Documentary
The Gleaners and I
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The Gleaners and I

2000
Inspired by Jean-François Millet's famous painting "Les Glaneuses," filmmaker Agnes Varda strikes out with just a hand-held digital camera in search of the modern equivalent of Millet's grain field gleaners. She finds her quarry at dumpsters, outdoor markets and roadsides across France. Varda's no-holds-barred documentary about scavengers and recyclers is an insouciant treat from beginning to end, with an unexpectedly obtuse perspective.

Directed by:

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    America Beyond the Color Line
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    America Beyond the Color Line

    2004
    Prominent literary critic and scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. explores the status of black America at the start of the 21st century in this documentary. Gates travels to the East Coast, the Deep South, inner-city Chicago and Hollywood for a close look at the current issues facing today's black communities. He interviews everyday African Americans as well as influential leaders and celebrities including Colin Powell, Maya Angelou and Morgan Freeman.

    Directed by:

  • Mary Crisp
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    American Teacher
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    American Teacher

    2011
    Profiling four extraordinary teachers from diverse parts of the country, this documentary feature examines the struggles of an underpaid profession. Educators weigh in on how the American school system might be radically transformed.

    Directed by:

  • Vanessa Roth
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    Two Angry Moms
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    Two Angry Moms

    2007
    Filmmaker Amy Kalafa offers this incisive documentary that examines the alarming lack of nutritious food found in America's school cafeterias, focusing especially on nationwide grassroots movements calling on schools to serve more wholesome fare. Kalafa explores the problem's many levels, from powerful corporate interests down to the role of parents, and also chronicles the experience of one school that made healthy changes to its cafeteria menu.

    Directed by:

  • Amy Kalafa
    • rating:3.6.png 3.6 Average Rating


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    Thirst
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    Thirst

    2004
    Control over public water supplies is already a critical policy issue for nations around the world, and its importance will only grow in the next decade, according to this articulate and compelling documentary. A global business trend toward privatizing water supplies has already led to civil unrest and protests -- some of which are detailed by the multinational group of activists profiled here.

    Directed by:

  • Alan Snitow
  • Deborah Kaufman
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    Deliver Us from Evil
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    Deliver Us from Evil

    2006
    This unsettling Oscar-nominated documentary from filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.

    Directed by:

  • Amy Berg
    • rating:3.6.png 3.6 Average Rating


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    No Impact Man: The Documentary
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    No Impact Man: The Documentary

    2009
    In this engaging documentary, a Fifth Avenue family goes green when writer Colin Beavan leads his wife, Michelle Conlin, and their baby daughter on a yearlong crusade to generate no trash and otherwise make no net impact on the environment.

    Directed by:

  • Laura Gabbert
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    Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
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    Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields

    2010
    A decade in the making, this documentary by filmmakers Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara examines the career of prolific singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt, the enigmatic, deep-voiced heart and soul of indie pop band the Magnetic Fields.

    Directed by:

  • Kerthy Fix
  • Gail O'Hara
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    A Film Unfinished
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    A Film Unfinished

    2010
    This potent documentary uses a long-lost film reel to illustrate how the Nazis controlled images of Jewish life during World War II. Though the Nazis made a propaganda movie of contented Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, the missing spool exposes the truth. Director Yael Hersonski shows how the imagery was staged to distort historical knowledge and, with the aid of Jewish survivors' testimony, chronicles the horrifying reality of ghetto life.

    Directed by:

  • Yael Hersonski
    • rating:3.6.png 3.6 Average Rating


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    Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About
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    Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About

    2009
    This biographical portrait celebrates the controversial career of American choreographer and director Jerome Robbins, renowned for Broadway hits such as "West Side Story" and "Fiddler on the Roof" and for his work with the New York City Ballet. Featuring rare rehearsal and performance footage, along with interviews with Robbins and luminaries such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, the film offers an unparalleled glimpse into the mind of a master.

    Directed by:

  • Judy Kinberg
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    Lodz Ghetto
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    Lodz Ghetto

    1989
    In this critically acclaimed documentary, filmmakers Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson shed light on the experiences of some 250,000 Jews held captive and forced to work as slaves under Nazi rule in the Polish city of Lodz. Employing eye-opening personal accounts gleaned from diaries, journals and rare archival footage, the film offers an unprecedented look at those who lived and died inside the barbed-wire perimeters of the Lodz Ghetto.

    Directed by:

  • Alan Adelson
  • Kate Taverna
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    Hear and Now
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    Hear and Now

    2007
    Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky aims her camera at her own life to capture the remarkable transformation of her deaf parents, who decided to undergo a life-changing procedure to restore their hearing after spending 65 years in silence. Chronicling her parents' experiences over their first year of having sound in their lives, Brodsky tells a deeply personal tale that moved viewers to bestow it with the Documentary Audience Award at Sundance 2007.

    Directed by:

  • Irene Taylor Brodsky
    • rating:3.6.png 3.6 Average Rating


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    What's on Your Plate?
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    What's on Your Plate?

    2009
    Aimed at children and adults, this entertaining documentary from activist Catherine Gund follows her daughter, Sadie, and her best friend, Safiyah, as the two 11-year-olds spend a year investigating the politics of food in America. The intrepid tweens interview farmers, school officials, chefs and ordinary folks to find out how food is grown and how agriculture can be transformed in order to improve both nutrition and profit.

    Directed by:

  • Catherine Gund
    • rating:3.6.png 3.6 Average Rating


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    Chris & Don: A Love Story
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    Chris & Don: A Love Story

    2007
    The relationship between author Christopher Isherwood and artist Don Bachardy is chronicled in this documentary through home movies, interviews and readings from Isherwood's journal.

    Directed by:

  • Tina Mascara
    • rating:3.6.png 3.6 Average Rating


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    Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North
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    Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North

    2008
    A descendant of the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history, filmmaker Katrina Browne explores the contemporary legacy of slavery by traveling with fellow descendents from Rhode Island to Ghana and Cuba, retracing the Triangle Trade route. Along the way, Browne and her companions meet with similarly interested travelers and discover the considerable importance slavery once had for Northern commerce.

    Directed by:

  • Katrina Browne
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    The War Tapes
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    The War Tapes

    2006
    Armed with minicams mounted on their gun turrets, helmets and dashboards, three National Guardsmen capture an unprecedented perspective of the Iraq war in this powerful documentary culled from more than a thousand hours of footage. Deftly interlaced with harrowing film of ambushes, explosions and severed limbs are the soldiers' complex reactions to the conflict and interviews with the women they left behind.

    Directed by:

  • Deborah Scranton
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    Now and Then
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    Now and Then

    1995
    Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty in this tender coming-of-age tale, four childhood girlfriends -- Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta -- recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they reconcile experiences with boys, secrets, bullies and more. Lesli Linka Glatter directs; Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Cloris Leachman, Thora Birch and Christina Ricci co-star.

    Directed by:

  • Lesli Linka Glatter
    • rating:3.8.png 3.8 Average Rating


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    Now and Then (1995)
    A heartwarming movie about four childhood girlfriends who, in adulthood reunion, relive their experience of the life-changing summer of 1970, including a mystery death, divorce, standing up to the boys, first kiss, and the meaning of true friendship. Each explores her unique identity amidst family and friends. Beautifully directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.
    - Frances   
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