What Documentary Movies to watch on Tubi

Documentary explore the unfulfilled promise of Beat Generation icon Jack Kerouac, covering the period from the publication of his notorious novel On the Road in 1957 to his alcohol-related death 12 years later.

After moving north from the Deep South at the turn of the 20th century, the Sills family finds prejudice waiting for them in the small Midwestern town of Bethel Springs, as seen through the eyes of the family's young daughter, Lena. In a town where the rules of segregation apply to all manner of daily life, do the values of empathy, forgiveness, and friendship stand a chance?

Some say it took twenty seconds. Some say the men were doomed from day one. May 9, 1992, the Westray mine in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, explodes, instantly killing all 26 men working underground. A brilliant, innovative film that re-creates some of the Westray disaster's most harrowing moments.

This feature documentary profiles a key element of the 1990 Oka crisis in which the Mohawk communities of Kahnawake and Kanehsatake stood against the Canadian military and Canadian citizens in a stand-off that turned violent. On August 28, 1990, a convoy of 75 cars left the Mohawk community of Kahnawake and crossed Montreal's Mercier Bridge-straight into an angry mob that pelted the vehicles with rocks. The targets of this violence were Mohawk women, children and elders leaving Kahnawake, in fear of a possible advance by the Canadian army. This film is the fourth in Alanis Obomsawin's landmark series on the Mohawk rebellions that shook Canada in 1990.

A documentary on children of the insanely rich. Directed by one of their own, Johnson & Johnson heir, Jamie Johnson.

Amargosa is the story of reclusive artist and dancer, Marta Becket. Living in the remote ghost town of Death Valley Junction, California and performing in her hand-painted opera house, Marta struggles to exorcise her demons while embracing the rapture of the creative moment by immersing herself in it.

The documentary follows Gene Scott, famous televangelist involved with constant fights against F.C.C., who tried to shut down his T.V. show during the 1970s and 1980s, and even argues with his viewers, complaining about their lack of support by not sending enough money to keep the show going. Werner Herzog presents the man, his thoughts and also includes some of his uncharacteristic programs.

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN tells the intimate stories of four teenaged girls. They live in different parts of the US, in different kinds of families and are united by one thing: all four were adopted from China because all four had birth parents who could not keep them, due to personal circumstances colliding with China's "One Child Policy". These strong young women allow us to grasp what it is like to come-of-age in today's America as trans-racial adoptees. At the same time, we see them as typical American teenagers doing what teenagers everywhere do...struggling to make sense of their lives. Through these young women, and their explorations of who they are, we ourselves pause to consider who we are - both as individuals and as a nation of immigrants. Identity, racism, and gender...these far-reaching issues are explored in the documentary. And with great honesty and courage, these four girls open their hearts to experience love, compassion, and self-acceptance.

In the summer of 1993, the Wu-Tang Clan emerged from the burroughs of New York City and took the hip-hop world by storm. Their legacy spanned over a decade, garnering fans worldwide and generating sales in excess of $50 million. This is their story.

In 1912, the notorious and violent prisoner Robert Franklin Stroud is transferred to the Leavenworth Prison convicted for murdering a man. When a guard cancels the visit of his mother, Elizabeth Stroud, due to a violation of the internal rules, he stabs and kills the guard and goes to trial three times. He is sentenced to be executed by the gallows, but his mother appeals to President Woodrow Wilson who commutes his sentence to life imprisonment. However, the warden, Harvey Shoemaker, decides to keep Stroud in solitary for the rest of his life. One day, Stroud finds a sparrow that has fallen from the nest in the yard and he raises the bird until it is strong enough to fly. Stroud finds a motivation for his life raising and caring for birds and becomes an expert in birds. He marries Stella Johnson and together they run a business, providing medicine developed by Stroud. But a few years after, Stroud is transferred to Alcatraz and has to leave his birds behind.

PRESCRIPTION THUGS is filmmaker Chris Bell's (Bigger Stronger Faster) hard hitting and thought provoking expose of Big Pharma, its marketing practices and their impact on the staggering level of addiction to prescription drugs in North America. Executive Produced by Vince Vaughn and Peter Billingsley, this documentary is compelling viewing.

Landfill Harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra. An unlikely orchestra made out of recycled trash. As this group takes its inspiring spectacle of trash-into-music around the world, we follow the lives of a garbage picker, a music teacher and a group of children from a Paraguayan slum. Landfill Harmonic is a beautiful story about the transformative power of music, which also highlights two vital issues of our times: poverty and waste pollution.

