documentaries.ca (https://documentaries.ca/category/art/filmmaking/)
For the last 40 years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed some of the major events of our recent history; international conflicts, starvation and exodus. He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of wild fauna and flora, and of grandiose landscapes as part of a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet’s beauty. . .
Its sweeping intent stated by the title, the latest entry in this documentary subgenre, The Story of Film: An Odyssey, aspires to take in everything from Edison and Lumière onward: six continents and more than a century in the space of 15 episodes and 900 minutes. The series was written and directed by the film journalist and documentarian Mark Cousins, adapted from his 2006 book of the same title, and aired Saturdays on England’s Channel 4 last fall. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Producer-writer-director Phil Rosenthal had an inspired idea when he was invited to adapt his long-running sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond for the Russian market: take a camera crew along. Those are good comic instincts, and the resulting documentary, Exporting Raymond, is a regularly hilarious portrait of culture shock and the universal (or not) properties of the TV sitcom. After the U.S. Raymond completed its run, and in the wake of a successful Russian version of The Nanny, it seemed natural enough for Rosenthal to journey to Moscow (and a suspiciously dark, foreboding film studio) to oversee the newly discovered business of the Russian sitcom. Since the team is working from the original Raymond scripts, and that show was a huge hit, it should be no problem, right? Soon enough, Rosenthal runs into humorless network executives, a glammed-up costume designer who believes the working-class characters should be dressed in chic outfits, and unmarried writers who can’t understand why the show’s put-upon hero wouldn’t simply assert himself in his marriage.
Documentary about an aspiring filmmaker’s attempts to finance his dream project by finally completing the low-budget horror film he abandoned years before. Read more at IMDB or support this site and the filmmaker by buying it at Amazon.
One of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made and a mind-bending free-form travelogue, La jetée (The Pier) and Sans soleil (Sunless) couldn’t seem more different-yet they’re the twin pillars of one of the most daring and uncompromising careers in cinema history. Chris Marker, filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, and now videographer and digital multimedia artist, has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. These two films-a tale of time travel told in still images and a journey to Africa and Japan-remain his best-loved and most widely seen. Read more at IMDB or support this site and the filmmaker by buying it at Amazon.
After being commissioned by the 1936 Olympic Committee to create a feature film of the Berlin Olympics, Riefenstahl shot a documentary that celebrates the human body by combining the poetry of bodies in motion with close-ups of athletes in the heat of competition. Includes the marathon, men’s diving, and American track star Jesse Owen’s sprint races at the 1936 Olympic games. The production tends to glorify the young male body and, some say, expresses the Nazi attitude toward athletic prowess. Includes the lighting of the torch at the stadium and Adolf Hitler looking on in amazement as Jesse Owens wins an unprecedented four Gold Medals. Read more at IMDB or support this site and the filmmaker by buying it at Amazon.
In this blend of documentary and fictional narrative from pioneering filmmaker Robert Flaherty, the everyday trials of life on Ireland’s unforgiving Aran Islands are captured with attention to naturalistic beauty and historical detail. Read more at IMDB or support this site and the filmmaker by buying it at Amazon.
Agnès Varda explores her memories, mostly chronologically, with photographs, film clips, interviews, reenactments, and droll, playful contemporary scenes of her narrating her story. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
An intimate portrait and saga of four film pioneers–Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack who rose from immigrant poverty through personal tragedies persevering to create a major studio with a social conscience. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Two in the Wave is the story of a friendship. Jean-Luc Godard was born in 1930; Francois Truffaut two years later. Love of movies brings them together. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
A film about an unfinished film which portrays the people behind and before the camera in the Warsaw Ghetto, exposing the extent of the cinematic manipulation forever changing the way we look at historic images. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
A documentary following the exploits of a group of filmmakers as they take their independent feature, Ten ’til Noon, along the film festival circuit, and the politics, pitfalls, triumphs and comic tragedies they encounter along the way. Full of interviews with important players in the indie world, this is a must see for young filmmakers on the what happens when the shooting stops. Read more at IMDB.
