Documentary movies

Richard Pryor's impact on the craft of comedy and today's top comics is legendary and unrivaled. This program surveys the profound and enduring influence of one of the greatest American comics of all time.

What do you know about the Darknet? Silk Road, hitmen for hire and outlets for the most depraved aspects of human behaviour? This film delves beyond this notoriety to reveal to undiscussed depths of this network, exposing how activists from around the world are hiding in the shadows of the Darknet to protect the freedoms we all hold dear. As privacy, anonymity and freedom of speech come under increasing threat, a group of self-appointed freedom fighters stand on the frontier of an unseen battleground. This Gonzo-style exploration tumbles ever deeper down this rabbit hole, guided by hackers, cypherpunks and cryptoanarchists, to find the hidden light at the bottom of the deep dark web.

Set within the rainforests of southern Mexico, La Laguna tells the story of a Mayan boy's remarkable journey from childhood to adolescence. While Yu'uk and his younger brother José enjoy a childhood of uncommon freedom in the jungle, Yu'uk's family's problems begin to mount and leaving his village - and his beloved little brother - may be his family's only hope.

Dan Vernon journeys into the heart of America's most notorious supremacist group, with access to a modern day Missouri chapter: The Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

During World War II, a hand-picked group of American GI's undertook a bizarre mission: create a traveling road show of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the German Army as their audience. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops used inflatable rubber tanks, sound trucks, and dazzling performance art to bluff the enemy again and again, often right along the front lines. Many of the men picked to carry out these dangerous deception missions were artists. Some went on to become famous, including fashion designer Bill Blass. In their spare time, they painted and sketched their way across Europe, creating a unique and moving visual record of their war. Their secret mission was kept hushed up for nearly 50 years after the war's end.

Shots of 13 great lakes in the USA, with each shot containing half water and half sky or land.

A man disabled by Agent Orange dares to dream.

In At Night I Fly: Images from New Folsom, inmates at one of California's most maximum security prisons let us see their world. This world is less about dangerous drama and more, as one of them describes, "about isolation. About closure of both the mind and the heart. And the spirit." The documentary shows prisoners, most serving a life sentence, who refuse such closure and instead work to uncover and express themselves. Their primary tool is making art and the film takes us to New Folsom's Arts in Corrections' room, to prison poetry readings, gospel choirs, blues guitar on the yard, and to many more scenes of creation.

Writings and social media posts help to reveal the secret life and troubles of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of the brazen murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and whom so many people are calling a hero.

Spanish footballers come together for the first time to relive the turbulent 2023 Women's World Cup and the kiss that overshadowed their victory.

The critically important work by renowned naturalist Claudine Andre to save the endangered bonobo apes of the Congo is presented in this visually stunning feature film.

Michel Gondry chronicles the life of Gondry family matriarch, his aunt Suzette Gondry, and her relationship with her son, Jean-Yves.

Around the world, young boys and girls take up a challenge: to live their dream and their passion by undertaking a challenge that will change their lives forever. Together, they will live a unique day, a day where anything is possible.

Documentary about freedom defense movements on Internet.

An introverted man runs a "car cemetery" where people come to find parts for old vehicles.

Switzerland still carries out special flights, where passengers, dressed in diapers and helmets, are chained to their seats for 40 hours at worst. They are accompanied by police officers and immigration officials. The passengers are flown to their native countries, where they haven't set foot in in up to twenty years, and where their lives might be in danger. Children, wives and work are left behind in Switzerland. Near Geneva, in Frambois prison, live 25 illegal immigrants waiting for deportation. They are offered an opportunity to say goodbye to their families and return to their native countries on a regular flight, escorted by plain-clothes police officers. If they refuse this offer, the special flight is arranged fast and unexpectedly. The stories behind the locked cells are truly heartbreaking.

Shibati, the last old area of Chongqing, the biggest city in China, is about to disappear. Zhou Hong, 7 years old, little prince of the streets, and Mrs Xue Lian, 70, godmother of the migrant workers, have to leave their beloved life in this charming neighborhood, to be rehoused in one of the thousands anonymous towers of the faraway suburb.

It's summer. The Tour de France is coming and senior fans arrive in their camper vans in this endearing documentary that revels in its visual humour.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2017. In the urban jungle of Kinshasa, amid social and political chaos, an eclectic and bubbling street art scene is emerging.

Anne-Laure Bonnel, a young director and mother of a French family, decides to accompany Alexander, a father of Ukrainian family, to the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine in a pro-Russian zone. At the heart of the war, she captures the terrible images of a deadly conflict and an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.

In 1926, Buster Keaton was at the peak of his glory and wealth. By 1933, he had reached rock bottom. How, in the space of a few years, did this uncontested genius of silent films, go from the status of being a widely-worshipped star to an alcoholic and solitary fallen idol? With a spotlight on the 7 years during which his life changed, using extracts of Keaton’s films as magnifying mirrors, the documentary recounts the dramatic life of this creative genius and the Hollywood studios.

"Since childhood, I've had the good fortune of going through two mini depressions of happiness, and I'm serenely awaiting the third. This alone is enough for me to believe in a certain beauty to life and to have the pleasure of attempting to film it in all its forms (trees, animals, gods, humans...) and to do so when love is intense. The filmmaker has lost a part of innocence. It's so difficult to spot it around you, so difficult not to lose it during a film shoot. I'm grateful to those who you look at on screen. To stand up to time, I've a tactic, which is to dig into my stock of emotions and old images. Not so as to find what will never come back, but to discover the signs of spring in winter. This allows me to begin another day with an easy, light step." (Alain Cavalier)