1. Primary
Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.
It has an average vote of 6.3 on TMDB.
2. Autorretrato (Autorretrato)
(Autorretrato)
3. Swimming, Dancing
Swimming, Dancing examines audiovisual representations of the Yangtze , from silent film to video art to the contemporary vlog. Inspired by the city symphonies of the 1920s, Swimming, Dancing pieces together a “river symphony”, evoking the images, sounds and contradictions that make up the river’s turbulent history.
4. Beyond the Straight and Narrow
How did the rise of LGBTQ visibility, political progress, and digital technologies in the 2000s come together to offer the abundance of complex queer and transgender representations we see today? Media scholar Katherine Sender shows how LGBTQ visibility and political progress have combined with new digital media technologies and television platforms to produce an increasingly complex range of queer and transgender representations.
5. History on the Run: The Media and the '79 Election
This documentary examines the media's coverage of the Canadian federal election of May 1979. Filmed over a 3-week period, it takes a fascinating look at journalists in action and the politicians who attempt to manipulate the media.
6. Anna/Nana/Nana/Anna
A tribute to actresses, approaching their presence in and out the screen, humanizing the icons. From the Ukrainian Anna Sten to the French Anna Karina, we can see some close-up faces that marked the history of the cinema, and whose demand is more relevant than ever.
It has an average vote of 2.5 on TMDB.
7. Biopic
A biopic of the legendary Paul Bellini, by Bellini, of Bellini, for Bellini.
8. Conrad Veidt: My Life
German actor Conrad Veidt is best remembered for playing Nazi Major Strasser in Casablanca. In reality, he was an ardent anti-fascist who left Nazi Germany for Britain, falsely claiming to be Jewish in solidarity with his Jewish wife. Using clips from Veidt’s films, acclaimed director Mark Rappaport imagines the actor narrating his life and career from the silent era—including his leading roles in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Man Who Laughs through to his Hollywood years where he often played a Nazi.
It has an average vote of 1 on TMDB.
9. Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Boogie Man is a comprehensive look at political strategist, racist, and former Republican National Convention Committee chairman, Lee Atwater, who reinvigorated the Republican Party’s Southern Strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. He mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush and played a key role in the elections of Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
It has an average vote of 7.7 on TMDB.
10. The Reporter (Karpo)
Documentary about a Finnish reporter, Hannu Karpo. The movie follows Karpo's decades-long career as a journalist, and how he became a phenomenon and known by the whole nation.
It has an average vote of 7.273 on TMDB.
11. Debra Paget, For Example
A video essay where the author presumes motivations and insights in a fictionalized biography regarding Debra Paget, a contract player for 20th-Century Fox whom they groomed and coached for stardom.
It has an average vote of 3.2 on TMDB.
12. Women's Bodies (Il corpo delle donne)
The representation of women in contemporary Italian media
It has an average vote of 7.7 on TMDB.
13. Vietnam: American Holocaust
VIETNAM: AMERICAN HOLOCAUST exposes one of the worst cases of sustained mass slaughter in history, carefully planned and executed by presidents of both parties. Our dedicated generals and foot soldiers, knowingly or unknowingly, killed nearly 5 million people, on an almost unimaginable scale, mostly using incendiary bombs. Vietnam has never left our national consciousness, and now, in this time, it has more relevance than ever. Claiborne documents the Whitehouse fabrication of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and further, raises the question of whether JFK was assassinated to promote the Vietnam War. Martin Sheen, who played the leading role in Apocalypse Now almost 30 years ago, has generously lent his powerful voice to this actual history of the War in Vietnam.
It has an average vote of 8.5 on TMDB.
14. Hell on Wheels (Höllentour)
Year after year hundreds of thousands of fans line the route of the Tour de France, cheering on their heroes and willing them to victory, while millions of viewers worldwide tune in on their televisions. Academy Award-winning director Pepe Danquart, fascinated by the spectacle of the three week race, chose to focus on the courage, the pain and the fear of the riders of the Tour. Training his lens on German superstar sprinter Eric Zabel and his loyal domestique Rolf Aldag, Danquart captures the thrill of the race and the teamwork behind the stars of the peleton. He also shines light on the Tour's supporting cast - the director sportifs, masseurs, and, of course, the wildly enthusiastic fans. Reveling in the stunning landscape - from the Alps to the Pyrenees to the Massif Central to Paris - and with a nice dollop of Le Tour's history, HELL ON WHEELS transcends the sport it celebrates to reveal an astonishing human endeavor.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
15. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
This film examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news, and provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangerous impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person. Media experts, including Jeff Cohen Bob McChesney , Chellie Pingree , Jeff Chester and David Brock provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society. This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
16. Wild Plants of Palestine
Wild Flowers Plants of Palestine follows journeys of observational tours solicited by the Palestinian Museum and conducted by two professors from Birzeit University to collect photos of and information on the Palestinian Flora. The title is adapted from a collection of 123 images of wild flowers in Palestine found in the Matson Collection in the Library of Congress. Despite the tendency to trace the wild plants, the text in general aims at questioning the territorial extension of what is meant by the term “Palestinian”, while standing on insignificant topographical features of the landscape in West Bank. Furthermore, it addresses photography as a practice and a tool of distributing and restricting information at once.
17. HyperNormalisation
We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…
It has an average vote of 7.448 on TMDB.
18. Hollande, DSK, etc ... (Hollande, DSK, etc ...)
(Hollande, DSK, etc ...)
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
19. Last Year in Dachau (L'Année dernière à Dachau)
Near Munich, in Bavaria, Germany, is the Schleißheim Palace, where French filmmaker Alain Resnais shot his film Last Year at Marienbad in 1960. Nearby is the Dachau concentration camp, where thousands of people were killed between 1933 and 1945. An essay about the present and the past, beauty and horror, life and death.
It has an average vote of 4 on TMDB.
20. The Distressing Effects of Ultimate Fame: The Brett Pick Story
How does the most famous man in the world go missing overnight and is never heard from again for three years? That's what our host Leo is trying to find out, delving into the depths of the Brett Pick timeline, documenting his process of interviewing, researching, and finding answers to his questions. This is the Brett Pick story.