Sundance Documentary
All of the Sundance Film Festival US/World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winners from 1984 to 2019.
List activity
40 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
58 titles
- DirectorAmanda McBaineJesse MossStarsBen FeinsteinSteven GarzaRobert MacDougallA thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas join together to build a representative government from the ground up.
- DirectorHubert SauperStarsOona ChaplinFena LeChuckJuan PadrónAn immersive portrait of Cuba, its people, and the role of cinema in political myth-making from Academy Award® nominee Hubert Sauper "Darwin's Nightmare".
- DirectorNanfu WangJialing ZhangStarsNanfu WangZaodi WangZhimei WangAfter becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China's one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.
- DirectorTamara KotevskaLjubomir StefanovStarsHatidze MuratovaNazife MuratovaHussein SamThe last female bee-hunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.
- DirectorDerek DoneenStarsAsmitaSwati JhaSumedha KailashThe story of how Kailash Satyarthi built a global movement to rescue children from slavery.
- DirectorTalal DerkiStarsTia AlkerdiYara IbrahimAbu OsamaTalal Derki returns to his homeland where he gains the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years.
- DirectorAntonio SantiniDan SicklesStarsDina BunoScott LevinFrank CostanzoAn eccentric suburban woman and a Walmart door greeter navigate their evolving relationship in this unconventional love story.
- DirectorFeras FayyadSteen JohannessenStarsKhaled Umar HarahBatulMahmoudKhaled, Mahmoud and Subhi volunteer with the White Helmets trying to save lives of hundreds of victims in the besieged city of Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War.
- DirectorJosh KriegmanElyse SteinbergStarsAnthony WeinerHuma AbedinJordan Zain WeinerAn examination of disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign and today's political landscape.
- DirectorRokhsareh GhaemmaghamiStarsSonita AlizadehLatifah AlizadehFadia AlizadehAfter her family attempts to sell her into marriage, a young Afghan refugee in Iran channels her frustrations and seizes her destiny through music. Grabbing the mic, she spits fiery rhymes in the face of oppressive traditions.
- DirectorCrystal MoselleStarsMukunda AnguloNarayana AnguloSusanne AnguloConfined in an apartment from a New York housing project, the six Angulo brothers learned everything they know about the world through watching films and spend their time reenacting their favorite movies with intricate homemade costumes.
- DirectorChad GraciaStarsAndrei AlexandrovichFedor AlexandrovichIgor AlexandrovichA gripping, award-winning documentary about an irradiated Ukrainian artist's search for the truth about Chernobyl and his prescient and powerful warnings about Putin's plans for a coming Russian invasion.
- DirectorAndrew Droz PalermoTracy Droz TragosStarsAlyssa JewellAndrew JewellElizabeth JewellRich Hill intimately chronicles the turbulent lives of three boys living in an impoverished Midwestern town and the fragile family bonds that sustain them.
- DirectorTalal DerkiStarsAbdul Basset SarootA look behind the barricades of the besieged city of Homs, where for nineteen-year-old Basset and his ragtag group of comrades, the audacious hope of revolution is crumbling like the buildings around them.
- DirectorSteve HooverStarsRocky BraatSteve HooverAnithaDocumentarian visits best friend in India to see the mutual unconditional love that keeps his buddy bonded to a village hostel housing AIDS-afflicted children.
- DirectorKalyanee Mam"We've worked so hard on this land," says Sav Samourn. "And now they've come to destroy it all. Sooner or later it will all be gone." In her directorial debut, award-winning filmmaker Kalyanee Mam travels to her native homeland to capture the stories of three young Cambodians struggling to maintain their traditional way of life while the modern world closes in around them. Deep in the jungle, Sav Samourn struggles as large companies encroach and "progress" claims the life-giving forests. She discovers there's little room for wild animals, ghosts - and the home she has always known. In a fishing hamlet, Sari Math must quit school to help support his family. But as the fish catch dwindles, Sari and his family find their livelihood threatened. In a village, Khieu Mok must leave to seek work in a Phnom Penh factory to help pay her family's debts. But city life proves no better, and Khieu struggles between her need to send money home and her duty to be with her loved ones. From Cambodia's forests to its rivers, from its idyllic rice fields to the capital's pulsing heart, forces of radical change are transforming the landscape of the country - and the dreams of its people.
- DirectorEugene JareckiStarsEugene JareckiDavid SimonShanequa BenitezFrom the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, a penetrating look inside America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.S. drug policy.
- DirectorRa'anan AlexandrowiczCan justice truly be served in the occupied territories given the current system of law administered by Israel for Palestinians?
