Documentaries Worth the Time
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- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogKatia KrafftMaurice KrafftAn exploration of active volcanoes around the world.
- DirectorEvgeny AfineevskyStarsHis Beatitude SviatoslavSaid IsmagilovBishop AgapitA documentary on the unrest in Ukraine during 2013 and 2014, as student demonstrations supporting European integration grew into a violent revolution calling for the resignation of President Viktor F. Yanukovich.
- StarsNeil deGrasse TysonChristopher EmersonKeythe FarleyAn exploration of our discovery of the laws of nature and coordinates in space and time.
- DirectorYael MelamedeStarsDan ArielyFrom ticket-fixing in our police departments to test-score scandals in our schools, from our elected leaders' extra-marital affairs to financial schemes undermining our economy, dishonesty seems to be a ubiquitous part of the news. But it's not just true in the headlines - we ALL cheat.
- StarsDavid AttenboroughPierce BrosnanPeter ScoonesMammoth series, five years in the making, taking a look at the rich tapestry of life in the world's oceans.
- DirectorDean HargroveStarsJason Samuels SmithJoshua JohnsonIvery WheelerAbout ten years ago, a group of us produced a fourteen-minute short film, 'Tap Heat', which film contrasted the traditional tap with the contemporary, as it's being created and performed by a new generation of dancers. With 'Tap World', we wanted to show how this uniquely American art form has been given an exciting resurgence through the global embrace of dancers and audiences around the world. With 'Tap Heat"s popularity, we decided to reach out and invite dancers, choreographers and dance companies from across the planet to participate in a feature-length global documentary. Along with the U.S., we received 114 submissions from thirteen countries around the world. We asked not only to see the participants dancing, but also to learn their personal stories.
- DirectorMark LevinsonStarsDavid KaplanFabiola GianottiSherwood BoehlertAs the Large Hadron Collider is about to be launched for the first time, physicists are on the cusp of the greatest scientific discovery of all time -- or perhaps their greatest failure.
- DirectorPeter D. HutchisonKelly NyksJared P. ScottStarsNoam ChomskyAlan GreenspanMalcolm XRenowned academic and author Noam Chomsky elucidates 10 principles of concentration of wealth and power that have led to unprecedented inequality and the hollowing out of the American middle class.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.
- DirectorMarisa Miller WolfsonStarsMarisa Miller WolfsonChloe DavisCody TarlowVegucated is a guerrilla-style documentary that follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks and learn what it's all about.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsTimothy TreadwellAmie HuguenardWerner HerzogA devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.
- DirectorDavis GuggenheimStarsAl GoreBilly WestGeorge BushFilmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.
- DirectorLuc JacquetStarsMorgan FreemanRomane BohringerCharles BerlingIn the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family.
- DirectorGus HolwerdaStarsAyaan Hirsi AliWoody AllenRichard DawkinsRenowned scientists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss cross the globe as they speak publicly about the importance of science and reason in the modern world.
- DirectorLouie SchwartzbergStarsForest WhitakerAndrew BankstonPayton BourgeoisMYSTERIES OF THE UNSEEN WORLD transports audiences to places on this planet that they have never been before, to see things that are beyond their normal vision, yet literally right in front of their eyes. Mysteries of the Unseen World reveals phenomena that can't be seen with the naked eye, taking audiences into earthly worlds secreted away in different dimensions of time and scale. Viewers experience events that unfold too slowly for human perception; They "see" the beauty, drama, and even humor of phenomena of that occur in the flash of a microsecond; They enter the microscopic world that was once reserved only for scientists, but that Mysteries of the Unseen World makes accessible to the rest of us; They begin to understand that what we actually see is only a fraction of what there is TO see on this Earth. High-speed and time-lapse photography, electron microscopy, and nanotechnology are just a few of the advancements in science that now allow us to see a whole new universe of things, events, creatures, and processes we never even knew existed and now give us new "super powers" to see beyond what is in front of us. Visually stunning and rooted in cutting-edge research, Mysteries of the Unseen World will leave audiences in complete thrall as they begin to understand the enormity of the world they can't see, a world that exists in the air they breathe, on their own bodies, and in all of the events that occur around them minute-by-minute, and nanosecond-by-nanosecond. And with this understanding comes a new appreciation of the wonder and possibilities of science.
- DirectorLiz GarbusStarsAnderson CooperPearson MarxStan StokowskiGloria Vanderbilt and her son Anderson Cooper discuss their notable family's history.
- DirectorFisher StevensStarsLeonardo DiCaprioBan Ki-moonAlejandro G. IñárrituA look at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the planet.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsIan BurumaGuo-Qiang CaiWen-You CaiTrace the rise of contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang from childhood in Mao's China to global art world superstar, and join his quest to realize his lifelong obsession: Sky Ladder.
- DirectorBrian KnappenbergerStarsAnon2WorldAnonyopsJulian AssangeA documentary on the workings and beliefs of the self-described "hacktivist" collective, Anonymous.
- DirectorLarry CharlesStarsBill MaherTal BachmanJonathan BouldenBill Maher's take on the current state of world religion.
- DirectorOrlando von EinsiedelStarsDana AbedTia AlkerdiKhalid FarahAs daily airstrikes pound civilian targets in Syria, a group of indomitable first responders risk their lives to rescue victims from the rubble.
- DirectorDaniel ZuckerbrotDonna ZuckerbrotStarsDavid SuzukiKoharik ArmanJohn BradshawThe science behind the domestic cat.
- StarsValerie SpencerJohn LandisJonathan KuntzVarious film historians, film makers, and cultural commentators discuss the cultural, political, economic and religious reasons for what is known as the pre-code era of Hollywood movie making in the early 1930s, and those same factors which resulted in the drastic turn to working under the code for the twenty or so years starting in 1934. The "code" is the Hollywood Production Code of 1930 (also known as the Hays Code, so named for Will H. Hays, the first head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America), which was developed in order for movie making in Hollywood to run smoothly in the face of increased outside censors. The code was largely ignored until 1934, when its enforcement was overseen by Joseph Breen who took over from Hays and who had a different agenda of moral purity. During those four years, pre-code Hollywood movies are characterized by their rawness and pushing the envelope of sexuality and moral ambiguity (with the depraved side often winning), which were not allowed under the code. What happened to the distribution of pre-code movies during the years that the code was enforced, the reasons for the slow breakdown of the code in the early to mid 1950s, and the reasons for renewed interest in pre-code movies later in the century are also discussed.
- DirectorMarc SingerStarsMarc SingerA cinematic portrait of the homeless population who live permanently in the underground tunnels of New York City.
- DirectorJohn DowerStarsLouis TherouxTom CruiseMarty RathbunLouis Theroux documents his investigation into what goes on behind the scenes of the infamous Church of Scientology.