Hey all, I wanna dedicate this thread to free documentaries! If you know of any good documentaries that are online, please feel free to drop them in this thread.
Hey all, I wanna dedicate this thread to free documentaries! If you know of any good documentaries that are online, please feel free to drop them in this thread.
youtu.be/uPPsB7doRt0?...
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The Sweatbox archive.org/details/Swea...
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In the late 1970s, residents of Love Canal, a working-class neighborhood in Niagara Falls, NY, discovered that their homes, schools and playgrounds were built on top of a former chemical waste dump, which was now leaking toxic substances & wreaking havoc on their health. youtu.be/gR4YBDzPzd0?...
The shocking true story of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two wealthy college students who murdered a 14-year-old boy in 1924 to prove they were smart enough to get away with it. youtu.be/J9b115R-3_Q?...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=QY2P...
bsky.app/profile/fire...
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At the height of the Rust Belt primaries, Frontline goes to Milwaukee where presidential candidates tap the deep-seated anxiety and insecurity that fuels tensions between American businesses and their employees. m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZARQ...
FRONTLINE correspondent Michael Ambrosino takes a personal journey through 1990s West Bank and Gaza to explore the critical issues at the heart of the Arab-Israeli peace talks. m.youtube.com/watch?v=tKA1...
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Same!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtq2...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxSi... "Correspondent Wallace Terry, the author of ‘Bloods,’ the national bestseller on which this film is based, talks with black veterans who fought discrimination in Vietnam and who later confronted disillusionment when they came home."
I'm gonna check this out. I always been a big fan of Frontline docs. Surprised I ain't ran across this one.
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That book Bloods is fire. The movie “Dead Presidents” adapted a true story recounted in that book but basically botched the story IMO
This Bloods documentary is great. Thanks for for posting it!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VClQ... A chronicle of the lives and economic struggles of two families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — one Black and one white — across more than three decades, this “knockout documentary” raises unsettling questions about the changing nature of the American economy.
I just watched this the other day…really good!
I was gonna watch this a while ago but I got my own struggles lol.
This is a good one. Glad they did an update on the families 30+ years later
Love this one!
Adding to my watchlist.
Frontline is great, they consistently do fantastic reporting and documentaries. The episode “the man who knew” is one that comes to mind. About John O’Neill and 9/11. youtu.be/pbXPqWGGQ5U
Oh! John! Yes, catch up on this. Wow.
Here's what I'm watching right now, this is a Frontline special from 1991 that explores how the military dealt with training troops on racial issues: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc49...
Just going to suggest a resource: Many libraries provide access to www.kanopy.com/en along with e- and audiobooks, and it's got a lot of excellent documentaries on it (the Mavis doc comes to mind!)
And Internet Archive @archive.org. And @hoopladigital.bsky.social.
Great suggestion. Kanopy is great. Many libraries also lend Roku device that have premium streaming services on them, so documentaries on those subscription services can be free too. I love libraries!
Love Kanopy!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=gXlm...
youtu.be/y9lr3-7EYHI?... 1971 the documentary about the 3 antiwar activists who broke into FBI office in Media, PA, to get docs about inteference in antiwar movement but found evidence about COINTELPRO, which they made public. Made after statute of limitations ran out so activists tell their story!
🧵/1 My Review: Infuriating, frustrating, embarrassing, interesting, timely ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Infuriating watching my fellow White people twist words & be such tender snowflakes Frustrating that our country is stuck in a Groundhog Day (the movie) loop of dealing with/denying racism
/2 Embarrassing + enraging seeing the White liberal live up to the stereotype & melt into a tender snowflake with smug pettiness Interesting learning about the 1971 riots within the military & DEOMI that began that same year as a result and continues today en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense...
/3 Timely in that it made me think of Hegseth's confirmation hearing and the "Alpha male" b.s. that members of the military learning about & recognizing discrimination is new, harmful to national security (more likely to White ppl fee-fee's), and makes us weak dkshipler.medium.com/defending-mi...
/4 Hegseth's hearing & this doc both reminded me of the fact that the KKK was openly operating at Camp Pendleton in the early 1970s bsky.app/profile/gree...
/end Free the Pendleton 14 is a 5-part podcast series that "...revisits what unfolded one night in 1976 when a group of black Marines...attempting to break into a Klan meeting...ended up in the wrong room. The KKK was meeting one door away" freethependleton14.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/f...