- DirectorPeter RichardsonStarsHarry BrutonRay CarnayCody CurtisIn 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize a terminally ill person's request to end his or her life with medication. At the time, only Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands had legalized the practice. 'How to Die in Oregon' tell the stories of those most intimately involved with the practice today -- terminally ill Oregonians, their families, doctors, and friends -- as well as the passage of a similar law in Washington State.
- DirectorDanfung DennisStarsNathan HarrisAshley HarrisThe Marines of Echo CompanyWhat does it mean to lead men in war? What does it mean to come home? Hell and Back Again is a cinematically revolutionary film that asks and answers these questions with a power and intimacy no previous film about the conflict in Afghanistan has been able to achieve. It is a masterpiece in the cinema of war.
- DirectorTim HetheringtonSebastian JungerStarsThe Men of Battle Company 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat TeamJuan 'Doc RestrepoDan KearneyA year with one platoon in the deadliest valley in Afghanistan.
- DirectorMads BrüggerStarsMads BrüggerSimon Jul JørgensenTommy KenterTwo Danish comedians join the director on a trip to North Korea, where they have been allowed access under the pretext of wanting to perform a vaudeville act.
- DirectorOndi TimonerStarsJosh HarrisTom HarrisCarlos AlvarezA documentary focusing on the life of dot-com entrepreneur Josh Harris, and his exploits over the last decade.
- DirectorKim LonginottoStarsJackie BranfieldEurekaLadyfairFearless, feisty and resolute, the "Rough Aunties" are a remarkable group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and care for the abused, neglected and forgotten children of Durban, South Africa. This newest documentary by internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto (SISTERS IN LAW, DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE) follows the outspoken, multiracial cadre of Thuli, Mildred, Sdudla, Eureka and Jackie, as they wage a daily battle against systemic apathy, corruption and greed to help the most vulnerable and disenfranchised of their communities. Neither politics, nor social or racial divisions stand a chance against the united force of the women. Once again Longinotto has managed to bring us an intimate portrait of change from Africa, this time from post-apartheid South Africa, a nation being transformed with hope and energy into a new democracy.
- DirectorCarl DealTia LessinStarsMichael BrownGeorge W. BushJulie Chen MoonvesA redemptive tale of an aspiring rap artist surviving failed levees and her own troubled past and seizing a chance for a new beginning.
- DirectorJames MarshStarsPhilippe PetitJean François HeckelJean-Louis BlondeauA 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".
- DirectorJason KohnAn examination of corruption and class warfare in Brazil as told through the stories of a wealthy businessman, a plastic surgeon who assists kidnapping victims and a politician whose income relies on a frog farm.
- DirectorEva MulvadStarsMalalai JoyaThe first Afghan woman ever to enter parliament, Malalai Joya is followed during her campaign to introduce democracy to a country long ruled by warlords and Taliban.
- DirectorChristopher Dillon QuinnTommy WalkerStarsPanther BiorJohn Bul DauNicole KidmanThree young men from Sudan embark on a journey to America after years of wandering Sub-Saharan Africa in search of safety.
- DirectorJuan Carlos RulfoStarsSalvador Enriquez CastilloSofia García LópezJosé Guadalupe CalzadaA portrait of the construction workers involved in building the second deck of Mexico City's Periferico freeway.
- DirectorEugene JareckiStarsGore VidalJohn McCainKen AdelmanIs American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions.
- DirectorLeonard Retel HelmrichThree generations of one family weather the challenges of living in modern-day Indonesia, the largest Muslim community on the globe.
- DirectorOndi TimonerStarsAnton NewcombeCourtney Taylor-TaylorJoel GionA documentary on the once-promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols, and the friendship/rivalry between their respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor.
- DirectorAndrew JareckiStarsArnold FriedmanJesse FriedmanDavid FriedmanDocumentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.
- DirectorGail DolginVicente FrancoStarsMai Thi KimHeidi Neville-BubGerald FordSeparated at the end of the Vietnam war, an "Americanized" woman and her Vietnamese mother are reunited after 22 years.
- DirectorKate DavisStarsRobert EadsLola ColaMaxwell Scott AndersonSouthern Comfort documents the final year in the life of Robert Eads, a transgender man. Eads, diagnosed with ovarian cancer, was turned down for treatment by two dozen doctors out of fear that treating such a patient would hurt their reputations. By the time Eads received treatment, the cancer was too advanced to save his life. Filmmaker Kate Davis follows Robert and a group of transgender Southerners in this captivating and truly touching documentary.
- DirectorDeborah HoffmannFrances ReidStarsMary BurtonPumla Gobodo-MadikizelaMongezi ManqinaThis documentary tells four stories of Apartheid in South Africa, as seen through the eyes of the Truth and Reconciliation commission. White soldiers who have killed ANC activists, black activists who have killed whites in political attacks: can there be forgiveness when the full truth comes out?
