observational documentary
366 movies and shows
Adolescents
Wed, 09 Sep 2020
Emma and Anaïs are best friends and yet everything in their life seems to set them apart, their social backgrounds but also their personalities. From the age of thirteen to eighteen, Adolescentes follows the two teenagers during these years where radical transformations and first times punctuate daily life. Through their personal stories, the film offers a rare portrait of France and its recent history.
Occupied City
Thu, 30 Nov 2023
The past collides with the present in this excavation of the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam: a journey from World War II to recent years of pandemic and protest and a provocative, life-affirming reflection on memory, time and what's to come.
Koyaanisqatsi
Wed, 27 Apr 1983
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
HyperNormalisation
Tue, 25 Oct 2016
We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari
Thu, 03 Nov 2022
A close examination of the Whakaari / White Island volcanic eruption of 2019 in which 22 lives were lost, the film viscerally recounts a day when ordinary people were called upon to do extraordinary things, placing this tragic event within the larger context of nature, resilience, and the power of our shared humanity.
Risk
Fri, 05 May 2017
Capturing the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with unprecedented access, director Laura Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle in a documentary portrait of power, betrayal, truth and sacrifice.
Sicko
Fri, 18 May 2007
A documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States who's main goal is to make profit even if it means losing people’s lives. "The more people you deny health insurance the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America.
An Inconvenient Truth
Wed, 24 May 2006
A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.
Tiger
Sun, 21 Apr 2024
Journey alongside a young tigress raising her cubs in the fabled forests of India.
Baraka
Tue, 15 Sep 1992
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
Praying for Armageddon
Thu, 23 Mar 2023
While much of the world struggles to keep the planet going, a frighteningly large group of American fundamentalist Christians are working to promote the apocalypse. The evangelical movement is convinced that they will be saved when Jesus appears in the state of Israel on horseback and, with a sword raised to heaven, kills the infidels so that the blood reaches the horses’ bridles. Natural fires, corona, wars and crises are evidence that the time is nigh. But for the prophecies to be realized, the state of Israel has to grow stronger, so they provide huge financial support and are so far inside the White House that they help influence US foreign policy.
Against All Enemies
Thu, 08 Jun 2023
Over one thousand people have been charged with storming the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, as part of a widely televised insurrection attempt. Approximately 15% of them worked as police or military personnel. This staggering statistic begs an important question: how can a service member who took an oath to protect the country’s democracy do something that puts that very democracy in jeopardy?
American Moon
Sun, 26 Nov 2017
Has man really been to the moon? It’s been 50 years, and the debate rages on. For the firs time, a film compiles in a single piece of work, all the best evidence in favor of the moon landings and the evidence contrary to them. For the first time we can also analyze the Apollo pictures in detail, with the aid of some among the top photographers in the world. What was the Apollo project really? The biggest achievement in the history of mankind, or the biggest fakery of all times, watched on live television by more than half a billion people?
The Grab
Fri, 14 Jun 2024
An investigative journalist uncovers the money, influence, and alarming rationale behind covert land grabs by some of the world’s most powerful countries.
9/11: Cleared for Chaos
Wed, 11 Sep 2019
On September 11, 2001, the unimaginable transpired when devastating attacks on the World Trade Center forced the shutdown of the entire U.S. airspace. Thousands of kilometres away in Gander, Newfoundland, a group of Nav Canada air traffic controllers suddenly had the lives of 33,000 people in their hands and had to think fast to find a place for them to go. Discovery uncovers how these unsung heroes managed to safely land 224 planes in four hours, without incident.
Apolonia, Apolonia
Thu, 23 Mar 2023
When Danish filmmaker Lea Glob first portrayed Apolonia Sokol in 2009, she appeared to be leading a storybook life. The talented Apolonia was born in an underground theater in Paris and grew up in an artists’ community—the ultimate bohemian existence. In her 20s, she studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, one of the most prestigious art academies in Europe. Over the years, Lea Glob kept returning to film the charismatic Apolonia and a special bond developed between the two young women.
Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress
Sun, 14 Jul 2019
An account of the last two centuries of the Anthropocene, the Age of Man. How human beings have progressed so much in such a short time through war and the selfish interests of a few, belligerent politicians and captains of industry, damaging the welfare of the majority of mankind, impoverishing the weakest, greedily devouring the limited resources of the Earth.
Secrets of Christ's Tomb
Sun, 03 Dec 2017
We follow leading experts on a quest to unlock the mysteries surrounding the tomb of Christ, using the latest scientific techniques to restore the Aedicula housing the tomb.
Global Metal
Fri, 20 Jun 2008
In GLOBAL METAL, directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn set out to discover how the West's most maligned musical genre - heavy metal - has impacted the world's cultures beyond Europe and North America. The film follows metal fan and anthropologist Sam Dunn on a whirlwind journey through Asia, South America and the Middle East as he explores the underbelly of the world's emerging extreme music scenes; from Indonesian death metal to Chinese black metal to Iranian thrash metal. GLOBAL METAL reveals a worldwide community of metalheads who aren't just absorbing metal from the West - they're transforming it - creating a new form of cultural expression in societies dominated by conflict, corruption and mass-consumerism.
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found
Fri, 22 Nov 2024
More than 60,000 of Ernest Cole’s 35mm film negatives were inexplicably discovered in a bank vault in Stockholm, Sweden. Most considered these forever lost, especially the thousands of pictures he shot in the U.S. Told through Cole’s own writings, the stories of those closest to him, and the lens of his uncompromising work, the film is a reintroduction of a pivotal Black artist to a new generation and will unravel the mystery of his missing negatives.