25 Favorite Documentaries
I doubt I've gone a month in the last ten years of my life without watching at least one of these titles. Watching documentaries is essential to my sanity.
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25 titles
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorForugh FarrokhzadStarsForugh FarrokhzadEbrahim GolestanHossein MansouriSet in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
- DirectorShirley ClarkeStarsJason HollidayShirley ClarkeCarl LeeBlack gay prostitute Jason Holliday is rigorously interviewed on his story and character, revealing nuanced truths about life and art.
- DirectorEmile de AntonioStarsHarry S. AshmoreDaniel BerriganJoseph ButtingerA documentary chronicling the background to, and history of, the Vietnam War.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsHelmut TausendMarcel VerdierAlexis GraveAn in-depth exploration of the various reactions by the French people to the Vichy government's acceptance of the German invasion.
- DirectorAlbert MayslesDavid MayslesCharlotte ZwerinStarsMick JaggerKeith RichardsMick TaylorWhen three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco's Altamont Speedway, the bloody slash that transformed a decade's dreams into disillusionment was immortalized on this film.
- DirectorSarah KernochanHoward SmithStarsAgnes BenjaminMarjoe GortnerVernon GortnerThis Oscar-winning documentary explores the life of one-time child evangelist and faith healer Marjoe Gortner. The son of professional evangelists, Gortner was preaching on the Southern tent-revival circuit by the age of 3.
- DirectorPeter DavisStarsTin ChanChau DiemNgo Dinh DiemA startling and courageous landmark documentary that unflinchingly confronted the United States' involvement in Vietnam at the height of the controversy that surrounded it.
- DirectorMichael CacoyannisStarsMichael CacoyannisRauf DenktasGlafkos KleridesAn indictment of the protagonists in the Cypriot civil war.
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsKokoPenny PattersonSaul KitchenerA documentary that follows Dr. Penny Patterson's current scientific study of Koko, a gorilla who communicates through American Sign Language.
- DirectorNick BroomfieldJoan ChurchillStarsBrianMarcusPedroAn intimate, hands on encounter with a maximum security juvenile correctional facility in Chino California.
- DirectorClaude LanzmannStarsSimon SrebnikMichael PodchlebnikMotke ZaïdlClaude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
- DirectorRoss McElweeStarsRoss McElweeDede McElweeRoss McElwee Jr.Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee sets out to make a movie about Union General Sherman's March to the Sea towards the end of the American Civil War, but keeps getting sidetracked by his own love life.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleCathy CaplanThomas HanekeStarsLewie AndersonR.J. BergstromRon BergstromRecounts the 1985-86 strike against the Hormel Foods Corporation in Minnesota after its employees' wages and benefits were cut.
- DirectorPeter FriedmanTom JoslinStarsLiane BoninTom JoslinMark MassiA documentary about two gay men as they live through their last months of life with AIDS.
- DirectorTorben Skjødt JensenStarsClara PontoppidanHélène FalconettiLisbeth MovinCarl Theodor Dreyer is a young journalist in Copenhagen when he gets involved in the early Danish film industry. He writes scripts and inter-titles, and for some years he is the main editor at Nordisk Film. After those years of apprenticeship he gets the opportunity to direct his first film in 1917. Dreyer wanted his films to carry his personal imprints down to the smallest details, and already in his first silent movies it's possible to find stylistic traits that characterize his entire film production until his last film in 1964. The settings of his first films are naturalistic, but for Dreyer realism is not an art in itself. Only psychological realism is. His main interest is not the outer life, but the inner, emotional life of human beings. Emotions are most visible in facial expressions, and Dreyer's films are full of close-ups of human faces. By capturing the subtle, visual expressions of his characters, Dreyer tries to reveal the feelings they conceal and the storms that are raging inside them. Although many of his films end in tragedy, his intention is always to create a hymn to the triumph of the soul over life. Dreyer's own character was just as complex and contradictory as his film characters. Many of the actors he worked with describe him as a modest, amiable man, who was quiet in his statements, but intense and strong-willed inside. While his outer appearance was utterly self-effacing, he had at the same time an insistent stubbornness, which didn't accept any artistic compromises.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsTony BrooksDiana DavisTerry WoodA horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.
- StarsAleksandr BorisovThis five-episode documentary series tells the story of a Russian naval commander in charge of an Arctic-based ship. The series reveals the daily duties associated with the ship, but it is really about solitude and isolation. Voice-over narration by the commander, other sailors, and even a third-person voice provide the "confession" of the title.
- DirectorKim LonginottoZiba Mir-HosseiniA documentary about real divorce cases in Iran's tribunals.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsFrançois WertheimerAgnès VardaJean La PlancheVarda films and interviews gleaners in France in all forms, from those picking fields after the harvest to those scouring the dumpsters of Paris.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsAbbas KiarostamiSeifollah SamadianDocumentary account of the AIDS crisis in Uganda.
- DirectorRick McKayStarsEdie AdamsBea ArthurElizabeth AshleyInterviews and archival footage are used to tell the story of post-war Broadway through the 1960s.
- DirectorMark AchbarJennifer AbbottStarsMikela JayRob BeckwermertChristopher GoraDocumentary that looks at the concept of the corporation throughout recent history up to its present-day dominance.
- DirectorAllan KingStarsPhyllis BobbittJoyce BoneNorman CollinsDirector Allan King documents the final months of five terminally ill cancer patients at the Toronto Grace Health Centre.