TV & Film The Documentary Thread

Lou

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The Human Bean


Inspired by a half-page scene in John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat, where a family of poor, super healthy kids eat an almost exclusive bean diet, Beau decides to do much the same thing. Eating only the contents of 191 tins of beans over 40 days transforms Beau into The Human Bean, and in doing so gives him a front row seat into how one food, totally and utterly, dictates how he feels. Beau uses his intimate knowledge of running to compare his former self to his bean-self, logging lacklustre training for an ultramarathon that he plans on running during the final day of the experiment. Epiphanies are had, saddles are blazed, and genuine insight emerges from what is strangely appealing day-to-day of mediocrity.

 
The Human Bean


Inspired by a half-page scene in John Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat, where a family of poor, super healthy kids eat an almost exclusive bean diet, Beau decides to do much the same thing. Eating only the contents of 191 tins of beans over 40 days transforms Beau into The Human Bean, and in doing so gives him a front row seat into how one food, totally and utterly, dictates how he feels. Beau uses his intimate knowledge of running to compare his former self to his bean-self, logging lacklustre training for an ultramarathon that he plans on running during the final day of the experiment. Epiphanies are had, saddles are blazed, and genuine insight emerges from what is strangely appealing day-to-day of mediocrity.

So .... how does it end? :clap:
 
Takeout

Filmmaker Michal Siewierski embarks on an audacious journey to expose the connection between the Amazon forest fires and our food choices. The film also exposes major political corruption, corporate greed and crimes against people and nature. Takeout tackles the facts and stories that traditional media outlets are too afraid to cover. Executive produced by Peter Eastwood and Moby.​

Now available at iTunes.



 
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Akashinga: The Brave Ones

James Cameron, the three-time Academy Award Winner and executive producer behind the plant-based documentary The Game Changers has partnered with National Geographic to tell the true-life story of the all-female, vegan anti-poaching group of rangers out of Zimbabwe known as The Akashinga.

Debuted this past Wednesday, August 12th, Akashinga: The Brave Ones documents Zimbabwe's all-female, vegan group of rangers that help protect elephants, lions and rhinos from poachers. The Akashinga, which means 'Brave Ones', is an arm of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation(IAPF) founded in 2017 by Damien Mander, the former military sniper who was also featured as a super vegan in The Game Changers.




Read More: James Cameron's Film Spotlights All-Female, Vegan Anti-Poachers | James Cameron's Film Spotlights All-Female, Vegan Anti-Poachers
 
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Catch the ultimate wildlife adventure in Planet Earth: A Celebration, which airs tonight, Aug. 31, at 8 p.m. ET on BBC America, AMC, SundanceTV and IFC. You can also stream it on FuboTV.


It's 8 of the most popular segments from Planet Earth. A new narration and a new soundtrack.
 
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I've been watching this documentary, I'll Be Gone in The Dark, since the last few weeks and it's excellent. Some of you may remember the terror that the rapist caused in Northern and later on in Southern California during the late70's/80's.

I recall one of my cousins saying that she was so frightened that she would go around the house making sure that all of the windows were securely locked at night.

''Writer Michelle McNamara, author of True Crime Diary, her blog about unsolved crimes, finds a new obsession in the “East Area Rapist” (EAR), who terrorised California in the 1970s and ‘80s and was, ultimately, responsible for 50 home-invasion rapes and 12 murders.

The EAR, whose true identity is still unknown, would also come to be known as the “Original Night Stalker” and, as Michelle dubs him, the “Golden State Killer.”‌ Delving into the world of online chat rooms and crime blogs, she becomes immersed in the graphic details of the Golden State Killer case, connecting with like-minded sleuths, trading facts, photos, and leads.''


 
From Plant Based News

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Our buddies at Earth Conscious Films have created an inspiring, award-winning film about the solutions Earth so desperately needs!

It’s been buzzing at film festivals worldwide, winning several accolades for Best Documentary, and it’s available RIGHT NOW for a special, free global screening event.

The film is called The Need To GROW, and it’s a deeply moving 90-minute documentary — the kind that gives you chills, opens your heart, and leaves you informed about some of the most critical issues of our times.

This film focuses on soil, food, and the future of our species — told through the lens of three extraordinary and very likable characters, and their journeys as solutionaries. It’s narrated by top-notch celebrity activist Rosario Dawson. And it brings a non-divisive message about the stake we all have in humanity’s ability to sustainably grow food for future generations.

