BEST DOCUMENTARIES
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- DirectorDavid LeafJohn ScheinfeldStarsJohn LennonYoko OnoStew AlbertA documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreJohnny FancelliChristina FancelliTo learn what the USA can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully "invades" them to see what they have to offer.
- DirectorPeter JosephStarsJacque FrescoRoxanne MeadowsJohn PerkinsZeitgeist: Addendum attempts to locate the root causes of the pervasive social corruption, while also offering a solution.
- DirectorSarah ColtStarsOliver PlattHenry FordSteven WattsHENRY FORD paints a fascinating portrait of a farm boy who rose from obscurity to become the most influential American innovator of the 20th century.
- DirectorTom ShadyacStarsTom ShadyacDesmond TutuNoam ChomskyDirector Tom Shadyac speaks with intellectual and spiritual leaders about what's wrong with our world and how we can improve both it and the way we live in it.
- DirectorPhillip BaribeauStarsBen MastersJonny FitzsimonsThomas GloverUnbranded follows four men and sixteen mustangs on an epic 3,000-mile journey from Mexico to Canada through the American West to inspire adoptions for the 50,000 wild horses and burros in government captivity.
- StarsAndrew MarrPierre MaraisJoe VazAndrew Marr explores key events across 70,000 years of human civilization, from ancient empires to modern technological marvels, through re-enactments and global filming in this thought-provoking documentary series.
- DirectorMaria DemopoulosJodi WilleStarsAhom AquarianIsis AquarianDon BollesA charismatic leader founds a commune in Los Angeles in the early '70s based on natural food, spiritual practices and psychedelic rock. This short-lived era is recreated with archival material and the memories of participants.
- 1965–7.5 (43)TV EpisodeDirectorKirk Simon
- StarsTempestt BledsoeEdward BurnsDean CainOriginal Vietnam War footage presented in high definition along with narrations by war veterans and the voices of Hollywood stars.
- DirectorMichael KirkStarsWill LymanPeter BakerThomas RicksFrom PBS and FRONTLINE: FRONTLINE examines the unfolding chaos in Iraq and how the U.S. is being pulled back into the conflict. Drawing on interviews with policymakers and military leaders, the film traces the U.S. role from the 2003 invasion to the current violence, showing how Iraq itself is coming undone, how we got here, what went wrong, and what happens next.
- DirectorJames JonesStarsWill LymanJiro IshimaruLeeThrough smuggled footage and interview with defectors, the true state of North Korea under Kim Jong-Un is examined.
- DirectorPeter YostStarsCraig SechlerCorey BrixenRand PaulDiscover the cutting-edge technologies that are propelling us toward a new chapter in aviation history.
- DirectorShane SalernoStarsPhilip Seymour HoffmanEdward NortonJudd ApatowAn unprecedented look inside the private world of J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye.
- 1999– 1h 45mR7.0 (1.2K)TV Episode53MetascoreDirectorRamona S. DiazStarsArnel PinedaNeal SchonJonathan CainA documentary on Arnel Pineda, who was plucked from YouTube to become the new singer for the rock & roll band, Journey.
- DirectorPeter JosephStarsPeter JosephRobert SapolskyGabor MatéA feature length documentary work which presents a case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society.
- DirectorMalik BendjelloulStarsRodriguezStephen 'Sugar' SegermanDennis CoffeyTwo South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock n roller, Rodriguez.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRobert McNamaraJohn F. KennedyFidel CastroThe story of America as seen through the eyes of the former Secretary of Defense under President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara.
- DirectorPeter NavarroStarsMartin SheenTom DanjzcekDan FitzpatrickIn 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization with the strong support of a Democratic President and Republican Congress. Before the ink was dry on this free trade agreement, China began flooding U.S. markets with illegally subsidized exports while the big multinational companies that had lobbied heavily for the agreement rapidly accelerated the off shoring of American jobs to China. Today, as a result of the biggest shell game in American history, China has stolen millions of our jobs, corporate profits are soaring, and we now owe over $3 trillion to the world's largest totalitarian nation. This film is about how that happened... and why the best jobs program for America is trade reform with China.
