1. The Crazy Life (La vida loca)
Reflects a depressing and hopeless reality by following some of the members of "la dieciocho", the so-called 18th Street gang in a poor San Salvador neighborhood.
It has an average vote of 6.357 on TMDB.
2. Sprout Wings and Fly
Set in the North Carolina Appalachians, Sprout Wings and Fly honors the fiddle playing of 82-year-old Tommy Jarrell of Toast, NC. Tommy was quirky, gregarious and generous, and this film shows him at his best, in fine fiddling form.
It has an average vote of 5.7 on TMDB.
3. The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till
Never-before-seen testimony is included in this documentary on Emmett Louis Till, who, in 1955, was brutally murdered after he whistled at a white woman.
It has an average vote of 6.4 on TMDB.
4. King Coal
The cultural roots of coal continue to permeate the rituals of daily life in Appalachia even as its economic power wanes. The journey of a coal miner’s daughter exploring the region’s dreams and myths, untangling the pain and beauty, as her community sits on the brink of massive change.
5. Doubt: The Scott Watson Case
In the early hours of New Year’s Day 1998, Olivia Hope and Ben Smart boarded a yacht with a man, and were never seen again. The case enthralled the nation, and 18 months later Picton man Scott Watson was convicted of their murders. Watson has always maintained his innocence. Legal expert Dr. Chris Gallavin re-examines the case from a fresh perspective. Going back to the night of New Year’s Eve, 1997.
6. Black Box BRD (Black Box BRD)
Black Box BRD steps back into German history, showing the Federal Republic of Germany of the 70s and 80s. The country is polarized due to the power struggle of the German state and the "Red Army Faction". Society is torn, the fronts are irreconcilable. The life stories of both Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen are tragically linked to this era. Grams is the one who takes up arms for moral rigor; Herrhausen however seizes power and dies when powerful.
It has an average vote of 6.2 on TMDB.
7. Portraits and Dreams
Revisit photographs created by Kentucky school children in the 1970s and the place where their photos were made. Photographer and artist Wendy Ewald, who guided the students in making their visionary photographs, returns to Kentucky and learns how the lives and visions of her former students have changed.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
8. Two Spirits
Fred Martinez was a Navajo youth slain at the age of 16 by a man who bragged to his friends that he 'bug-smashed a fag'. But Fred was part of an honored Navajo tradition - the 'nadleeh', or 'two-spirit', who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits.
It has an average vote of 4.833 on TMDB.
9. Detainment
Two ten year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler.
It has an average vote of 6.6 on TMDB.
10. Acts of Violence
A riveting expose about the personalities of murderers and their motives. This 72 minute film covers the McDonalds' restaurant massacre, President Reagan's assassination attempt, serial murderer Henry Lee Lucas and others.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
11. Tupac Assassination Conspiracy Or Revenge
Tupac: Assassination is a documentary film about the unsolved murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. The film is produced by Frank Alexander and RJ Bond, who also directed the film.
It has an average vote of 6.4 on TMDB.
12. Scenes from the Blackjewel Miners Blockade
In July of 2019 the Blackjewel coal company announced it was declaring bankruptcy. Miners were told to stop working mid shift, and their last paychecks bounced. The miners retaliated by blocking a train full of coal, camping out on the coal tracks for weeks. Queer regional organizers made their way to the encampment to support the miners. The encampment became a place for community gathering and mutual aid distribution. Sarah Moyer, a film maker living in Kentucky, also made their way to the encampment and filmed this short documentary on the blockade.
13. Appalachian Journey
Appalachian Journey is one of five films made from footage that Alan Lomax shot between 1978 and 1985 for the PBS American Patchwork series . It offers songs, dances, stories, and religious rituals of the Southern Appalachians. Preachers, singers, fiddlers, banjo pickers, moonshiners, cloggers, and square dancers recount the good times and the hard times of rural life there. Performers include Tommy Jarrell, Janette Carter, Ray and Stanley Hicks, Frank Proffitt Jr., Sheila Kay Adams, Nimrod Workman and Phyllis Boyens, Raymond Fairchild, and others, with a bonus of a few African-Americans from the North Carolina Piedmont. Narrated by Alan Lomax. The Association for Cultural Equity’s Alan Lomax Archive channel on YouTube additionally streams outtakes from this film: other strong performances by Sheila Kay Adams, Dellie Norton, and Cas Wallin, Lawrence Eller, the Hickses, Algia Mae Hinton and John Dee Holeman, Tommy Jarrell, John “Doodle” Thrower, and Nimrod Workman.
It has an average vote of 9.5 on TMDB.
14. Mr. Untouchable
The true-life story of a Harlem's notorious Nicky Barnes, a junkie turned multimillionaire drug-lord. Follow his life story from his rough childhood to the last days of his life.
It has an average vote of 6.6 on TMDB.
15. The Alps Murders
This investigative documentary sheds light on the baffling 2012 cold-blooded slaying of a British family and local cyclist in the French Alps.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
16. Wasted Talent
(Wasted Talent)
It has an average vote of 5.8 on TMDB.
17. Hex Hollow: Witchcraft and Murder in Pennsylvania
A documentary film investigating the 1928 murder of a Pennsylvania farmer and the allegations of witchcraft that shocked the nation.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
18. The Thin Blue Line
Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas.
It has an average vote of 7.683 on TMDB.
19. 13th
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
It has an average vote of 7.9 on TMDB.
20. From Mexico to Vietnam: a Chicano story
This film tells the story of Jesus Duran, who immigrated from Mexico at a young age, and did his military service in Vietnam where, through a heroic act, he saved his platoon, and was awarded a posthumous medal of honor in 2014.
