documentary films
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- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsEdward AsnerPat BenatarJerry BrownA collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on the relationship between nature, humanity, and technology.
- DirectorDavid SingtonStarsBuzz AldrinAlan BeanEugene CernanThe crew members of NASA's Apollo missions tell their story in their own words.
- DirectorBanksyStarsBanksyMr. BrainwashSpace InvaderFollowing the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.
- DirectorDavis GuggenheimStarsAl GoreBilly WestGeorge BushFilmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.
- DirectorJan HarlanStarsKatharina KubrickMalcolm McDowellStanley KubrickThe career and life of Stanley Kubrick is explored through pictures, clips from his films, his old home movies, comments from his colleagues and a narration by Tom Cruise.
- DirectorClaude VenturaXavier VilletardStarsRichard BalducciJean-Paul BelmondoJosé BénazérafJust before one of the locations for the 1960 film Breathless is about to be demolished 33 years later, journalist Claude Ventura seeks out as many of the surviving participants in the shooting as he can, researches what happened back then, and even travels to Godard's native Switzerland to uncover some more links.
- DirectorAnne AndreuStarsWoody AllenFanny ArdantNathalie Baye
- DirectorChristopher KenneallyStarsDerek AmbrosiMichael BallhausAndrzej BartkowiakThe documentary investigates the history, process and workflow of both digital and photochemical film creation.
- DirectorLuc LagierStarsWilliam FriedkinJames GrayArthur Penn
- DirectorGrant GeeStarsRichard BoonAnton CorbijnKevin CumminsA chronological account of the influential late 1970s English rock band.
- DirectorErwin WagenhoferStarsJean ZieglerPeter BrabeckKarl OtrokA look at how the world's food is produced and how mass production changes the environment and the lives of people.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsCompay SegundoIbrahim FerrerRubén GonzálezAging Cuban musicians whose talents had been virtually forgotten following Castro's takeover of Cuba, are brought out of retirement by Ry Cooder, who travelled to Havana in order to bring the musicians together, resulting in triumphant performances of extraordinary music, and resurrecting the musicians' careers.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsBalinese Tari Legong DancersNi Made Megahadi PratiwiPuti Sri Candra DewiFilmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
- DirectorGary LevaStarsJan HarlanJohn CalleyDavid HughesFollow Stanley Kubrick as he creates his savage and brilliant Vietnam film, hewing closely to the theme that dominated his creative life for four decades - the duality of human nature. Poised between good and evil, mankind was, in Kubrick's view, a complex creature equally capable of unspeakable savagery and heart-melting tenderness. Full Metal Jacket would make his case in vivid, blood-soaked Technicolor. Through interviews with Kubrick's collaborators and cast members, including Vincent D'Onofrio, Lee Ermey and Adam Baldwin, this documentary reveals how Kubrick's brilliant visual sense, astute knowledge of human nature, and unique perspective on the duality of man came together to make Full Metal Jacket an unforgettable cinematic experience, taking its place in his "war trilogy" alongside cinematic landmarks Fear and Desire and Paths of Glory.
- DirectorMichael GlawoggerStarsEmmaNingTohAn examination of the lives, needs, troubles, and hopes of prostitutes in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico.
- DirectorPeter MettlerStarsPeter MettlerFreya BlekmanRichie HawtinExplores our perception of time.
- DirectorDoug NicholStarsJohn BenetJoe ZizzoSunshine depicts John, an American advertising producer, who travels to China to make a TV commercial. A funny and sobering glimpse into the advertising world and globalization as John contemplates the effects advertising has had on his personal life, and on the culture of China and it's Capitalist Revolution. Directed and narrated with humorous levity, Sunshine offers a rare insight into modern day 'Mad Men' and the absurdity of the business.
- DirectorBritta MischerNana YurikoStarsJuval DiezigerDanny FaberChristoph KlenzendorfFour young individuals whose freewheeling way of life, of music, individuality and never ending energy transforms a riverside wasteland into a fantasy land by the river Spree.