If “free” includes someone posted it on YouTube with German subtitles and it’s still up, then here is “Finally Got the News” about the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement/League of Revolutionary Black Workers youtu.be/6hGfZBaFHwo?...
Wow that was really well done. Super interesting and insightful. Crazy how much ideas and opinions haven’t changed. Thanks for sharing.
I am grateful you shared this. Challenges ideas that racism is an “old problem”. Personal painful humiliations shared only to be met with indifference and denial. Faces crushed with disappointment when they realize people aren’t hearing the truth.
Harlan County, USA: Bracing documentary of a labor action among coal miners, one of the greatest of all time www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-2q...
Hey since this was reposted - this doc would be a great watch right now if you are feeling burned out or intimidated by the times we're in. It's transportive and could arguably be an escapist watch, but it's also invigorating and real. Also, I think this is the most liked thing I have ever posted!
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
This has been topped and tailed with short by an annoying "Thatcherite Scot" but still worth reading to learn about the final defeat of the organised Left in the UK. So strange to think within my lifetime there was real independent union power in the UK youtube.com/playlist?lis...
angry inuk -https://youtu.be/thzMNIBkqJM?si=Hfb-08dyI3FBJTtB
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This is absolutely beautiful and bittersweet. www.imdb.com/title/tt1288...
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Reading about these incarcerated people fighting fires in California reminded me of Slavery by Another Name: www.pbs.org/show/slavery...
Paris Is Burning youtu.be/Zi19rYdejFs?...
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youtu.be/TIgK56cAjfY?...
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Former White Supremacists talk about how they left the movement. m.youtube.com/watch?v=H7DU...
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Wish we had bookmarks on here so I could come back to this later 💔
If you reply to a post with only a red pushpin emoji (📌), you can save posts and access them on this feed. bsky.app/profile/did:...
Thank you!
You're very welcome.
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The Gilded Age youtu.be/yjpYzFtxfjU?...
The Corporation youtu.be/dpjypnxnS4U?...
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Another good Frontline piece, on Korea’s adoption industry 💔 youtu.be/Rz3ME8K_zW4?...
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Check out the Baby Box. It's about a Korean pastor and his wife that cared for unwanted babies. They literally drop them in a mailbox like apparatus he built.
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Just saw this yday on pbs
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Always the 13th. That documentary should be played everywhere. youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8?...
ALWAYS. It was so eye opening.
Before Stonewall (1984): youtu.be/gUC14NAyr1A?...
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Imagine a world where docs like this were required viewing in high school. Concise, important, accurate, successes, failures, inspiration, etc. And better for short attention spans than textbooks.
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The Man with the Seven Second Memory… tells the story of Clive Wearing, who lives with severe amnesia following an encephalitis infection in the 80s. youtu.be/k_P7Y0-wgos?...
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A six-part series, but I don’t want any of my friends to go into the next 4(?) years without seeing this. Seriously. youtube.com/playlist?lis...
The rise of RW extremists globally post WWI seen as an historical event, yet familiar to what we may be seeing now.
Based in part on Endgame, the best-selling book by Derrick Jensen, END:CIV asks: "If your homeland was invaded by aliens who cut down the forests, poisoned the water and air, and contaminated the food supply, would you resist?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hx-...
Fantastic doc on the Toynbee Tiles. youtu.be/LYTK6QicICo?...
This is an excellent doc about the national medical examiner crisis. This is from 2011 and I'm sure it's much worse now. Trigger warning for death and suicide youtu.be/mhuRGam7xG0?...
A really good doc about the OceanGate disaster. youtu.be/h4bYuSL8uVQ?...
The loss of the El Faro, a container ship. I learned a great deal about ocean navigation and emergency management here. youtu.be/-BNDub3h2_I?...
Nautical incidentd are my special interest so *handwave* Two good docs about the Deepwater Horizon tragedy youtu.be/pLqwtK297kM?... youtu.be/LYALUCIyC2o?...
This Gwen Shamblin documentary (the cult leader featured in HBO's the Weigh Down) TW: disordered eating, diet culture youtu.be/h5ayw21ZE6g?...
This is a good one!!
Excellent channel! There is an update for this video! youtu.be/czGuAnjm_gU?...
