie Mieville's film concerns the plight of Thomas Wanggai, West Papuan activist who has since died in prison. The short films were commissioned by Amnesty International.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
10. Lorraine Pintal - So The Light Never Dies (Lorraine Pintal - Pour que la lumière ne meure jamais)
Directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, this tribute film was created as a gift for Lorraine Pintal, director of Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. Featuring some of the most memorable characters and performers of Pintal’s career, the film’s succession of surreal scenes from different dramatic worlds introduces viewers to the exceptional woman of theatre, stage director, and friend whom they consider to be the “ghost light” of Quebec theatre.
11. Opera School
A BAFTA award nominated documentary following the achievements of a young girl at the Toronto Opera School.
12. Hobbyhorse Revolution (Hobbyhorse Revolution)
A film about teenagers with growing pains, who discover their own voice and talent through riding and grooming toy horses.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
13. Roam Sweet Home
With her dog Sam and her 1964 Airstream trailer, Spiro joins an adventurous community of roamers and loners on wheels who live on the road full time--by economic neccessity, pleasure, or both. Behind the camera and behind the wheel, Spiro documents a unique world of vintage trailers, vintage dogs and vintage people, where the spirit of the moment collides with stories from the past.
14. S.O.S.: State of Security
Even though Richard Clarke was the one who repeatedly warned against Al Qaeda, he was perhaps the only member of the administration who took responsibility for the lack of preparedness for the 9/11 attack. His famous testimony "your government failed you, I failed you" was followed by an apology to the families of the victims, and moved the world. In a new film by award-winning director Michele Ohayon, former counter-terrorism czar Clarke sharply demystifies the role of government and how we can take control over its actions. The film looks at the U.S. and the world, bringing new hopes and roads to avoid future failures. It also brings to the surface hidden threats that must be addressed immediately, and makes transparent the role of Government towards the individual.
15. Steal a Pencil for Me
1943, The Netherlands is under total Nazi occupation. In Amsterdam, Jack, an unassuming accountant, first meets Ina at a birthday party - a 20-year-old beauty from a wealthy diamond manufacturing family who instantly steals his heart. But Jack's pursuit of love will be complicated; he is poor and married to Manja, a flirtatious and mercurial spouse. When the Jews are being deported, the husband, the wife and the lover find themselves at the same concentration camp; actually living in the same barracks. When Jack's wife objects to the "girlfriend" in spite of their unhappy marriage, Jack and Ina resort to writing secret love letters, which sustain them throughout the horrible circumstances of the war.
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
16. Hookers at the Point
From the sultry streets of Hunts Point in the South Bronx, comes the rawest, realest and truest documentation of the world's oldest profession ever captured on video. From Brent Owens, the director of Pimps Up, Ho's Down, comes the first two in a series of five films. Hookers At The Point focuses on the business of sex and the people involved in it. As a special bonus we have included Hookers At The Point: Going Out Again, where we follow up on the personalities from the first film and see where "The Life" has led them.
It has an average vote of 7.7 on TMDB.
17. Citizen USA: A 50 State Road Trip
Alexandra Pelosi's patriotic travelogue crisscrosses the U.S. to attend naturalization ceremonies in all 50 states and listens to recent immigrants from around the world explain their decision to become American citizens. The film is inspired by the naturalization process experienced by Pelosi's Dutch-born husband, Michiel Vos.
It has an average vote of 4 on TMDB.
18. Love Between the Covers
A glimpse into the world of the women who create and consume romance novels.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
19. Devil's Rope
The history of barbed wire, whose use dates back to the first settlers of the Wild West, always driven by their reckless and ruthless spirit of conquest and selfish ambition to leave their mark on wild lands; of its relationship with politics and mercantilism; of the perversion of the millenary relationship between men and animals; of the evolution of surveillance techniques. Fences and borders: the tragic tale of the enclosure of the world.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
20. Angelika Urban, Sales Assistant, Engaged (Angelika Urban, Verkäuferin, verlobt)
Documentary about the everyday routine of the sales assistant Angelika Urban.