- DirectorPaul SenStarsRobert X. CringelySteve JobsA conversation with Steve Jobs as he was running NeXT, the company he had founded after leaving Apple.
- DirectorChris James ThompsonStarsAndrew SwantPamela BassJeffrey JentzenAn experimental documentary that uses archival footage, interviews, and fictionalized scenarios to tell the story of the people around Jeffrey Dahmer, during the summer of his arrest in 1991.
- DirectorVikram GandhiStarsVikram GandhiTobyGregA documentary about a man who impersonates a wise Indian Guru and builds a following in Arizona. At the height of his popularity, the Guru Kumaré must reveal his true identity to his disciples and unveil his greatest teaching of all.
- DirectorTim DunnStarsCraig SechlerJohn S. BlythMike MockfordThe story of British aerial military photographic reconnaissance and analysis using stereoscopic viewing techniques during World War II.
- DirectorNonny de la PeñaStarsAquil AbdullahJohn AshcroftBob BarrA documentary that investigates the ways in which the civil liberties of American citizens and immigrants have been rolled back since the September 11 and the Patriot Act.
- DirectorHelen WhitneyStarsWill BagleyAlex BaughLeslie BergerThe following topics are covered: history of Joseph Smith based almost entirely on 2nd and 3rd person accounts, Haun's Mill massacre, early polygamy, modern polygamy as practiced by excommunicated Mormons, Mountain Meadows massacre with arguments blaming church leadership, the action-less Mormon militia, and the burning of an anti-Mormon press, and delay in giving the priesthood to non-whites until the 1970's. What isn't covered: 1st person accounts by members of the early days of the church, percentages of how many were involved in the topics covered, building of the Nauvoo (the largest city in Illinois) out of a swamp, 1000+ deaths that resulted from building Nauvoo (mostly malaria), the extermination from Kirtland, the extermination from Nauvoo, the 1000's that died on the trek to Salt Lake City as required by the Extermination Order by Gov. Boggs, the ensuing volunteer-staffed Mormon battalion of the US Government and their 2000 mile march, the rape and expulsion of nearly all Mormons and repossession of their property in the mid-west, the influx of 100,000's of Mormons from England where most of the converts originated, the church welfare system that abolished poverty among Mormons during the great depression, and anything about the years from 1900 through 1970 or from 1980 to present.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsThe Dalai LamaLama Lhundup WoeserTakna Jigme SangpoWheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India.
- 1983– 2hTV-PG8.3 (168)TV EpisodeDirectorWilliam CranStarsWilliam CranJohn Dominic CrossanGil EdgeleyThe story of the rise of Christianity.
- StarsJames HollandTony PollardRichard LinternAn examination of Nazi Germany's various military engineering projects during World War II.
- DirectorRobert GreenwaldStarsDouglas CheekWalter CronkiteBob McChesneyDocumentary on reported Conservative bias of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel (FNC), which promotes itself as "Fair and Balanced". Material includes interviews with former FNC employees and the inter-office memos they provided.
- StarsKevin BunkerBob DowtyJohn P. HankeyThe dangerous early history of railroads in the United States and the various inventions that slowly made them safer.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreElaine BlyDan BurnsOn his book tour, Michael Moore exposes more wrongdoing by greedy big businesses and callous politicians around America.
- DirectorPete McGrainStarsWoody HarrelsonJustin LewisBill HoganHosted by twice Oscar nominated actor Woody Harrelson, Ethos explores the mechanisms in our systems that work against democracy, the environment and our own personal liberty.
