We Were Here (2011)

Directors:
David Weissman, Bill Weber

IMDB

Synopsis:
In the 1970s, San Francisco had arguably the largest and most active gay community in America; it was the first city in America to elect an openly gay man to public office, Harvey Milk, and was one of the first places where the gay community learned to consolidate their political and economic power as well as enjoying a freedom and openness unknown in most cities. But the idyll of the 1970s ended in the early '80s, as AIDS began its spread through the city's gay community, claiming some of the best and brightest voices of a generation and forever changing the conversation about gay culture. Filmmaker David Weissman offers a moving portrait of the AIDS crisis and its legacy in the documentary We Were Here: Voices From the AIDS Years in San Francisco, in which people who lived in the city before, during, and after the height of the AIDS pandemic discuss not just disease, death, and consequences, but how the community learned to come together to support and protect one another in a time of darkness. We Were Here was screened as a work in progress at the 2010 San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.

Desert Bayou (2007)

Director:
Alex LeMay

IMDB

Synopsis:
Filmmaker Alex LeMay explores the plight of 600 African-Americans who were unwittingly airlifted into the predominantly Caucasian state of Utah in the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in this documentary exploring the aftermath of one of the worst natural and humanitarian disasters in American history. When the water settled on New Orleans, the disaster had only begun. Now, as LeMay allows evacuees of Hurricane Katrina to tell their remarkable stories in their own words, viewers are invited to explore whether two radically different cultures can truly come together in their most desperate hour, or whether social differences will simply prove too difficult to overcome. Additional candid interviews with military, political, and religious leaders, as well as influential figures from both communities, paint a vivid picture of the struggle for survival as the misplaced New Orleans citizens struggle to come to terms with their loss, and the rising tides of racism, religion, and politics threaten to wash away a century's worth of social progress.

Gimme Shelter (1970)

Directors:
David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin

IMDB

Synopsis:
Called the greatest rock film ever made, this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour. When three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco’s Altamont Speedway, Direct Cinema pioneers David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin were there to immortalize on film the bloody slash that transformed a decade’s dreams into disillusionment.

The 'Alien' Saga (2002)

Director:
Brent Zacky

IMDB

Synopsis:
Originally aired on AMC, this documentary focuses on one of the most horrifying series ever to be committed to celluloid -- the Alien film series. With interviews from most of the main players, including Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, and H.R. Giger, the special goes through conception through production of all four films released from 20th Century Fox. Narrated by the Alien's first-ever onscreen victim, John Hurt, The Alien Saga gives insight into various script changes, casting choices, and the series fantastical effects through the eyes of the innovators behind them. The same production team, headed by writer/director Brent Zacky, also produced the equally exhausting horror film series documentary The Omen Legacy.

Wall (2004)

Director:
Simone Bitton

IMDB

Synopsis:
In the summer of 2002, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon ordered the construction of a massive security wall, which would clearly define the border between Israel and Palestine and prevent Palestinian forces from easily entering Israeli territory. While the wall follows the nation's official borderlines, it cuts through neighborhoods, gardens, farmlands and others areas, serving as an ugly and divisive reminder of the ongoing conflict and ultimately trapping people on both sides within the barrier. Documentary filmmaker Simone Bitton, a Jew born in Morocco who identifies with both Israeli and Arab cultures, examines the long and costly process of building this fence in Wall (aka Mur), which offers a visual record of the barrier's emergence and features interview with the people who build it, as well as those forced to live in its shadow. Wall was screened as part of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

Regret to Inform (1998)

Director:
Barbara Sonneborn

Synopsis:
A documentary that premiered in competition at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Regret To Inform analyzes the Vietnam War from the point of view of the women who lost the men they loved. Interweaving interviews with American and Vietnamese women, the film also centers on the documentary filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn, who learned on her 24th birthday that her husband (and sweetheart of ten years) died in the war. Twenty years later, Barbara takes her camera to Vietnam to retrace the final steps of her husband, hoping to finally set aside her unanswered questions. Through Sonneborn and the women she meets, viewers are reminded of the horrors of war and see that a single bullet has an effect far beyond the body it hits.

The Execution of Wanda Jean (2002)

Director:
Liz Garbus

IMDB

Synopsis:
Liz Garbus (The Farm: Angola, USA) directed this documentary that takes a close look at death row inmate Wanda Jean Allen. What sets this film apart from the average examination of a death row appeal is that the convicted killer is a lesbian African-American. If the state of Oklahoma goes through with the sentence, she will become the first black woman to be killed by the state in almost a half century. Garbus interviews both Allen's legal team, as well as the parents of the victim. Since Allen certainly committed the act she has been convicted of, the legal drama hangs on if new evidence concerning Allen's mental state will sway the clemency board. This film was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.

