Browse documentary movie in Australia
Dive into the world of documentary movie in Australia. From timeless classics to trending hits, explore an exciting collection of titles that define the documentary genre.
Explore critically acclaimed blockbusters, hidden gems, and trending new releases that showcase the diversity and creativity of documentary storytelling. Use our filters to find top-rated titles, recent hits, or beloved classics tailored to your taste.
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How is it possible that North Korea, one of the poorest countries on earth finances a nuclear weapons program large enough to challenge the USA? The answer: Bureau 39, a legendary organization nestled deep inside the government apparatus. Its aim is to procure foreign exchange by any means possible to provide Kim Jong-un’s regime with money.
Bureau 39: Kim's Cash Machine (2020 )
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A documentary on the cruelty of Japan's judicial and penitentiary system.
Prison life: Justice in Japan (2020 )
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Meet women in UK, legally providing sexual services, either to make a living or to supplement their income, potentially earning hundreds of pounds per hour.
Louis Theroux: Selling Sex (2020 )
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A documentary celebrating Lee Miller, a model-turned-photographer-turned-war reporter who defied anyone who tried to pin her down, put her on a pedestal, or pigeonhole her in any way.
Lee Miller: A Life on the Frontline (2020 )
- Free
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A new songline for 21st century Australia - a fresh look at the Cook legend from a First Nations' perspective - the songline tells of connection to country, resistance and survival and features the cheeky, acerbic and heartfelt showman - Steven Oliver and a host of outstanding, political Indigenous singer/songwriters.
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky (2020 )
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Love Opera provides an inside look at Brisbane’s world-class Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program as it prepares a production of Carmen with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Nestled inside Griffith University on Brisbane’s South Bank, the Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program is the brainchild of its eponymous leader, whose singular qualities as an opera singer have taken her from The Met to Covent Garden and all across Europe.
Love Opera (2020 )
- Free
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From 1950 to 1953, one hundred thousand children were orphaned by the Korean War. With no resources to mend the wounds, the two sides, North and South, took different paths to find homes and families for the war orphans. While the children of South Korea were sent to Europe and the United States through ‘International Adoption’, the children of North Korea were distributed across Eastern Europe through a method called ‘Commissioned Education’. As a result, more than five thousand children from the North had to spend nearly a decade living in foreign lands across Eastern Europe. This story is a record of their lives, which used to be kept hidden from the rest of the world. There is a key to understanding how North Korea's closed political structure began and how the ‘Juche ideology’ was formed in this documentary movie. Understanding North Korea in the 1950s is an important way to understand North Korea at present.
Kim Il Sung's Children (2020 )
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This ABC documentary special provides a detailed look into the disastrous fire that ravaged Paris' revered Notre-Dame Cathedral in 2019. Firsthand accounts of firefighters, clergy, local officials and those who were inside the cathedral on April 15, 2019, as well as harrowing footage from within the inferno, tell the story of the fire watched around the world.
Notre-Dame: Our Lady of Paris (2020 )
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Daily life at Iran’s second biggest zoo is interrupted when Mohsen, the head keeper, takes Maya, his 4 year old Bengal tiger, to perform in a fiction film in the north of the country by the Caspian Sea which was once home to the now extinct caspian tiger. In between filming, Mohsen lets Maya off the leash and allows her to roam in this sparsely populated landscape – she is the first ‘free’ tiger in Iran in over 60 years. But instead of the perfect experience of the wild that Mohsen hopes it to be, the trip kickstarts a series of events that mark the end of Mohsen and Maya’s relationship and in the process reveals a much darker and more complex side to Mohsen and the Zoo in which Maya and the other animals are kept.
Maya (2020 )
- Free
Movie
WILD THINGS follows a new generation of environmental activists that are mobilising against forces more powerful than themselves and saying, enough. Armed only with mobiles phones, this growing army of eco warriors will do whatever it takes to save their futures from the ravages of climate change. From chaining themselves to coal trains, sitting high in the canopy of threatened rainforest or locking onto bulldozers, their non-violent tactics are designed to generate mass action with one finger tap. Against a backdrop of drought, fire and floods; we witness how today’s environmentalists are making a difference and explore connections with the past through the untold stories of previous campaigns. Surprisingly the methods of old still have currency when a groundswell of school students inspired by the actions of 16-year old Greta Thunberg say, ‘change is coming’ and call a national strike demanding action against global warming.
Wild Things (2020 )
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In a moment of catastrophic climate change, Jon Wright, a gay farmer, is faced with a dilemma. His 22-year commitment to transform the genetics of his herd are pitted against the attitudes of the beef industry, who hold the future of his families 4th generation farm in their hands.Through his incredible journey of loss and survival, we learn what it takes to be true to yourself, at any cost.
Alone Out Here (2020 )
- Free
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Unique footage of how the otter hunts its food, how they play, and even how a mother otter gives her cubs swimming lessons. Filmed in the beautiful natural environment of the wetlands in The Netherlands. With increasing population numbers amongst the otter, they look for new territory to expand. The Province works to protect them on a large scale, by for instance blocking roads with gauze, and creating fauna-tunnels. There's still a long way to go until a full recovery, but the otter is showing us the right track.