The story of “Ozploitation” movies – a time when Australian cinema showed an explosion of sex, violence, horror and action. Includes anecdotes, lessons in maverick filmmaking and a genuine love of Australian movies. It moves through Aussie genre cinema of the 70s and early 80s – claiming it’s an unjustly forgotten cinematic era of boobs, pubes, tubes… and even a little kung fu. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
In 1977, Roman Polanski was arrested in Los Angeles on charges he gave drugs and had sex with a 13-year-old girl he was photographing for Vogue. Eleven months later, having pled guilty to one count, he fled to Europe before sentencing. This film examines that year-long period, using archival footage of the media frenzy and of Polanski’s life before the charges, clips from his films, and contemporary interviews with many of the principles – attorneys, the victim, and Polanski’s friends and associates. Polanski remains enigmatic, but portraits emerge of the machinations of justice and of a judge more interested in his image than his word or the law. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
From cinema-verite; pioneers Albert Maysles and Joan Churchill to maverick movie makers like Errol Morris, Werner Herzog and Nick Broomfield, the world’s best documentarians reflect upon the unique power of their genre. Capturing Reality explores the complex creative process that goes into making non-fiction films. Deftly charting the documentarian’s journey, it poses the question: can film capture reality? Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Soon after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, a young and charismatic film student, Muthana Mohmed, stands in the rubble of the city’s film school and explains to an American television audience that his dream of becoming a filmmaker has been destroyed – first by Saddam Hussein, then by American bombs. This brief, fortuitous appearance on MTV changes Muthana’s life forever. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Chronicles the lives of four mortal men and women who work as characters on the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Kirby Dick’s exposé about the American movie ratings board. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
110 of the world’s top cinematographers discuss the art of how and why films look the way they do. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel, “Deep Throat,” starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It caught the public imagination which met the spirit of the times, even as the self appointed guardians of public morality struggled to suppress it, and created, for a brief moment, a possible future where sexuality in film had a bold artistic potential. This film covers the story of the making of this controversial film, its stunning success, its hysterical opposition along with its dark side of mob influence and allegations of the on set mistreatment of the film’s star. In short, the combined events would redefine the popular appeal of pornography, even as more cynical developments would lead it down other paths.
Documentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
If you don’t take risks, you’ll have a wasted soul. – Drew Barrymore. Ever since the second grade when he first saw her in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
A look at 1970s Hollywood when it was known as New Hollywood, and the director was the star of the movie. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
The Five Obstructions, a 100 min. theatre documentary directed by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth. An investigative journey into the phenomenon of “documentary”, based on manifestos written by each director. About a filmmaker not only revisiting, but also recreating (not in a conventional sense) one of his first films, The Perfect Human / Det perfekte menneske (1967), a document on life in Denmark, containing the familiar Leth idiosyncrasies. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
This documentary about the culture of intense cinephilia in New York City reveals the impassioned world of five obsessed movie buffs. The filmmakers expose this delightfully deranged cult by capturing the daily lives of its members. Interviews in movie houses, on the street and in the homes of the subjects tell the story of each individual. Many cannot hold a job, or choose not to. All of them have demoted the importance of the real world, giving all of their attention to the fantasy world of the movies.
This documentary captures the life story of legendary Hollywood producer and studio chief Robert Evans. The first actor to ever to run a film studio, Robert Evans’ film career started in 1956, poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Documents the sensational events surrounding the making of ‘Apocalypse Now’ and Francis Ford Coppola’s struggle with nature, governments, actors, and self-doubt. Includes footage and sound secretly recorded by Elanor Coppola, wife of Francis. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
A documentary on the chaotic production of Werner Herzog’s epic ‘Fitzcarraldo’ , showing how the film managed to get made despite problems that would have floored a less obsessively driven director. Not only does he have major casting problems, losing both Jason Robards (health) and Mick Jagger (other commitments) halfway through shooting, but the crew gets caught up in a war between Peru and Ecuador, there are problems with the weather and the morale of cast and crew is falling rapidly. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today’s best filmmakers interview the influential directors of that time. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
In the 1950s, a teenage Werner Herzog was transfixed by a film performance of the young Klaus Kinski. Years later, they would share an apartment where, in an unabated, 48 hour fit of rage, Kinski completely destroyed the bathroom. From this chaos, a violent, love-hate, profoundly creative partnership was born. In 1972, Herzog cast Kinski in Aguirre, Wrath of God. Four more films would follow.
A comprehensive documentary of the history of gays and lesbians in cinema, from negative to positive reflections of gay characters and the troubles of actors and actresses. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
A comprehensive documentary of the history of gays and lesbians in cinema, from negative to positive reflections of gay characters and the troubles of actors and actresses. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the “DP” (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Read more at IMDB or support this site by buying it at Amazon.