The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair (2006)

Directors:
Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker

IMDB

Synopsis:
The Prisoner Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair represents a follow-up to husband-and-wife filmmaking team Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein's critically-worshipped, defiantly nonpartisan documentary Gunner Palace (2004), on the day-to-day of American soldiers stationed on the Iraqi front. In that earlier picture, Tucker and Epperlein stumble across Yunis Khatayer Abbas, a Middle Eastern man who merely confesses, "I am a journalist," before American soldiers drag him off to incarceration. The Tuckers reconnected with Abbas at a later point, and disinter his backstory in this film. Tortured by the goons of Saddam Hussein's brother, Uday Hussein, Abbas later became a key terrorist suspect of the U.S. government, who believed that he intended to kill British prime minister Tony Blair. American authorities had Abbas thrown into the notorious Abu Ghirab prison (and other penitentiaries) and subjected him to month after month of grueling interrogation. Eventually, they released him - with a one-word apology. Tucker and Epperlein recount Abbas's story with an unusual approach: in lieu of a straight documentary, the filmmakers employ a comic-book iconography, with over 150 onscreen illustrations of Abbas's plight by Epperlein, intercut with clips from Abbas's home movies and glimpses of U.S. Army documents - all of which detail the sad absurdities that befell him.

Arakimentari (2004)

Director:
Travis Klose

IMDB

Synopsis:
Nobuyoshi Araki is Japan's most famous and notorious photographer. In a culture where complete female nudity is frowned upon even in men's magazines, Araki has been acclaimed and condemned for his photo books and exhibitions which usually focus upon women, usually nude and often in bold (and sometimes disturbing) poses. While he has been decried as a pornographer and a misogynist in his homeland, many others regard him as singular voice in the photographic arena, and many of the women who work with him have spoke of his sincere love and respect for them. Arakimentari is a film by American documentarian Travis Klose which offers a look at the professional and personal sides of Araki, including his background, his relationships with his models, his less well known portraiture and landscape work, and how he spends his spare time. Also included are interviews with several friends and contemporaries, including musician Björk, photographer Richard Kern, and actor/filmmaker Takeshi Kitano.

Happy crappy!

So the fucking life continuous and this depressing freakin’ cold winter doesn’t make it any easier. What’s new well nothing much except of the really, really crappy attitude and yeah documentaries.  I have discovered that alcohol mixed with friends helps a bit in that night and also in the morning. Of course in the morning when you are hangover as hell you don’t tend to think about stuff that truly should concern you but instead you just focus on the misery that is currently here. I am not saying you should do this well in fact,please do avoid it! Well I just wanted to share something with you so don’t mind.  Cheers

Campaign (2007)

Director:
Kazuhiro Soda

IMDB

Synopsis:
Documentary filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda offers a revealing examination of modern democracy with this cinéma vérité-style look at how political connections have a curious way of trumping actual experience. Kazuhiko Yamauchi was a stamp and coin dealer with little charisma and even less political experience. Backed by the political powerhouse of Prime Minister Koizumi and his Liberal Democratic Party, however, the man who would have little hope of taking office on his own merit suddenly becomes the dark horse candidate to watch. As election day draws near, the events that unfold offer fascinating insight into the inner workings of the Japanese political machine.

The Nazi Officer's Wife (2003)

Director:
Liz Garbus

IMDB

Synopsis:
Filmmaker Liz Garbus (The Farm: Angola, USA) documents the extraordinary story of Edith Hahn in The Nazi Officer's Wife. Using old newsreel footage, personal photos, and interviews with Hahn, her daughter Angela, and various acquaintances, with narration by Susan Sarandon and Julia Ormond (who reads excerpts from Hahn's autobiography), the film explores how Hahn, a Jewish woman living in Vienna during the Nazi takeover of Austria, survived. The film begins the tale with Hahn's childhood, including her education, the death of her father, and her college romance with a half-Jewish intellectual. As the Nazis grew in power, and Hahn's sisters fled for Palestine, he insisted that they would be safe in Vienna. Soon, Hahn, a law student, found herself in a slave labor camp. By the time she returned to Vienna, her mother had been sent to a concentration camp in Poland. Certain to be deported herself, Hahn chose instead to remove the yellow star from her clothing and go into hiding. Finding help from the unlikeliest of sources (including two prominent members of the Nazi party,) Hahn took on a new identity as a young Aryan woman, and left Vienna, traveling to Munich, in the heart of the Third Reich, where she got a job working as a nurse's aide for the Red Cross. There, visiting a museum, she met a bright and well-spoken Nazi, Werner Vetter, who approached her. Soon, against Hahn's better judgment, the two had started a romance, which eventually led to an unlikely marriage and a child. All the while, Hahn kept up her disguise to all but her husband, even suppressing her own vital personality, and taking on the role of a subservient Aryan housewife.