Marc Isaacs is a British documentary maker with a talent for making poignant, revealing films about people. You can watch his new film Men In The City ‒ an affecting and beautifully shot profile of four very different London workers ‒ on the iPlayer, following its broadcast on the BBC yesterday. You also shouldn't miss his BAFTA-nominated short film Lift, filmed entirely from within an elevator inside a block of flats, and All White In Barking, a study from an English town with high immigration and strong BNP support ( pertinently ). Another interview with Marc.
posted by sleepcrime on Oct 25, 2009 - 6 comments

BNP Wives. A 46 minute documentary following three female members of the far-right British National Party.
posted by afx237vi on Oct 11, 2009 - 32 comments

Inside Chernobyl Sarcophagus (1996). Deep inside the sarcophagus, a remarkable group of Soviet physicists is at work in levels of radiation that would be considered almost suicidal in the West. [more inside]
posted by Monsters on Oct 4, 2009 - 42 comments

CGI-brows (link goes to video on Vimeo which contains a naughty word but is otherwise SFW.) A short mockumentary about extreme emoting through SFX by RocketSausage (Dir. Andrew Gaynord) which has won the Virgin Media Shorts People's Choice Award for 2009.
posted by planetkyoto on Oct 1, 2009 - 12 comments

Brenda Kenneally documents the effects of illegal drugs in her Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. Money Power Respect and Big Trigg. NSFW [previous comment]
posted by tellurian on Sep 15, 2009 - 29 comments

'This is the story of how Factory pioneered Briton's independent pop culture, imagined a new Manchester, and blew a shedload of money:

Factory - Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays'
posted by Item on Aug 1, 2009 - 33 comments

How to start and drive a Model T
posted by loquacious on Jun 30, 2009 - 26 comments

1983 Ilsington Squatter Punk Documentary
posted by KoobieKitten on Jun 25, 2009 - 15 comments

RCA Victor's record manufacturing process in 1942: Part one - Part two.
posted by loquacious on May 23, 2009 - 16 comments

Architectural critic and writer Reyner Banham loved Los Angeles. (Last link is a BBC documentary, circa 1972, 52 minutes -- NSFW at 47 minute mark) [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Dec 1, 2008 - 2 comments

Sunday Morning Movie - A moving and fascinating documentary, Dark Days is on Google Video. Marc Singer lived in the tunnel, and started filming with the help of his fellow tunnel dwellers. Trivia here. Inevitable Wikipedia link here. [more inside]
posted by Fuzzy Skinner on Nov 9, 2008 - 19 comments

Will You Be My Friend [Flash]
posted by MiltonRandKalman on Oct 9, 2008 - 12 comments

Gary Owens (previously) and Eric Boardman on dinosaurs: "More Dinosaurs," 1, 2, 3. "Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs," 1, 2, 3. "Son of Dinosaurs," (featuring Jimmy Stewart) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Not dinosaurs, but still cool: "Prehistoric World," 1, 2, 3. [more inside]
posted by brundlefly on Sep 13, 2008 - 5 comments

Spiegel TV has tracked down rare Nazi TV footage, complete with everything from bizarre cabaret acts to interviews with people like Albert Speer. Pop culture done by Nazis, the banality of showbiz evil. [more inside]
posted by hortense on Aug 28, 2008 - 29 comments

"It's a human drama thing." This is a documentary film about a group of people in Texas who enter a competition to win a new "hardbody" pickup truck, merely by keeping one hand on the truck the longest. (via Kottke via waxy) [more inside]
posted by acro on Aug 25, 2008 - 44 comments

Home Movies. A 1975 documentary by a young academic folklorist, exploring what it was that people were doing when they made home movies: remembering selectively, creating a "golden age." [more inside]
posted by Miko on Jul 21, 2008 - 20 comments

Real Military Flix. Documentaries, combat clips, full-length movies. For all your warporn needs. Iraq/Afghanistan firefights. The Great War etc..
posted by stbalbach on Jun 26, 2008 - 6 comments

Pete Seeger and Majora Carter sit down together and bridge the generational gap with a discussion on environmentalism, activism, history, and music. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Jun 24, 2008 - 19 comments

Koyaanisqatsi [more inside]
posted by phrontist on May 10, 2008 - 72 comments

Medici.tv is an online "television" dedicated to performing arts and music documentaries. Its current catalogue includes many classical concerts, documentaries by Johan van der Keuken and on the Kinshasa musical underground (previously), portraits (lots of Glenn Gould, Shostakovich by Sokurov, Maya Plisetskaya...), and plenty more. Launched April 30th, it's streaming its full contents in lovely quality for free until May 15th. [more inside]
posted by progosk on May 8, 2008 - 8 comments

