My Favorite Documentaries
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- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsAbel JacquinAlexandre O'NeillA surrealist film, a pseudo-documentary portrait of Las Hurdes, a remote region of Spain where civilisation has barely developed, showing how the local peasants try to survive without even the most basic utilities and skills.
- DirectorJaime ChávarriStarsFelicidad BlancJuan Luis PaneroLeopoldo María PaneroThis film is a documentary about the poet 'Leopoldo Panero'. His widow and his sons talk about death in general and in this special case and also about their own family problems.
- DirectorÉric RohmerStarsJean RenoirHenri LangloisÉric RohmerEric Rohmer leads a conversation with Jean Renoir and Henri Langlois on the art of filmmaker Louis Lumière. The cinematographic pioneer Lumière produced thousands of documentaries in the end of the 19th century, but also some short comedies with amateur actors. The films are done in one shot and are only 1 minute in length. Lumiére and his operators chose a place, put up the camera and then recorded what happened in front of the lens. In spite of this both Renoir and Langlois argue that the films of Lumière are not simply reproductions of reality, but pieces of art. Renoir points out that Lumiére didn't just reproduce the externals of what he saw, but also its spirit and inner life. The films are not only showing a piece of contemporary reality, but Lumière's vision of that reality. Langlois remarks that the films of Lumière were not made at random, but out of a consciously chosen dramaturgy and composition. Lumiére and his team chose, after long deliberations, the motif of the film as well as the camera-angle. There is usually some kind of beginning and end of the film. The main action never occurs in the center of the screen, but either at the right or the left side of it. This means that the main movements happen along a diagonal across the screen, which produces a dynamic impression. The films are made in one shot, but the shots are usually very deep, which means that you get some close-ups in the foreground at the same time as you see something happen in full scale behind that and something else even more far away. The conversation with Renoir and Langlois is interspersed with some of Lumière's films, to underline the arguments.
- StarsJacob BronowskiJoss AcklandRoy DotriceAn account of man's development through his scientific and technological achievements.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsYehudi MenuhinNoël FavrelièresAnthony HerbertExplores the subject of atrocities during wartime, especially during World War II and the Vietnam War.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsKlaus BarbieClaude LanzmannMarcel OphülsA documentary about Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief of Lyon, and his life after the war.
- DirectorJean RouchStarsJean RouchA documentary short depicting a Hauka ceremony where young workers are possessed by British colonial officers.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsHelmut TausendMarcel VerdierAlexis GraveAn in-depth exploration of the various reactions by the French people to the Vichy government's acceptance of the German invasion.
- DirectorShinsuke OgawaIn the very heart of the Japanese mountains, Ogawa discovers a village still dealing with the trauma of global warfare and struggling for survival as their children flee for the cities.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsLeanne BenjaminKausikan RajeshkumarJo ShapcottA documentary that goes inside one of the great museums of the world: The National Gallery in London.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsFrançois WertheimerAgnès VardaJean La PlancheVarda films and interviews gleaners in France in all forms, from those picking fields after the harvest to those scouring the dumpsters of Paris.
- DirectorFilippos KoutsaftisStarsPanagiotis FarmakisThe past and the present coexist in a place spoiled by modern industry but which long ago hosted the Eleusinian Mysteries, the secret ceremonies that initiated the ancient Greeks into the miracles of life, death and the afterlife.
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsAntonio LópezMaría MorenoEnrique GranThe artist Antonio López tries to capture the sunlight hitting his quince tree all autumn, but the struggle seems futile.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogHerzog's documentary of the Wodaabe people of the Sahara/Sahel region. Particular attention is given to the tribe's spectacular courtship rituals and 'beauty pageants', where eligible young men strive to outshine each other and attract mates by means of lavish makeup, posturing and facial movements.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAmilcar CabralFlorence DelayArielle DombasleA woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.
- DirectorDanièle HuilletJean-Marie StraubStarsJulie KoltaïJean-Marie StraubA visit to the Louvre in Paris commentated by an actor reading Cézanne.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardJoris IvensWilliam KleinStarsAnne BellecKaren BlanguernonFidel CastroIn seven different segments, Godard, Klein, Lelouch, Marker, Resnais, and Varda show their sympathy and support for the North Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.
- DirectorJohn DouglasRobert KramerStarsMary ChapelleSharon KrebsJim Nolfi"A many-faceted portrait of those individuals who sought radical solutions to social problems in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. It cuts back and forth between six major story lines and more than fifty characters, and across a vast landscape, to explore the lifestyles and attitudes of the American left who faced both personal and hhistorical transitions in the period following the Vietnam War."
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsDorothée BlanckAntoine BourseillerAndré RousseletImpressions of the rue Mouffetard, Paris 5, through the eyes of a pregnant woman.
- DirectorPeter DavisStarsTin ChanChau DiemNgo Dinh DiemA startling and courageous landmark documentary that unflinchingly confronted the United States' involvement in Vietnam at the height of the controversy that surrounded it.
- DirectorPeter Nestler
- DirectorHenri-Georges ClouzotStarsPablo PicassoHenri-Georges ClouzotClaude RenoirA filmed record of Pablo Picasso painting numerous canvases for the camera, allowing us to see his creative process at work.
- DirectorDavid HelpernStarsWalter BernsteinAlvah BessieLester ColeThe documentary analyzes a dark period in Hollywood's history due to the Red Scare of the 1940's and 1950's, when actors, writers and directors were persecuted and investigated by the House of Un-American Activities Committee after being considered suspects of committing Anti-American acts by preaching the Communism in their films and television shows.
- DirectorVilgot SjömanStarsIngmar BergmanGunnar BjörnstrandSven NykvistVilgot Sjöman (I Am Curious -- Yellow 1967) and a crew from Swedish Television followed Ingmar Bergman during the filming of Winter Light and came away with a five-part documentary, including set construction, rehearsals, editing, and behind-the-camera conversations with Bergman and the cast and crew, and audience reactions to the film.
- DirectorBasilio Martín PatinoStarsCelia GámezImperio ArgentinaMiguel de MolinaThis documentary is frame in the spanish hyper realism. A journey through the legendary songs of Franco dictatorship. With the colaboration of the wonderful singer Imperio Argentina.