Insightful Documentaries
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- DirectorRick RowleyStarsJeremy ScahillNasser Al AulaqiSaleha Al AulaqiInvestigative journalist Jeremy Scahill is pulled into an unexpected journey as he chases down the hidden truth behind America's expanding covert wars.
- DirectorJeremy EarpSut JhallyStarsBo DerekAna ObregónJack ShaheenThis groundbreaking documentary dissects a slanderous aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged form the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs--from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding "terrorists"--along the way offering devastating insights into the origin of these stereotypic images, their development at key points in US history, and why they matter so much today. Shaheen shows how the persistence of these images over time has served to naturalize prejudicial attitudes toward Arabs and Arab culture, in the process reinforcing a narrow view of individual Arabs and the effects of specific US domestic and international policies on their lives. By inspiring critical thinking about the social, political, and basic human consequences of leaving these Hollywood caricatures unexamined, the film challenges viewers to recognize the urgent need for counter-narratives that do justice to the diversity and humanity of Arab people and the reality and richness of Arab history and culture.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreGeorge W. BushBen AffleckMichael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11 and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- DirectorMartha DavisStarsDiane DavisGian-Murray GianinoLee Aaron RosenDoctors of the Dark Side is the first feature length documentary about the pivotal role of physicians and psychologists in detainee torture. The stories of four detainees and the doctors involved in their abuse demonstrate how US Army and CIA doctors implemented the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and covered up signs of torture at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Interviews with medical, legal and intelligence experts and evidence from declassified government memos document what has been called the greatest scandal in American medical ethics. Based on four years of research by Producer/Director Martha Davis, written by Oscar winning Mark Jonathan Harris, and filmed in HD by Emmy winning DP Lisa Rinzler, the film shows how the torture of detainees could not continue without the assistance of the doctors.
- DirectorShuchen TanStarsEthan McCordJosh SteberVictims' families and an ex-US soldier unpick the Wikileaks film that showed US forces killing Iraqi civilians in 2007.
- DirectorAlberto Marquardt
- DirectorJim BruceStarsLiev SchreiberPaul VolckerJanet YellenNearly 100 years after its creation, the power of the U.S. Federal Reserve has never been greater. Markets and governments around the world hold their breath in anticipation of the Fed Chairman's every word. Yet the average person knows very little about the most powerful - and least understood - financial institution on earth. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, Money For Nothing is the first film to take viewers inside the Fed and reveal the impact of Fed policies - past, present, and future - on our lives. Join current and former Fed officials as they debate the critics, and each other, about the decisions that helped lead the global financial system to the brink of collapse in 2008. And why we might be headed there again.
- DirectorRobert H. GardnerStarsHelen MirrenGrace SrinivasanJoe IsenbergFrom PBS - Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story brings to life the story of a woman's extraordinary courage, tested in the crucible of Nazi-occupied Paris. With an American mother and Indian Muslim father, Noor Inayat Khan was an extremely unusual British agent, and her life spent growing up in a Sufi center of learning in Paris seemed an unlikely preparation for the dangerous work to come. Yet it was in this place of universal peace and contemplation that her remarkable courage was forged. In early 1943, Khan was recruited as a covert operative into Sir Winston Churchill's Special Operations Executive (SOE). Churchill's orders: to "Set Europe ablaze". After the collapse and arrest of her entire network, Khan became the only surviving radio operator linking the British to the French Resistance in Paris, coordinating the airdrop of weapons, explosives, and Agents, and supporting the rescue of downed Allied fliers. Betrayed by a French collaborator after four months, Khan resisted brutal interrogation by the Gestapo, escaping twice, only to be recaptured and sent to Germany where, at last, she was executed at Dachau.
- DirectorLine HalvorsenStarsHeidemarie SchwermerWe meet the German woman Heidemarie Schwermer (68) who made a deliberate choice to live without money 14 years ago. One day she cancelled her flat, donated all of her belongings and started a new life based on exchanging favors - without the use of money.