Post Mortem has haunted me since I saw it when it aired. Really good recommendation!
Has anybody posted the 13th?
The entire The Police Tapes 1977 documentary is on YouTube youtu.be/cj8JVCkGPek?...
Here's a documentary about historical European martial arts. youtu.be/7DBmNVHTmNs?...
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This was a good watch youtu.be/b4-CW0ajJRg?...
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#NoamChomsky on "the deliberate concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a select few." www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZnu...
How Edward Bernays re-branded #Propaganda and fine-tuned it to manipulate the masses. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPm...
youtu.be/v6-K-arVl-U?...
One of my favourites. 2 parts about the start of life on this planet. Plus it begins in mine and David Attenborough's hometown of Leicester youtu.be/bpAMofkm6ho?...
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www.nfb.ca/film/you_are... You Are on Indian Land (about the Jay Treaty). It documents a 1969 protest by the Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) of Akwesasne, a territory that straddles the Canada–U.S. border.
This documentary shifted my whole understanding of poverty, crime, and systemic problems in America. www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5BC...
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This is an hour long documentary about Sun Ra, his life and music. Definitely worth an hour of one’s life imo. It’s called “A Joyful Noise” youtu.be/7Esmjx8eVcE?...
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It’s on Hulu/disney+ so not sure it counts but Changing the Game about the experience of trans high school athletes is worth a watch
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I use library resource Kanopy to watch documentaries. Free with library card!
Hoopla is another library resource to watch docs and read/listen to books for free!
The most important documentary about unionizing EVER.
I show this in my class about Literature, Work, & the Workplace, & the students get into it.
Barbara Kopple really is a master of her craft. First saw it in film school in 2008, then revisited for a podcast on it back in 2022. It has what so few films achieve: relevance in any age. (Dropping a link jic anyone is interested :) )
YT: DW Documentaries
Vigilantes Inc
Palestine. youtu.be/9H9iyvWGFQ0?...
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Not the best quality but it's free here. One of the best docs I ever watched.
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This is so good. On Tubi and Freevee. It’s about how the world came to learn about the jazz music of Ethiopia. Has Buena Vista Social Club vibes. Loved it!
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You’re gonna love it.
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Stink! is a good one. My kids watched it for chemistry class. It's about unregulated fragrances and scents in consumer products. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk6e...
Note by Note: The Making of a Steinway Piano is under an hour and an easy watch with beautiful music, obviously. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rAh...
WTTW, Chicago's public station, has so many good documentaries on YT! As does Minnesota's Twin Cities PBS, which released a fun doc on the First Avenue club www.youtube.com/@wttw/videos www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9if...
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youtu.be/Gr7T07WfIhM?...
Woohoo!! Fellow Adam Curtis fan!
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Fall of Civilizations series on YT. Each epi details the rise and fall of ancient civilizations around the world. Might be a tough subject rn 😬 but highly recommend for anyone up to it! ✌ youtube.com/@fallofcivil...
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There is an interesting documentary about Sudbury Schools (self-directed education) by two German filmmakers. www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
www.praxisfilms.org/films/my-cou...
📌 Documentaries thread
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Following so I can watch these!
^^^ @obleu.bsky.social
Appreciate it
Just saw this story today, on a documentary about the oldest house in the Austin neighborhood of Clarksville, a freedom colony founded by Charles Clark in 1871.
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Did you know you can get PBS Passport which includes all the Nature, Frontline, Nova, other documentaries you could ever want paying just $6 a month to PBS? It's a great deal. You sign up to do the payments and then you go to PBS and sign into passport and you got it . Lots of docs!
Bringing Down a Dictator about the youth movement that brought down Milosevic
Blue Vinyl about the plastics industry with the caveat that I have not seen it in a loooong time. She funded it with the money from a cancer settlement. She did it because she originally had a kind of cancer linked to vinyl (the diagnosis got changed)
Blue Vinyl was good! Her first documentary was called A Healthy Baby Girl, it was about her cancer (her mom was prescribed DES when she was pregnant).
Through a lens darkly about Black Photography (apologies in advance there was a chunk of my life that was about documentaries and like nothing else)
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I loved this one. First thing that changed my perspective on plastics.
The Corporation | Feature Documentary | in HD youtu.be/6v8e7dUwq_Q?...
How appropriate for these times.
