1. Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth (きゃからばあ)
Kawase tries to come to terms with her late father, whom she never knew when growing up, and contemplates getting a tattoo like his.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
2. The Weald (杣人物語)
Naomi Kawase returns to the mountains of her feature film Suzaku and portraits the people that inspired the movie.
It has an average vote of 5.7 on TMDB.
3. The Order of Myths
In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated... and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
4. The Gulf of Silence
Since 1945, only a select few in the US government have known the truth about UFOs. In 2020, one of them is finally speaking out. Join Dr. Laura Gale PhD on a guided tour through over half a century of disinformation, counterespionage—and mankind's attempts to make first contact.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
5. The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger
The Ways of Seeing writer is celebrated by Tilda Swinton and her fellow admirers in an unorthodox four-part documentary that visits him at his Alpine home
It has an average vote of 5.7 on TMDB.
6. The Tobacco Conspiracy: The Backroom Deals of a Deadly Industry
This French-Canadian co-production goes behind the scenes of the huge tobacco industry, whose economic power has been expanding for five decades at the expense of public health. A gripping investigation covering three continents, Nadia Collot's film exposes the vast conspiracy of a criminally negligent industry that conquers new markets through corruption and manipulation. To confront the tobacco cartel, anti-smoking groups are organizing and scoring points, but the fight remains fierce. With ist diverse viewpoints, shocking interviews and riveting images, The Tobacco Conspiracy deftly defines the issues in a complex situation where private interests and the public good collide. Enlightening and engrossing, this documentary is a hard-hitting critique of an industry gone mad.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
7. Light in the Water
In 1982, soon after the first Gay Games, 'West Hollywood Swim Club,' as it was known then, registered as the first openly gay masters swim and water polo club. This feature documentary film follows their battle for acceptance: from their humble beginnings, to how these men and women have become a renowned force fighting injustice in the world of competitive sports.
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
8. Freedom Fields (حقول الحرية)
In post-revolution Libya, a group of women are brought together by one dream: to play football for their nation. But as the country descends into civil war and the utopian hopes of the “Arab Spring” begin to fade, can they realise their dream? And is there even a country left to play for? Freedom Fields is a film about hope and sacrifice in a land where dreams seem a luxury. Through the eyes of these accidental activists we see the reality of a country in transition, where the personal stories of love, struggle and aspirations collide with History.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
9. The Pearl
THE PEARL is a cinematic and intimate portrait of four transgender women who come out in their senior years. Set in logging towns in the Pacific Northwest, the visceral, observational story explores what it means to leave behind presenting as a man.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
10. New Boobs (Nieuwe tieten)
For years, filmmaker Sacha Polak has known that she carries the BRCA1 hereditary cancer gene, responsible for breast cancer, but she can't decide what to do. Does she have her breasts removed as a preventive measure to minimize the risk of developing cancer? What if she had them removed, thus forsaking her femininity, for nothing? Sacha decides to make a personal and open documentary about her search.
It has an average vote of 4.5 on TMDB.
11. Tender Fictions
Childhood stories of the artist as a young lesbian and intimate tales of the lesbian as a young artist underscore the filmmaker's life of performances. With a Swiss army knife she robs an American Express Bank in Morocco, accosts a shepherd in a field on International Women's Day, and tap dances on Shirley Temple's star on Hollywood Boulevard. This child movie star was the ideal by which Hammer's ambitious mother measured her own Barbie. Grandma, already a cook for Lillian Gish in Hollywood, introduced the cute, loquacious child and her mother to D.W. Griffith. Lesbian autobiography is a slender genre, so Hammer draws from general culture studies for critique and to provide an ironic edge to the synthesized "voices of authority".
It has an average vote of 4.9 on TMDB.
12. Stripped
Nonfiction filmmaker Jill Morley documents her exploration of the exotic dancer experience. Through tactfully selected and edited sequences, you get an insider's view into the job itself, how clubs chauffeur dancers, protect them, what's required of them, how much money they can make, tricks that dancers use to make more money, and keep clients at bay. By trying to work as a dancer, Morley gives the viewer a very personal perspective on the experience. Long-time professional dancers reveal personal anecdotes and feelings about how the job effects them in candid, personal interviews. A group discussion with several dancers is likewise illuminating.
It has an average vote of 4.2 on TMDB.
13. Buitenkampers (Buitenkampers)
(Buitenkampers)
14. The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden
Darwin meets Hitchcock in this documentary. Directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have created a parable about the search for paradise, set in the brutal yet alluring landscape of the Galapagos Islands, which interweaves an unsolved 1930s murder mystery with stories of present day Galapagos pioneers. A gripping tale of idealistic dreams gone awry, featuring voice-over performances by Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, and Gustaf Skarsgard.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
15. Bisonhead
A quietly devastating look at a family of Ponderai Native Americans as they travel to Yellowstone to preserve their treaty hunting rights.
16. Documented
In 2011, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in the New York Times Magazine. 'Documented' chronicles his journey to America from the Philippines as a child; his journey through America as an immigration reform activist/provocateur; and his journey inward as he re-connects with his mother, whom he hasn't seen in 20 years.
It has an average vote of 5.8 on TMDB.
17. 11 Freundinnen (11 Freundinnen)
A documentary on the German Women Football National Team and the 2011 FIFA World Championship in Germany.
18. The Sea (Morze)
The Sea is a 1933 Polish short documentary film directed by Wanda Jakubowska. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 1933 for Best Short Subject .
19. Rebel Citizen
What began as a video master class evolved into a film about the political documentaries of Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler. Comprised of footage from his films as well as interviews, the film is an intimate portrait of the genius behind the camera.
20. Fragility (Skörheten)
"You are suffering from a mental fragility,” the doctor tells Ahang as she desperately tries to understand why she sometimes feels so terribly sad, as though everything has fallen apart. From the outside, she seems to live a sound and good life. For periods of time everything feels really good. But then it hits her: that horrific panic and despair that destroys everything and presses her down into a deep black hole.