1. The Do Gooders
British documentary filmmaker Chloe Ruthven’s grandparents were aid workers in Palestine. Growing up, she had avoided getting too involved in the subject, recalling how mention of the country made all the adults in her life angry. In her forties, after revisiting her grandmother’s book on the subject, she starts to research a documentary on the effects of foreign aid in the area and is shocked at the continued reliance on it there. Along the way she meets Lubna, a Palestinian woman who acts as her driver and fixer, and who is fiercely critical of Western aid efforts in her country. What begins as a quest to better understand her family history turns into a deeply emotional account of two women trying to understand one another. Ruthven’s determination to focus her film on deeply subjective analysis results in a unique joining of the acutely personal and complexly political.
2. Loretta Lynn: My Story In My Words
2021 marks the 50th anniversary of "Coal Miner’s Daughter," the Loretta Lynn song that became a book, a feature film, and an indelible part of popular culture. Like so many other songs written by Lynn, the lyrics told the story of her life and spoke to women who struggled to make ends meet. Lynn’s simple, straightforward song stories gave legitimacy to the joys, heartaches, struggles and triumphs.
3. Fourteen's Good, Eighteen's Better
Profile on three young Adelaide women. Diana, Kerry and Josie are now 18 years old, and continue to have open and frank discussions about their lives.
4. Not Fourteen Again
An exploration of the hopes and expectations of three working class women from Adelaide, and the differences and similarities they share with their daughters.
It has an average vote of 5.5 on TMDB.
5. Bingo, Bridesmaids & Braces
The third film in a documentary series from acclaimed director Gillian Armstrong, about the lives of three working class women. as they grow up from the age of 14. They're now at the ripe old age of 26, and we witness the women confronting the very real issues of teenage pregnancy, and love versus sex, marriage and career.
6. Lily Tomlin
Backstage record of how Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner and their associates put together "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," Miss Tomlin's one-woman Broadway play.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
7. The Things I Cannot Change
"This feature documentary is considered to be the forerunner of the NFB's Challenge for Change Program. The film offers in inside look at 3 weeks in the life of the Bailey family. Trouble with the police, begging for stale bread, and the birth of another child are just some of the issues they face. Through it all, the father tries to explain his family's predicament. Although filmed in Montreal, the film offers an anatomy of poverty as it occurs throughout North America." - NFB
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
8. 3.11 A Sense of Home (3.11 A Sense of Home)
In memory of the Japanese earthquake on 3.11, each director presents a 3 minute and 11 second short film in tribute to those who were lost that day.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
9. The Women Who Run Hollywood (Et la femme créa Hollywood)
The first talkie was directed by Alice Guy, the first color film was produced by Lois Weber, who directed more than 300 films over 10 years. Frances Marion wrote screenplays for the Hollywood Star Mary Pickford and won two Oscars, Dorothy Arzner was the most powerful film director in Hollywood. And what do all of them have in common? They are all women and they have all been forgotten. Incredibly, it also took until 2010 for the first woman, Kathryn Bigelow, to win the Oscar for Best Director. Even if underrepresented women have always played a big part in Hollywood and it is this part of the film history left untold that this documentary sets out to uncover.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
10. Death by Design
This documentary seeks to open your eyes to the the costly consequences of the Information Age, when we are addicted to constantly replacing our electronic devices with newer and better versions.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
11. Biopsia (Biopsia)
Carmen accompanies a group of women who must travel from the island of Vieques to San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico, in order to perform breast biopsies. The long journey is by water and road. Amid many fears and vicissitudes, Carmen confirms once again the need for appropriate medical services for both women and for the rest of the Vieques population.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
12. Memories of a Penitent Heart
Twenty five years after Miguel died from AIDS, his niece, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo, embarks on an excavation into a quagmire of unresolved family drama. Like many gay men in the 1980s, Miguel moved from Puerto Rico to New York City; he found a career in theater and a rewarding relationship. Yet, on his deathbed he grappled to reconcile his homosexuality with his Catholic upbringing. Now, decades after his death, Cecilia locates Miguel’s lover Robert, who has been shunned and demonized by the family, in order to understand the whole story.
It has an average vote of 5.6 on TMDB.
13. The Return
In 2012, California voters approved Proposition 36, effectively repealing the state's notoriously harsh three-strikes law that had sentenced thousands of nonviolent offenders to a lifetime behind bars. But what does it mean to be released from prison after being sentenced to life? How does one begin to reintegrate into society? The Return depicts the struggles of two newly released former lifers as they deal with restoring relationships, avoiding personal triggers, finding meaningful employment, and managing the mental health problems which had previously contributed to their imprisonment.
It has an average vote of 5.7 on TMDB.
14. Tickling Giants
The Arab Spring in Egypt: From a dictator to free elections, back to a dictatorship. One comedy show united the country and tested the limits of free press. This is the story of Bassem Youssef, a cardiologist turned comedian, the Jon Stewart of Egypt, and his show "The Show".
It has an average vote of 7.6 on TMDB.
15. Bad Rap
The lives and careers of four Asian-American rappers trying to break into a world that often treats them as outsiders. Sharing dynamic live performance footage and revealing interviews, these artists will make the most skeptical critics into believers.
It has an average vote of 6.3 on TMDB.
16. 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.
17. Bizarre: A Circus Story
An intimate look at the extraordinary life of Master Lu Yi, hailed as the father of modern acrobatics, and the vast community of big-top lovers who share his dream of a thriving US circus industry.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
18. InRealLife
InRealLife takes us on a journey from the bedrooms of British teenagers to the world of Silicon Valley, to find out what exactly the internet is doing to our children.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
19. Monks - The Transatlantic Feedback
The monks were 5 American GIs in cold war Germany who billed themselves as the anti-Beatles; they were heavy on feedback, nihilism and electrical banjo. They had strange haircuts, dressed in black, mocked the military and rocked harder than any of their mid-sixties counterparts while managing to basically invent industrial, kraut rock, heavy metal, punk and techno music.
It has an average vote of 6.2 on TMDB.
20. Through a Blue Lens
This documentary, set in the Lower East End of Vancouver's downtown core, is a pretty honest account of life on the streets in urban Canada. It is aimed at educating high school kids on the dangers of addiction to hard drugs and is the brainchild of a group of city police officers who videotape their interactions with local homeless personalities.
It has an average vote of 7.2 on TMDB.