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Bill Moyers. This is about segregation in Queens in the 70s. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv0n...
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Watched the 1st time in 2001 and it changed my life. It explores modern day slavery in the cacao trade focusing in on the Ivory Coast (*note, not a fan of Prof Bales), in the making of rugs focusing in on India, and domestic labor focusing in on the USA. www.truevisiontv.com/films/slaver...
Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror 13th American Factory Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey My Octopus Teacher Virunga All on Netflix.
The Ghosts of Flatbush - old doc on YouTube about the Brooklyn dodgers and integration of baseball. Excellent interviews
Great idea. I will think about it. First one already comes to mind: "Vigilantes" by Greg Palast.
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There you go. www.openculture.com/free-documen...
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This free documentary is pretty great. Taliban as it's rarely presented. Especially on women. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYL-...
By August 2024, 40,000 self-proclaimed vigilante vote-fraud hunters had already challenged the rights of 852,381 voters — with a target of 2 million before the election. Did the voters decide the 2024 election, or voter suppression? youtu.be/P_XdtAQXnGE?...
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Summer of Soul is so good, not TOTALLY about the struggle, but like it’s still about something.
I really enjoyed this great combination of history and music. I learned way more about Black culture than I expected... loved it. We even bought the soundtrack on vinyl!
This was an eye opener: youtu.be/DnPmg0R1M04?...
This is a four-part series. It’s been a while since I watched them all, but I also recommend Part 3, There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads He Must Be Destroyed. I used to watch it every year with my Cultural Studies class. youtu.be/DaPeRZxfQcI?...
I try to get everyone I can to watch it... Adam CURTIS makes a trippy documentary folks pairs as well with libations
Have you watched “Can’t Get You Out of My Head?”
I have! I'm ready for a rewatch... my memory of it is hazy.
And I'm not sure I completely understand the ending... I also want to see if it still hits the same way.
This: has some civil rights elders denied their vote, and one white lady responsible for "challenging" tens of thousands of votes in GA. bsky.app/profile/greg...
Cheers! Portland, the Strip Club Capital of America did more to humanize sw than I was expecting.
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Israelism is free (but some commercials) on Roku and Tubi.
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The National Film Board of Canada has lots of great documentaries that are free to watch online: www.nfb.ca/documentary/
The Land Where Blues Began (1979) By Alan Lomax m.youtube.com/watch?v=3eMe...
This is so good.
Marjoe (1972) It’s in English, ignore the description. Exposes traveling preachers and faith healers by an insider archive.org/details/Marj...
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So good.
📌 thanks!
I think about this all the time. www.pbs.org/video/chasin...
Couldn’t pick out one so here are 285 or so www.openculture.com/free-documen...
another gem youtu.be/IhT7oyDlBIk
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Thank you for this. It's hard to describe what I just watched, for how terrifying its implications are, on a global scale
youtu.be/1scCQ6BXkGI good researchers die too early
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Graeber is one of my favorite thinkers. His Anarcharist Pirate culture stories are the shit. Thanks for sharing.
Bookmarked
Brick By Chance and Fortune, a documentary about the history of the clay and brick industry in St. Louis. It's fascinating and it's only a little over an hour.
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More Americans need to know about the history of eugenics in this country. youtu.be/vmRb-0v5xfI?...
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youtu.be/RxoWyGFSGuk?...
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This is a nice documentary about the people who make mezcal. The guy who directed it is very cool, and if anyone is in Guadalajara, they should visit Mezonte for a deep dive into the culture and stories behind these spirits! vimeo.com/256222332
The Times of Harvey Milk is my favourite documentary
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Here’s a documentary about the violence of the police officers in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Its on CBC gen which has free and paid service. www.cbc.ca/radio/frontb...
About Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, the older sibling of Long Covid. If MEcfs had been studied, so many ppl would not be suffering right now. m.youtube.com/watch?v=XOpy...
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I love this doc. It expanded my understanding of what we mean when we say "women's health." A must watch.
Glad to find someone in the wild who has watched it!!!
In fairness, I was at Sundance when they supported it and it premiered at the festival. Netflix did them dirty.
Still. You watched it.
RECORDER The Marion Stokes Project about the Philadelphia librarian who recorded thousands of VHS tapes of TV, creating the largest television archive. Available for free on Kanopy!