Ask HN: What documentary films inspired you the most?

8 points by Jack_R ↗ HN

9 comments

[ 0.22 ms ] story [ 29.2 ms ] thread
Stanley Kubrick: A life in pictures

Man on Wire

Most stuff by Herzog

Transcendent Man - Ray Kurzweill

Die Hard (just kidding)

The Imposter - maybe not inspiring but an amazing documentary.
Startup.com

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Ilha Das Flores

The entire Connections series. I know it is going through a revival right now thanks to Reddit and such, but I grew up on the VHS tapes from the local library. I'm sure it had an impact on my life, even if I'm not 100% clear what that impact was.
American Splendor - About comic creator Harvey Pekar, who isn't an artist, just a storyteller. But was the creator of some popular cult-classic comics detailing his ordinary life tribulations and trials. Creativity comes in all forms.

Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi - these are usually more considered artsy films but they also small views of different cultures busy at work and how they interact.

Some of the early Nova series programs (early = 1980's) they had some really great stuff such as the Exploratoruim - its history and a really good bit about how they designed/built exhibits (with the founder, Dr. Frank Oppeheimer)... and another one on Open Spaces, particularly centering on the public spaces in New York and the studies of maximizing planning and design for public usability. It just illustrated to me there are a wide variety of real life problems in need of solutions.

Bell Science Educational Series - (1956-64, available on VHS) covers a lot of ground in many aspects of sciences (not just physics and chemistry) Very approachable for a kid from the sticks. :-)

Indie Game: The Movie

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang

I would love a documentary that is like M:TSoM, but solely about app developers.