- DirectorMarc BauderStarsRainer VossAngela MerkelA former banker in Germany, who entered the business with the advent of modern computer systems reminisces of his working years in some of the world-leading banking corporations.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAmilcar CabralFlorence DelayArielle DombasleA woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsPatrick DisantoA collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.
- DirectorMichael GlawoggerA documentary on the extremes to which workers will go to earn a living.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogScott RowlandStefan PashovFilm-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterStarsClaus Hansen PetzArkadiusz RydellekBarbara HinzOUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn't always easy to digest - and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas.
- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsPaula HutterováVladimir KundrátRusena MachaloyáLooks at two communities on either side of the Czech - Austrian border. There's an elderly man in Austria looking for a new wife, and he meets a lone single woman on the Czech side of the border.
- DirectorJan SoldatStarsKlaus Johannes WolfJan Soldat"Can you describe yourself?" "Odenwald-Gay... or Gollum... or Klaus! 60 years old... gay... slave!" A documentary portrait of Klaus Johannes Wolf, who decided to live as a slave. Chained to his bed, he talks about his decision to be a slave, his parents and what it means to be naked. Finally he leaves everything behind to go to a slave camp, to put the finishing touches on his slave's life and become the perfect servant. Director's statement To be a slave in modern society is very similar to being a documentarian. It's about trying to attain the greatest possible freedom within your own set limits.
- DirectorAndré SiegersStarsAlfred DieboldMaciej SalamonThe focus of the film "Souvenir" is Alfred D., who calls himself a "Democracy Exporter". For more than twenty years, Alfred has worked for German foundations around the world to promote democratic awareness and the rule of law and to record his missions on film. He has also staged himself in front of the camera again and again, most recently his election campaign for candidacy as a member of the European Parliament of the SPD in his Swabian home constituency.
- DirectorAscan BreuerThe story of Ascan Breuer's physical/psychic journey to track down the origins of his family. He is a young German citizen exploring the island of Java along with its culture, traditions and ghosts. The beginning of the film, reminiscent of an intimate diary, soon gives way to a completely different mood. The journey becomes research. The research turns into investigation. Tracks become clues to be deciphered. First-hand accounts are testimonies to be pieced together, like scattered fragments of an uncertain story that is full of gaps. This documentary offers two elements that are usually alien to the genre: suspense and preternatural. Therefore, the viewers are plunged in a film that is also an actual paranormal thriller. Psychological and ethno-anthropological materials are rewritten according to the forms of cinematic narration of mise-en-scéne. Therefore, emotion (pathos) becomes style and culture becomes a (ghostly) character.
- DirectorThomas HeiseStarsHortensia CurtadoLena Lauzemis
- DirectorStanislaw MuchaA remarkable travelogue from a trip around the Black Sea: along its shores, lined by the boundaries of six states, and through bizarre seaside resorts. More than the tourist industry or political problems, the film focuses on solitary statues, decaying architectural monuments, and the personal stories of the local people. From each stop on their journey, the filmmakers send a series of stylized video postcards with the playfulness of staged scenes, set against the backdrop of the sea. In this cinematic answer to Ovid's Black Sea lamentations, that ancient text receives new qualities that tell us about a place that is accursedly beautiful but also beautifully cursed.
- DirectorHeike Fink
- DirectorChristoph HübnerStarsMohammed AbdulaiFredi BobicEdwin BoekampDocumentary long-term observation of Borussia Dortmund's young football talent between 1999 and 2002
- DirectorDonatello DubiniFosco DubiniWolfgang MeyerStarsBernhard BaierHans BetheKlaus FuchsEngland, 1950. A defector Russian points out the brilliant nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs as a spy for the Soviet Union. Apparently, five years earlier, Fuchs had smuggled documents out of the secret and heavily guarded nuclear laboratory of Los Alamos, New Mexico.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsMichel BouquetReinhard HeydrichHeinrich HimmlerThe history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.
