As a documentary filmmaker and general aficionado of the genre, I decided to create a list of my favourite documentary films here. You're welcome to contact me to add your own comments or suggestions for documentaries that should be added to this list, though that won't automatically mean that they will be included. :-)

 

Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (The Gleaners and I) (2000) Agnès Varda

Beautiful, eclectic and essentially conscientious. This is a really great example of first-person filmmaking, as Varda explores her own aging as she explores the ways that gleaning (ie. taking what ever is left behind or discarded) has changed from the rural setting to the contemporary urban setting. I made Dumpster Divers just before seeing this film, so I love the fact that there was a common wavelength happening.

Shape of the Moon (2004) Leonard Retel Helmrich

An amazing family drama by Indo-Dutch filmmaker set in Indonensia, where tensions are growing between East & West, Christians & Muslilms. At the climax of the film is an incredible scene when the young girl is reefed away from her grandmother by her uncle when the old woman decides to leave Jakarta for good and live in her home village.

Jesus Camp (2006) Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady

This doc is well wicked. The filmmakers follow children attending the 'Kids on Fire' Christianity camp in the States. It's like a horror-doco, as the youngsters are turned into foot soliders for Christ.

Southern Comfort (2001) Kate Davis

An incredible love story starring dying, transgendered cowboy, Robert Eads, proving that love knows no boundaries when in comes to gender or sexual orientation.

More soon....