Documentary DVD & Blu-rays 2016 List

With Colin Hanks • Sean Stuart

Established in 1960, Tower Records was once a retail powerhouse with close to two hundred stores, in more than a dozen countries, on four continents. From humble beginnings in a small-town drugstore, Tower Records eventually became the heart and soul of the music world, and a powerful force in the music industry. In 1999, Tower Records made $1 billion. In 2006, the company filed for bankruptcy. What went wrong? Everyone thinks they know what killed Tower Records: The Internet. But that's not the story. All Things Must Pass is a feature documentary film examining this iconic company's explosive trajectory, tragic demise, and legacy forged by its rebellious founder, Russ Solomon.

With Jason Wise

SOMM: Into the Bottle raises the curtain into the seldom seen world that surrounds the wine we drink. How many people understand how wine is produced? How it is grown? What goes on in the cellar? From those questions to how many hands touch a bottle, to why wine costs what it costs, to how certain wines end up on a wine list, this is a never before seen look into the world of wine.

By opening some of the world’s most rare bottles of wine, the viewer will understand how a wine ages, what happens in a cellar and exactly what oak in wine means. The film takes a look at how history has impacted wine, from the Romans, to Prohibition, to the World Wars and even current events such as the Napa Earthquake.

Through the eyes of the world’s greatest Somms and Winemakers, we discover that far more than just grapes go into the bottle.

With Andrew Horn

The never-before-told story of the ten grueling years leading up to Twisted Sister’s legendary career, recounted directly by the band themselves, their managers and their biggest fans.

With Marah Strauch

A documentary portrait of Carl Boenish, "the father of BASE jumping," whose early passion for skydiving led him to ever more spectacular — and dangerous — feats of foot-launched human flight.

With Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panahi (This is Not a Film) drives a yellow cab through the vibrant streets of Tehran, picking up a diverse (and yet representative) group of passengers in a single day. Each man, woman, and child candidly expresses his or her own view of the world, while being interviewed by the curious and gracious driver/director.

With Hubert Sauper

A modern odyssey – a dizzying, almost science fiction-like journey into the heart of Africa. At the moment when the Sudan, the continent’s biggest country, is being divided into two nations, an old “civilizing” ideology re-emerges – one of colonialism and a clash of empires – with new episodes of bloody (and holy) wars over land and resources. Academy Award® nominated director of Darwin’s Nightmare, Hubert Sauper, takes us on a voyage in his tiny, self-made aircraft constructed from tin and canvas, leading us into the most improbable locations and into people’s thoughts and dreams in both stunning and heartbreaking ways.

With Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panahi (This is Not a Film) drives a yellow cab through the vibrant streets of Tehran, picking up a diverse (and yet representative) group of passengers in a single day. Each man, woman, and child candidly expresses his or her own view of the world, while being interviewed by the curious and gracious driver/director.

With Alex Gibney

Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney pulls no punches in his portrait of Apple founder Steve Jobs and his legacy. This probing and unflinching look at the life and aftermath of the bold, brilliant and at times ruthless iconoclast explores what accounted for the grief of so many when he died.

With Nick Berardini

Electronic guns, the high-tech alternative to bullets, are used by every police officer nationwide. Are they saving lives? Or killing people? This is the eye-opening story.

With Vince Vaughn • Chris Bell • Peter Billingsley

Filmmaker Chris Bell's (Bigger Stronger Faster) hard-hitting and thought-provoking expose of Big Pharma, its marketing practices and their impact on the staggering level of addiction to prescription drugs in North America.

