Favorite Documentaries

[Badams]

I'm a sucker for a good documentary. Right now I'm watching Country Music with Ken Burns, who I absolutely LOVE!!! I grew up listening to county music. He also did my favorite documentary, The Dust Bowl. The Edmund Fitzgerald is another favorite of mine. What are your favorite documentaries? Winter is coming, ave id like to make a list of great things to watch.

 

[Wyliefan]

The country music one is great!

A low-key, very sweet one I caught on TCM was Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story about Harold and Lillian Michelson, a storyboard artist and film researcher, respectively. Here's a review: https://artdepartmental.com/blog/harold-lillian-hollywood-love-story/

 

[maureenfarone]

I really enjoy Ken Burns National Parks documentaries. Lately I've been watching the Roosevelts....starting with Teddy and then FDR and Eleanor.

 

[flyingsit]

Free Solo is one of my favorites.

Disney+ had one early this year (might have been late last year) about the music of John Williams, which was a great watch.

 

[smurfy]

Free Solo is very cool - but that guy is insane!! anyone who does that is insane.

Luv Ken Burns documentaries. His Prohibition one is very good, and I really like the Civil War and Baseball.
I love on tv watching various documentaries on real murders.

 

[Cachoo]

I don't think you can go wrong with Ken Burns. Some that stood out to me:

Icarus. This is an astonishing documentary because it starts with questions about doping in cycling and unexpectedly stumbles into the Sochi Olympics.

Muscle Shoals. A small town in Alabama with a small music studio and AMAZING musicians doing back-up work for so many artists who made their way to this town for sessions with them.

Last Days in Viet Nam. I'm not into war documentaries generally but there were so many people who were quietly brave and heroic in helping people get out.

My Octopus Teacher. Never thought I'd fall so hard for an octopus but she is a creative and affectionate and captivating creature.

The Keepers. This is about an unsolved murder of a nun and the rot lying beneath the surface in one diocese in the Midwest.

Always at the Carlyle. This is a love letter to the legendary hotel. This is a "feel good" documentary.

Spielberg. I loved this one because we hear from Spielberg in this instead of someone reporting on Spielberg.

Score: A Film Music Documentary. Also there was a tv documentary called "The Great Film Composers: Music of the Movies" that was entertaining.

 

[Hedwig]

Tomorrow- here is a trailer:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

m.youtube.com

It is a wonderful and hopeful documentary about climate change and how we have all the solutions. It really gives you hope and purpose

 

[BaileyCatts]

Do devastating and tragic stories count? Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about his Father. I only saw this story once, in 2009, and it still brings me to tears to this day just thinking about it. In one aspect, it's a beautifully told story about a lifelong friendship, but makes you so angry and crushes your soul with how evil some people can be.

 

[Cachoo]

Do devastating and tragic stories count? Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about his Father. I only saw this story once, in 2009, and it still brings me to tears to this day just thinking about it. In one aspect, it's a beautifully told story about a lifelong friendship, but makes you so angry and crushes your soul with how evil some people can be.

Soul crushing is an apt description but I am glad the film was made. Another that bothered me long after it was over was There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane.

 

[kedrin]

Hello, my name is kedrin, and I have a documentary problem! Mainly history, art, travel, and nature. I probably have downloaded hundreds.

History:
Ken Burns: in addition to the ones listed above- The Vietnam War
anything by Mary Beard- she focuses mainly on ancient Rome
anything by Lucy Worsley- she has a fun take on British history- usually focuses on Tudor and Georgians, but she also does random programs, e.g.: A Very British Romance, and A Very British Murder which are fun and interesting histories of specific subjects rather than eras
Henry Louis Gates: Africa's Great Civilizations (there's a lot of history in Africa that is too often ignored)
Michael Woods: Story of China and Story of India (he does a lot for the BBC)
Bettany Hughes: lots of ancient history, mostly ancient Greece

Art | Art History:
Civilizations (9 part series with Simon Schama, Mary Beard, and David Olusoga)
Anything by Janina Ramierez (lots of medieval history and illuminated manuscripts)
Alastair Sooke- Treasures of Ancient Egypt, Treasures of Ancient Greece, Treasures of Ancient Rome
Story of Scottish Art (4 part series)
Dark Ages - An Age of Light
lots of BBC series on specific art- e.g.: Art of China, Art of Persia, Art of Russia, etc.

Travel:
Michael Palin, Joanna Lumley, Simon Reeve travel documentaries

Nature:
David Attenborough, of course!
any Monty Don Garden shows: Around the World In 80 Gardens, Italian Gardens, etc.

I could go on.....

Oh- and not actually documentaries, but lots of museums and institutions record lectures, so that's a whole other thing to watch if you enjoy documentaries.

 

[alexikeguchi]

+1 for My Octopus Teacher! I love nature documentaries and recreations of what the world used to look like and how ancient humans and animals lived. A couple that I found especially moving are Mystery Skeletons of the Sahara and Dinosaurs: The Final Day.

 

[PRlady]

I also loved the octopus doc and Country Music taught my husband so much about American culture he’s usually not exposed to.

Recently PBS did a biodoc on Janis Ian that was really well done.

Woodstock is a classic.

 

[sk8pics]

I also loved My Octopus Teacher.

And The Year Earth Changed and the Elephant Queen on AppleTV+

 

[emason]

Woodstock is a classic.

I knew the revolution had come when my mother voluntarily bought the movie soundtrack album for me as a Christmas present.

 

[PRlady]

I knew the revolution had come when my mother voluntarily bought the movie soundtrack album for me as a Christmas present.

Complete with the fish cheer!

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
The Celluloid Closet
The Life and Times of Harvey Milk
and now
My Mom Jayne

 

[three fingered jack]

Soul crushing is an apt description but I am glad the film was made. Another that bothered me long after it was over was There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane.

There is something wrong with Aunt Diane bothers me still.

 

[skategal]

"Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae" was excellent and bone-chilling.

Lots of history about the Native American Rights movement of the 70s in the USA.

I watched it on Disney+ in Canada.

Annie Mae Pictou Aquash documentary looks at her death

'Vow of Silence: The assassination of Annie Mae' debuted on the American streaming service Hulu on Dec. 1.

www.aptnnews.ca

 

[Aceon6]

Janis Ian: Breaking Silence is great. It’s been available on PBS and may be streamable now that the theatre run is complete.