Hey all, I wanna dedicate this thread to free documentaries! If you know of any good documentaries that are online, please feel free to drop them in this thread.
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
At the height of the Rust Belt primaries, Frontline goes to Milwaukee where presidential candidates tap the deep-seated anxiety and insecurity that fuels tensions between American businesses and their employees.
FRONTLINE correspondent Michael Ambrosino takes a personal journey through 1990s West Bank and Gaza to explore the critical issues at the heart of the Arab-Israeli peace talks.
"Correspondent Wallace Terry, the author of ‘Bloods,’ the national bestseller on which this film is based, talks with black veterans who fought discrimination in Vietnam and who later confronted disillusionment when they came home."
A chronicle of the lives and economic struggles of two families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — one Black and one white — across more than three decades, this “knockout documentary” raises unsettling questions about the changing nature of the American economy.
Frontline is great, they consistently do fantastic reporting and documentaries. The episode “the man who knew” is one that comes to mind. About John O’Neill and 9/11. https://youtu.be/pbXPqWGGQ5U
Just going to suggest a resource: Many libraries provide access to https://www.kanopy.com/en along with e- and audiobooks, and it's got a lot of excellent documentaries on it (the Mavis doc comes to mind!)
Great suggestion. Kanopy is great. Many libraries also lend Roku device that have premium streaming services on them, so documentaries on those subscription services can be free too. I love libraries!
https://youtu.be/y9lr3-7EYHI?feature=shared
1971 the documentary about the 3 antiwar activists who broke into FBI office in Media, PA, to get docs about inteference in antiwar movement but found evidence about COINTELPRO, which they made public. Made after statute of limitations ran out so activists tell their story!
Timely in that it made me think of Hegseth's confirmation hearing and the "Alpha male" b.s. that members of the military learning about & recognizing discrimination is new, harmful to national security (more likely to White ppl fee-fee's), and makes us weak
Free the Pendleton 14 is a 5-part podcast series that "...revisits what unfolded one night in 1976 when a group of black Marines...attempting to break into a Klan meeting...ended up in the wrong room. The KKK was meeting one door away"
If “free” includes someone posted it on YouTube with German subtitles and it’s still up, then here is “Finally Got the News” about the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement/League of Revolutionary Black Workers https://youtu.be/6hGfZBaFHwo?feature=shared
I am grateful you shared this. Challenges ideas that racism is an “old problem”. Personal painful humiliations shared only to be met with indifference and denial. Faces crushed with disappointment when they realize people aren’t hearing the truth.
RAM KE NAAM / IN THE NAME OF GOD focuses on the campaign waged by the militant Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to destroy a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya said to have been built by Babar, the first Mughal Emperor of India.
Check out the Baby Box. It's about a Korean pastor and his wife that cared for unwanted babies. They literally drop them in a mailbox like apparatus he built.
My name is abeer
I'm mother of 3 albinism children
from Gaza Palestine 🇵🇸
My children have been struggling with Visual Impairments since birth and my sons want medical care https://gofund.me/efa42253
Donate💲 what you can or repost🔃" #gaza #helpme
This is so good. On Tubi and Freevee. It’s about how the world came to learn about the jazz music of Ethiopia. Has Buena Vista Social Club vibes. Loved it!
WTTW, Chicago's public station, has so many good documentaries on YT! As does Minnesota's Twin Cities PBS, which released a fun doc on the First Avenue club
Fall of Civilizations series on YT. Each epi details the rise and fall of ancient civilizations around the world. Might be a tough subject rn 😬 but highly recommend for anyone up to it! ✌ https://youtube.com/@fallofcivilizations?si=NjiruOlrejS314_b
Just saw this story today, on a documentary about the oldest house in the Austin neighborhood of Clarksville, a freedom colony founded by Charles Clark in 1871.
Did you know you can get PBS Passport which includes all the Nature, Frontline, Nova, other documentaries you could ever want paying just $6 a month to PBS? It's a great deal.
You sign up to do the payments and then you go to PBS and sign into passport and you got it .
Lots of docs!
Blue Vinyl about the plastics industry with the caveat that I have not seen it in a loooong time. She funded it with the money from a cancer settlement. She did it because she originally had a kind of cancer linked to vinyl (the diagnosis got changed)
Watched the 1st time in 2001 and it changed my life.
It explores modern day slavery in the cacao trade focusing in on the Ivory Coast (*note, not a fan of Prof Bales), in the making of rugs focusing in on India, and domestic labor focusing in on the USA.
By August 2024, 40,000 self-proclaimed vigilante vote-fraud hunters had already challenged the rights of 852,381 voters — with a target of 2 million before the election. Did the voters decide the 2024 election, or voter suppression?
