Documentary films

spiderwort  an excellent topic, will be most interested for to see what turns up ....
 A great list... I really like the look of The Weeping Camel thanks so much for the recommendation.  I have done a bit of camel trekking in the past on the gibber plains of inland Australia they are wonderful animals... 
... 
Joris Ivens ... Dutch born International Documentary filmmaker was pioneer in his field, a career that spanned six decades he was 89 when he made his last film in China.
Such a diversity and amazing range of subjects were covered in films produced from his humanitarian heart,  Around the world he travelled, just a few for example...
In 1928 he made De brug , The Bridge a fascinating silent film which explores the then-newly constructed Rotterdam vertical-lift railroad bridge: its structure, mechanisms, complex actions, and the steam-powered trains and ships making use of it.
In 1932 in Russia Pesn o geroyakh , Youth Speaks A powerful and innovative film  about the solidarity of the youth movement who built the blast furnaces at Magnitogorsk, We see the foundations through to the completed project
Indonesia Calling Ivens was commissioned in !946 by the Australian Water Side Workers Federation who  refuse to service Dutch ships (known as the "Black Armada") containing arms and ammunition destined for Indonesia to suppress the country's independence movement
...A Valparaíso (1964) Ivens was commissioned by the Universidad de Chile to make a film on the historical port city built on steep hills. Neighbourhoods are reached by series of ramps, staircases, and funicular railway elevators.
Le 17e parallèle: La guerre du peuple (1968) Ivens was among the North Vietnamese peasants under the barrage of heavy American bombing and filmed from their point of view. 
Ivens was given unprecedented access to film in China toward the end of the Cultural Revolution, along with a Chinese crew he spent a number of years the resulting film Comment Yukong déplaça les montagnes (1976) is nearly 13 hours long and broken up into 13 fascinating parts, the segment Entraînement au cirque de Pékin is an unbelievable display of human ability as the performers practice their skills.

Chris Marker... was a French writer, who ranks among the greatest 20th century documentary filmmakers he was a   multimedia artist, film essayist and photographer who has left us with a unique body of work.
Lettre de Sibérie (1959) has been called an essay documented by film. A travelogue collage, offering Siberia from different angles and through various modes of cinematic representation.

Nostalgia de la luz , Nostalgia for the Light (2010) from Chilean director Patricio Guzman is a multi layered thought provoking film that begins In Chile's Atacama Desert. The clear skies have seen a number of International observatories established where astronomers peer deep into the cosmos in search for answers concerning the origins of life. Nearby, a group of women sift through the sand searching for body parts of loved ones, dumped unceremoniously by Pinochet's regime, who was supported by you know who... 

Searching for Sugar Man (2012) is  a great film almost plays out like a thriller about the American 70s folk singer Rodriguez  Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, who mysteriously disappeared into obscurity. Rodriguez was discovered in a Detroit dive but his career never took of in the States, but he was hugely popular in South Africa. Down here in 70s Australia he was also very popular all of us teenage groovers had a Rodriguez album,  wonderful nostalgia great music...

Lately I've been watching a huge amount of 1940s-1950s-1960s documentary shorts produced by either the Australian National Film Board or the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit. These range from theatrical releases, while others were shown in theatrettes, while some were shown in classrooms. Some of them are quite fascinating. I'll be linking to several in the next "classics watched last week" thread.

One thing I'd like to see, are the so-called "direct telecasts" done in late-1950s Australian television. These were live telecasts from a fascinating location (and sometimes kinescoped, such as for interstate telecast or so a daytime telecast could be shown in the evening). I'd particularly like to see the one broadcast from a mint. Unfortunately, I suspect the kinescopes of these telecasts were destroyed in the 1970s along with everything else produced for 1950s Australian TV (the BBC in the UK and NBC in the US destroyed their 1950s output around the same time), although hopefully some of these direct telecasts escaped destruction.

I love those 19th century "actuality" shorts produced in the U.S., France and UK. Just seeing Victorian people moving is quite fascinating to me. My favourites are the street and city scenes.

One of my favourite documentaries isn't listed on IMDb, and is a straight-to-video release from the 1990s: "Tigers in the Jungle", which despite the name is actually about the early efforts of the European space program (I actually don't know of any other documentaries about the history of western European space rockets, in particular the failed "Europa" rocket). It was part of a VHS collection of cheaply produced documentaries related to space in some way (I have another on the same tape, "Fly Me to the Moon", which is a quite interesting look at the then-new Ariane 5 rocket. Several things by that title are listed on IMDb, but none of them are the documentary I watched).

FAVORITE DOCS

Promises (2001)

Shot by American-Israeli co-director, B.Z. Goldberg between 1997-2000, Promises is a timely and moving look at the Arab-Israeli conflict from the point of view of seven Israeli and Palestinian children including Arabs, Orthodox Jews and secular Jews. Each child is interviewed separately and most recite the litany of hatred and misunderstanding that they have learned. As the film progresses, however, a strong desire for peace and reconciliation emerges through Goldberg’s quiet, thoughtful questioning.

