Documentary
Steep traces the legacy of extreme skiing from its early pioneers to the daredevils of today.
In this second Q&A with Kevin Smith he now enters the homes of some of his fans in Toronto and London.
The Bridge is the controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Director Eric Steel staked out for a year under the infamous bridge filming 23 suicides. The footage was then compiled along with interviews from family, friends, witnesses, and survivors to create this disturbing yet very intriguing documentary.
An intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audiotaped interviews conducted with Cobain by noted music journalist Michael Azerrad for his book “Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.” In the film, Kurt Cobain recounts his own life – from his childhood and adolescence to his days of musical discovery and later dealings with explosive fame – and offers often piercing insights into his life, music, and times. The conversations heard in the film have never before been made public and they reveal a highly personal portrait of an artist much discussed but not particularly well understood. Written by AJ Schnack
A documentary on the influential musician Scott Walker.
Arguing With Myself, a recorded live performance of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, portrays a comedian whose revival of an old-fashioned art has made ventriloquism more relevant to modern societal concerns. Starring his six main characters, from Bubba Jay, a Nascar-obsessed hick, to Peanut, a flamboyant gay monkey, Dunham’s puppets have dirty but relatively inoffensive senses of humor that mock the American Dream. His skills as a ventriloquist alone make him a fascinating entertainer, and anyone interested in how puppetry and ventriloquism has progressed over the decades would benefit from watching Dunham bring life to his wooden friends.
Halfway between a sports documentary and an conceptual art installation, “Zidane” consists in a full-length soccer game (Real Madrid vs. Villareal, April 23, 2005) entirely filmed from the perspective of soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane.
Inspired by Steven Blush’s book “American Hardcore: A tribal history” Paul Rachman’s feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.
In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence unseen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago – and it put the city on the map. “Cocaine Cowboys” is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen.
A documentary about the rise of anti-Semitism in the USA after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Poet, singer / songwriter and ladies man Leonard Cohen is interviewed in his home about his life and times. The interview is interspersed with archive photos and exuberant praise and live perfomances from an eclectic mix of musicians, including: Jarvis Cocker, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Antony Hegarty, The Handsome Family and U2’s Bono and The Edge.
An action-adventure documentary chronicling the most notorious and dangerous race in the world–the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. Rivaling the Indy 500 and 25 Hours of Daytona, the race across Baja’s peninsula is unpredictable, grueling and raw–just like the uncharted American West of yesteryear.
Carlin returns to the stage in his 13th live comedy stand-up special, performed at the Beacon Theatre in New York City for HBO®. His spot-on observations on the deterioration of human behavior include Americans’ obsession with their two favorite addictions – shopping and eating; his creative idea for The All-Suicide Channel, a new reality TV network; and the glorious rebirth of the planet to its original pristine condition – once the fires and floods destroy life as we know it.
The Crusades: Crescent & the Cross presents the epic battle between two superpowers of the Middle Ages: the Christian Crusaders and the Muslims. Fought over two centuries, the conflict decided the fate of the Holy Land of the Middle East. Only a tiny strip of land, just a few hundred miles long, it contained the ultimate prize: the city of Jerusalem. The documentary is driven by the key personalities of the First, Second and Third Crusades, the popes, kings, sultans, and knights who, in the name of God, ruthlessly fought for land and power. Experience the murder, treachery, and bloodshed of this legendary chapter of history through the eyes of key historical figures such Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, King Louis VII and Nur al-Din. With breathtaking CGI-enhanced visuals, heart-pounding reenactments, and the stunning footage from rarely seen locations, The Crusades: Crescent & the Cross brings the first three Crusades alive for a new generation in conflict.
An Elvis Costello concert film with guest Emmylou Harris.
First Descent is a 2005 documentary film about snowboarding and its beginning in the 1980s. The snowboarders featured in this movie (Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata, Terje Haakonsen, Hannah Teter and Shaun White with guest appearances from Travis Rice) represent three generations of snowboarders and the progress this young sport has made over the past two decades. Most of the movie was shot in Alaska.
The film discusses the traits and originators of some of metal’s many subgenres, including the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, power metal, Nu metal, glam metal, thrash metal, black metal, and death metal. Dunn uses a family-tree-type flowchart to document some of the most popular metal subgenres. The film also explores various aspects of heavy metal culture.
