For me it’s gotta be something from ARTE (the French/German culture television channel). Either it’s the one about Chodorowskis weird Dune project or the three-part series about the history of racism. Both were extremely well-made documentaries.
Down the Rabbit Hole for EVE Online is absolutely amazing. I’ve played the game here and there for quite a long time, and it’s one of my favourite experiences, that is however really hard to put into words.
That game is weird. I still can’t explain why it’s one of the best games I’ve played, but I always keep returning to it and love consuming content about it from time to time. And this document is amazing in explaining how extremely unique and cool the game is in it’s metagame and the stories it generates. The game has it’s problems, but I still think it’s one of the most unique lifestyles in gaming, that nothing ever comes close to. It’s the only MMORPG that’s actually literally roleplay, that basically forces you to roleplay without you even realizing it. Sure, you may not speak in character, but the fleet doctrines, logistics, corp organization, propaganda, corp-politics and everything around it people do - that’s literally roleplaying.
Another one would be B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989. This document is really really hard for me to watch, because it’s a subculture that was always really important to me, to the point where I help with event promotions and DJ at local 80s goth/synthpop events and it’s my main hobby. But, since I’m now in my 20s, I’ve missed it. The way internet transformed music subcultures is terrible, especially so the alternative ones, but music consumption in general - sure, it’s really amazing to have every almbum ever in the palm of your hand, but there’s just so many that I don’t know any. If I talk to anyone who started with music with the one MC tape, and each new relleas was something hard to get that you actually treassured, I really envy their relationship with music. And that’s something that’s almost impossible to build in this day and age.
The fact that I’ll never get to experience the scene as it was in the 80s is one of the saddest things for me, and this documentary shows it in really genuine and amazing way.
And then there’s The Social Dillema, about the dangers of social networks. A word of warning from people who worked at large social network companies and left because the way they exploit users got too much for them, and now they are trying to spread the word. I really recommend this for everyone, it’s eye openning and really terrifying. It was one of the first impulses that got me heavy into privacy, and it everyone should see it at least once.
Everyone should watch The Social Dilemma.
DTRH is one of my favorite channels, I love almost everything that he has made. I think my favorite of his (aside from WingsOfRedemption of course) was about Henry Darger, tragic and hopeful at the same time.
I’m a fan of the pur cat Cafe. It’s funny and sad and it’s interesting how he gets you to care about something so inconsequential.
Man on Wire is a 2008 documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center.
Three from Ron Fricke: Koyaanisqatsi, Baraka, Samsara.
Baraka changed my life when saw it in college
So so beautiful. I’ve only seen one(Samsara)though are they all like that.
Yeah, pretty much. Similar style.
Everything by Adam Curtis. It’s mostly already known facts, but arranged in a positively depressing way.
For me it was a short YouTube doc about pagpag. Granted I haven’t seen many docs but this one sorta hit home as we were very poor growing up but we were fortunate enough to not be this poor.
Not “Pirates of Silicon Valley” but an actual documentary that compares the film to reality and has interviews from a lot of the key players like Jobs, Wozniak, Gates and others. I would love to see it again, actually, but I do not for the life of me remember its title other than containing the reference to “Pirates of Silicon Valley.” The Real Pirates of Silicon Valley, maybe? It was something shown on a slow day in one of my high school classes and I think originated from A&E.
Another one came to my mind - ROBLOX_OOF.mp3 by hbomberguy.
It’s really a wild ride. As traditional with his videos, it starts with a pretty innocent investigation into one of sounds popular on the internet, and then gets into a mindboggling rabbit hole about Tommy Tallarico, the guy behind Video Games Live, and how he accidentally discovered what an insane text-book example of pathological lier he is. It’s funny, and really absurd - I’d recommend it to everyone, because it’s really interesting insight into how bad can it get with pathological liers. It’s a roller coaster, and a really fascinating one. And I also learned that Guiness World Record is a scam and literally only an advertisement business, which I never realised before.
It’s a shame, I really liked Video Games Live, the live recordings of it’s shows are great. Assuming you skip the ego-trip monologues he interupts the concert with.
hbomberguy has a few of these wild rides. I look forward to the video he will make sometimes this year.
The Vietnam War by Ken Burns. Among other things, it’s got an amazing soundtrack
That documentation is seem like propaganda from capitalism side.
It’s hard to pick just one, but I’ve always enjoyed June 17th, 1994 by Brett Morgen and it’s one I rarely see mentioned in these contexts. There’s no narrator, it’s basically entirely archival news/sports footage from the day, but has a lot of footage that wasn’t actually broadcast, with hosts and reporters talking to producers, trying to decide what to do next. I worked in local TV news for about 10 years, so those segments were very familiar to me and really resonated with me seeing not only the events, but also the quick decisions of trying to figure out how to present those events and particularly how to tell people about what became the dominant news story of the day.
I say give “Icarus” a shot. I think it’s on Netflix rn. It starts off as bike race and then grows into something much more crazier. I think it win some awards? Highly recommend!
Starts as trying to show how you can cheat in bike racing and ends up exposing Russia in a doping scandal within the Olympics. Was a crazy movie but amazing
The Farthest, a documentary about the Voyager program. It’s marvelous.
Ghenghis Blues - A blind musician discovers Tuvan throat singing and travels to Mongolia to discover the music and people.
Azorian: The Raising of the K-129
One of the secretive, over-engineered, and ridiculously expensive Cold War spy projects which inspired fiction like James Bond and Metal Gear Solid really happened.
Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
It’s got a good dose of Aussie humor for a pretty serious ecological disaster. Also a good dose of “we humans have learned nothing from our mistakes “.
