Documentaries / documentary films - social commentary / humanist - created 2014 [original list]
AUDITED JANUARY 2021, MAY 2021
themes: environment, food, health and healthcare, politics and government, economy: capitalism and other economic systems / consumerism, technology, human experience / growth and development, labor and migration, history and culture
themes: environment, food, health and healthcare, politics and government, economy: capitalism and other economic systems / consumerism, technology, human experience / growth and development, labor and migration, history and culture
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23 titles
- 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.
- DirectorMorgan SpurlockStarsMorgan SpurlockDaryl IsaacsChemeeka WalkerWhile examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreTucker AlbrizziTony BennA documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories including shotgun deaths.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreCharlton HestonMarilyn MansonFilmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreGeorge W. BushBen AffleckMichael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11 and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreWilliam BlackJimmy CarterAn examination of the social costs of corporate interests pursuing profits at the expense of the public good.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.
- DirectorBaby Ruth VillaramaStarsJu-chen ChenLeo SelomonioRudelie AcostaSunday Beauty Queen is a real-life Cinderella tale of a Filipina house helper who dreams of being a Beauty Queen in Hong Kong.
- DirectorThomas BalmèsStarsBayarHattieMariA look at one year in the life of four babies from around the world, from Mongolia to Namibia to San Francisco to Tokyo.
- DirectorTomer HeymannA group of transgender and gay Filipinos people emigrate to Israel to take care of elderly religious Jewish men. On their one day off per week, they perform as drag performers in a group called the Paper Dolls. On the political level, it explores the perils of global immigration. In this case, after the second Intifada, the Israeli government unofficially opened its doors to illegal workers to replace the Palestinians who were no longer allowed in the country. As tensions with the Palestinians eased, the government changed its policy and began to forcibly deport these foreign guest workers with dramatic consequences for our characters. On the human level, the film is about people who are rejected by their own families for being gay or transgender and who emigrate and end up with jobs taking care of other people's parents who have been rejected by their own children because they are old, difficult, etc. They work grueling hours to send money back to the Philippines to support the families that have rejected them. As unbelievable as it may seem, these very different people (old religious Jews and transgender people from the Philippines) form very deep, quasi familial bonds.
- DirectorRob VanAlkemadeStarsAdetola AbiadePaul AllenPaul Norman AllenAn examination of the commercialization of Christmas in America while following Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse (the end of humankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt.) The film also delves into issues such as the role sweatshops play in America's mass consumerism and Big-Box Culture. From the humble beginnings of preaching at his portable pulpit on New York City subways, to having a congregation of thousands - Bill Talen (aka Rev. Billy) has become the leader of not just a church, but a national movement.
- DirectorErik GandiniStarsJohn ZerzanGeorge W. BushFidel CastroLooks at the arguments for capitalism and technology, such as greater efficiency, more time and less work, and argues that these are not being fulfilled, and they never will be.
- DirectorLaura PoitrasStarsEdward SnowdenGlenn GreenwaldWilliam BinneyA documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.
- DirectorJerry RothwellStarsRobert HunterPatrick MoorePaul WatsonIn 1971, a group of friends sail into a nuclear test zone, and their protest captures the world's imagination. Using never before seen archive that brings their extraordinary world to life, How To Change The World is the story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green movement.
- DirectorYann Arthus-BertrandStarsLuis CancuAtmanBerthonyA collection of stories about and images of our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human.
- DirectorMona EldaiefJehane NoujaimStarsRafea AnadBunker RoyRaouf DabbasRafea is a Bedouin woman who lives with her four daughters in one of Jordan's poorest desert villages on the Iraqi border. She is given a chance to travel to India to attend the Barefoot College, where illiterate grandmothers from around the world are trained in 6 months to be solar engineers. If Rafea succeeds, she will be able to electrify her village, train more engineers, and provide for her daughters. Even when she returns as the first female solar engineer in the country, her real challenge will have just begun. Will she find support for her new venture? Will she be able to inspire the other women in the village to join her and change their lives? And most importantly, will she be able to re-wire the traditional minds of the Bedouin community that stand in her way?
- DirectorMarlon FuentesBridget YearianStarsMarlon FuentesJordan PorterNicole AntonioA unique fusion of rare archival images, and carefully orchestrated visual sequences shot in the present, Bontoc Eulogy is an original and innovative investigation of memory and the spectacle of the "Other" in turn-of-the-century America.
- DirectorNicolas EntelStarsJorge Enrique AbelloPablo EscobarSebastian MarroquínNicolas Entel's searing documentary tells the story of Pablo Escobar -- Colombian drug kingpin, murderer and family man -- through the eyes of his son, Sebastian, as well as the sons of two of Escobar's most prominent victims.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreRoger B. SmithRhonda BrittonAfter General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.
- DirectorJeff Orlowski-YangStarsTristan HarrisJeff SeibertBailey RichardsonExplores the dangerous human impact of social networking; tech experts sound the alarm on their own creations.
- DirectorRamona S. DiazStarsAmal ClooneyRonaldo 'Bato' Dela RosaRodrigo DuterteA look at how Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte uses social media to spread disinformation.
- DirectorM.A. TaylorStarsRobert EpsteinJordan B. PetersonPeter SchweizerThe Creepy Line reveals the stunning degree to which society is manipulated by Google and Facebook and how they do it.
- DirectorAva DuVernayStarsMelina AbdullahMichelle AlexanderCory BookerAn in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.