History
see all genres ›All film is history: it is the record of something that happened before we got to see it. But these documentaries actually probe the past (though it might not have been the past when it was shot) to explain who we are and how we got there.
Watch History Films
Genres / Documentary / History
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Heavy Metal Parking Lot
Hailed by Cameron Crowe as "one of the greatest rock movies ever made," HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT documents the parking lot tailgating at Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland, in the hours before (and the moments after) a Judas Priest concert in May 31, 1986 (the "JUN 23 1995"...Watch Movie
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A Film Unfinished
At the end of WWII, 60 minutes of raw film, having sat undisturbed in an East German archive, was discovered. Shot by the Nazis in Warsaw in May 1942, and labeled simply "Ghetto," this footage quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record of the Warsaw...Watch Movie
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Sex and Broadcasting
SEX AND BROADCASTING is a human and humorous look at New Jersey's WFMU, a radio station that refuses any programming boundaries. Most of its disc jockeys are unpaid volunteers, working for their love of surprising, spontaneous radio. They play everything from flat-out...Watch Movie
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Human Remains
HUMAN REMAINS is a haunting documentary which illustrates the banality of evil by creating intimate portraits of five of the 20th century's most reviled dictators. The film unveils the personal lives of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Francisco Franco and Mao Tse Tung. We learn the...Watch Movie
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The Pearl Button
The ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds the voices of the Earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of a mysterious...Watch Movie
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The Architecture of Doom
Featuring never-before-seen film footage of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime, THE ARCHITECTURE OF DOOM captures the inner workings of the Third Reich and illuminates the Nazi aesthetic in art, architecture and popular culture. From Nazi party rallies to the final days inside...Watch Movie
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The Double Life of Paul Henreid
Paul Henreid, perhaps most famous for his roles in CASABLANCA and NOW, VOYAGER became a star at Warner Brothers during World War II, as the exotic lead with the European accent. After the war, his contract was cancelled and he was left to his own devices. He continued acting...Watch Movie
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!Women Art Revolution
An entertaining and revelatory “secret history” of Feminist Art, !WOMEN ART REVOLUTION deftly illuminates this under-explored movement through conversations, observations, archival footage and works of visionary artists, historians, curators and critics. Starting from its...Watch Movie
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Jerry's Deli
JERRY'S DELI is a testament to a bygone era when shrieking lunatics could run successful (even popular) businesses. Shot on film-stock leftover from television cameramen, Tom Palazzolo's portrait of Jerry Meyer offsets sequences of the tyrannical deli owner (seen berating his employees and...Watch Movie
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Blank City
BLANK CITY is an "absorbing snapshot of a daring time" (Los Angeles Times) when a disparate crew of renegade filmmakers emerged from an economically bankrupt and dangerous moment in New York history. From the late 1970s through the mid-'80s, when the East Village was still a wasteland of cheap...Watch Movie
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The Eye of Vichy
THE EYE OF VICHY is a brilliantly chosen compilation of long forgotten film footage and newsreels produced by the Nazis and French collaborators during World War II. From the small town of Vichy in central France, Field Marshall Petain's puppet government worked with their...Watch Movie
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That Man: Peter Berlin
With his trademark Dutch Boy haircut, Tom of Finland physique and oh-so-tight trousers, Peter Berlin was the poster boy for the hedonistic and sexually liberated 1970s. Director Jim Tushinski's fascinating and touching portrait, THAT MAN: PETER BERLIN, traces Berlin's story...Watch Movie
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Korla
KORLA is the amazing story of John Roland Redd, an African-American from Columbia, Missouri who migrated to Hollywood in 1939 and reinvented himself as a musician from India. He played the piano and organ, wore a jeweled turban, had a hypnotic gaze and never spoke a word while performing on his...Watch Movie
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Tribulation 99
Upon its release in 1991, TRIBULATION 99 became an instant counter-culture classic. Craig Baldwin’s “pseudo-pseudodocumentary” presents a factual chronicle of U.S. intervention in Latin America in the form of the ultimate far-right conspiracy theory, combining covert action, environmental...Watch Movie
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Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
The midwife of American avant-garde cinema, Jonas Mekas (along with his brother Adolfas) was unloaded in New York City by the United Nation Refugee Agency in 1949. There were surely worse places to end-up and Mekas was "hungry for culture," observing the immigrant community in...Watch Movie
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Hotel Polski
A mysterious and little known event that occurred in Warsaw during the summer of 1943 that was referred to as the "Hotel Polonia Affair" is the subject of the short documentary from director Kama Veymont, who puts himself on a quest to find out what happened to around 2500 Jews who obtained false...Watch Movie
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American Artifact
AMERICAN ARTIFACT chronicles the rise of American rock poster art since its birth in the '60s. The film explores the history and rise of the current rock poster movement in America, featuring a cast of quirky, interesting and extremely talented rock poster artists talking...Watch Movie
