2013 | Documentary Movies | Sort: Most Popular

Former Mayor Ed Koch is the quintessential New Yorker. Still ferocious, charismatic, and hilariously blunt, the now 88-year-old Koch ruled New York from 1978 to 1989—a down-and-dirty decade of grit, graffiti, near-bankruptcy and rampant crime. First-time filmmaker (and former Wall Street Journal reporter) Neil Barsky has crafted a revealing portrait of this intensely private man, his legacy as a political titan, and the town he helped transform. His three terms included a fiercely competitive 1977 election; the burgeoning AIDS epidemic; landmark housing initiatives; and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal. Through candid interviews and rare archival footage, Koch thrillingly chronicles the personal and political toll of running the world’s most wondrous city.

A 3D behind-the-scenes film showcasing London-based global music sensation One Direction.

For the first time ever, six former heads of Israel's domestic secret service agency, the Shin Bet, share their insights and reflect publicly on their actions and decisions. Since the Six Day War in 1967, Israel has failed to transform its crushing military victory into a lasting peace. Throughout that entire period, these heads of the Shin Bet stood at the center of Israel's decision-making process in all matters pertaining to security. They worked closely with every Israeli prime minister, and their assessments and insights had - and continue to have - a profound impact on Israeli policy.

In 2009 Alex Gibney was hired to make a film about Lance Armstrong's comeback to cycling. The project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted, and re-opened after Armstrong's confession. The Armstrong Lie picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting, insider's view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports. As Lance Armstrong himself says: "I didn't live a lot of lies, but I lived one big one."

Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity. Along the way, director-producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite compiles shocking footage and emotional interviews to explore the creature’s extraordinary nature, the species’ cruel treatment in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the mulit-billion dollar sea-park industry.

Deep in the San Fernando Valley, amidst rows of dilapidated warehouses, was rock n' roll's best kept secret: Sound City. America's greatest unsung recording studio housed a one-of-a-kind console, and as its legend grew, seminal bands and artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Rick Springfield, Tom Petty, Metallica and Nirvana all came out to put magic to tape. Directed by Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) and featuring interviews and performances from the iconic musicians who recorded some of rock’s greatest albums at the studio, Sound City doesn’t just tell the story of this real-life rock ’n’ roll shrine, it celebrates the human element of music as Grohl gathers some of rock's biggest artists to collaborate on a new album.

With songs that say more in a few verses than most artists say in an entire career, Bruce Springsteen has been able to embody the highs and lows of the American Dream. Moreover, his music has created a deeply personal bond between fan and the artist. Springsteen & I was a call out to the fans worldwide to make a documentary about what Bruce means to them and celebrate the impact of his music. Produced by Ridley Scott Associates/Scott Free/Black Dog Films and Mr Wolf, Springsteen & I incorporates video submissions from over 2,000 fans from across the world in the ultimate collective filmmaking experience --made by the fans for the fans-- and includes Springsteen performing some of his greatest hits, along with exclusive never-before-seen archival concert footage.

Follows Mexican drug cartels' influence on life and popular culture on both sides of the border.

Follows the influential 1970s band Big Star. The band was formed in 1971 in Memphis by former Box Tops lead singer Alex Chilton and Chris Bell. Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel filled out the original lineup. While the band never achieved mainstream success, it became a big influence on the likes of REM, the Flaming Lips and more.

Admit it: you don’t really read the endless terms and conditions connected to every website you visit, phone call you make or app you download. But every day, billion-dollar corporations are learning more about your interests, your friends and family, your finances, and your secrets, and they’re not only selling the information to the highest bidder, but also sharing it with the government. And you agreed to all of it. This disquieting exposé demonstrates how every one of us is incrementally opting-in to a real-time surveillance state, click by click- and what, if anything, you can do about it.

Running Wild: The Life of Dayton O. Hyde examines the inspirational life of Dayton O. Hyde as a modern-day renaissance man and one of the last old-style cowboys. Through heroic determination, he is preserving part of the American West with a breathtaking 12,000-acre prairieland Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota that he has maintained for the last 25 years and where more than 500 mustangs now run free—all rescued from the controversial wild horse roundups in the west.