The Earth Conscious Films team spent over 5 years making this movie, and the moment I saw it, I felt exhilarated. This is a story that needs to be told — and it is told VERY well.

I urge you to sit down and watch the film. The Need To GROW moved me emotionally in a way that doesn’t often happen with food documentaries! I promise you’re going to love it, too.

Robbie Lockie & Klaus Mitchell
PBN Founders
P.S. This free, global screening event ends on September 14. So don’t wait!! Watch the whole movie today, and I know you’ll be as inspired as I am!


 
I've had a minor obsession with the Keddie Cabins since 2015 or so. I was still living in LA, and something about them hooked into me. I've always been interested in pretty much all true crime, but something about Keddie and its family victims: a single mother, two teen boys, and a very young girl on a campground in the early 80s just spoke to every part of my psyche.

SO ...Cabin 28 (and no not that horror movie garbage):

DIA]
 
I watched the documentary Beware the Slenderman tonight. It was about the crime when two 12 year old girls stabbed their same age friend and said it was because of the Slenderman internet myth. Absolutely shocking.
 
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Not new but I was just reminded of this

Running For Good is a documentary about Fiona Oakes who earns money running to support her animal sanctary. It's an amazing story about an amazing woman. I watched online for free when it first came out. It cost $4 now, but 100% of the profits go to the animal sanctuary.

 
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I found this documentary to be very interesting, however the person who left a review states quite a few discrepancies.

well, I will have to watch the film, but the reviewer is way too harsh about discrepancies.
As far as the "discrepancies", the reviewer seems to have his own opinions including some that may even be "conspiracy theories".
There is a lot of stuff we don't know about the Spanish flu. But there are also quite a few good theories.
For instance, the reviewer seems to think that rats were involved in the spread of the disease. Well, no one can say that rats absolutely did not play a part but there is DNA evidence that the flu originated in birds and we know from historical first-person accounts that it was an airborne disease. It did spread thru the trenches of WWI, but that is probably because soldiers were close together and their health was already compromised.
BTW I'm no expert on the Spanish flu. but I listened to two good hour-long podcasts and read a few magazine articles. And none of those included the theories of the "reviewer".
 
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This was an interesting short that we watched last night, from a Canadian news program W5 - regarding the polio epidemic which happened in many of our lifetimes and/or just before. It affected mostly children and has many parallels.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 
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This was an interesting short that we watched last night, from a Canadian news program W5 - regarding the polio epidemic which happened in many of our lifetimes and/or just before. It affected mostly children and has many parallels.
Very good. The similarities and differences are very interesting. I would say this should be required watching for anyone under 40.
There were several episodes of Call the Midwife that centered around Polio and the vaccine.
 
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In Defense of Food

Finally got around to watching it. It was pretty good. I'm a fan of Michale Pollan and I hadn't known about this book or movie until someone (maybe Shyavas) on the VF mentioned it. I also got the book out of the library but I ended up watching the movie first and now I don't think I will bother with the book.

The content was IMHO a little basic, but I just noticed that the book was written in 2008, so maybe a lot of this wasn't quite so well known back then. I also thought that some of the content was over-simplified. but I think that was part of the concept of the film - To keep it simple.

I've read a lot of Pollan's books and seen most of his movies, too, and I have a lot of respect for him. I like the way he weaves history and science and personal experiences. there used to be a VF member who really disliked Pollan because of his "mostly plants" stance. in this film, I thought he did a good job of defending the "mostly plants" stance and never defended meat consumption. He also never used the word "flexitarian". Maybe that wasn't a thing back then. he promoted vegetarianism.

He promoted some food rules, that I assume he made even clearer and better described in the book.

  1. Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing there?" Pollan says.
  2. Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.
  3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.
  4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot. "There are exceptions -- honey -- but as a rule, things like Twinkies that never go bad aren't food," Pollan says.
  5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat. "Always leave the table a little hungry," Pollan says. "Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full. In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full. Islamic culture has a similar rule, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.'"
  6. Families traditionally ate together, around a table and not a TV, at regular meal times. It's a good tradition. Enjoy meals with the people you love. "Remember when eating between meals felt wrong?" Pollan asks.
  7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline. In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.
Pollan says everything he's learned about food and health can be summed up in seven words:​
"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Another thing I liked was his explanation of Nutritionism. that is where we believe that nutrition is too complicated to understand and we require a "priesthood" to make decisions for us. He emphasized the importance of making our choices based on food and not nutrients.
 
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