- DirectorMargreth OlinStarsGoli Mohammed AliHusein AliKhalid FaquiriIn 2009 the Norwegian government introduced new rules to enforce immigration. One was the rule for preliminary stay for sole minors under 18. Who's responsible for them?
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsTimothy TreadwellAmie HuguenardWerner HerzogA devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.
- DirectorJan HarlanStarsMalcolm McDowellChristiane KubrickLilly McDowellActor Malcolm McDowell talks about his life and career. With interviews featuring his friends, family, directors and co-stars.
- DirectorJoseph VilsmaierStarsJoseph VilsmaierIt's a documentary with great pictures from bavaria's landscapes, mountains and seas. You will be informed from bavaria and the citys in it after the movie, too.
- DirectorHans-Dieter GrabeStarsAlfred JahnDo Sanh
- DirectorHans-Dieter Grabe
- DirectorHans-Dieter Grabe
- DirectorLaura PoitrasStarsEdward SnowdenGlenn GreenwaldWilliam BinneyA documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.
- DirectorValentin ThurnStarsKlaudia FischerJörn FranckMichael GerlingWhy do we throw away so much food? And how can we stop this kind of waste?Amazing but true: On the way from the farm to the dining-room table, more than half the food lands on the dump. Most of it before it ever reaches consumers.
- DirectorValentin ThurnStarsValentin ThurnHow can we best meet every earth citizens need for healthy food facing our limited resources? Regarding the almost 10 billion humans living on earth by 2050, we have to decide now how we want to shape the future of agriculture.
- DirectorHarald BergmannStarsEckhard RhodeAlexandra FinderMartin KurzThe Cologne author Rolf-Dieter Brinkmann introduced American beat literature to Germany
- DirectorRichard DindoStarsArnaud BedouëtMarthe KellerDaphné BaiwirA man narrates his liaisons with three women. We only see what he sees: he remains off-screen and there are no dialogues, just his post-synchronised voice.
- DirectorDonatello DubiniFosco DubiniStarsJames BoneIrwin CoreyRichard LaneThis documentary tries to unravel the various mysteries around the identity, life and work of the reclusive author.
- DirectorGeorg Stefan TrollerStarsGeorg Stefan TrollerRon Kovic
- DirectorHans-Dieter Grabe
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogJean ClottesJulien MonneyWerner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogThis film surveys the disaster of the Kuwaiti oil fields in flames, with little narration and scarcely any interviews. Hell on Earth is presented in such transcendent visions and music that one can only be fascinated by it.
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterAfter 1986, a restricted zone was erected at a radius of 30km around Chernobyl. More than 100.000 people have been evacuated from there, but some have remained or returned. "Pripyat" follows four protagonists who live or work in this zone.
- DirectorHubert SauperStarsElizabeth 'Eliza' Maganga NseseRaphael Tukiko WagaraDimond RemtuliaA documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.
- DirectorHannes LangIn the light of the current transformations within the global power structure, I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER traces the linkage of economic ascent and decline in seven paradigmatic episodes. India, Bolivia, China, USA, Italy, Thailand, Venezuela - each place contains fragments of another; each episode bears testament to the hopes and fears of its protagonists. By juxtaposing these local experiences in the face of global economy, the film questions the notion of rise and decay.
- DirectorUlrike FrankeMichael LoekenStarsUrsula KlischanHeinz HüppeLudger SchürholzIn an urban regeneration project a decommissioned steelworks in Dortmund will be transformed into premium residential property with a hillside location and sea view. An amusing farce about conflicting interpretations of what is gentrification and what is socially compatible.
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterStarsAmra ArslanagicErmina AvdicSalkuna AvdicIn the first year after the war in Bosnia, Nikolaus Geyrhalter follows several people in their personal aftermaths.