Mark Mori’s Bettie Page Reveals All is an intimate look at one of the world’s most recognized sex symbols, featuring Bettie Page herself telling her story for the first time in her own words. In Mori’s documentary, the real Bettie Page emerges from the veil of myth and rumor via interviews Mori taped a decade prior to her death in 2008.

Generation Iron examines the professional sport of bodybuilding today and gives the audience front row access to the lives of the top seven bodybuilders (from around the world, including New York, Los Angeles, Japan, and Germany) in the sport as they train to compete in the world's most premiere bodybuilding stage - Mr. Olympia.

When middle class consumers have to tighten their belts, the whole economy suffers as seen in the years before the Great Depression and as it stands today. The middle class represents 70% of spending and is the great stabilizer of our economy. No increase in spending by the rich can make up for it. This is the moment in history in which we find ourselves: unprecedented income divisions, a wildly fluctuating and unstable economy, and average Americans increasingly frustrated and disillusioned. The debate about income inequality has become part of the national discussion, and this is a good thing. Inequality for All connects the dots for viewers, showing why dealing with the widening gap between the right and everyone else isn’t just about moral fairness. The issues addressed are arguably the most pressing of our times. The film alternates between intimate, approachable sequences and intellectually rigorous arguments helping people with no economic background or education of what it means for the U.S. to be economically imbalanced, and walk away with a comprehensive and significantly deeper sense of the issues and what can be done about it.

Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof tackles the vexing issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction. With the tenacity of a man out to solve a world-class mystery, he investigates this global phenomenon from California to Switzerland, China and Australia.

With infectious zeal and a voracious appetite for popular culture, Slavoj Zizek literally goes inside some truly epochal movies, all the better to explore and expose how they reinforce prevailing ideologies. As the ideology that undergirds our cinematic fantasies is revealed, striking associations emerge: What hidden Catholic teachings lurk at the heart of The Sound of Music? What are the fascist political dimensions of Jaws? Taxi Driver, Zabriskie Point, The Searchers, The Dark Knight, John Carpenter’s They Live, and propaganda epics from Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.

Gloria Gaynor, Village People, Kool and the Gang, KC and the Sunshine Band and more appear in the documentary about the birth of disco in the ’70s and the part the music movement played in the liberation of gays, blacks and women.

The benefit concert documentary is a behind the scenes look at the show, which took place at New York’s Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2012. Spearheaded by TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein, Madison Square Garden Executive Chairman Jim Dolan, and Clear Channel Entertainment President John Sykes, the concert featured performances by some of the music industry’s most iconic acts: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Roger Waters, Eddie Vedder, Chris Martin, Michael Stipe, Adam Sandler, Eric Clapton, Jon Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Kanye West and included involvement from entertainment and media such as Billy Crystal, Susan Sarandon, Paul Shaffer, Brian Williams, Kristen Stewart, Jon Stewart, Chelsea Clinton, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Sean Combs, Olivia Wilde, Steve Buscemi, Chris Rock, Seth Meyers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Blake Lively, Katie Holmes, Jason Sudekis, Jamie Foxx, Quentin Tarantino, and Christoph Waltz.

A reality-based (documentary) comedy debunking aliens, psychics and all things paranormal. The film follows Blake Freeman, who takes a 69-year-old man named LeRoy on a cross-country journey in search of the truth. LeRoy has spent his life savings on trying to protect himself from aliens and paranormal ghosts by buying gimmicks and entrusting psychics. Upon discovering LeRoy’s plight, Blake Freeman, with LeRoy in tow, decides to put these beliefs and so-called "experts" to the test.

The film depicts the fortunes of a young male King Penguin, who returns to the place where he was born and raised. Known as Penguin City, this sub-Antarctic island is home to albatrosses, leopard seals and elephant seals—and six million penguins! Somehow our hero must earn his place among the inhabitants and fulfill his destiny by finding a mate and raising a family.