With Douglas Tirola

Amid the seismic cultural shift of the 1970s, American comedy got a sharper edge when a newly minted magazine named National Lampoon stuck its middle finger up at the establishment. Spawned at an Ivy League school by the wonderfully warped minds of Douglas Kenney and Henry Beard, National Lampoon rose from a counterculture rag to a revered comic institution. Bound by a passion for the absurd and a mistrust of authority, Lampoon's irreverence spanked nearly every available social taboo from weak-kneed politics to heated racial tensions. This unique cocktail of high satire and gallows humor exploded onto America's cultural consciousness attracting visionary talents such as Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase, whose comedic force helped expand the magazine's spirit to stage and film. Director Douglas Tirola unearths never-before-seen archival footage and brilliantly weaves it together with the magazine's beautiful and often shocking art, reliving National Lampoon's meteoric rise from go-to magazine of the counterculture to a brand synonymous with Hollywood's biggest comedies.

With Matthew Miele

From past to present, unveiling the behind-the-scenes characters and the clients beholden to its charm, CRAZY ABOUT TIFFANY’S is the first, fully authorized documentary capturing how a simple jewelry store has woven itself into pop culture to become a global phenomenon. This captivating glimpse will take us from the moment each jewel is conceived by the first female Tiffany Design Director, Francesca Amfitheaterof, to the Tiffany-designed trophy hoisted at the Super Bowl, and to the jewel-adorned Oscar red carpet in Hollywood.

With Mark Craig

The Last Man On The Moon is powered by the same adrenalin, drama and raw emotions experienced by former NASA astronaut and Navy Captain Eugene “Gene” Cernan. When Cernan became the last man to step off of the surface of the moon in December 1972, he left his footprints and his daughter’s initials in the lunar dust. Only now is he ready to share his epic and deeply personal story of fulfillment, love and loss. Five years in the making, the documentary unveils a wealth of rare archival footage and takes Cernan back to the launch pad at Cape Kennedy (now NASA Kennedy Space Center), to the Arlington National Cemetery, and to his Texas ranch where he tries to find respite from a past that refuses to let him go. The film features exclusive interviews with former astronauts, such as Apollo 12 crew-members Alan Bean and Dick Gordon and Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell, as well as NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz and Director of Flight Operations Chris Kraft.

With Michael Moore

A subversive comedy in which Michael Moore, playing the role of "invader," visits a host of nations to learn how the U.S. could improve its own prospects. The creator of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine is back with this hilarious and eye-opening call to arms. Turns out the solutions to America's most entrenched problems already existed in the world - they're just waiting to be co-opted.

With James Crump

Troublemakers unearths the history of land art in the tumultuous late 1960s and early 1970s. The film features a cadre of renegade New York artists that sought to transcend the limitations of painting and sculpture by producing earthworks on a monumental scale in the desolate desert spaces of the American southwest.

With Danielle Bernstein

The film follow Angel, Moses and Nina from the slums of Kampala, Uganda through a world tour with the Grammy-nominated African Children's Choir. The film is stunningly shot and told through Angel, Moses and Nina's perspectives on their one shot journey from poverty to education.

With Erika Frankel

Follows fiery French chef Georges Perrier's crusade to save his world-renowned 40-year-old restaurant, Le Bec-Fin, from closing.

With Kevin Costner • Jonathan Hock

Hank Aaron and Derek Jeter, with Kevin Costner narrating, lead a cast of baseball legends & scientists who explore the magic within the 396 milliseconds it takes a fastball to reach home plate, and decipher who threw the fastest pitch ever.

With Amos Gitai

For many Israelis, the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 marked a grim turning point for their country. In the words of the commission set up to investigate the murder, "Israeli society [would] never be the same again. As a democracy, political assassination was not part of our culture." In the eyes of even more people, the murder ended all hope for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process through the Oslo Accords and altered the course of history. But, as Amos Gitai sets out to prove in his brave and provocative new film, Rabin's assassination was not just the act of one fanatic; it was the culmination of a hate campaign that emanated from the rabbis and public figures of Israel's far right.

With Jon Spira

In 1976, during the hottest summer on record, Star Wars was shot in suburban North London. Nobody involved had any idea how big the film would become, many couldn't even remember the title.

Yet for the bit-part actors and extras, their faces hidden in masks and helmets, this seemingly insignificant job would go on to color their lives even four decades later.

