1. Fiona Humphrey: A Family Album
Fiona Humphrey suffers from Sanfilippo Syndrome, a rare form of MPS that is slowly destroying her abilities and will ultimately kill her. Her mother Catriona suffers from an equally rare kidney disease. Her adolescent sisters Paige and Heather function as parents when their father Randy is working at Cracker Barrel, as the sole source of income. This is a look into their life, and the sacrifices they make to be happy.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
2. Papa s'en va (Papa s'en va)
Pauline Horovitz has been filming her father since 2009. In this new chapter with hints of a bittersweet documentary comedy, the hero, a former doctor “programmed” to work, takes advantage of his retirement to become an actor. Following the first steps of this liberating new life, the daughter-filmmaker watches her “creature” escape her…
3. Apart (Lejanía)
The story of a family marked by tragedy gives rise to a reflection on memory, emotional ties, family secrets and the difficulty for new generations of knowing and accepting life events.
4. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Him (2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von ihm weiß)
What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story."
It has an average vote of 6.6 on TMDB.
5. Bleed Out
After a routine partial hip replacement operation leaves his mother in a coma with permanent brain damage, what starts as a son's video diary becomes a citizen's investigation into the future of American health care.
It has an average vote of 7.923 on TMDB.
6. Naître d'une autre (Naître d'une autre)
(Naître d'une autre)
7. What You’ll Remember
Homelessness in the United States takes many forms. For Elizabeth Herrera, David Lima and their four children, housing instability has meant moving between unsafe apartments, motels, relatives’ couches, shelters, the streets and their car. After 15 years of this uncertainty, the family moved into their first stable housing — an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
8. Bibis of 14 (Bibis de 14)
Through a film letter, Lara communicates with her great-grandfather Paco, whom she barely knew. She explains to him what has happened since he died.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
9. The Story of the Weeping Camel (Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel)
When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.
It has an average vote of 7.1 on TMDB.
10. Real Boy
REAL BOY is the coming-of-age story of Bennett Wallace, a transgender teenager on a journey to find his voice-as a musician, a friend, a son, and a man. As he navigates the ups and downs of young adulthood, Bennett works to gain the love and support of his mother, who has deep misgivings about her child's transition. Along the way, he forges a powerful friendship with his idol, Joe Stevens, a celebrated transgender musician with his own demons to fight.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
11. The Road of Health
The lecturer shows a microcinematographic sequence of spirochaetes and drawings of the gonoccus . He then turns to an easel and begins to draw 'the road of health'; the cartoon takes this up in magic drawing, in a style that is highly reminiscent of the 'Giro the Germ' series made for the Health and Cleanliness Council a few years before.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
12. Sieben Mulden und eine Leiche (Sieben Mulden und eine Leiche)
Thomas Haemmerli is about to celebrate his fortieth birthday when he learns of his mother's death. A further shock follows when he and his brother Erik discover her apartment, which is filthy and full to bursting with junk. It takes the brothers an entire month to clean out the place. Among the chaos, they find films going back to the 1930s, photos and other memorabilia.
It has an average vote of 8.2 on TMDB.
13. Memory Books
In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing what they call Memory Books for their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Hopelessness and desperation are confronted through the collaborative effort of remembering and recording, a process that inspires unexpected strength and even solace in the face of death.
14. Mi'kmaq Family (Migmaoei Otjiosog)
This documentary takes you on a reflective journey into the extended family of Nova Scotia’s Mi'kmaq community. Revisiting her own roots, Mi'kmaq filmmaker and mother Catherine Anne Martin explores how the community is recovering its First Nations values, particularly through the teachings of elders and a collective approach to children-rearing. Mi'kmaq Family is an inspiring resource for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences who are looking for ways to strengthen and explore their own families and traditions. We hear the Mi'kmaq language spoken and a lullaby is sung by a Mi'kmaq grandmother featured in the film.
15. The Sociologist and the Bear Cub (La sociologue et l'ourson)
Between September 2012 and May 2013, France is debating the upcoming marriage equality laws. During those nine months, sociologist Irène Théry talks about what is at stake with her son Mathias Théry, who will make a movie with Étienne Chaillou out of those hours of conversations. It is a documentary about the social debate in France, but also about family and intimacy.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
16. Arctic Tale
Arctic Tale is a 2007 documentary film from the National Geographic Society about the life cycle of a walrus and her calf, and a polar bear and her cubs, in a similar vein to the 2005 hit production March of the Penguins, also from National Geographic.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
17. To Be and to Have (Être et avoir)
The documentary's title translates as "to be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages , with a dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez, who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.
It has an average vote of 7.254 on TMDB.
18. Capturing the Friedmans
An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.
It has an average vote of 7.163 on TMDB.
19. Nai Nai (奶奶)
Nai Nai follows the story of a Chinese immigrant grandmother, Chu-Ming Wu. Known as “Nai Nai,” Chu-Ming has always been a woman of control. But her grasp of reality and the control of her own mind is slipping away. Told through the lens of her grandson, the film focuses on the joyful, heartbreaking and intimate moments in the last chapters of her life.
20. Daddy's Girl (Pappas flicka)
Daddy’s Girl is a story about differences, but also about similarities, reunions and the difficulty to hate. Father and daughter know each other so well, that even the most tragic scenes start to seem comical. Melisa’s relationship to her father is so painful, because there’s so much love involved.