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterNikolaus Geyrhalter accompanies the last few workers of an old textile mill over the span of ten years: how they deal with the mill closing and consequently move on with their lives.
- DirectorJana KalmsPiet StolzSebastian Winkels"None of the psycho-pharmaceutical drugs have a healing approach. They subdue symptoms." NICHT ALLES SCHLUCKEN highlights the eternal stigma of mental illness, the power of medicine and questions our perceptions of normality and mental health.
- DirectorNicolas SteinerStarsEdward CardenasCynthia GoodwinRichard F. EthredgeFilmmaker Nicolas Steiner documents the exploits of three homeless people in Las Vegas, a man who lives in a military bunker in the California desert and a woman at a Utah research station that simulates life on Mars.
- DirectorMarie WilkeStaatsdiener follows the first year of young police officers in the police academy and on the beat in Eastern Germany. After simulating the real world inside the academy they have to face the reality: right-wing protesters who reject the state, democracy and immigrants, domestic violence, poverty and the general decay of structures in the life of people. The young police officers are the thin blue line between the ideals of Western democracy and the threat of its decline.
- DirectorDavid BernetStarsJan Philipp AlbrechtViviane RedingRalf BendrathDigitalization has changed society. While data is becoming the "new oil", data protection is becoming the new "pollution control". This creative documentary opens an astonishing inside view into the lawmaking milieu on EU level. A compelling story of how a group of politicians try to protect todays society against the impact of Big Data and mass surveillance.
- DirectorLin SternalUnfulfilled dreams, expectations and competition in the closely interwoven relationships between a mother and her two daughters. Observations of a fragile triangular relationship in an icy microcosm.
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterThis documentary about Europe at night makes you reflect on service processes and infrastructures that never sleep.
- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsFritz LangAlfreda KlebingerManfred EllingerA documentary that reveals what its subjects do in their respective basements.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannStarsPaul von HindenburgThis movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
- DirectorGianfranco RosiThe story of a hitman for the drug cartels in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
- DirectorErwin WagenhoferStarsKen RobinsonYang DongpingAndreas SchleicherA documentary that analyzes the modern educational system and argues that it squelches children's capacity for imagination, creativity, and independent thought.
- DirectorThomas ImbachA smokestack stubbornly pierces the sky. Trains rumble by down below. Lights come on in the buildings as night falls. There is a man behind the camera, looking for an image -- of himself? Of the world? Of society? By day and night, in rain and snow, he stands filming at the window of his studio. Periodically we hear people leaving messages on his answering machine. They talk about the weather while on vacation and congratulate him on his birthday. His father dies, a child is born, the young family begins to fall apart. Time passes. Slowly the cityscape morphs into the inner landscape of the man behind the camera.
- DirectorLaurentia GenskeRobin HumboldtThe tower block area "Am Kölnberg" has a bad reputation. People who - for any number of reasons - ended up on the edge of society, live here alongside refugee families and immigrants from all over the world. Unemployment, drug abuse and prostitution are part of everyday life for many of them. The film accompanies 4 people over a period of two years and portrays their life at "Kölnberg" with ups and downs. One thing they all have in common: The dream of leading a fulfilled life, far away from "Kölnberg".
- DirectorChristoph HübnerGabriele VossStarsGerrit BoxemFernand DufrasnePeter NestlerDocumentary that portrays Vincent van Gogh's live and work through his letters to his brother Theo.
- DirectorLaurie AndersonStarsLaurie AndersonArchieJason BergMultimedia artist Laurie Anderson reflects on her relationship with her beloved terrier Lolabelle.
- DirectorConstantin WulffStarsUlrich SeidlThe film portrait Ulrich Seidl - A Director at Work depicts the controversial Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl at work for the first time, painting a vivid picture of the much-debated "Seidl method".
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterDuring the year 2000 Geyrhalter and his teams travelled to a different destination each month, looking for places untouched by the millennium hysteria. Locations include Niger, Finland, Micronesia, Australia, China, Siberia or Greenland.