Werner Herzog’s documentary film about the “Grizzly Man” Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man’s attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.
James Cameron teams up with NASA scientists to explore the Mid-Ocean Ridge, a submerged chain of mountains that band the Earth and are home to some of the planet’s most unique life forms.
One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke–one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.
A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
Each home has a built in pool or water tank that lies partly inside, partly outside its’ walls… A continuous stream of spring water is piped right into a basin, so freshwater is always available. People rinse out pots in the tank and clean their freshly picked vegetables. If they simply pour the food scraps back in the water, they risk polluting the whole village supply. However, carp can scour out even the greasy or burnt pans. They do the washing up in Satoyama villages. This traditional arrangement is called the riverside method. It’s used all over Japan. Cleaned up by the carp, the tank water eventually rejoins the channel.
Witness the awesome power and the unimaginable destruction of explosive volcanoes, ground-buckling earthquakes, and deadly tornadoes as you head into the field with scientists who risk their lives exploring the origins and behaviors of these fearsome natural disasters.
In 2007, The Sci-Fi Channel premiered “Ghost Adventures,” a raw documentary in which 3 men go to Virginia City, NV and Goldfield, NV on a ghost hunting expedition. Virginia City is rife with macabre lore and reputed to be one of the most haunted cities in America. Ghost Adventures has won a Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary that was given by the New York International Film & Video Festival.
2004 television special starring stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle. The performance was recorded at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California in June 2004, and it premiered on September 4 later that year on Showtime. The special earned two Emmy nominations.
Some Kind of Monster is a music documentary about Metallica’s making of their album St. Anger and the difficulties they had to go through in the process. The directors shot over 1200 hours and followed the band around night and day for over a year to create this documentary.
Louis Theroux travels to California to meet the man dubbed “the most dangerous racist in America”; Tom Metzger. Louis meets him, his family and his publicity manager as well as following him to skinhead rallies and on a visit to Mexico.
Louis stays with the residents of a soon to open brothel in Nevada for a few weeks.
Coral Reef Adventure follows the real-life expedition of ocean explorers and underwater filmmakers Howard and Michele Hall. Using large-format cameras, the Halls guide us to the islands and sun-drenched waters of the South Pacific to document the health and beauty of coral reefs. Featuring songs written and recorded by Crosby, Stills & Nash.
A look at the history of fame in the world through the eyes of pop star impresario, Rodney Bingenheimer
No special effects. No stuntmen. No stereotypes. No other feeling comes close. Surfers and secret spots from around the world are profiled in this documentary.
A documentary based on the book of the same name by Joe Simpson about Simpson’s and Simon Yates’ disastrous and near-fatal attempt to climb 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Using archival footage, United States Cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the eighty-five-year-old Robert McNamara, ‘The Fog of War’ depicts his life, from working as a WWII Whiz Kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company’s president, to managing the American Vietnam War, as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
Adrenaline Rush: the Science of Risk takes audiences on a breathtaking journey from extraordinary heights, featuring spectacular footage of extreme skydiving while delving into both the biology of risk-taking and the physics that make human flight possible
Why do 11,000 people die in America each year at the hands of gun violence? Talking heads yelling from every TV camera blame everything from Satan to video games. But are we that much different from many other countries? What sets us apart? How have we become both the master and victim of such enormous amounts of violence? This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi. From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of Oscar-winning NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with The Anarchist’s Cookbook to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old, Bowling for Columbine is a journey through America, through our past, hoping to discover why our pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.
Documentary Filmmaker Adrian Grenier documents his attempt to reunite with his estranged father.
The controversial bad-boy of comedy delivers a piercing look at his life, lifting the metaphorical smokescreen that he feels has clouded the public view, commenting on everything from the dangers of smoking to the trials of relationships, and unleashing a nonstop litany of raucous anecdotes, stinging social commentary and very personal reflections about life.
Johnny Knoxville and his crazy friends appear on the big screen for the very first time in Jackass: The Movie. They wander around Japan in panda outfits, wreak havoc on a once civilized golf course, they even do stunts involving LIVE alligators, and so on. While Johnny Knoxvile and his pals put their life at risk, they are entertaining people at the same time. Get ready for Jackass: The Movie!!
