Plain.Documentaries
List activity
584 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
37 titles
- DirectorAlastair FothergillMark LinfieldStarsJames Earl JonesPatrick StewartAnggunFeature-length version of the documentary TV series Planet Earth (2006), following the migration paths of four animal families.
- DirectorPhilip GröningAn examination of life inside the Grande Chartreuse, the head monastery of the reclusive Carthusian Order in France.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsLouis MalleWith minimal narration by the director and very little context this is a kaleidoscope of stunning visuals from Calcutta, a city of 8,000,000 in the late 1960's: rich and poor, exotic and mundane, secular and religious, children and adults, animate and inanimate. Given only the images, the viewer can read any meaning she or he wants into the film.
- DirectorJean LemireThierry PiantanidaThierry RagobertStarsJean-Louis ÉtienneThe Arctic's changing seasons and the impact on the region's flora and fauna is studied in this nature documentary.
- DirectorAaron RoseJoshua LeonardStarsJulian Bennett HolmesThomas CampbellShepard FaireyThis documentary follows the lives and careers of a collective group of Do-it-yourself artists and designers who inadvertently affected the art world.
- DirectorClaude NuridsanyMarie PérennouStarsKristin Scott ThomasJacques PerrinA documentary on insect life in meadows and ponds.
- DirectorClaude ChabrolStarsMichel BouquetBrian CoxMaquisard AlfonsoThis movie is only made of archive pictures: the official newsreels that were broadcasted on French movie screens during 1940 and 1944 (the Occupation). Those newsreels were controlled by the government of Vichy, which collaborated with the Nazis, so most of them are propaganda. Their purpose is to show what the disinformation was then, and perhaps more generally to evoke the problem of the power of the mass media.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardAnne-Marie MiévilleStarsJean-Luc GodardThe movie incorporates footage of fedayeens taken for an aborted pro-Palestinian film which had been abandoned when subjects were killed. Here and Elsewhere takes its name from the footage it shows of the fedayeens and of a French family.
- 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.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogJean ClottesJulien MonneyWerner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.
- DirectorFax BahrGeorge HickenlooperEleanor CoppolaStarsDennis HopperMartin SheenMarlon BrandoDocumentary that chronicles how Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) was plagued by extraordinary script, shooting, budget, and casting problems--nearly destroying the life and career of the celebrated director.
- DirectorTamra DavisStarsJean Michel BasquiatJulian SchnabelLarry GagosianDirector Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat's own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.
- DirectorMaurice BornJean-Daniel PolletA foundry in Perche was established in 1876. This is a final homage paid to the ancestral occupation of foundry men, whose actions have been repeated innumerable times through the years and which are now going to disappear forever.
- DirectorCharles de LauzirikaStarsHarrison FordDaryl HannahMichael DeeleyThe definitive three-and-a-half hour documentary about the troubled creation and enduring legacy of the science fiction classic Blade Runner (1982), culled from 80 interviews and hours of never-before-seen outtakes and lost footage.
- DirectorByambasuren DavaaLuigi FalorniStarsJanchiv AyurzanaChimed OhinAmgaabazar GonsonWhen a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.
- StarsRobert X. CringelySteve JobsDouglas AdamsThree part documentary series that tells the story of the birth of the personal computer, with the candid recollections of PC pioneers, like Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
- DirectorEmmanuel GoldsteinStarsMark AbeneEd CummingsRobert DarlingtonA feature length documentary about the Free Kevin movement and the hacker world.
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsRobert CrumbAline Kominsky-CrumbCharles CrumbAn intimate portrait of controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb and his traumatized family.
- DirectorGrigoriy AleksandrovSergei EisensteinStarsBoris LivanovNikolay PopovVasili NikandrovA large-scale view on the events of 1917 in Russia, when the monarchy was overthrown.
- DirectorJohn LittleBruce LeeStarsBruce LeeKareem Abdul-JabbarPeter ArcherA documentary showing the life of Bruce Lee up-close.
- DirectorAntoine de MaximyStarsAntoine de MaximyFrench TV host Antoine de Maximy travels the U.S. from coast to coast, relying on the hospitality of strangers and documenting his experiences with a hand-held camera.
