Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

Many movies lend themselves to dramatic interpretations, but none are as rich and far ranging as Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. In LA filmmaker Rodney Ascher's ROOM 237, we hear from people who have developed far-reaching theories and believe they have decoded the hidden symbols and messages buried in the late director's film. Carefully examining The Shining inside out, and forwards and backwards, and backwards and forwards, ROOM 237 as captivating, provocative as it is pure pleasure". It gives voice to the fans and scholars who espouse these theories, reworking the film to match their ideas and intercutting it with layers of dreamlike imagery to illustrate their streams of consciousness. Sometimes outrageous, always engaging, the words of those who were interviewed are given full force by Ascher's compelling vision. Also featured at the 2012 Sundance, Cannes and Toronto film festivals.

Killing Kennedy begins in 1959, at major turning points for both the future president and his assassin. John F. Kennedy (played by Rob Lowe) is in Washington, D.C., preparing to announce his presidential candidacy, while Lee Harvey Oswald finds himself in the U.S. embassy in Moscow, renouncing his U.S. citizenship. These two events start both men-one a member of one of the United States' most wealthy and powerful families, the other a disillusioned former Marine and Marxist-on a cataclysmic track that would alter the course of history". Throughout the film, we see their highs and lows, culminating in not one but two shocking deaths that stunned the nation. Based on the best-selling book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard.

In 2006, an Iceland-based outfit called The Sunshine Press launched the website WikiLeaks.org. As run by Australian Internet activist Julian Assange, the site's mandate involved regularly publishing top-secret documents and covert information, often regarding governments and their respective military operations". As might be expected, this set off a firestorm between those who admired the organization's bravado and resourcefulness, and those who argued, not unjustly, that the dissemination of data regarding such events as the U.S. war in Afghanistan could put untold numbers of lives at risk. In We Steal Secrets, Gibney relays the story of the WikiLeaks website from the inside, and moves beyond black and white to penetrate a complex network of activity guided by courage and idealism but also allegedly guilty of ethical insensitivity and hypocrisy. Acclaimed documentarian Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) takes the reins for this no-holds-barred look at one of the most unusual phenomena of early 21st century media.

Follows Vice journalists Shane Smith, Ryan Duffy and Suroosh Alvi as they go to different parts of the world telling us surprising and shocking stories. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has ramped up its use of children in suicide bombing terrorist attacks. Ranging from teenagers to children as young as six years old, they are routinely manipulated and lied to as they are sent to blow up their targets. The Philippines are the most dangerous place in the world to run for office, as politicians are routinely killed by their rivals.

In the National Geographic tradition of powerful natural-history images and storytelling, this film reveals once-invisible dimensions of nature that are filled with beauty and wonder-and hold secrets crucial to our survival. It shines a fascinating spotlight on objects and events that escape the naked eye every minute of every day. Visually stunning and rooted in cutting-edge research, the film blends high-speed and time-lapse photography, electron microscopy and nanotechnology.

In 'Gun School' we visit the New Life Baptist Church & Academy in Albuquerque, NM, where Pastor Larry Allen preaches guns and teaches guns. In 'Toxic Iraq', after ravaging Iraq over the past decade, the U.S. is finally exiting the country, leaving behind a toxic cesspool of military waste.