Documentary Films

[ettebe]

Food Inc.

Collapse

 

[diorelle]

I really enjoyed Seamless. It was a great look at the up and coming designers and their struggles as well as interviews with Anna Wintour, Tom Ford and industry insiders on making it and problems designers face.

Coming Out Under Fire was also really interesting. I don't often hear the stories and the struggles of the gays and lesbians who fought for this country in WWII.

 

[auxt]

Girl 27 (2007)

full video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClnIc5wb8Qs
(embedding disabled)

This doc came up in a conversation about old Hollywood scandals.

At an MGM party in 1937, an extra is raped. Her attempts at justice make the front pages, but are secretly countered by the pervasive influence of the powerful studio. Ultimately, the story falls into oblivion for 65 years.

An interesting (and tragic) look at the dark side of Studio Era Hwood.

accompanying Vanity Fair article
http://lisaburks.typepad.com/jeanharlow/2003/04/original_girl_2.html

 

[Over the Sea]

I'm looking forward to seeing Bébés, it looks too cute to miss

 

[Marjon]

great, I was looking for this thread!

 

[Erin]

I watched To Market, To Market, to Buy a Fat Pig last night. It was a nice documentary on various farmers' markets across the United States, and included interviews with vendors and their customers. Pretty cool to watch, but nothing mind blowing.

 

[Erin]

BUMP!

Girl 27 (2007)

full video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClnIc5wb8Qs
(embedding disabled)

This doc came up in a conversation about old Hollywood scandals.

At an MGM party in 1937, an extra is raped. Her attempts at justice make the front pages, but are secretly countered by the pervasive influence of the powerful studio. Ultimately, the story falls into oblivion for 65 years.

An interesting (and tragic) look at the dark side of Studio Era Hwood.

accompanying Vanity Fair article
http://lisaburks.typepad.com/jeanharlow/2003/04/original_girl_2.html

Thanks for this recommendation. I'm going to add it to my Netflix queue.

I watched Babies yesterday... it wasn't exactly what I expected, and it felt long - but I did enjoy what I saw of it.

 

[Teratel]

Exit Through The Gift Shop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0b90YppquE

This year, I saw this docu/movie at a film-festival in September, about this guy that was possessed by his videocamera, and his passion to film streetARTists. Such a fun movie to watch.

 

[Teratel]

^
Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop

Nominated British Independent Film Award Best Documentary

Nominated Independent Spirit Award Best Documentary

Nominated WAFCA Award Best Documentary​

 

[auxt]

here's one I liked, about Julius Schulman's modernist architecture photography

Visual Acoustics (2008)




and another one, about a hilariously bad movie that's recently had a cult revival

Best Worst Movie (2009)

 

[Teratel]

Thanks auxt!

'Visual Acoustics' looks interesting and 'Best Worst Movie' must be funny!

 

[YoninahAliza]

I recently watched the documentary Purity (2002) in my Cultural Anthropology class (it's directed by Anat Zuria). The film explores several different Orthodox Jewish women's lives in relation to the nidda- a 10 to 12 day period which restricts women from engaging in intimate encounters with their husbands (because they have their period). At the end of those days they go to the mikvah- or a place to cleanse themselves. I found this film to be completely fascinating. A lot of people in my class were horrified by this concept, but being Jewish myself, I honestly wasn't all that surprised and was more interested in seeing the different ways women go about the nidda/mikvah process. I would highly recommend watching the film (although it doesn't look like its on netflix), it certainly gives insight into the religion.

 

[ettebe]

Into Eternity

Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storage, which is vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and societal changes. In Finland, the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnels – that must last the entire period the waste remains hazardous: 100,000 years.

Once the repository waste has been deposited and is full, the facility is to be sealed off and never opened again. Or so we hope, but can we ensure that? And how is it possible to warn our descendants of the deadly waste we left behind? How do we prevent them from thinking they have found the pyramids of our time, mystical burial grounds, hidden treasures? Which languages and signs will they understand? And if they understand, will they respect our instructions? While gigantic monster machines dig deeper and deeper into the dark, experts above ground strive to find solutions to this crucially important radioactive waste issue to secure mankind and all species on planet Earth now and in the near and very distant future.

Source: (Wikipedia)

 

[YoninahAliza]

Inside The Amish Church (BBC documentary)

This is such an interesting documentary about the Amish. I watched it for my Cultural Anthropology class and was simply fascinated by the Amish lifestyle. Having met and gotten to know several Amish people myself, I was keen on seeing how it was depicted in the film... its certainly a unique lifestyle for sure!

 

[papa_levante]

Killer At Large

Crap. It was like watching a commercial the whole time. Waste of time.

 

[auxt]

worth watching for the many oddballs who "rule" retro gaming

 

[Mary-Anne]

Gasland was fascinating... It's about the effects of stimulated gas drilling in the US by the aid of (apparently very loosely monitered) chemicals being injected deep under the surface of the Earth. - basically, these chemicals are seeping into the water streams underground and causing poisoning of people's tap water who live near and around these areas.

You see how the water has literally become FLAMABLE and completely polluted with chemicals, and with quite literally-- Gas. The people drinking this stuff get sick and sue the companies ...who in turn just give them a certain chunk of money to shut them up and put a non-disclosure agreement in the settlements so these cases can't get to the mainstream media.
it's kind of long, but really interesting and ultimately scary stuff...
I'm happy to learn it got nominated for an Oscar, it's totally deserved. Some of the cinematography is quite beautiful too.

I also watched The Cove recently, about the daulphin huntings in Japan....HEARTBREAKING. It's really hard not to cry watching it.

Exit Through Gift Shop and Food Inc, are next on my list to watch!

 

[papa_levante]

Food, Inc. will keep you away from Tyson, the large chicken company.

 

[YoninahAliza]

I just watched City of God (the documentary) about the drug wars in Brazil. It was horrifying yet so compelling at the same time. I couldn't draw away from it.

 

[Susanna-Cole]

I haven't posted in this thread for so long, as there haven't been any documentaries affecting enough for me to talk about them. Then last night I watched Baraka and this is not only the greatest documentary I've ever seen, I think it was the greatest cinematic experience of my lifetime, thus far.

Astounding, mind-blowing, I thought my heart would implode.


- craigfergusonimages

Shot in 24 countries on 70mm film, this mesmerizing visual study conveys the relationship between humans and the environment, with images ranging from the daily devotions of Tibetan monks to time-lapse views of the Hong Kong skyline. Accompanied by diverse world music -- without narration or dialogue -- the scenes capture nature's glory as well as its destruction, all expertly photographed by director and cinematographer Ron Fricke. - Netflix