Beginning Sunday, October 4 it's Supreme Court Week on C-SPAN! [more inside]
posted by IvoShandor on Sep 30, 2009 - 9 comments

Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry. A feature-length documentary focusing on Malcolm Lowry, author of the novel Under the Volcano. [more inside]
posted by thescientificmethhead on Jul 27, 2009 - 17 comments

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has put 675 reels of archival 16 mm film online via the Internet Archive. Most of the film is unedited, and stems either from Museum research, or was donated by interested amateurs. Much of it is silent, reflecting the technology of the day. One highlight are the four surviving reels of the long-running TV show 'What in the World" (look for the episode starring Vincent Price), but the archive is full of other hidden gems, such as the 1950s archaeological expedition to Tikal, a 1940 film "A 1000 Mile Road Trip Across America", and Glimpses of Life Among the Catawba and Cherokee Indians of the Carolinas (1927). The films are downloadable in various formats, including MPEG2, Ogg Video, and 512Kb MPEG4. Happy browsing! via.
posted by Rumple on May 3, 2009 - 12 comments

To celebrate its 40th birthday, PBS has loaded - and continues to load - tons of content into its new, slick, Coverflow-ish on-demand site. Full episodes of American Experience, American Masters, Frontline, Great Performances, Masterpiece Theater, Nature, Nova, the NewsHour and a bunch more are now online.
posted by jbickers on Apr 22, 2009 - 44 comments

"What you're looking for as a retoucher is a broom, something that covers your tracks, some way of obscuring where you've been. The first thing [most] people take out is bloodshot eyes. That's the last thing I take out—the last thing I'd, like, just wipe, because that just makes it look retouched." -- from Jesse Epstein's video op-ed for the NY Times, based on her film Wet Dreams and False Images ("I know that's not airbrushed. I could put a million dollars that's not airbrushed."), one of three related short documentaries on physical perfection. "Each head has to be identical to the other head, so we don't want anybody putting sandpaper to the head." -- from 34 x 25 x 36. Via the latest installment of Shakesville's Impossibly Beautiful series. (Previous posts on retouching.)
posted by maudlin on Apr 3, 2009 - 51 comments

SpaceTimeTV collects and lets you watch all the best educational videos online from full length documentaries (such as the 50 minute long Is There Life on Mars) to short video clips such as this one on glaciers and global warming. There are hundreds of videos on topics including history, space, technology, and nature.
posted by Effigy2000 on Mar 31, 2009 - 6 comments

Mentioned here earlier in its beta form, Canada's National Film Board has released the bulk of its films online, for free, in the NFB Screening Room. With hundreds of films from the 1920s onwards, including groundbreaking work by animator Norman McLaren, documentaries, dramas, bizarre anti-smoking (or pro-smoking?) screeds and much, much more, it's a breathtaking trove of amazing film to be discovered from north of the 49th. [more inside]
posted by Shepherd on Jan 22, 2009 - 53 comments

When her Japanese-American husband was sent to internment camps in California and Wyoming, Estelle Peck Ishigo chose to accompany him. An art-school teacher fired for her interracial marriage, she documented the three-and-a-half-year ordeal in a short memoir and hundreds of sketches and paintings. [more inside]
posted by Knappster on Dec 30, 2008 - 6 comments

Avatara is a 2003 ethnographic film (72 minutes) that takes place entirely in "Cyberia", specifically in the Digitalspace Traveler virtual world (previously), which dates back to 1996. Interview with the filmmaker. Review of the film. via [more inside]
posted by Rumple on Dec 30, 2008 - 4 comments

The Afterlife of American Clothes. "From 2003 to 2007 [filmmakers Hanna Rose Shell and Vanessa Bertozzi] visited rag yards in Miami, dug through archives in London and Washington, D.C., and traveled to Haiti to see the international secondhand markets for themselves. The result is the recent documentary Secondhand (Pepe), which explores the global trade in used clothing."
posted by Knappster on Aug 17, 2008 - 12 comments

Canadian author Lesley Choyce and his family share their extended encounter with a surfeit of skunks in a short documentary, avaible on YouTube in three parts. [more inside]
posted by CKmtl on May 21, 2008 - 3 comments

Do you love documentaries? The Documentary Blog offers reviews and news about documentary films. Check out their list of the Top 25 Documentaries.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner on Mar 27, 2008 - 52 comments

The Red Bull Music Academy is the best in music, past & present, from around the world, under one roof, getting down just for the funk of it. It is an event that travels the world, a yearly celebration of all the journeys and breakthroughs, all the dreams and intricacies that go into the music we love.
Here on the 'tubes the RBMA mainly consists of lectures, interactive features, and documentaries. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Jan 20, 2008 - 21 comments

