Biography
This documentary sub-heading is one of the most popular forms of non-fiction film. The biography details the lives - usually the achievements and faults of - noted or notorious public figures. Also included, alongside other movie types, are profiles of everyday people and their human interest stories.
Resident Alien: Quentin Crisp in America (1991)
6.8/10
Starring: Narrated by, John Hurt
This look at Quentin Crisp offers an intimate glimpse of the flamboyant gay icon and author of 'The Naked Civil Servant' in and around his Manhattan a... Read more
35 Up (1991)
8.3/10
Director: Michael Apted
Called 'the definitive documentary' produced and directed by Michael Apted. Beginning in 1963 a camera has followed a group of children from the age o... Read more
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
8.1/10
Director: Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
This powerful, Oscar-winning documentary brings the AIDS epidemic into sharp personal focus by telling the stories of five people memorialized on the... Read more
Andy Kaufman - I'm From Hollywood (1989)
Director: Lynne Margulies
Starring: Andy Kaufman
Immortalised in the film 'Man on the Moon' (1999) starring Jim Carrey, Andy Kaufman was best known for his outrageous lampooning of wrestling culture... Read more
John's Not Mad (1989)
15-year-old John Davidson from Galashiels, Scotland has a severe form of Tourette's Syndrome, characterized by physical and vocal tics. This now-clas... Read more
Joseph Campbell: The Hero's Journey (1987)
8.8/10
Starring: Joseph Campbell
One of the greatest storytellers of our time, and arguably the greatest mythologist, Joseph Campbell spent most of his long, rich career explaining ho... Read more
Mother Teresa (1986)
7.6/10
Director: Ann Petrie, Jeanette Petrie
Starring: Richard Attenborough, (narrated by)
This powerful and inspiring film is considered the definitive portrait of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mother Teresa. Shot on the run over a per... Read more
Chanel, Chanel (1986)
Director: Eila Hershon, Roberto Guerra
Starring: Diana Quick, (narrated by)
Aka "Chanel and Her World". Chanel, more than just one of the world's most successful fashion labels, also the name of a woman who led a fascinating l... Read more
What Happened to Kerouac? (1986)
7.1/10
Director: Lewis MacAdams, Richard Lerner
Starring: Steve Allen, William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg
A lively and revealing investigation into the personal history and creative process of Jack Kerouac - father of the Beat Generation, author of 'On the... Read more
The Robert Epstein Collection: The Celluloid Closet / Common Threads / Paragraph 175 / The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
Director: Jeffrey Friedman, Rob Epstein
A collection of four documentaries from queer filmmaker Robert Epstein. "The Celluloid Closet" (1995) - This entertaining and often hilarious look at... Read more