ELSTREE 1976 is a portrait of a cross-section of these people; from the man inside the most iconic villain in film history to the guy whose character was completely cut from the final film. It tells the stories of their lives and explores the eccentric community they have formed, traveling the world, signing autographs for fans.

With Abigail E. Disney

The Armor of Light tracks Reverend Rob Schenck, an anti-abortion activist and fixture on the political far right, who breaks with orthodoxy by questioning whether being pro-gun is consistent with being pro-life. Along the way, he meets Lucy McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, an unarmed teenager whose murder in Florida has cast a spotlight on “Stand Your Ground” laws. ARMOR follows these unlikely allies through their trials of conscience, heartbreak and rejection, as they bravely attempt to make others consider the growing toll of gun violence in America through a moral lens.

With Andrew Rossi

The First Monday in May follows the creation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's most attended fashion exhibition in history, "China: Through The Looking Glass," an exploration of Chinese-inspired Western fashions by Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton.

With Juan Carlos Copes • German Kral • Alejandra Gutty • Johana Copes

Our Last Tango tells the life and love story of Argentina’s most famous tango dancers, Maria Nieves Rego and Juan Carlos Copes, who met as teenagers and danced together for nearly fifty years until a painful separation tore them apart. Relaying their story to a group of young tango dancers and choreographers from Buenos Aires, their story of love, hatred and passion is transformed into unforgettable tango choreographies.

With Steve Hoover • Terence Malick

Tells the story of Gennadiy Mohknenko, a Ukrainian pastor who has taken up the fight against child homelessness by forcibly abducting street kids and bringing them to his private rehabilitation center. Gennadiy’s ongoing efforts and unabashedly tough love approach to his city’s problems has made him a folk hero to some, and a lawless vigilante to others.

With Matthew Modine • Adam Rackoff • Jen Senko

Filmmaker Jen Senko explores the transformation of her father from a non-political life-long Democrat to a radicalized Right-Wing fanatic, she discovers that this is a widespread phenomenon, especially among older white men. She uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon to create a media run by the GOP, The Powell Memo and the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine, all of which would ultimately result in a media which would misinform millions, divide families and even the country itself.

With Louise Osmond

Set in a former mining village in Wales, DARK HORSE is the inspirational true story of a group of friends from a working men's club who decide to take on the elite 'sport of kings' and breed themselves a racehorse. Raised on a slagheap allotment, their foal grows into an unlikely champion, beating the finest thoroughbreds in the land, before suffering a near fatal accident. Nursed back to health by the love of his owners - for whom he's become a source of inspiration and hope - he makes a remarkable recovery, returning to the track for a heart-stopping comeback.

With Johanna Schwartz

Music is the beating heart of Malian culture, but when Islamic jihadists took control of northern Mali in 2012, they enforced one of the harshest interpretations of sharia law by banning all forms of music. Radio stations were destroyed, instruments burned, and Mali’s musicians faced torture, even death. Overnight, the country’s revered musicians were forced into hiding or exile, where most remain -- even now. But rather than laying down their instruments, these courageous artists fought back, standing up for their freedoms and using music as a weapon against the ongoing violence that has ravaged their homeland.

With Josh Kriegman • Elyse Steinberg

The film centers on the disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, whose career went off the rails twice, both times for public revelations about his sex life.

With Jeffrey Schwarz

In the 1950s, Tab Hunter is America’s Boy Next Door. Nothing, it seems, can damage his skyrocketing career. Nothing, that is, except for the fact that Tab Hunter is secretly gay. Now, Tab Hunter’s secret is out. In Tab Hunter Confidential we will meet, for the first time, the real Tab Hunter as he shares with us the whole story of a happy, healthy survivor of Hollywood’s roller coaster.

With Ido Haar

A documentary about a star-crossed singer-songwriter and her crafty secret admirer.

