Browse Movies : 2016 : Documentary : T

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.

The Last Man On The Moon is powered by the same adrenalin, drama and raw emotions experienced by former NASA astronaut and Navy Captain Eugene “Gene” Cernan. When Cernan became the last man to step off of the surface of the moon in December 1972, he left his footprints and his daughter’s initials in the lunar dust. Only now is he ready to share his epic and deeply personal story of fulfillment, love and loss. Five years in the making, the documentary unveils a wealth of rare archival footage and takes Cernan back to the launch pad at Cape Kennedy (now NASA Kennedy Space Center), to the Arlington National Cemetery, and to his Texas ranch where he tries to find respite from a past that refuses to let him go. The film features exclusive interviews with former astronauts, such as Apollo 12 crew-members Alan Bean and Dick Gordon and Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell, as well as NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz and Director of Flight Operations Chris Kraft.

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

The First Monday in May follows the creation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's most attended fashion exhibition in history, "China: Through The Looking Glass," an exploration of Chinese-inspired Western fashions by Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton.

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.

Chronicles the history of racial inequality in the United States, examining how our country has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with the majority of prisoners being African-American. From the rebirth of the KKK to the Black Lives Matter movement, director Ava DuVernay traces the history of racism in the U.S. and how such fear and division facilitate a system that drives such mass criminalization.

Filmmaker Jen Senko explores the transformation of her father from a non-political life-long Democrat to a radicalized Right-Wing fanatic, she discovers that this is a widespread phenomenon, especially among older white men. She uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon to create a media run by the GOP, The Powell Memo and the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, all of which would ultimately result in a media which would misinform millions, divide families and even the country itself.

Academy Award-Winning documentary filmmaker Charles Ferguson (Inside Job, No End in Sight) turns his lens to address worldwide climate change challenges and solutions in his new film. Ferguson explores the comprehensive scope of the climate change crisis and examines the power of solutions already available.

U.S. abortion clinics are fighting to survive. Since 2010, hundreds of laws regulating abortion clinics have been passed by conservative state legislatures, particularly in the south. These restrictions, known as TRAP laws (or Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers) are spreading across America. Faced with increased costs of compliance and the alarming fear of violence from protestors, the stakes for the women and men on the frontlines couldn't be any higher. As the battle heads to the U.S. Supreme Court, TRAPPED follows the struggles of the clinic workers and lawyers fighting to keep abortion safe and legal for millions of American women, many of them poor and uninsured.

The film focuses on the challenges of guiding gifted young people through the struggles of mastering the cello. Through the words and actions of master cello teacher, Paul Katz, it’s clear that this deep study of music not only prepares wonderful musicians, but builds self-esteem and a cultural and aesthetic character that will be profoundly important throughout his students’ lives.

At a remote Mojave Desert high school extraordinary educators believe that empathy and life skills, more than academics, give at-risk students command of their own futures. This coming-of-age drama watches education combat the crippling effects of poverty in the lives of these so-called “bad kids.”

The Eagle Huntress follows Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been handed down from father to son for centuries.

Award-winning director Richard Ladkani and Academy Award®-nominated director Kief Davidson filmed undercover for 16 months in China and Africa with a crack team of intelligence operatives, undercover activists, passionate frontline rangers and tough-as-nails conservationists, to infiltrate the corrupt global network of ivory trafficking.

Troublemakers unearths the history of land art in the tumultuous late 1960s and early 1970s. The film features a cadre of renegade New York artists that sought to transcend the limitations of painting and sculpture by producing earthworks on a monumental scale in the desolate desert spaces of the American southwest.

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.

Music is the beating heart of Malian culture, but when Islamic jihadists took control of northern Mali in 2012, they enforced one of the harshest interpretations of sharia law by banning all forms of music. Radio stations were destroyed, instruments burned, and Mali’s musicians faced torture, even death. Overnight, the country’s revered musicians were forced into hiding or exile, where most remain -- even now. But rather than laying down their instruments, these courageous artists fought back, standing up for their freedoms and using music as a weapon against the ongoing violence that has ravaged their homeland.

August 1st 1966 was the day our innocence was shattered. A sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the iconic University of Texas Tower and opened fire, holding the campus hostage for 96 minutes in what was a previously unimaginable event. Tower combines archival footage with rotoscopic animation of the dramatic day, based entirely on first person testimonies from witnesses, heroes and survivors, in a seamless and suspenseful retelling of the unfolding tragedy. The film highlights the fear, confusion, and visceral realities that changed the lives of those present, and the rest of us, forever - a day when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others.