Tired of watching the same rubbish on Netflix? Check out some of the below documentaries:
Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI: 1971 – Fascinating history of some hippies who decided to up the game from peaceful protests and investigate the innerworkings of the FBI–potentially spending the rest of their lives in prison.
Maya Angelou on Facing Evil Amazing public lecture and documentary about Maya Angelou.
James Baldwin vs. William F. Buckley Debate Wow–it’s a shame that voices, debates and discussions like this one seem to be of a bygone era. James Baldwin and Buckley debate the American Dream in England in 1965.
Blues Under the Skin (1973) Obscure Blues Documentary French documentary about Blue musicians.
Imagine The Sound – 1981 – Canadian Classic Free Jazz Documentary Film This is a real classic that has legendary video of piano playing from Cecil Taylor. If you’re not into free jazz–get over yourself and check out the amazing musicianship in this film.
Sun Ra–Brother from Another Planet Sun Ra–Jazz Musician, Afrofuturist, Astronaut, Social/Political thinker, all around bad ass mother fucker.
Bill Evans on the Creative Process and Self-Teaching Conversation With His Brother Harry, 1966 – Amazing chat and video of Bill Evans. Some really interesting thoughts and ideas about jazz, listening to music, and how to create and be creative.
Fun to Imagine with Richard Feynman This is an amazing documentary that has Feynman–one of the most brilliant minds–talking in plain language about the physics in the world around us. Definitely the sort of film that will have you thinking…
On Two Fronts--the history of Latinos fighting in the Vietnam War
Edward Snowden – Terminal F (2015) History of Snowden’s weeks in Hong Kong and his flight to Russia.
Burden of Dreams– This is a crazy documentary about Werner Herzog’s attempt to make a film in Peru. Herzog rambles insane existential mumbo-jumbo throughout and the jungle is filmed beautifully.
F For Fake – a wild ride through forgeries, hoaxes, and trickery with Orson Welles
For all Mankind – Apollo Mission with soundtrack by Brian Eno. Super cool stuff.
Gemini – This is a cool documentary about the Gemini space program that preceded the Apollo program to the Moon. It was the first time space engineers and astronauts learned how to navigate in outer space including the first few spacewalks.