Browse Movies : 2016 : Documentary

Don’t Look Down reveals the story behind Richard Branson’s daring adventures trying to break world records for flying in a hot air balloon. The film tells a story of courage, determination, despair and ultimate triumph.

For The Love of Spock celebrates the upcoming 50th Anniversary of Star Trek through a personal, intimate look at the life and career of Leonard Nimoy – and his alter ego Mr. Spock – as told by his son, Adam Nimoy, featuring never-before-seen home videos and family photos. Zachary Quinto, William Shatner, George Takei, J.J. Abrams, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Jim Parsons and more join in the celebration revealing why the world holds both Leonard Nimoy and his iconic character so dear and how Star Trek still affects the globe 50 years after it’s origin.

Blessed with astonishing power and poise, Sergei Polunin took the dance world by storm and became the Royal ballet's youngest ever principal. At the peak of his success, aged 25, he walked away, driven to the brink of self-destruction by stardom - his talent more a burden than a gift. Here is an unprecedented look into the life of a complex young man who has made ballet go viral. Urban rebel, iconoclast, airborne angel, Sergei is transforming the shape of ballet as we know it. But virtuosity comes with a high price. How can you be free to be yourself when you are ballet's 'hottest property'?

In 1985, recent film school graduate Will Allen became a member of The Buddhafield, a Los Angeles area spiritual group. Also acting as the group’s official videographer, he began to document their activities, which centered on the mysterious leader they called Michel, or The Teacher. Over time, the group’s dark side began to surface as total devotion turned to paranoia, until finally, unexpected truths about their enlightened leader were revealed – all in front of Allen’s camera. This incredible, 22-year archive of video footage became the basis for Holy Hell. Now, for the first time since he left the group, Allen turns the camera on himself and asks fellow ex-cult members to come to terms with their past and the unbelievable deceit they experienced

Filmmaker Chris Bell's (Bigger Stronger Faster) hard-hitting and thought-provoking expose of Big Pharma, its marketing practices and their impact on the staggering level of addiction to prescription drugs in North America.

After Steven Spielberg's classic Raiders of the Lost Ark was released 35 years ago, three 11-year-old boys from Mississippi set out on what would become a 7-year-long labor of love and tribute to their favorite film: a faithful, shot-for-shot adaptation of the action adventure film. They finished every scene...except one; the film's explosive airplane set piece.

Over two decades later, the trio reunited with the original cast members from their childhood in order to complete their masterpiece.

Launched in 1981 by three friends in a Houston diner, Compaq Computer set out to build a portable PC to take on IBM, the world’s most powerful tech company. Many companies had tried cloning the industry leader’s code, only to be trounced by IBM and its high-priced lawyers. SILICON COWBOYS explores the remarkable David vs. Goliath story, and eventual demise, of Compaq, an unlikely upstart who altered the future of computing and helped shape the world as we know it today.

From Academy Award-winning director and master storyteller Ron Howard, comes the extraordinary journey of the greatest band in history: The Beatles.

They were the Brangelina of ’70s South Korea—the romance between the debonair film director Shin Sang-ok and glamorous actress Choi Eun-hee took them to the heights of South Korean society. Fame took a toll on their love, but it also attracted unbelievable twists of fate. The two find themselves kidnapped by the North Korean regime, and they are forced to play along with a bizarre filmmaking project led by superfan cinephile Kim Jong-il. Enduring torture, imprisonment, and surveillance, their romance is rekindled, and they realize escape is only possible through filmmaking—but the smallest mistake in their plans could cost them their lives.

This film noir of the most twisted order is meticulously crafted with an analog-loving sensibility, offering incredible archive footage of the era that even includes rare clandestine audio recordings of Jong-il discussing his plot for a cinematic paradise. The tapes deliver a chilling yet fascinating glimpse into the psychology of the North Korean dictatorship and what happens when art, love, and megalomania collide.

