Documentaries To Watch

Keep on Burning tells the fascinating story of the world's most enduring underground music movement : Northern Soul! Featuring interviews with key DJ's, journalists and promoters, including soul radio pioneer Tony Blackburn, this new documentary was filmed on location at Manchester's iconic Twisted Wheel and London's 100 Club. Wigan Casino founder Russ Winstanley and Blue & Soul music journalist Tony Cummings recount the artists, records and stories which have made Northern Soul a way of life for its aficionados. With contributions from record label executives' Tim Brown (Goldmine), Ady Croasdell (Kent), Dave McAleer (Pye/RCA) and Neil Rushton (Inferno), Keep on Burning reveals a unique insight into the music phenomenon that came of age in the clubs of Northern England in the mid-seventies.

A celebration of the musical work of a group of session musicians known as "The Wrecking Crew", a band that provided back-up instrumentals to such legendary recording artists as Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys and Bing Crosby.

A documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.

A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century".

Three elite climbers struggle to find their way through obsession and loss as they attempt to climb Mount Meru, one of the most coveted prizes in the high stakes game of Himalayan big wall climbing.

A documentary on 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, his renowned Tokyo restaurant, and his relationship with his son and eventual heir, Yoshikazu.

Documentary about French philosopher (and author of deconstructionism) Jacques Derrida, who sparked fierce debate throughout American academia.

BEING IN THE WORLD takes us on a journey around the world to meet philosophers influenced by the thought of Martin Heidegger, as well as experts in the fields of sports, music, craft, and cooking, in a celebration of human beings, and our ability to find meaning in life through the mastery of physical, intellectual, and creative skills.

In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today's most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas.

An exploration of wisdom in the heart of America's most prestigious universities. Wisdom is found in the most unlikely places.

'An Ecology of Mind' is a filmic portrait of anthropologist, biologist, and psychotherapist Gregory Bateson. Bateson believed that, 'The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between the way nature works and the way people think.' Seen through the relationship between father and daughter, this documentary is an invitation into 'systems thinking' and interrelationships in the natural world. 'Looking at what holds systems together is a radical step toward sewing the world back together, from the inside.'

A film about the eccentric and paradoxical Russian philosopher Alexander Piatigorsky - a specialist on Buddhism and ancient Indian philosophy, a legendary character in Russian intellectual circles since the 60s, and a well-known writer who, "collects interesting people" and "doesn't wish to prepare for death".

HOW TO START A REVOLUTION is the remarkable untold story of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Gene Sharp, the world's leading expert on non-violent revolution. This new film (from first time director Ruaridh Arrow) reveals how Gene's work has given a new generation of revolutionary leaders the weapons needed to overthrow dictators. It shows how his 198 steps to non-violent regime change have inspired uprisings from Serbia to Ukraine and from Egypt to Syria and how his work has spread across the globe in an unstoppable wave of profound democratic change. How To Start A Revolution is the story of the power of people to change their world, the modern revolution and the man behind it all.

Marx Reloaded is a cultural documentary that examines the relevance of German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx's ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis of 2008-09. The crisis triggered the deepest global recession in 70 years and prompted the US government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from collapse. Today the full implications of the crisis in Europe and around the world still remain unclear. Nevertheless, should we accept the crisis as an unfortunate side-effect of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why it happened and its likely effects on our society, our economy and our whole way of life? Written and directed by Jason Barker - himself an experienced writer, lecturer, translator and doctor of philosophy - Marx Reloaded comprises interviews with the world's leading philosophers of Marxism, including those at the forefront of a popular revival in Marxist and communist ideas. The film also includes interviews with skeptics of this revival as well as light-hearted animation sequences which follow Marx's adventures through the matrix of his own ideas.

Philosopher Slavoj Zizek examines the hidden themes and existential questions asked by world renowned films.

This documentary tells the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party, one of the 20th century's most alluring and controversial organizations that captivated the world's attention for nearly 50 years.

A documentary that chronicles artist and activist Ai Weiwei as he prepares for a series of exhibitions and gets into an increasing number of clashes with the Chinese government.

Chef Ferran Adrià spends half the year making new culinary creations for his restaurant.

Drawn from a never-before-seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.

Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the journey of his Graceland album, including the political backlash he received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime.

A series of interviews featuring linguist, philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky done in hand-drawn animation.

Barry Crimmins is pissed. His hellfire brand of comedy has rained verbal lightning bolts on American audiences and politicians for decades, yet you've probably never heard of him. But once you've experienced Bobcat Goldthwait's brilliant character portrait of him and heard Crimmins's secret, you will never forget him. From his unmistakable bullish frame came a scathingly ribald stand-up style that took early audiences by force. Through stark, smart observation and judo-like turns of phrase, Crimmins's rapid-fire comedy was a war on ignorance and complacency in '80s America at the height of an ill-considered foreign policy. Crimmins discusses another side of his character, revealing in detail a dark and painful past that inspired his life-changing campaign of activism in the hope of saving others from a similar experience. Interviews with comics like Margaret Cho and Marc Maron illustrate Crimmins's love affair with comedy and his role in discovering and supporting the development of many of today's stars. As a venerated member of America's comic community, Crimmins could be your newest national treasure. Just don't tell him that.

A short documentary on the famous Aokigahara Forest in Japan. The forest is known to be prone to people looking to commit suicide

When backpackers visit a small village in remote northern Laos in search of a traditional experience, the inhabitants of the village discover the attractions of the West. Two worlds meet at the crossroads of their respective desire; the one longing for authenticity, the other for modernity. In this micro-cosmos, their encounter leaves no one unchanged and tells a poetic story of friendship and how we relate to each other in a rapidly changing world.

A family that survived the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.