Stay Awhile is a human story told from the perspective of a daughter, the film's Director and Writer Jessica Edwards, whose parents 'The Bells' attained fame in music selling millions of albums worldwide during the electric times of the 1960's/70's. Stay Awhile is a film that transcends the simple dream of life in a band, exposing the emotional dynamics between the men and women who were a part of it. The film is brought to life with interviews from the original members of The Bells, vintage film, artists and industry execs of the time. Evoking love, fortune, failure and the ties that bond in a document of unforgettable music moments shared in Canadian music history.

In 'Morphine: Journey of Dreams,' the story of the iconic genre-busting 1990s 'Low Rock' band Morphine is told by its surviving members and the coterie around them, sans narration, and made palpable through saxophonist Dana Colley's tour journals. Rare live performances from throughout the group's career woven into the tale display why the trio's unique and mesmeric sound continues to resonate with its fans and music lovers worldwide following the death of its singer, songwriter and two-string bassist Mark Sandman onstage at an Italian music festival in 1999. It's an artfully-delivered document of this peerless musical act's compelling career and life together and their resonant musical creativity that doesn't just get behind but rather inside the music and the soul of of the band.

In 1974, music producers, Hugh Masekela and Stewart Levine worked with the boxing promoter, Don King, to create a music festival in Africa to run concurrently with his championship boxing match he arranged with Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, aka "The Rumble in the Jungle," in Kinshasa, Zaire. However, due to an unforeseen delay due to Foreman injuring himself in training, it was decided that the music festival must still go on as scheduled. This film covers the preparation of that festival with both stage construction and the arrival of the participating musicians. When all is ready, the people of Zaire got to experience a musical event that Africa had never seen before with great African-American and local artists performing with verve and purpose, with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, just the biggest star of this musical extravaganza.

Once the heart of Soviet Russia and the center of the communist world, The Kremlin embodies the rich and fascinating cultural heritage of Moscow. This was the first time ever that an American film crew was granted permission to enter and discover the rich treasures and history of the government and system whose ideology swept through half the modern world during the 20th century. From its early beginnings to its present base of power, this fascinating look at the Kremlin comes to us from award-winning filmmaker Lucy Jarvis and is told through actual Kremlin officials.

Died Young, Stayed Pretty is a candid look at the underground poster culture in North America. This unique documentary examines the creative spirit that drives these indie graphic artists.

A documentary from two time Sundance Winner Ondi Timoner (DIG!) focusing on the life of dot-com entrepreneur Josh Harris, and his exploits over the last decade.

'Black' Brown, a notorious road agent on the run from the law, stumbles on the body of John Lawrence, an honest prospector during the early years of the California Gold Rush, riddled with Indian arrows. Brown takes the dead man's clothes and papers and is able to pass himself off as a good citizen in 1850's Calaveras County. When Lawrence's sister dies, her daughter spends the little money she has to journey to California and live with her uncle. Arriving at the isolated cabin, she realizes he is an impostor, but his threats intimidate her into silence. Lacking money and protection, she immediately becomes vulnerable to the advances of the largely all-male population, and so must acknowledge Brown publicly as her uncle in order to continue to receive food, shelter, and his protection. Over time, this understanding of mutual convenience turns to affection, and he pledges to reform. When former members of his gang continue their dishonest ways, however, the now rehabilitated Brown falls under the suspicion of the local vigilante committee.

There's a bride, a groom and the usual happy crowd of well-wishers. But this is no ordinary wedding. Ana and Brian are adherents to a controversial evangelical movement that purports to convert gay people into heterosexuals. Cure for Love goes inside this unusual Christian subculture and follows the lives of several gay young people.

A story of the settling in the West and the hardship and determination it took to do it.

Flyabout is the heartfelt, personal story of a young woman who gets a pilot's license and inspires her father to do the same. Together with him, she follows her dream to fly a plane around the continent of Australia. Her introduction to the Aboriginal Walkabout brings on the realization that piloting the plane won't be the hardest part of the trip.

"Invisible City" is a moving story of two boys from Regent Park crossing into adulthood – their mothers and mentors rooting for them to succeed; their environment and social pressures tempting them to make poor choices. Turning his camera on the often ignored inner city, Academy-award nominated director Hubert Davis sensitively depicts the disconnection of urban poverty and race from the mainstream.