With Brian De Palma • Jake Paltrow • Noah Baumbach

One of the most talented, influential, and iconoclastic filmmakers of all time, Brian De Palma’s career started in the 60s and has included such acclaimed and diverse films as Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito’s Way, and Mission: Impossible. In this lively, illuminating and unexpectedly moving documentary, directors Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow engage in a personal and candid discussion with De Palma, exploring not only his life and work but also his singular approach to the craft of filmmaking and his remarkable experiences navigating the film business, from his early days as the bad boy of New Hollywood to his more recent years as a respected veteran of the field.

With Josh Aronson

The film focuses on the challenges of guiding gifted young people through the struggles of mastering the cello. Through the words and actions of master cello teacher, Paul Katz, it’s clear that this deep study of music not only prepares wonderful musicians, but builds self-esteem and a cultural and aesthetic character that will be profoundly important throughout his students’ lives.

With Bernardo Ruiz

Kingdom of Shadows takes an unflinching look at the human cost of the U.S.-Mexico drug war through the perspectives of three unlikely individuals.

Sister Consuelo Morales, based in the devastated city of Monterrey, prods government officials to take action against the drug cartels on behalf of grieving families whose loved ones have gone missing.

Texan rancher Don Henry Ford Jr. offers historical context for the evolution to the hyper-violent state of drug trafficking today. He recounts his career as a smuggler during the 1980s before he served time for importing marijuana.

Undercover agent-turned-senior Homeland Security officer Oscar Hagelsieb recounts his own remarkable journey and offers a unique perspective on the U.S.’ role in the drug war. As the child of undocumented parents, Oscar grew up in an impoverished neighborhood where of his many peers gave in to the temptations of the drug economy.

With Oren Rudavsky • Joseph Dorman

The century-old conflict in the Middle East continues to play a central role in world politics. And yet, amidst this fierce, often-lethal controversy, the Zionist idea of a homeland for Jews in the land of ancient Israel remains little understood and its meanings often distorted.

With Jonathan Gold • Laura Gabbert

Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold shows us a Los Angeles where ethnic cooking is a kaleidoscopic portal to the mysteries of an unwieldy city and the soul of America.

With Thorsten Schütte

A documentary centering around the musical icon, Frank Zappa.

With Ted Balaker • Zach Weissmueller

In the age of social media, nearly every day brings a new eruption of outrage. While people have always found something to be offended by, their ability to organize a groundswell of opposition to—and public censure of—their offender has never been more powerful. Today we’re all one clumsy joke away from public ruin. Can We Take A Joke? offers a thought-provoking and wry exploration of outrage culture through the lens of stand-up comedy, with notables like Gilbert Gottfried, Penn Jillette, Lisa Lampanelli, and Adam Carolla detailing its stifling impact on comedy and the exchange of ideas. What will future will be like if we can’t learn how to take a joke?

With Julie Goldman • Robert DeBitetto • Robert Sharenow • Molly Thompson • Roger Ross Williams • Ron Suskind.

The inspirational story of Owen Suskind, a young man who was unable to speak as a child until he and his family discovered a unique way to communicate by immersing themselves in the world of classic Disney animated films. This emotional coming-of-age story follows Owen as he graduates to adulthood and takes his first steps toward independence.

With Dinesh D'Souza

Dinesh D’Souza will expose the secret history of the Democrats and the true motivations of Hillary.

With Pierre Morath

Today, all anybody needs to run is the determination and a pair of the right shoes. But just fifty years ago, running was viewed almost exclusively as the domain of elite male athletes who competed on tracks. With insight and propulsive energy, director Pierre Morath traces running’s rise to the 1960s, examining how the liberation movements and newfound sense of personal freedom that defined the era took the sport out of the stadiums and onto the streets, and how legends like Steve Prefontaine, Fred Lebow, and Kathrine Switzer redefined running as a populist phenomenon.