This is a four-part series. It’s been a while since I watched them all, but I also recommend Part 3, There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads He Must Be Destroyed. I used to watch it every year with my Cultural Studies class. https://youtu.be/DaPeRZxfQcI?si=jl_gFsfgBi8pHmgm
Hi friend, we need your help in Gaza🇵🇸. Please donate and share to help us rebuild our life and save my kids. Any little donation makes a difference. Thank you 🙏
Brick By Chance and Fortune, a documentary about the history of the clay and brick industry in St. Louis. It's fascinating and it's only a little over an hour.
This is a nice documentary about the people who make mezcal. The guy who directed it is very cool, and if anyone is in Guadalajara, they should visit Mezonte for a deep dive into the culture and stories behind these spirits! https://vimeo.com/256222332
RECORDER The Marion Stokes Project about the Philadelphia librarian who recorded thousands of VHS tapes of TV, creating the largest television archive. Available for free on Kanopy!
Agreed--extremely well done. One of those excellent documentaries that sheds a lot of light on a period & a Presidency. A lot of groundwork was laid during the Reagan era that helped us get where we are today.
📌 and “My Tree” wherein Jason Sherman goes searching for the tree planted in his honor in Israel as a bar mitzvah gift and digs into the ethical and ecological problems with the JNF and colonial efforts to create forests in Israel and occupied Palestine. https://youtu.be/MUuPEwPOEIw?si=5jrRy8Gmegz8KEnN
Hell ya, let's go.
First, Adam Curtis makes fascinating documentaries.. I'm not sure how truthful they are but the perspectives are amazing.
This gem is about how Madison Avenue imported Nazi propaganda techniques and called it Public Relations. https://youtu.be/eJ3RzGoQC4s
Second is Curtis's latest and longest...
this one is hard to summarize, but I'll say that at the end is a very fascinating theory about why Bill Clinton went all in on globalization.
3!
Noam Chomskys classic remains as relevant as when it came out
Manufacturing Consent is about how the media serves corporations and the elite. Foundational stuff.
4) The Commanding Heights
This is the best explanation of the global economy from the post world war 2 Keynesianism up through the Neoliberal response.
It's has some issues but generally gets it right.
Yea if you donate $60 a year, comes to $5/month. Certainly cheaper than Netflix, etc. I get 4 pbs channels that are local with an antenna and there’s always something on that’s enlightening and educational here in nw arkansas
Thanks for that clarification. But still helpful to know they are even viewable at all, I thought the series had been totally shut down. I still remember how powerful the episode on Fred Hutton was...pretty clear evidence of Chicago PD assassinating a Black leader.
Comments
At the height of the Rust Belt primaries, Frontline goes to Milwaukee where presidential candidates tap the deep-seated anxiety and insecurity that fuels tensions between American businesses and their employees.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZARQ8QtvMqs
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tKA1CyAueNA
"Correspondent Wallace Terry, the author of ‘Bloods,’ the national bestseller on which this film is based, talks with black veterans who fought discrimination in Vietnam and who later confronted disillusionment when they came home."
A chronicle of the lives and economic struggles of two families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — one Black and one white — across more than three decades, this “knockout documentary” raises unsettling questions about the changing nature of the American economy.
Yes, catch up on this. Wow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc4978aqAZY
1971 the documentary about the 3 antiwar activists who broke into FBI office in Media, PA, to get docs about inteference in antiwar movement but found evidence about COINTELPRO, which they made public. Made after statute of limitations ran out so activists tell their story!
My Review: Infuriating, frustrating, embarrassing, interesting, timely ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Infuriating watching my fellow White people twist words & be such tender snowflakes
Frustrating that our country is stuck in a Groundhog Day (the movie) loop of dealing with/denying racism
Embarrassing + enraging seeing the White liberal live up to the stereotype & melt into a tender snowflake with smug pettiness
Interesting learning about the 1971 riots within the military & DEOMI that began that same year as a result and continues today
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Equal_Opportunity_Management_Institute
Timely in that it made me think of Hegseth's confirmation hearing and the "Alpha male" b.s. that members of the military learning about & recognizing discrimination is new, harmful to national security (more likely to White ppl fee-fee's), and makes us weak
https://dkshipler.medium.com/defending-minorities-against-the-defense-secretary-83bc142537b9
Hegseth's hearing & this doc both reminded me of the fact that the KKK was openly operating at Camp Pendleton in the early 1970s
https://bsky.app/profile/greeninoc.bsky.social/post/3lfpz7ewxdk2y
Free the Pendleton 14 is a 5-part podcast series that "...revisits what unfolded one night in 1976 when a group of black Marines...attempting to break into a Klan meeting...ended up in the wrong room. The KKK was meeting one door away"
https://freethependleton14.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/free-the-pendleton-14-episode-one/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-2qrFlwYlY
https://www.pbs.org/show/slavery-another-name/
https://youtu.be/Zi19rYdejFs?si=qjnDWyYUxf28cVNh
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H7DUJbRJIKY
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:q6gjnaw2blty4crticxkmujt/feed/my-pins
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GMT18TMNQbY&pp=ygULcmFtIGtlIG5hYW0%3D
https://youtu.be/yjpYzFtxfjU?si=ksMLKT-x5PXZDF3d
https://youtu.be/dpjypnxnS4U?si=7Nnm9YEpoaiKGltn
https://youtu.be/Rz3ME8K_zW4?si=zVYb6k9LhtAT3fxQ
https://youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8?si=W-zOO6KzhRoF0TJO
https://youtu.be/k_P7Y0-wgos?si=i8j5ShQQeMMpGbGM
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmXZEmEXFYhPCb_YAIECOQOwiqx8XmXei&si=CZlUbV7LTR68kl8K
https://youtu.be/LYTK6QicICo?feature=shared
Trigger warning for death and suicide
https://youtu.be/mhuRGam7xG0?si=bPPN1WkCfGza1riZ
https://youtu.be/h4bYuSL8uVQ?si=Dv03S40M9FvtiDzO
https://youtu.be/-BNDub3h2_I?si=G6kFH8MxJtnOd_6_
Two good docs about the Deepwater Horizon tragedy
https://youtu.be/pLqwtK297kM?si=dgyAUgFDQGcRhDI4
https://youtu.be/LYALUCIyC2o?si=iS2WFkACDW3g87b6
TW: disordered eating, diet culture
https://youtu.be/h5ayw21ZE6g?si=0uSQd-p5q7JA7qvV
There is an update for this video!