- DirectorChris SmithStarsMark BorchardtMike SchankTom SchimmelsDocumentary about an aspiring filmmaker's attempts to finance his dream project by finally completing the low-budget horror film he abandoned years before.
- DirectorLiz GarbusWilbert RideauJonathan StackStarsBernard AddisonBurl CainGeorge CrawfordDocumentary depicting day to day life in Angola Prison mostly from an inmate's perspective. Interviews are with several inmates including one with a life sentence who is about to die.
- DirectorAndrew GurlandTodd PhillipsA documentary exploring what it happens when you pledge to a frat house.
- DirectorTina Di FeliciantonioJane C. WagnerDocumentary about four urban teenage girls, and their opinions about religion, music and sex.
- DirectorSteven AscherJeanne JordanStarsBob BlankenshipDean EiltsMarge HaroldTroublesome Creek is the acclaimed story of the Jordan family's gamble to save their Iowa farm. From fighting the Crooked Creek Gang in 1867 to fighting off the bank today. An Oscar-nominated cliffhanger about history, humor and the unsettling of America.
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsRobert CrumbAline Kominsky-CrumbCharles CrumbAn intimate portrait of controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb and his traumatized family.
- DirectorConnie FieldMarilyn MulfordStarsChude Pamela AllenHeather BoothL.C. DorseyChronicles the Mississippi voter registration drive from 1961- 64.
- DirectorMichael RoemerSusan ToddAndrew YoungStarsAngela CapraIn 1961, Robert Young and Michael Roemer shot a gritty documentary in Palermo's Cortile Cascino, a slum reserved for rag pickers and scavengers. Thirty years later, Young's son and daughter-in-law go back to Sicily to pick up the story of Angela Capra, her now ex-husband, and their children. Black and white footage from 1961 is intercut with color footage from the 90's. Much has changed: Angela's leaving her husband gives her a sense of rebirth. And much is the same: unemployment, petty crimes, and early death. Throughout, family members credit the power of "destina" (fate) to determine their lives.
- DirectorPeter FriedmanTom JoslinStarsLiane BoninTom JoslinMark MassiA documentary about two gay men as they live through their last months of life with AIDS.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsStephen HawkingIsobel HawkingJanet HumphreyA film about the life and work of the cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, who despite his near total paralysis, was one of the great minds of all time.
- DirectorCamille BillopsJames HatchStarsCamille BillopsChrista VictoriaA filmmaker reunites with the daughter she gave up for adoption twenty years later.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleCathy CaplanThomas HanekeStarsLewie AndersonR.J. BergstromRon BergstromRecounts the 1985-86 strike against the Hormel Foods Corporation in Minnesota after its employees' wages and benefits were cut.
- DirectorJennie LivingstonStarsBrooke XtravaganzaAndré ChristianDorian CoreyA chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
- DirectorStephanie BlackStarsJervis AndersonGeorge CesvetteBelinda GoffeExpose on the exploitation of workers in the Florida sugar cane industry.
- DirectorPat O'NeillStarsJoel LorimenBeth BlockGeorge LockwoodA moving meditation on industrialization, focusing on the eerily desolate Owens Valley in California, made arid by the diversion of water from there to the city of Los Angeles.
- DirectorAl ReinertStarsJim LovellKen MattinglyRussell SchweickartAn in-depth look at various NASA moon landing missions, starting with Apollo 8.
- DirectorJennifer FoxDocumentary about the Bustros Family
- DirectorRoss McElweeStarsRoss McElweeDede McElweeRoss McElwee Jr.Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee sets out to make a movie about Union General Sherman's March to the Sea towards the end of the American Civil War, but keeps getting sidetracked by his own love life.
- 1985– 1h 22mTV-147.3 (134)TV EpisodeDirectorChristian BlackwoodStarsArthur MillerDustin HoffmanJohn MalkovichPlaywright Arthur Miller, director Volker Schlöndorff and actor Dustin Hoffman are seen creating the Roxbury Productions and Punch Productions teleplay Death of a Salesman (1985).
- DirectorJoel DeMottJeff KreinesIn their final year at Muncie's Southside High School, a group of seniors hurtles toward maturity with a combination of joy, despair, and an aggravated sense of urgency. They are also learning a great deal about life, both in and out of school, and not what school officials think they are teaching.
- DirectorTony SilverStarsDemonKase 2Eric HazeA documentary that exposes the rich growing subculture of hip-hop that was developing in New York City in the late '70s and early '80s, specifically focusing on graffiti art and breakdancing.