With Kevin Lake • Thomas McEachin • Seth Gordon • Clay Tweel • Scott Fujita • Mary Rohlich • Tom Lavia • Kimi Culp

The story of Steve Gleason, a former defensive back for the New Orleans Saints who was diagnosed with ALS at age 34 and given only five years to live. The doc uses his personal video journals to show just how inspirationally he lived following his diagnosis.

With Mat Whitecross • Asif Kapdia • Simon Halfon • Fiona Neilson • James Gay Rees

Tells the true story of the meteoric rise, chaotic reign, and epic explosion of the legendary rock band Oasis.

With Werner Herzog

Legendary master filmmaker Werner Herzog conducted original interviews with cyberspace pioneers and prophets such as PayPal and Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, Internet protocol inventor Bob Kahn, and famed hacker Kevin Mitnick. These provocative conversatons reveal the ways in which the online world has transformed how virtually everything in the real world works, from business to education, space travel to healthcare, and the very heart of how we conduct our personal relationships.

With Maurice Dekkers

In January 2015, Noma, recognized as the World’s Best Restaurant, and led by its charismatic chef René Redzepi, moved its entire team from Denmark to Japan. Known for his one-of-a-kind cooking and for distilling the Danish landscape and “time and place” onto a plate, can Redzepi and his team apply their philosophy to an entirely foreign experience, using ingredients that they’ve never seen before, all whilst under the intense pressure and scrutiny that comes with running the world’s best restaurant? For the first time ever, this food filled documentary will offer a glimpse into the mind of one of the world’s most influential people (Time Magazine) and his international team, as they undertake one of the biggest challenges of their careers.

With Jeff Feuerzeig

The story behind JT LeRoy, the fictional writer created by American author Laura Albert.

With David Zappone • Adam Nimoy

For The Love of Spock celebrates the upcoming 50th Anniversary of Star Trek through a personal, intimate look at the life and career of Leonard Nimoy – and his alter ego Mr. Spock – as told by his son, Adam Nimoy, featuring never-before-seen home videos and family photos. Zachary Quinto, William Shatner, George Takei, J.J. Abrams, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Jim Parsons and more join in the celebration revealing why the world holds both Leonard Nimoy and his iconic character so dear and how Star Trek still affects the globe 50 years after it’s origin.

With Mat Whitecross • Asif Kapdia • Simon Halfon • Fiona Neilson • James Gay Rees

Tells the true story of the meteoric rise, chaotic reign, and epic explosion of the legendary rock band Oasis.

With Dylan Thomas • Taya Smith • Michael John Warren • Brian Houston • Joel Houston • Jonathon Douglass • Matt Crocker • Benjamin Tennikoff • Simon Kobler • Jad Gillies • Bobbie Houston • Michael Guy Chislett

Capturing the on-stage energy and off-stage hearts of the Australia-based band Hillsong UNITED, HILLSONG - LET HOPE RISE is a new motion-picture genre: the theatrical worship experience. The film explores Hillsong’s humble beginnings and astonishing rise to prominence as an international church whose songs are sung every Sunday by more than 50 million people worldwide.

With Eric Weinrib • Roseanne Barr

In 2012, Roseanne Barr ran for president of the United States. Although she enjoyed calling herself “the only serious comedian in the race,” the campaign was not a joke. Roseanne for President! is the hilarious, remarkable, moving, and illuminating film that documents how one of the most influential and controversial comedians of all time boldly and passionately extends her legacy as an advocate and symbol for everyday Americans. While peering behind the curtain to see the unusual and highly entertaining world of “other” party politics, Roseanne for President! is also a revealing look at Roseanne’s life and career, and how this bold, brash, Jewish grandmother from Utah made herself into a working class hero.

With Serge Toubiana • Kent Jones

In 1962, Hitchcock and Truffaut locked themselves away in Hollywood for a week to excavate the secrets behind the mise-en-scène in cinema. Based on the original recordings of this meeting—used to produce the mythical book Hitchcock/Truffaut—this film illustrates the greatest cinema lesson of all time and plummets us into the world of the creator of Psycho, The Birds, and Vertigo.