https://youtu.be/czGuAnjm_gU?si=ymrrvzF1zmfebqaf
https://youtu.be/cj8JVCkGPek?si=xsB-BURzGBbr0n1R
https://youtu.be/b4-CW0ajJRg?si=1bpfmtXQpe7we2G4
https://youtu.be/bpAMofkm6ho?si=Sorvt3Oam3osM2rB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5BCNXhj8qo
I'm mother of 3 albinism children
from Gaza Palestine 🇵🇸
My children have been struggling with Visual Impairments since birth and my sons want medical care
https://gofund.me/efa42253
Donate💲 what you can or repost🔃" #gaza #helpme
https://youtu.be/9H9iyvWGFQ0?si=X6sHm2bCXF3NFPq7
One of the best docs I ever watched.
https://gofund.me/26690329
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk6elw_VGB0
https://www.youtube.com/@wttw/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9ifsWfX0V8
https://youtube.com/@fallofcivilizations?si=NjiruOlrejS314_b
You sign up to do the payments and then you go to PBS and sign into passport and you got it .
Lots of docs!
(apologies in advance there was a chunk of my life that was about documentaries and like nothing else)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv0n1xfNf1E
https://bsky.app/profile/khaaledayman3.bsky.social/post/3lfd4ctdins2k
It explores modern day slavery in the cacao trade focusing in on the Ivory Coast (*note, not a fan of Prof Bales), in the making of rugs focusing in on India, and domestic labor focusing in on the USA.
https://www.truevisiontv.com/films/slavery-a-global-investigation
Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror
13th
American Factory
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey
My Octopus Teacher
Virunga
All on Netflix.
https://www.openculture.com/free-documentaries-online
https://youtu.be/P_XdtAQXnGE?si=G9KGt_FPY4nsE6xn
We even bought the soundtrack on vinyl!
Adam CURTIS makes a trippy documentary folks pairs as well with libations
I'm ready for a rewatch... my memory of it is hazy.
I also want to see if it still hits the same way.
By Alan Lomax
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3eMe54XsJUE
It’s in English, ignore the description. Exposes traveling preachers and faith healers by an insider
https://archive.org/details/Marjoe.1972.Legendado
https://www.pbs.org/video/chasing-dream-against-all-odds-full-film/
https://www.openculture.com/free-documentaries-online/
https://youtu.be/IhT7oyDlBIk
good researchers die too early
His Anarcharist Pirate culture stories are the shit.
Thanks for sharing.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XOpyLTyVxco
https://www.amazon.com/Billion-Dollars-Helicopter-Warren-Norred/dp/B08CGZMQF4
https://youtu.be/fUAnjQG2qxg?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/JfZPl4CFEUc?si=dli6JqFAhbZyjZz5
First, Adam Curtis makes fascinating documentaries.. I'm not sure how truthful they are but the perspectives are amazing.
This gem is about how Madison Avenue imported Nazi propaganda techniques and called it Public Relations.
https://youtu.be/eJ3RzGoQC4s
this one is hard to summarize, but I'll say that at the end is a very fascinating theory about why Bill Clinton went all in on globalization.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-R20m4MXU6v109QyZ8BKkncR29_OUrWv
Noam Chomskys classic remains as relevant as when it came out
Manufacturing Consent is about how the media serves corporations and the elite. Foundational stuff.
https://youtu.be/BQXsPU25B60
This is the best explanation of the global economy from the post world war 2 Keynesianism up through the Neoliberal response.
It's has some issues but generally gets it right.
https://youtu.be/gfRTpoYpHfw
https://pbs.org/show/eyes-on-the-prize?source=social