We've discussed Tom Harpur's The Pagan Christ before. Now, the CBC is going to air a documentary exploring the questions raised in Harpur's book. [more inside]
posted by never used baby shoes on Nov 30, 2007 - 21 comments

Guess who's censoring references to evolution out of David Attenborough documentaries? That's right, the Dutch. See the differences; here's a detailed write-up by a Dutch biologist and documentary enthusiast comparing the two versions side-by-side (in Dutch).
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Aug 28, 2007 - 41 comments

If you watched a lot of television in the 70's, you'll recognize this ad. An authoritative baritone informs us of a startling new motion picture about psychic phenomena, the Bermuda Triangle, near death experiences (with fittingly, a sequel), Bigfoot, the Shroud of Turin, the Lincoln Assassination, or Noah's Ark. "Showing for one weekend only!" (More beyond the door...)
posted by McLir on Jul 16, 2007 - 26 comments

Orson Welles: The One Man Band - a movie that takes a look at the last years of Mr. Welles. German/English with English subtitles. Full .avi download available.
posted by Burhanistan on Jul 13, 2007 - 18 comments

Have a lazy sunday ahead of you? Feed your head with a few hundred downloadable and streamable BBC Documentaries, uploaded by a single usenet user. I've only watched the majestic and sometimes depressing The Planets and can't wait to go watch more.
posted by empath on Jul 1, 2007 - 22 comments

Back in 1964, a documentary was commissioned by Granada Television called Seven Up!, which aimed to test the old Jesuit maxim “Give me the child until he is seven and I will give you the man” by studying the lives of a group of children from various backgrounds to see how their lives would develop. Every seven years thereafter, director Michael Apted has returned to see where their lives have taken them, in a series of films known as The Up Series. You can read a great overview of the series here. Some have followed the path expected of them. Others have moved halfway across the world. Some have even set up their own webpage! And others still, like Neil, have found that getting to what may be your calling in life often requires you to take a signifcant detour, as this video from the latest edition, 49 Up, shows.
posted by Effigy2000 on Feb 1, 2007 - 79 comments

The late Dan Gibson: Pioneering wildlife documentarian and sound archivist. Inventor of the Dan Gibson Parabolic Microphone. Musician. Order of Canada recipient. All-around good guy.
posted by The Card Cheat on Dec 19, 2006 - 6 comments

Radio Lab! Already listened to everything This American Life offers or maybe looking for something a bit smarter and full of science? Maybe you'll like Radio Lab. Maybe you'll like the mind-blowing and historically expanding episode on music. Maybe older history is your cup of tea -- how about biblical times and how they sit in shoeboxes in Oxford. A stack of shows available via podcast, MP3 download (and some .RAM, sorry).
posted by Ogre Lawless on Oct 13, 2006 - 11 comments

CDX: great Flash adventure by BBC History (in association with Preloaded) for their "Ancient Rome" series.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Sep 24, 2006 - 9 comments

If... Drugs Were Legal [1 hr Google video]. Last January, BBC Two produced a drama-documentary showing a future where drugs have been legalised. I missed the whole series, but if they're as good as this, they're worth watching out for.
posted by iffley on Aug 21, 2006 - 64 comments

When I Came Home: Iraq War veteran Herold Noel suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and lives out of his car in Brooklyn. Using Noel's story as a fulcrum, this doc examines the wider issue of homeless U.S. military veterans-from Vietnam to Iraq-who have to fight tooth-and-nail to receive the benefits promised to them by their government.
posted by riley370 on May 21, 2006 - 45 comments

Refuge of Last Resort is a documentary shot in the wake of Katrina. They've got a trailer up showing a quick overview of the project and they're even offering raw footage shot in hi-def. [via mefi projects]
posted by mathowie on Dec 13, 2005 - 14 comments

The creator of SNL's "Mr. Bill" tried to get the potential problems of New Orleans noticed for several years. He made a 45 minute documentary shown on PBS (very interesting, watch it (windows media file) here), and even did a public service spot (another wmv). His home page (yes, www.mrbill.com) also has a recent radio interview (MP3) with the Mayor of New Orleans blasting the non-response from the feds to date.
posted by centerpunch on Sep 2, 2005 - 7 comments

I felt I was pretty much prepared technically but I had this huge hole in my apprenticeship — dealing with actors. I had no experience of that. I had been filming fish for four years.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be presenting Risks and Reinvention: The Cinema of Louis Malle (June 24 - July 19). This extensive retrospective will include all of the great director's feature films and nearly all of his documentaries, including the rare seven-hour Phantom India. After its run at Lincoln Center, the retrospective will go on tour across the U.S. and Canada. Malle’s thriller Elevator to the Gallows will also receive a US theatrical release this summer. (via The Criterion Collection). More inside. — —
posted by matteo on Jun 23, 2005 - 5 comments