The story behind JT LeRoy, the fictional writer created by American author Laura Albert.

From past to present, unveiling the behind-the-scenes characters and the clients beholden to its charm, CRAZY ABOUT TIFFANY’S is the first, fully authorized documentary capturing how a simple jewelry store has woven itself into pop culture to become a global phenomenon. This captivating glimpse will take us from the moment each jewel is conceived by the first female Tiffany Design Director, Francesca Amfitheaterof, to the Tiffany-designed trophy hoisted at the Super Bowl, and to the jewel-adorned Oscar red carpet in Hollywood.

Gridiron Heroes is the story of high school football star Chris Canales, who was paralyzed in a championship football game. The film chronicles the work of the Gridiron Heroes Spinal Cord Injury Foundation started by Chris and his father Eddie. Gridiron Heroes is also an examination of the game of football itself. Some of the most famous faces in the game discuss the larger problem of brain damage and spinal cord injuries that occur on the football field and a solution, “Heads up Tackling,” is presented.

Follows the Cinderella story of Dutch immigrant Harry deLeyer and his transformative relationship with a broken down Amish plow horse –named Snowman – that he rescued off a slaughter truck bound for the glue factory. In less than two years, Harry and Snowman would go on to win the triple crown of show jumping, beating the nation’s blue bloods and traveling the world together as they became the media darlings of the 1950s and 60s. Their chance meeting at a Pennsylvania horse auction saved them both and crafted a friendship that would last a lifetime, as told by 86-year-old Harry firsthand.

Nuts recounts the mostly-true story of John Romulus Brinkley, a Kansas doctor who in 1917 discovered that he could cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles into men. From there, the story only gets more bizarre.

After traveling the world alongside migrating birds and diving the oceans with whales and manta rays, Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud return to more familiar ground, the lush green forests and megafauna that emerged across Europe following the last Ice Age. Winter had gone on for 80,000 years when, in a relatively short period of time the ice retreated, the landscape metamorphosed, the cycle of seasons was established and the beasts occupied their new kingdom. It was only later than man arrived to share this habitat, first tentatively as migratory hunter/gatherers, then making inroads in the forest as settled agriculturalists, and later more dramatically via industry and warfare.

Tells the extraordinary story of an international musical collective created by legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The film follows this group of diverse instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they explore the power of music to preserve tradition, shape cultural evolution and inspire hope.

After stumbling upon a bizarre “competitive endurance tickling” video online, wherein young men are paid to be tied up and tickled, reporter David Farrier reaches out to request a story from the company. But the reply he receives is shocking—the sender mocks Farrier's sexual orientation and threatens extreme legal action should he dig any deeper. So, like any good journalist confronted by a bully, he does just the opposite: he travels to the hidden tickling facilities in Los Angeles and uncovers a vast empire, known for harassing and harming the lives of those who protest their involvement in these films. The more he investigates, the stranger it gets, discovering secret identities and criminal activity.

In January 2015, Noma, recognized as the World’s Best Restaurant, and led by its charismatic chef René Redzepi, moved its entire team from Denmark to Japan. Known for his one-of-a-kind cooking and for distilling the Danish landscape and “time and place” onto a plate, can Redzepi and his team apply their philosophy to an entirely foreign experience, using ingredients that they’ve never seen before, all whilst under the intense pressure and scrutiny that comes with running the world’s best restaurant? For the first time ever, this food filled documentary will offer a glimpse into the mind of one of the world’s most influential people (Time Magazine) and his international team, as they undertake one of the biggest challenges of their careers.

Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold shows us a Los Angeles where ethnic cooking is a kaleidoscopic portal to the mysteries of an unwieldy city and the soul of America.

A documentary on the life and times of Danny Fields. Since 1966, Danny Fields has played a pivotal role in music and “culture” of the late 20th century: working for the Doors, Cream, Lou Reed, Nico, Judy Collins and managing groundbreaking artists like the Stooges, the MC5 and the Ramones.