The otter, a legend returns (2020 )
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As the war in Vietnam raged, one of the largest and most successful youth-led resistance movements in American history was growing at home. Hundreds of thousands of young men opposed to an unjust war said NO to being drafted into the military, risking up to five years in federal prison. Their individual courage and collective nonviolent actions helped end a tragic war and the draft.
The Boys Who Said No! (2020 )
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The world is crying out for a new model of leadership, but what is it? One woman thinks she has the answer. Australian CEO and ‘dreamer’ Fabian Dattner leads an international group of 76 female scientists on an Antarctic voyage designed to transform them “into the sort of leaders they want to be.” Her hope is that once these women are primed to lead in science, they will be able to make meaningful change around the world. But on board, as the women’s deeply personal stories of workplace gender biases and more are revealed, Dattner’s own leadership style and philosophy is severely tested. Set against the planet’s last untouched wilderness, The Leadership unearths the profoundly troubling systemic obstacles to women’s advancement in science and beyond.
The Leadership (2020 )
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In this follow-up to 2011's When a City Falls, filmmaker Gerard Smyth captures the people of Ōtautahi Christchurch a decade on from the devastating earthquake and how they've managed to thrive in the aftermath.
When A City Rises (2020 )
- Free
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Investigates the valleys in search of the Greek musical tradition of Calabria by giving voice to who continue to lend their legs, ears and hands to this heritage.
Ettù parànu: Where the Valleys Still Play (2020 )
- Free
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A World Cup of shocks and surprises, making history from start to finish. It was the first World Cup in Asia and the first to be co-hosted by two countries. The official film captures the unique spirit of this event in 120 minutes of football - on the pitch and behind the scenes. This is one of few official films able to offer a hint of the world behind the dressing room door - Senegal's victory celebrations, Mexico's prayer and team talk and the referees debriefing.
Seven Games From Glory (2002 )
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Through vintage film clips of past Bond movie epics, and with the participation of several former "Bond Girls" as interviewees (among them Dr. No's Ursula Andress and Diamonds Are Forever's Jill St. John), the documentary traces the evolution of the typical James Bond heroine from decorative damsel in distress to gutsy (but still decorative) participant in the action.
Bond Girls Are Forever (2002 )
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Documentary depicts what happened in Rio de Janeiro on June 12th 2000, when bus 174 was taken by an armed young man, threatening to shoot all the passengers. Transmitted live on all Brazilian TV networks, this shocking and tragic-ending event became one of violence's most shocking portraits, and one of the scariest examples of police incompetence and abuse in recent years.
Bus 174 (2002 )
- Free
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The story of unemployment in New Zealand and In A Land of Plenty is an exploration of just that; it takes as its starting point the consensus from The Depression onwards that Godzone economic policy should focus on achieving full employment, and explores how this was radically shifted by the 1984 Labour government. Director Alister Barry's perspective is clear, as he trains a humanist lens on ‘Rogernomics' to argue for the policy's negative effects on society, as a new poverty-stricken underclass developed.
In a Land of Plenty (2002 )
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Monica Lewinsky looks back on the scandal that made her a household name and nearly brought down a presidency.
Monica in Black and White (2002 )
- Free
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Part one of On the Trail of Bigfoot. Journey back through the history of one of America's last great mysteries in this new documentary from Small Town Monsters (The Mothman of Point Pleasant, The Bray Road Beast) and director, Seth Breedlove. Join researchers, investigators and historians as they uncover the story behind centuries-old mystery; the creature known as Bigfoot.
On the Trail of Bigfoot: The Legend (2019 )
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In Florida, parents can hire Wrinkles the Clown to scare their misbehaving children.
Wrinkles the Clown (2019 )
- Free
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Mark Patton sets the records straight about the controversial 1985 sequel to A Nightmare on Elm Street, which ended his acting career, just as it was about to begin.
Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street (2019 )
- Free
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Revealing the fascinating impact of the ground-breaking Gothic drama Dark Shadows with a compelling blend of rare footage and behind-the-scenes stories exploring the diverse talents of creator-producer-director Dan Curtis.
Master of Dark Shadows (2019 )
- Free
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A documentary that enters into the world of Iraqi social media influencers and follows their perilous journey as they fight for their rights.
#FollowMe (2020 )
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In Mexico City's wealthiest neighborhoods, the Ochoa family runs a for-profit ambulance, competing with other unlicensed EMTs for patients in need of urgent care. In this cutthroat industry, they struggle to keep their financial needs from compromising the people in their care.
Midnight Family (2019 )
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Three great whites are spotted in the waters off Oahu, but another one could be lurking just below the surface.
World's Biggest Great White? (2019 )
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The successes and failures of a couple determined to live in harmony with nature on a farm outside of Los Angeles are lovingly chronicled by filmmaking farmer John Chester, in this inspiring documentary.
The Biggest Little Farm (2019 )
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The story of Steve, an Adélie penguin, on a quest to find a life partner and start a family. When Steve meets with Wuzzo the emperor penguin they become friends. But nothing comes easy in the icy Antarctic.
Penguins (2019 )
- Free
Movie
A man's 10-year search for the underlying cause of his chronic illnesses becomes an exposé of the dental root canal procedure's harmful health risks.
Root Cause (2019 )
- Free
Movie
Join Athena, the majestic matriarch, as she leads her elephant herd across an unforgiving African landscape.
The Elephant Queen (2019 )