Buddhist photo documentaries and more.
posted by plep on May 31, 2005 - 5 comments

Sticks and Stones - exploring the US news media from a Canadian perspective, a great documentary produced by CBC's "The Fifth Estate" has been made available for viewing online. I hope the CBC starts doing this more often.
posted by Space Coyote on Apr 29, 2005 - 40 comments

The “Stop Motion Studies” are a series of experimental documentaries that chronicle my interaction with subway passengers in cities around the world. Begun in the fall of 2002, the project currently includes 13 installments from countries including Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Japan.
posted by onkelchrispy on Feb 15, 2005 - 29 comments

Eyes on the Screen : As was noted here previously, due to issues over clearance rights, 1987's ground-breaking Civil Rights Movement documentary Eyes on the Prize hasn't been available for ten years. Downhill Battle is doing something about it: "On February 8th help us bring this film back to a nationwide audience. Download the film today and organize a screening in your city or town."
posted by webmutant on Jan 26, 2005 - 19 comments

Mirrors. Documentarian Bruce Jackson found "a group of about two hundred 3x4" identification photographs made between 1914 and 1937... in a drawer in the Arkansas penitentiary in the summer of 1975"; this (slideshow) is the online record of an exhibition.

It is impossible to look at these images and not think about the persons depicted there. But, save for one fact that is a given—and what we find in or infer from these images—we know nothing about those persons, and never will. The given is that they are all prisoners: for whatever reason, they have been deprived of liberty, the single piece of enduring proof of which is the image at which we presently gaze. The conclusions we draw, the feelings we have, the narratives we suppose—they are all our own. The images are mirrors, resonating with aspects of our selves we perhaps never before encountered.

Many of them are haunting; this one has been turned by time into a work of art. (Via Ramage.)
posted by languagehat on Dec 21, 2004 - 34 comments

Sinclair Broadcast Group drops full airing of "Stolen Honor Wounds That Never Heal" but will only show excerpts concurrent with discussion of its claims. "Sinclair announced on Tuesday that it would not broadcast the entire film and that it planned to use segments in a special news program on 40 of its 62 stations tomorrow night. According to a press release, that program, "A P.O.W. Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media," will examine how politically charged films like "Stolen Honor" are being used in the campaign and how the news media treat their content." (NY Times, reg. req'd.)
posted by sierray on Oct 20, 2004 - 24 comments

Anti-Kerry Film Producer Accused of Libel A Vietnam veteran shown in a documentary criticizing Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s anti-war activities filed a libel lawsuit against the movie's producer Monday, saying the film falsely calls the veteran a fraud and a liar. Kenneth J. Campbell, now a professor at the University of Delaware, said in the suit that "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal" combines footage of him appearing at a 1971 war protest with narration that claims that many of the supposed veterans who took part in the event were later "discovered as frauds" who "never set foot on the battlefield, or left the comfort of the States, or even served in uniform."
posted by Postroad on Oct 18, 2004 - 18 comments

Collect art films on DVD? You probably already know of DVD Talk (and their forums). But What about Criterion Forums, a place to discuss boutique dvd labels (not just Criterion, but Kino, Anchor Bay, Blue Underground, Plexi, and others), as well as trade and purchase used titles from other collectors/ members? (You'll see more categories in the forums once you register.)
posted by dobbs on Sep 6, 2004 - 10 comments

The journey to burning man. Part 1. Part 2 An interview with a Burning Man founder. Bike Ride man. Thunderdome. QT vids.
posted by srboisvert on Aug 21, 2004 - 27 comments

The Road to Tyranny (Realvideo). A sensational and informative film by Alex Jones. Ignore the presentation, or, consider it entertainment if you wish, but there's some pretty good content in there including some surprising news footage from the aftermath of the OKC bombing 19 minutes in.
posted by euphorb on Jul 13, 2004 - 18 comments

Read-a-long-a-Fahrenheit-9/11. Michael Moore posts six pages of quotes and links to back up his movie. And since he doesn't mind you downloading it, why not watch it on your computer and fact-check his ass as you go?
posted by reklaw on Jul 13, 2004 - 59 comments

The Corporation (U.S. premiere tonight) is "a surprisingly rational and coherent attack on capitalism's most important institution," or so says The Economist. An important but flawed documentary? Or something bigger? (imdb page | rotten tomato review collection) (wee more inside)
posted by mrgrimm on Jun 4, 2004 - 71 comments