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterA motor-sports spectacle that kicks up plenty of dust. On the trail of the 2007 Dakar Rallye '7915 KM' undertakes a search, along the way encountering the variety to be found in Africa's present in Morocco, Sahrawi Republic, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal. '7915 KM' demonstrates the extent of this distance, which is the result of political and economic conditions.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogAnna HitchVissarionWhat is faith and religion to Russians after the fall of communism? We get the insight into the Russian Orthodox church as well as different folk and shamanic beliefs.
- DirectorJoris IvensHenri StorckDocumentary about a miner's strike in Borinage.
- DirectorJoris IvensStarsEnrique ListerCarlos Romero GiménezJosé DíazA documentary showing the struggle of the Spanish Republican government against a rebellion by ultra-right-wing forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco and backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
- DirectorKidlat TahimikStarsMitos BenitezJeff CohenKabunyan de GuiaKidlat Tahimik along with his bamboo camera presents an aural and video tapestry of his alternative post-colonialist version of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition that led to the first recorded circumnavigation of the Earth.
- DirectorVolker KoeppDocumentary about the changing tides at the German farmland area bordering Poland. Once part of the GDR, the changes that the government had implemented here are also affecting the local way of life - but is it for the better or worse?
- DirectorUlrike FrankeMichael LoekenA documentary about a German factory that is set to be taken apart and reassembled in China.
- DirectorJoris IvensStarsJoris IvensHenxiang HanZhuang LiuAn elderly, asthmatic filmmaker travels to China, hoping to film the wind.
- DirectorFrank PavichStarsAlejandro JodorowskyMichel SeydouxH.R. GigerThe story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.
- DirectorClaus WischmannMartin BaerStarsJoseph Masunda LuteteAlbert Nlanzu MatubanzaNathalie Angwanguilo BahatiThe Film "Kinshasa Symphony" shows how people living in one of the most chaotic cities in the world have managed to forge one of the most complex systems of human cooperation ever invented: a symphony orchestra. It is a film about the Congo, about the people of Kinshasa and about music.
- DirectorLutz DammbeckStarsLutz DammbeckEva MattesTom VogtUltimately stunning in its revelations, Lutz Dammbeck's THE NET explores the incredibly complex backstory of Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber. This exquisitely crafted inquiry into the rationale of this mythic figure situates him within a late 20th Century web of technology - a system that he grew to oppose. A marvelously subversive approach to the history of the Internet, this insightful documentary combines speculative travelogue and investigative journalism to trace contrasting countercultural responses to the cybernetic revolution.
- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsElfriede AhmadWaltraute BartelHans-Jürgen EderSix Catholics share their thoughts and problems with Jesus in different churches. The camera accompanies them.
- DirectorThomas ImbachStarsXhumasije SerifiMarkus BolleterDaniel DonatschBedlam in a classroom: a foot on a desk, someone making a face, a voice-obviously the teacher's-trying to get things under control, two kids fighting in the corner. In a word: Ghetto. We accompany a handful of teenagers from "The worst ****ing ghetto room in the entire school."
- DirectorBen RiversStarsJake WilliamsAfter working at sea, a man realizes his dream of moving to the middle of the forest.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogRichard LopezMichael PerryConversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterStarsJosef FuchsVickerl AlbrechtKastner Herbert'Washed up' presents a portrait of people who spend their lives on the banks of the river Danube or on the river itself. (Robert Buchschwenter)
- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsSalah AbdelMustafa MuhammedKumar Saha ProbilThis documentary, Ulrich Seidl's full-length film debut, examines the lives of the street newspaper sellers in Vienna, a mixture of men from Turkey, India, Pakistan, Egypt, and Eastern Europe--standing out in all weathers, peddling the trivial Viennese tabloids. Their lives on the street are explored: their cramped living quarters, their minders, the 'training' days, and the inhuman process that keeps them working endless hour for little reward.