Bus 174 (2002)

In his powerful documentary, Bus 174, José Padilha depicts one of the most publicized media events of 2000, the hijacking of a city bus in a wealthy part of Rio by a former street kid, Sandro do Nacimento, igniting a standoff with the police and a media circus that lasted for hours, an event broadcasted live for the whole country.

Ram Dass, Fierce Grace (2001)

Mickey Lemle's Ram Dass, Fierce Grace, describes the life of Ram Dass (Richard Alpert), author, 60s guru, spiritual teacher, cohort of Timothy Leary, and author of Be Here Now, one of the most influential books of the 1970s. It is more than just a bio-pic or a meditation on the process of recovery from a stroke. It is an inspiring portrait of a man whose life can be summed up in one word -- service.

Point of Order (1964)

The dramatic highlights of the1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, the first government hearings to be televised live, are captured in Emile de Antonio’s documentary Point of Order. While a one and a half hour film cannot do justice to a hearing that lasted more than two hundred hours, what is depicted is great political theater that should be required viewing for anyone who does not fully understand the danger of an unprincipled demagogue. The film’s final portion captures one of the seminal moments in American politics of the 20th Century.

Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Searching for Sugar Man investigates the life of Sixto Rodriguez, a little known American folk-rock singer/songwriter who released two albums in the early 1970s but failed to achieve any popularity. It is an odyssey of discovery, even self-discovery, that is a profoundly inspiring celebration of a man and his music. More than just a film about music and musicians, however, it is about the human condition.

Blackfish (2013)

Blackfish shows the deplorable conditions of killer whales confined to an area the size of a swimming pool for up to twenty or thirty years at marine theme parks such as SeaWorld. It is a hard-hitting and extremely disturbing documentary that makes a powerful case against the whales’ confinement.

The Missing Picture (2012)

The Missing Picture is a deeply moving film that uses hand-carved clay figures together with archival news footage and propaganda films to depict the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia from 1975-79. It is a powerful prayer that no child ever has to again witness what Panh saw. Miraculously, he survived to tell his story and in The Missing Picture, has left us a testament of unbounded courage.

The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (2014)

The Internet’s Own Boy is a disturbing documentary about a young man who was not afraid to challenge what he thought was an unjust system. A computer programmer and social activist, Aaron Swartz wanted to make the world a better place but, ultimately, though he tried to save the world, he could not save himself.

The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time? (1982)

Great documentary about the blacklisted folk group, "The Weavers," and the events leading up to their triumphant return to Carnegie Hall.

From Roger Ebert: "The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time!" is not simply a concert film, however, but a documentary about the Weavers. The film begins with the picnic at Hays's farm, flashes back to newsreel and archive footage of the Weavers in their prime, and then concludes with the concert in Carnegie Hall. It is impossible not to feel a lump in your throat as the Weavers gather once again on stage, and it's hard not to tap your feet when they start to sing. Seeing this film is a wonderful experience. I'd recommend it wholeheartedly to those who don't know about the Weavers. I imagine that Weavers fans won't need any encouragement.”

Letter to a Child (2007)

No film conveys the innocence of childhood and its passage more poignantly than Letter to a Child, Vlado Skafar’s beautiful meditation on the essence of life. The film is a series of heartfelt monologues prompted by the director’s searching questions to a group of young children, teenagers, young adults, parents, an elderly couple, and an old man in a village in Slovenia. It is a simple film on the surface but penetrates to the deepest parts of human experience to record a poetic chronicle of life.

OTHERS:

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
Finding Vivian Meier
Life Itself
Citizenfour
Close-Up
Night and Fog
Roger and Me
Hoop Dreams
Spellbound
Sorrow and the Pity
Capturing the Friedmans
Life and Times of Harvey Milk

Actually made me sad at the very idea Paterno was complicit as well.


Also watch

Paradise lost series
Thin blue line
Capturing the friedmans
Cropsey
Somethings wrong with aunt diane
Just evil just melvin.

Its about Brando from 2015.

The films I will link to on YouTube in the thread includes (among other things) several classroom films. That's a sub-genre which I haven't seen discussed on this board. While these aren't "classic films" as such, they do represent a kind of film common in the 1940s-1970s, which were often seen by many people, and can often make for interesting viewing years later. Until a few weeks ago, I wasn't even aware that Australia used to produce this kind of film, I thought that only the US did classroom films, but it seems I was wrong.

yeah my bad for not remembering.

Much of what happens in Religulous is quite funny, especially the interweaving of film clips from overblown religious extravaganzas that underline the absurdity of the theme. Unfortunately, however, the film’s snarky humor and willingness to tackle sacred cows are negated by its use of straw men as fodder for its attacks, its selective and arbitrary editing, and a tone that is arrogant and condescending.