This turns into one of those cases where researching a story gets weirder. The documentary Super Size Me centers on a documentary filmmaker's 30 day experience eating nothing but McDonalds. The film is doing amazingly well as a limited release documentary grossing more per screen than high-budget Troy. Here is the weird part, Reuters has picked up on a distributor press release claiming that MTV is refusing to air advertising for Super Size Me because the film is "disparaging to fast-food restaurants". The Reuters short seems to have quite a bit of legs. However a Hollywood Reporter article details MTVs side of the story placing the blame on the film's distributor. Is this really a case of a network getting cold feet? Or is it a case of distributor trying to pull the "too edgy for MTV" moneymaking ploy? And what is with the continually morphing Reuters clip that is just now being tossed onto doorsteps and stuffed into newsboxes across North America? (The film was previously discussed on metafilter back in January.
posted by KirkJobSluder on May 27, 2004 - 23 comments

Jesse Friedman's Web Site from the incredibly powerful and amazing documentary Capturing the Friedmans. A "documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes." When watching the film from start to finish I went back and forth on their guilt or innocence and when the film was over I'm still not sure. In the time of the mass media hysteria and questionable police tactics what would you have done?
posted by suprfli on Mar 26, 2004 - 3 comments

Streaming video documentary films about American traditional music. Great American roots music films for free! Click and watch full length documentaries about the Popovich Brothers Tamburitza band of South Bend Indiana, Louisiana creole fiddler Canray Fontenot, the last Black medicine-show performer, sacred harp singing and much more. An amazing collaboration between folklorists and indie film makers.
posted by zaelic on Mar 8, 2004 - 2 comments

There was no conspiracy in the assassination of JFK, according to a new BBC documentary broadcast tonight. Offering a CG reconstruction of the plaza based on the Zapruder film and interviews with people who knew people, convincing evidence was offered that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone gunman acting on his own. Essentially that all these people are misguided. It also carefully worked through some of the other theories, Cuban and Mob and had very few nice things to say about Oliver Stone. For example, there wasn't a magic bullet because the diagram in the film is wrong -- Texas Governor John Connally wasn't sitting directly in front of the president, but below and just off the side, so the round just went in a straight line. This was tragedy effecting millions perpetrated by one man. How often have we heard that story?
posted by feelinglistless on Nov 23, 2003 - 59 comments

In the 1980's, Mark "Gator" Rogowski was on par with Tony Hawk at the top of the nascent world of professional skateboarding. Contrasting the path Hawk took in the 90's (video games, ESPN tie-ins), things did not go so well for Gator. After surviving a hideous accident in 1989, Mark turned to Jesus, and then shortly thereafter he brutally raped & murdered a female friend of his ex-girlfriend's. The documentary of his rise & amazing fall appears today in limited release.
posted by jonson on Aug 15, 2003 - 43 comments

Hi! My name is...what? MeFi's own RJ Reynolds has posted a snippet from his hard-hitting documentary about bloggers. Features heartfelt treatises on the worth of self-publication from unknown bloggers around the world. Or not.
posted by patricking on May 22, 2003 - 12 comments

Miguk - A film documentary on the life of an expat English teacher in Korea. If you've done it, this will bring back memories. If you're thinking of doing it, this is worth watching. If, like me, you're in Korea now, watching it on 'film' somehow dignifies the experience. Two thumbs up. [.wmv format, 16 segments]
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Apr 18, 2003 - 21 comments

The intrinsic mystery of the crop circle is explored in this voice mail to a documentary production company. NSFW [MP3]
posted by Pretty_Generic on Mar 5, 2003 - 22 comments

There's one man that represents where I was brought up in Lancashire. Steeplejack Fred Dibnah. His interests include industrial archeology, traction engines and wearing flat caps. Recently he has been making history programmes for the BBC where his enthusiasm and interest in what other people are saying is given a fresh twist by his working class perspective and respect for the builders of castles, mills etc. A great man with his own way with words. So, who are your local heroes?
posted by quarsan on Dec 18, 2002 - 8 comments

Boom! Atomic Cocktail! Released in 1982, and made up of propaganda footage, newsreels and civil defense films, The Atomic Cafe has been released on DVD. Here are some sound clips from the film (warning: noise), and here's a tiny bit of information about one of the director's other films, Feed.
posted by interrobang on Dec 3, 2002 - 12 comments

I vividly remember watching Ken Burns' amazingly great The Civil War during the Gulf War. Now that we're apparently having a Gulf War sequel, The Civil War has been remastered and re-released. The Washington Post jumps on the bandwagon with an online discussion with Ken Burns and a great Flash map of the campaign from the Seven Days to Antietam.
posted by kirkaracha on Sep 23, 2002 - 9 comments