Documentary movies

Man on Wire (2008)

Friday, June 5th, 2009
Genres: Crime | Documentary
Countries: UK | USA
Actors: Jean-Louis Blondeau | David Demato | David Forman | David Roland Frank | Barry Greenhouse | Aaron Haskell | Jean François Heckel | Paul McGill | Jim Moore | Philippe Petit | Robert Sciglimpaglia | Alan Welner | Annie Allix | Ardis Campbell
Directors: James Marsh
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A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit’s daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City’s World Trade Center’s twin towers in 1974, what some consider, “the artistic crime of the century.”

Roger & Me (1989)

Friday, June 5th, 2009
Genres: Documentary
Countries: USA
Actors: James Blanchard | James Bond | Pat Boone | Bob Eubanks | Ben Hamper | Timothy Jackson | Tom Kay | Ted Koppel | Correy Lennox | Brian MacDonald | Dan Rather | Ronald Reagan | Fred Ross | Richard Earl Sawdon
Directors: Michael Moore
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A documentary about the closure of General Motors’ plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith.

Naqoyqatsi: Life as War (2002)

Friday, June 5th, 2009
Genres: Documentary | War
Countries: USA
Actors: Troy Aikman | The Beatles | Osama Bin Laden | Marlon Brando | Fidel Castro | Warren Christopher | Bill Clinton | Thomas A. Edison | Albert Einstein | Adolf Hitler | Elton John | Nikita Khrushchev | Martin Luther King | Henry Kissinger | Dalai Lama
Directors: Godfrey Reggio
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In this cinematic concert, mesmerizing images are plucked from everyday reality, then visually altered with state-of-the-art digital techniques. The result is a chronicle of the shift from a world organized by the principles of nature to one dominated by technology, the synthetic and the virtual. Extremes of intimacy and spectacle, tragedy and hope fuse in a tidal wave of visuals and music, giving rise to a unique, artistic experience that reflects the vision of a brave new globalized world.

American Swing (2008)

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Genres: Documentary
Countries: USA
Actors:
Directors: Jon Hart
Download: DivX iPod 

Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato’s Retreat.

Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders (2006)

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Genres: Documentary
Countries: USA
Actors: Beth Naef | Mike Hudson | Louis C.K. | Catherine Brown | John Brown | Robin Leach | Luke McCabe | Dave Ramsey | Chris Barrett | Elizabeth Warren | Brandie Broersma | Will Broersma | Bud Hibbs | Janne O'Donnell | Mark Mumma
Directors: James D. Scurlock
Download: DivX iPod 

When Hurricane Katrina ravaged America’s Gulf Coast, it laid bare an uncomfortable reality-America is not only far from the world’s wealthiest nation; it is crumbling beneath a staggering burden of individual and government debt. Maxed Out takes us on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where everything seems okay as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Sure, most of us may have that sinking feeling that something isn’t quite right, but we’re told not to worry. After all, there’s always more credit! Maxed Out shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of “preferred customer” and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. By turns hilarious and profoundly disturbing, Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.

Haunting in Connecticut, A (2002)

Monday, June 1st, 2009
Genres: Documentary | Horror
Countries: USA
Actors: Vanessa Lock | Brett Fleisher | Rod Pearson | Tyler Reid | Kelli Barrett | Lee Lively | Jim McKeny | Maggie Geroe | Shirley Vaughn | Ralph Denton Sr. | John Zaffis | John West | Noah Fryrear | Rick Hite | Raymond Smith
Directors: John Kavanaugh
Download: DivX iPod 

A haunting documentary of a normal family living in Connecticut, who, after moving into their new house, are terrorized by an evil ghost that dwells in the home.

Baraka (1992)

Thursday, May 28th, 2009
Genres: Documentary | War
Countries: USA
Actors:
Directors: Ron Fricke
Download:  DivX iPod 

Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on “where,” but on “what’s there.” It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred monks do a monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky.

Confessions of an Innocent Man (2007)

Monday, May 18th, 2009
Genres: Documentary
Countries: Canada
Actors: William Sampson | Martin Sheen
Directors: David Paperny
Download: DivX iPod 

The shocking, heart-wrenching story of British-Canadian engineer William Sampson who lived a privileged life in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia until he was kidnapped, locked up and tortured by Saudi thugs for almost three years.

Quest For Fire (1981)

Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Genres: Documentary | Short
Countries: France
Actors: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Anthony Burgess | Nicholas Kadi | Everett McGill | Desmond Morris | Ron Perlman | Rae Dawn Chong
Directors: Michel Parbot
Download: DivX iPod 

Anthony Burgess created the primitive language for the early humans in this prehistoric adventure about a trio of warriors who travel the savanna, encountering sabre-toothed tigers, mammoths and cannibalistic tribes in search of a flame that would replace the fire their tribe has lost.

The Meerkats (2008)

Friday, April 24th, 2009
Genres: Documentary
Countries: UK
Actors:
Directors: James Honeyborne
Download:  DivX iPod 

The Meerkats is a feature-length 2008 British nature documentary film which reveals the daily struggles of a clan of meerkats in the Kalahari Desert. It was produced by BBC Films and the The Weinstein Company, and filmed by the award-winning BBC Natural History Unit. It is the debut directorial feature of James Honeyborne, previously a producer of natural history programmes for television.

An inspiring look at how one family’s connection to each other and their surroundings is a model of resilience and fortitude for us all. The story features the coming of age of a young meerkat pup, Kolo growing up in the Kalahari desert. Shot using ground-breaking techniques, this dramatised documentary is a one-of-a-kind presentation from The Weinstein Company and the BBC, the world’s pre-eminent nature filmmakers.