- DirectorTim DelmastroStarsJeff BerwickGerald CelenteJonathan EmordLife is about choice. What we eat, what we read, who we elect; every day we make choices that determine how we want to live. But what if these choices are just an illusion?
- 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.
- DirectorKim BartleyDonnacha O'BriainStarsHugo ChávezPedro CarmonaJesse HelmsIn April 2002, an Irish film crew is making a documentary about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, when a coup from the opposition is made.
- DirectorJess PhillimoreStarsMburu GathuruZac GoldsmithRamón HerreraSeeds of Freedom (2012, narrated by Jeremy Irons) provides an overview of the history of agriculture, charting the transition of the farm into a factory, and highlighting the impact of the agrochemical and GM industries. The film includes footage from across Africa and speakers such as Dr Vandana Shiva (Navdanya), Henk Hobbelink (GRAIN), Zac Goldsmith MP, Caroline Lucas MP, John Vidal (The Guardian), Percy Schmeiser and Kumi Naidoo. The film challenges the mantra that large-scale, industrial agriculture is the only means by which we can feed the world, promoted by the pro-GM lobby. In tracking the story of seed it becomes clear how corporate agenda has driven the take over of seed in order to make vast profit and take control of the food global system.
- DirectorAnthony PowellStarsAnthony PowellGenevieve BachmanWilliam BrotmanA visually stunning chronicle of what it is like to live in Antarctica for a full year, including winters isolated from the rest of the world, and enduring months of darkness in the coldest place on Earth.
- DirectorMarc EvansStarsMumia Abu-JamalYasiin BeyNoam ChomskyA look at the life of imprisoned political activist and former Black Panther member, Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose death sentence for killing a police officer was overturned in 2001 due to errors made during his original 1982 sentencing hearing.
- DirectorMorgan SpurlockStarsMorgan SpurlockDaryl IsaacsChemeeka WalkerWhile examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month.
- DirectorMaria BerryStarsMario Ramirez ReyesAndrew BloodJay CosteloThis documentary surveys the life of iconic revolutionary Che Guevara, from early formative experiences to his final hours.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.
- DirectorCarol BlackStarsWade DavisHelena Norberg-HodgeElijah GergenIf you wanted to change an ancient culture in a generation, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates its children. The U.S. Government knew this in the 19th century when it forced Native American children into government boarding schools. Today, volunteers build schools in traditional societies around the world, convinced that school is the only way to a 'better' life for indigenous children. But is this true? What really happens when we replace a traditional culture's way of learning and understanding the world with our own? SCHOOLING THE WORLD takes a challenging, sometimes funny, ultimately deeply disturbing look at the effects of modern education on the world's last sustainable indigenous cultures.
- DirectorRaúl AlaejosRodrigo CalvoArduino the documentary is a look at the story of the open-source hardware board that now artists, engineers, students use to build many things. See who are behind the wonder. See the people that sell it. Learn about it. Shot in New York, Madrid and Gijon.
- DirectorDavid PadruschStarsJames LurieJames WongToshishiro ObataDocumentary on the main principles of Sun Tzu's "Art of War" illustrated with examples from the Vietnam War (Demoralization), the Second World War (Invasion of Normandy), the American Civil War (Gettysburg) and Tzu's own battles.
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsSteve JobsAlex GibneySteve WozniakA look at the personal and private life of the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.
- DirectorMat WhitecrossMichael WinterbottomStarsJanine HuardEwen CameronNaomi KleinAn investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
- DirectorSut JhallyStarsJean KilbourneJean Kilbourne's pioneering work helped develop and popularize the study of gender representation in advertising. Her award-winning Killing us Softly films have influenced millions of college and high school students across two generations and on an international scale. In this important new film, Kilbourne reviews if and how the image of women in advertising has changed over the last 20 years. With wit and warmth, Kilbourne uses over 160 ads and TV commercials to critique advertising's image of women. By fostering creative and productive dialogue, she invites viewers to look at familiar images in a new way, that moves and empowers them to take action.