- DirectorSean DashStarsLloyd SherrWilliam LanouetteRobert ChristyEncouraged by Leo Szilard and galvanized by German success in achieving nuclear fission, the United States embarks on a crash program to build a nuclear bomb. Aided by many Jewish scientists who had fled Nazi Germany the project team successfully constructs three fuel production lines using different technologies and assembles three bombs. One bomb was tested in New Mexico and the others deployed against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- 1987– 1h 17mTV-PG8.0 (163)TV EpisodeDirectorChris EyreStarsMarcos AkiatenCassidy AllaWilliam BelleauIn March of 1621, in what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Massasoit (actor Marcos Akiaten, Chiricauha Apache), the leading sachem of the Wampanoag, sat down to negotiate with a ragged group of English colonists. Hungry, dirty, and sick, the pale-skinned foreigners were struggling to stay alive; they were in desperate need of native help. Massasoit faced problems of his own. His people had lately been decimated by unexplained sickness, leaving them vulnerable to the rival Narragansett to the west. The Wampanoag sachem calculated that a tactical alliance with the foreigners would provide a way to protect his people and hold his native enemies at bay. He agreed to give the English the help they needed. A half-century later, as a brutal war flared between the English colonists and a confederation of New England Indians, the wisdom of Massasoit's diplomatic gamble seemed less clear. Five decades of English immigration, mistreatment, lethal epidemics, and widespread environmental degradation had brought the Indians and their way of life to the brink of disaster. Led by Metacom, Massasoit's son (actor Annowon Weeden, Mashpee Wampanoag), the Wampanoag and their native allies fought back against the English, nearly pushing them into the sea.
- StarsMathieu KassovitzMartin SheenRudolf HessThis six-part series traces the Second World War, from the rise of the Nazis to the surrender of the Japanese, with detailed portraits of key figures.
- DirectorBenjamin StatlerStarsDaniel RoebuckSarah ScottAugust EmersonTom Grant, a private investigator once hired by Courtney Love, reveals his take on the death of Kurt Cobain.
- DirectorKen BurnsStarsKeith DavidTom HanksAdam ArkinThe saga of Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first man to cross the United States by automobile--in 1903!
- StarsSteven AveryDolores AveryLaura NiriderFilmed over a 10-year period, Steven Avery, a DNA exoneree who, while in the midst of exposing corruption in local law enforcement, finds himself the prime suspect in a grisly new crime.
- DirectorLarry CharlesStarsBill MaherTal BachmanJonathan BouldenBill Maher's take on the current state of world religion.
- DirectorDoug ShultzStarsEdward HerrmannGeorge IvascuRodica LazarDocumentary about the bloody beginning, bloodier middle and unceremonious end of the French Revolution, an event that ended in blood the reign of kings in France and laid the foundation for a new - republican - system of government.
- StarsPeter CoyoteN. Scott MomadayMurphy GuyerStephen Ives' "The West" is a PBS 4-Video Series co-produced by Ken Burns: - "Death Runs Riot" 85 min. - "Fight No More Forever" 85 min. - "Ghost Dance" 58 min. - "The People" 82 min.
- 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.
- StarsOliver StoneAlan ShearmanJim WardOliver Stone 's re-examination of under-reported events in American history.
- CreatorAndrew SodroskiJim ClementeTony GittelsonStarsGethin AnthonyArliss HowardKelly JenretteAn in-depth look at how an FBI profiler helped track down the terrorist Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber.
- DirectorLana WilsonStarsTaylor SwiftAndrea SwiftScott SwiftA look at iconic pop artist Taylor Swift during a transformational time in her life as she embraces her role as a singer/songwriter and harnesses the full power of her voice.
- DirectorTorsten HoffmannMichael WatchulonisStarsAndreas M. AntonopoulosVitalik ButerinTorsten HoffmannFive years after his first documentary, award-winning producer/director Torsten Hoffmann revisits Bitcoin and sets out to explore the evolution of the blockchain industry and its new promise. Can this technology, designed to operate independent of trust and within a decentralized network, really provide a robust alternative to the Internet as we know it?
- DirectorSonia AndersonStarsDaniela AlbersJulie Anderson AnkenbrandtRichard BransonDiscover the meteoric rise of Elon Musk, the man who is transforming the way we think about travel technology through electric cars, the Hyperloop, and revolutionary ideas on how we live through artificial intelligence and colonizing Mars.
- StarsMichelle PhillipsAlice CooperMicky DolenzDocumentary pulls back the curtain on a mythical world and provides an up-close look at the lives of the musicians who inhabited Laurel Canyon. It paints an intimate portrait of the artists who created a music revolution that would change popular culture.