Keyword Historical Documentary

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

In 1975, as America faced social and political upheaval, filmmakers turned chaos into art.

The moral dimension of humanity's interaction with nonhuman animals and the industries that profit from their exploitation, as informed by world religions. A historical explanation of how the current global situation came to be.

From the acclaimed director of American Movie, the documentary follows former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter Michael Ruppert. He recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out his apocalyptic vision of the future, spanning the crises in economics, energy, environment and more.

"O Regresso" is a documentary featuring renowned Portuguese actor Ruy de Carvalho as he returns to Macau after a 10-year absence. Directed to mark the 10th anniversary of his visit, the film captures Ruy de Carvalho revisiting key locations across the city, reflecting on the cultural and social transformations that Macau underwent in the lead-up to its handover from Portuguese to Chinese administration in 1999. Blending personal memories with the evolving landscape, the documentary offers a nostalgic look at Macau's unique blend of Portuguese and Chinese heritage, seen through the eyes of one of Portugal’s most beloved actors.

Marijuana is the most controversial drug of the 20th Century. Smoked by generations to little discernible ill effect, it continues to be reviled by many governments on Earth. In this Genie Award-winning documentary veteran Canadian director Ron Mann and narrator Woody Harrelson mix humour and historical footage together to recount how the United States has demonized a relatively harmless drug.

A century after Shackleton's Endurance sank beneath the ice, explorers uncover the legendary shipwreck and an amazing tale of survival.

A showcase of German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.

The Mediterranean. Because people have been travelling there for thousands of years, it is believed to be without secrets. And yet, far below its surface, lie vast unexplored territories, luxurious gardens worthy of the finest tropical coral reefs. These natural wonders are inaccessible to the traditional diver, in a twilight zone, between 60 and 120 m, where there’s less than 1% of sunlight. If diving at such depths is always a challenge, staying there is a fantasy, a utopia that becomes reality in Planet Mediterranean. In the tradition of Commander Cousteau and his "houses under the sea," the team of diver-photographer Laurent Ballesta is undertaking a new world-record setting mission in complete freedom and without time limit.

Using archival footage, cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the 85-year-old Robert McNamara, The Fog of War depicts his life, from working as a WWII whiz-kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company's president, to managing the Vietnam War as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.

This explores the mysterious and catastrophic collapse of ancient civilizations during the late Bronze Age, from the Hittites to the Mycenaeans and the Egyptians, revealing the tumultuous events that brought an end to a thriving era of human history, and warns we may be facing similar threats today.

At the height of the space race, three U.S. astronauts are tapped as the first Apollo crew. With dazzling archival footage and exceptional access, this riveting documentary explores the tragic events that followed, shaking NASA to the core.

This comedic retrospective mixes archival footage and scripted sketches as it revisits all the dread — and occasional delight — that 2021 had to offer.

This documentary delves into the mysteries surrounding the Neanderthals and what their fossil record tells us about their lives and disappearance.

A keen chronicle of the unlikely rise to power of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) and a dissection of the Third Reich (1933-1945), but also an analysis of mass psychology and how the desperate crowd can be deceived and shepherded to the slaughterhouse.

The sequel to Lumière! L'aventure commence (Lumière! The Adventure Begins) reveals another hundred Lumière films, all immaculately restored, and aims above all to explore more deeply the history of the invention and affirmation of cinema in the world. This new feature-length film, following the great success and worldwide release of its predecessor, will confirm to audiences everywhere that the roots of the greatest and most beautiful works in the history of cinema lie in its origins, which are both profoundly French and truly international.

Thirty years after the release of his film JFK (1991), filmmaker Oliver Stone reviews recently declassified evidence related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which took place in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

A documentary on the American Civil War narrated by Ken Burns, covering the secession of the Confederacy to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

This biopic profiles history's most spectacular madman, tracing his journey from humble roots to complete mastery of Germany.

Engineers, officials and the crew members' families provide their perspective on the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster and its aftermath.

Journalist and writer Graham Hancock travels the globe hunting for evidence of mysterious, lost civilizations dating back to the last Ice Age. He attempts to prove that a climatic event 12,000 years ago wiped out an entire civilization far more sophisticated than the simple hunter-gatherers some archaeologists believe lived at that time.

The Blues (2003) is a seven-part documentary series produced by Martin Scorsese that explores the history and influence of blues music. Each episode, directed by a different filmmaker, traces a unique aspect of the genre’s evolution—from its African roots to its global impact. Originally airing on PBS, the series includes Scorsese’s Feel Like Going Home, Wim Wenders’ The Soul of a Man, Richard Pearce’s The Road to Memphis, Charles Burnett’s Warming by the Devil’s Fire, Marc Levin’s Godfathers and Sons, Mike Figgis’ Red, White and Blues, and Clint Eastwood’s Piano Blues.

Out of the ashes of World War I, a new generation of titan rises…Pierre Du Pont, Walter Chrysler, J.P. Morgan Jr., Henry Ford, and William Boeing. Their fight to reach the top will transform America as they compete to dominate new industries—from the highways to the skyways. After years of fighting each other, and FDR, these rivals must unite during World War II to defeat a greater enemy and save the world.

Thirty years after the release of his film JFK (1991), filmmaker Oliver Stone reviews recently declassified evidence related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which took place in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

From legendary John Ward, immortalized in fiction as Jack Sparrow, and English explorer Francis Drake; branded Pirates by their enemies but heroes by their comrades, to the notorious Pirates of the Caribbean shrouded in myth.

Woodstock 1969 promised peace and music, but its '99 revival delivered days of rage, riots and real harm. Why did it go so horribly wrong?

An unprecedented look at the decade-long odyssey to land a man on the moon. This documentary pulls back the curtain on the familiar narrative of the moonshot, revealing a fascinating stew of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama.

In the turbulent formative centuries of early Europe, power-hungry family dynasties fought for domination of the continent.

The definitive story of the deadly 2004 tsunami as it travels from country to country, with unseen archive video and untold stories of survival.

History as we generally know it is full of holes or half-truths, and a mother lode of juicy details have been lost, distorted, covered up or simply ignored along the way. Former Naval officer and actor Jamie Kaler is on a mission to set the record straight on the most familiar and beloved stories from our nation's and military's past, filling in the blanks, debunking the occasional myth, and exploring why we sometimes get our own history, well, slightly wrong

Who was Homer, and what is the meaning of The Odyssey? In this documentary we follow the footsteps of Ulysses, also known by his Greek name Odysseus—a hero as relevant today as he was nearly three thousand years ago, on a journey across some of the most fascinating landscapes and seascapes of the Mediterranean region. With the help of prominent international scholars, we seek to resolve the questions that still surround one of humanity’s greatest literary works and its enigmatic author.

The dramatic story of America's national mammal, which sustained the lives of Native people for untold generations, being driven to the brink of extinction, before an unlikely collection of people rescues it from disappearing forever. Ken Burns recounts the tragic collision of two opposing views of the natural world—and the unforgettable characters who pointed the nation in a different direction.

Love, conflict, family - nobody's done it better. Acting legends reflect on the greatest writer who ever lived – and the dangerous, exciting world that ignited his creativity.

This documentary series tackles one of history's most horrifying subjects: the Holocaust and the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.