- DirectorFernando E. SolanasStarsMick JaggerKeith RichardsFernando E. SolanasAfter the fall of the military dictatorship in 1983, successive democratic governments launched a series of reforms purporting to turn Argentina into the world's most liberal and prosperous economy. Less than twenty years later, the Argentinians have lost literally everything: major national companies have been sold well below value to foreign corporations; the proceeds of privatizations have been diverted into the pockets of corrupt officials; revised labour laws have taken away all rights from employees; in a country that is traditionally an important exporter of foodstuffs, malnutrition is widespread; millions of people are unemployed and sinking into poverty; and their savings have disappeared in a final banking collapse. The film highlights numerous political, financial, social and judicial aspects that mark out Argentina's road to ruin.
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsIdi AminFidel CastroGolda MeirA documentary on the military dictator of Africa's Uganda.
- DirectorRithy PanhStarsKaing Guek EavBetween 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime caused the death of some 1.8 million people, representing one-quarter of the population of Cambodia. Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, was in charge at M13, a Khmer Rouge-controlled prison, for four years before being appointed by the Angkar ("the Organisation", a faceless and omnipresent entity which reigned unopposed over the destiny of an entire people) to the S21 centre in Phnom Penh. As party secretary, he commanded from 1975 to 1979 the Khmer Rouge killing machine in which at least 12,280 people perished, according to the remaining archives. But how many others disappeared, "crushed and reduced to dust", with no trace of them ever being found? In 2009, Duch became the first leader of the Khmer Rouge organisation to be brought before an international criminal justice court. Rithy Panh records his unadorned words, without any trimmings, in the isolation of a face-to-face encounter. At the same time, he sets it into perspective with archive pictures and eye-witness accounts of survivors. As the narrative unfolds, the infernal machine of a system of destruction of humanity implacably emerges, through a manic description of the minutiae of its mechanisms.
- DirectorAnthony CaulfieldNicola CaulfieldStarsShahid AhmadRichard AplinBrian BagnallHow the Commodore Amiga helped influence a generation of Developers to take Video Gaming to a whole new level.
- DirectorRenaud BarretFlorent de La TullayeStarsLeon LikabuRoger LanduCoco NgambaliKinshasa, DRCongo, 2005: Benda Bilili, poor paraplegic street musicians, get noticed by a French film team. Studio recordings get their music out on album and 2009, they have concerts in Europe.
- DirectorMads BrüggerStarsMads BrüggerHeather SchmidDanish journalist Mads Brügger goes undercover as a Liberian Ambassador to embark on a dangerous yet hysterical journey to uncover the blood diamond trade in Africa.
- DirectorFrançois RuffinStarsFrançois RuffinBernard ArnaultMarie-Hélène BourlardA family fired by a company owned by LVMH (Group owned by French billionaire, Bernard Arnault) seeks reparation from their previous employer with the help of the movie director.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsSimon YatesJoe SimpsonBrendan MackeyThe true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsHossain SabzianMohsen MakhmalbafAbolfazl AhankhahThe true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.
- DirectorOlivier BabinetStarsAïssatou DiaMariyama DialloAbou FofanaA teen-movie documentary, Swagger carries us in the midst of the astonishing minds of eleven teenagers growing up in one of the most underprivileged neighborhood in France. Despite their life difficulties, Aulnay's and Sevran's kids have dreams and ambitions. And no one will take that from them!
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsKlaus BarbieClaude LanzmannMarcel OphülsA documentary about Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief of Lyon, and his life after the war.
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsJacques VergèsKlaus BarbieBarbet SchroederA documentary on Jacques Vergès, the controversial lawyer and former Free French Forces guerrilla who has defending unpopular figures such as Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy.
- StarsParker SawyersChronicles the harrowing story and rescue of twelve young soccer players trapped in a Thai cave.
- DirectorRaymond DepardonStarsPaul ArgaudLouis BrèsMarcelle BrèsThird documentary of a trilogy produced on the long term (together with Profils paysans: l'approche (2001) and Profils paysans: le quotidien (2005)), showing the simple lives of farmers in contemporary Southern France.
- StarsCharles MartinetRebecca Ann HeinemanNolan BushnellTraces the history of classic video games, featuring insights from the innovators who brought these worlds and characters to life.
- DirectorFatma CherifSaïd Kasmi