Carlos Castaneda And The Shaman. A BBC documentary on the anthropologist, best-selling author, con-artist, drug guru and cult leader: Carlos Castaneda. (google video, 1 hour)
posted by empath on Apr 12, 2008 - 59 comments

In honor of the 5-year anniversary of the Iraq War, PBS' Frontline presented a fantastic 2- part special on the issue this past Monday and Tuesday. It is now available in it's entirety online along with interview transcripts from senior officials, a video timeline of the war, and battlefield stories from soldiers. Bush's War
posted by auralcoral on Mar 26, 2008 - 100 comments

"My Fake Baby" is a Channel 4 documentary exploring "the lives of women who spend hundreds of pounds on life-like baby dolls. Loved like real babies, they're taken for walks, cuddled and even have their nappies changed." Parts 2, 3, 4, 5.
posted by Avenger50 on Jan 6, 2008 - 68 comments

Thoth has been the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary. He's appeared on "America's Got Talent. And he's one of the most mesmerizing street performers out there. [Previously]
posted by dersins on Aug 2, 2007 - 67 comments

Burroughs
A 1983 documentary by Howard Brookner on William S. Burroughs. 89 mins, G-vid, a bit more inside...
posted by carsonb on Jul 10, 2007 - 13 comments

Real Dolls and the men who love them - this 46 minute documentary explores the lives of four men and the relationships they have established with alternative partners in life. NSFW - doll nudity alert.
posted by madamjujujive on Jul 8, 2007 - 110 comments

All this scratchin' is makin' me itch.
posted by phrontist on Apr 20, 2007 - 26 comments

Hometown Baghdad Web documentary series about the life of 20 somethings living in Baghdad - an interesting addition to the list of more famous web threads on life in Baghdad.
posted by specialk420 on Mar 29, 2007 - 4 comments

An Islamic History of Europe: (90 minute BBC documentary on Google video.) Rageh Omaar uncovers the hidden story of Europe's Islamic past and looks back to a golden age when European civilisation was enriched by Islamic learning. When the Moors Ruled in Europe:(102 minute BBC documentary on Google video.) A look at the Islamic past of Spain and the influence it has on the present.
posted by Burhanistan on Mar 3, 2007 - 15 comments

Watch BBC's documentary: Iran, the least understood country (Google video | Torrent) Rageh Omaar discovers that Iran is a country that bans women from riding motorcycles but where 60 per cent of the student population is female. There are stories of taxi drivers, wrestlers, business women, people working with drug addicts and the country's leading pop star and his manager - the 'Simon Cowell' of Iran. Read his article in the Sunday Times.
posted by hoder on Feb 19, 2007 - 30 comments

Tetris - From Russia with Love (Google Video) A BBC documentary about Tetris and its creator Alexey Pajitnov.
posted by loquacious on Oct 27, 2006 - 23 comments

This Iranian American Life "This blog is for an experimental documentary that I am working on this year, where I will be shooting video of my experiences in Iran and creating shorts, interactive installations, and/or videoblogs using the footage from my experiences and the experiences of others."

Iranian-American student Paris Marashi has gone back to Tehran with the goal of documenting her own experiences with family, friends, and about town. She's also giving inexpensive cameras to Iranians to help them document their own experiences. There are only a few posts up at the moment, but it should be stay interesting as time goes on.
posted by chasing on Aug 8, 2006 - 15 comments

Discovering Electronic Music (1983) pt 2, pt 3 [youtube, via linkfilter]
posted by MetaMonkey on Jul 19, 2006 - 23 comments

Stevie Ray Vaughn, Part 1 - a great little video documentary made by two Norwegian students as an English project. Part 2, Part 3. (YouTube alert)
posted by madamjujujive on Jul 8, 2006 - 21 comments

Zanta: The Movie. If you live or work in downtown Toronto, you've seen him. Shirtless, wearing a Santa hat, and most likely doing pushups, he's David "Zanta" Zancai, and one of the city's most enigmatic characters.
posted by Robot Johnny on May 19, 2006 - 38 comments

The Way Things Go. (Google Video.) The incredible short by Peter Fischli and David Weiss. (Mentioned before (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) but here is the complete film!)
posted by limitedpie on Apr 25, 2006 - 22 comments

Bike Kill 2004 - a 5 min QT clip documenting the Black Label Bike Club’s annual Bike Kill in Brooklyn, recently shown at Bicycle Film Festival 2005. These guys party hard. via in case of mishaps
posted by madamjujujive on Nov 28, 2005 - 15 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