Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

Every year, thousands of aspiring dancers enter one of the world's most prestigious ballet competitions, the Youth America Grand Prix, where lifelong dreams are at stake. In the final round, with hundreds competing for only a handful of elite scholarships and contracts, practice and discipline are paramount, and nothing short of perfection is expected. Bess Kargman's award-winning documentary, First Position, follows six young dancers as they prepare for a chance to enter the world of professional ballet, struggling through bloodied feet, near exhaustion and debilitating injuries, all while navigating the drama of adolescence. A showcase of awe-inspiring talent, tenacity and passion, First Position paints a thrilling and moving portrait of the most gifted young ballet stars of tomorrow.

A look at the very real impact the Back to the Future movies have had on our culture. What was once a little idea that spawned a tightly-focused documentary has grown into something truly amazing over two years of filming. Back in Time is a cinematic monument to the vastness of the trilogy's fandom. In addition to the footage and interviews revolving around the time machine itself, the crew found that simply by delving into the impact of the trilogy an epic journey began to unfold before them. The crew captured countless hours of footage during filming. From Steven Spielberg to Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, to the Sheas and Hollers, and from James Tolkan and Lea Thompson to Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox, Back in Time features interview after interview that simply must be seen.

An exploration of active volcanoes in Indonesia, Iceland, North Korea and Ethiopia, Herzog follows volcanologist and co-director Clive Oppenheimer, who hopes to minimize the volcanoes’ destructive impact. What is the Herzog’s quest? To gain an image of our origins and nature as a species. He finds that the volcano—mysterious, violent, and rapturously beautiful—instructs us that, "there is no single one that is not connected to a belief system".

A jaguar fights to keep his river home in Brazil as the night brings both challenges and opportunities to hunt. Evening is falling in the world's greatest tropical wetland, Brazil's Pantanal. A stronghold for South America's most secretive big cat, the jaguar. And enjoying the last warmth of the day is a male known as Juru. At six years old and weighing over 100 kilos, he's amongst the largest, most powerful big cats in the Americas. This prime stretch of river has been his territory for two years. But tonight Juru's reign hangs in the balance. In a recent fight with a rival male, he badly injured his paw. It's left him weak and hungry. The coming days and nights will test him more than ever before. He'll need to summon the strength to defend his river.

Ewan McGregor and Charley Bormann are very close to finishing their journey. Discussions on security are still on the agenda; they cannot travel at night due to dangerous cartels. They will need to do many miles on a bus with space for the bikes inside. The team manage to get the bikes on after concerns they wouldn’t fit. Repairing and conditioning the bus is an achievement considering they did it in a few days.
Ewan and Charley get back on their bikes, and they head to their last border cross to enter the United States. After 12 hours in the border, the crew, Ewan and Charley make it to America. It’s an easy stretch to L.A. on their bikes. Ewan, the crew and family, finish the last leg. It’s done, they’ve managed to finish Long Way Up. It’s such an achievement. Episode 11 is a heartfelt finale, showcasing the end of an incredible journey from both Ewan, Charley, and the team that supported them.

It was 1985. Guns N' Roses were soon to be known as the last mammoth rock entity to come out of LA after selling over 100 million albums. Jon Brewer brings alive never-before-seen video footage of Guns N' Roses in their earliest days as a fledgling band, filmed and meticulously archived over the years by their close friend. They became known as 'the most dangerous band in the world' and retained the title for reasons this film portrays, via interviews with band members and those who were there on, and off, tour. Venture down seedy Sunset Strip to the Whiskey, the Rainbow and the Roxy, all known as 'the Jungle'.