Great documentaries

Searching for The Wrong-Eyed Jesus is a captivating and compelling road trip through the creative spirit of the the Southern U.S. Director Andrew Douglas's film follows "Alt Country" singer Jim White through a gritty terrain of churches, prisons, truck stops, biker bars and coal mines. This is a journey through a very real contemporary Southern U.S., a world of marginalised white people and their unique and home-made society. Along the way are road-side encounters with modern musical mavericks including The Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, 16 Horsepower and David Johansen; old time banjo player Lee sexton; rockabilly and mountain Gospel churches - and novelist Harry Crews telling grisly stories down a dirt track.

Captivating and emotional documentary that follows Swedish Discus champion Ricky Bruch as he prepares for the 1984 Olympics at age 38. The film highlights Bruch's obsessive behavior regarding his training and preparations. Facing difficulties with the Swedish Olympic Committee, Bruch is denied the right to compete in the Olympic Games. Bent on revenge, he trains like an animal and competes in smaller competitions, ultimately throwing his career-best 71.26 meters (233 feet, 9 inches). Proving to himself and the world that he is the greatest, Ricky's throw would have won the 1984 Olympics by nearly 5 meters.

For two and a half years Adid Stefan Jarl follow the actor and director Thommy Berggren, who talks about his life and work in the film.

An examination of the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

Meet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Camelot.

A woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.

Renowned cult film director John Waters narrates this quirky exploration of the Salton Sea, the massive Southern California lake that was created by accident a century ago, became a popular desert resort and has since developed into a refuge for a community of oddballs.

A heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.

OUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn't always easy to digest - and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas.

An examination of life inside the Grande Chartreuse, the head monastery of the reclusive Carthusian Order in France.

The love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.

An intimate portrait of poet, painter, musician and singer Patti Smith that mirrors the essence of the artist herself.

A son and a father go on a road trip that turns into a musical journey into the emotional memory and the history of Finnish immigration in Sweden; of shame, guilt, crime, alcoholism, and family secrets.

A documentary on 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, his renowned Tokyo restaurant, and his relationship with his son and eventual heir, Yoshikazu.

Starting in 2000, German artist Anselm Kiefer began constructing a series of large elaborate structures, comprising 48 buildings, a labyrinth of tunnels, bridges, lakes and towers. The film bears witness to an incredible creative process.

Set in a pawnshop the documentary by award-winning filmmaker Rosie Dransfeld features the unlikely friendship between a cynic pawnbroker and a psychopath.

Varda films and interviews gleaners in France in all forms, from those picking fields after the harvest to those scouring the dumpsters of Paris.

A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.

A 3000km journey up the Danube river to the heart of Europe.

Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.

Photographer Edward Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing.

A documentary about the everyday lives of ordinary Parisians, done in the style of cinéma vérité.

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.