25 Hope-Inspiring Documentaries
Science-based documentaries that fill us with hope and optimism, letting worlds we've never known open our minds, allowing us to see the world we thought we knew with new eyes.
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- DirectorDrew XanthopoulosStarsMichelle FournetEllen GarlandChristopher T. Tessaglia-HymesFathom is a visual and aural wonder of a documentary that follows researchers working to finally decode the communication of humpback whales. With Dr. Michelle Fournet, Dr. Ellen Garland.
- DirectorLaura McGannStarsAlessia ZecchiniStephen KeenanLeigh BakerA champion and expert safety diver seemed destined for one another. Despite different paths taken, they meet at the pinnacle of the free-diving world, experiencing the thrilling rewards and inescapable risks of chasing dreams through the depths of the ocean.
- DirectorJohn ChesterStarsJohn ChesterMolly ChesterToddDocumentarian John Chester and his wife Molly work to develop a sustainable farm on 200 acres outside of Los Angeles.
- DirectorAlastair FothergillJonathan HughesKeith ScholeyStarsDavid AttenboroughMax HughesOne man has seen more of the natural world than any other. This unique feature documentary is his witness statement.
- DirectorBrett MorgenStarsJane GoodallHugo Van LawickHugo Eric Louis van LawickThe life and work of the renowned primatology scientist, Jane Goodall, especially on her research about chimpanzees.
- DirectorJeff Orlowski-YangStarsAndrew AckermanPim BongaertsNeal CantinCoral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.
- DirectorPippa EhrlichJames ReedStarsCraig FosterTom FosterA filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.
- DirectorTrevor FrostMelissa LeshStarsDante Cueva AltamiranoCristian De La CruzErick Scott Vargas LauraBack from war in Afghanistan, a young British soldier struggling with depression and PTSD finds a second chance in the Amazon rainforest when he meets an American scientist, and together they foster an orphaned baby ocelot.
- DirectorLeila ConnersStarsRaymond BaltarLeonardo DiCaprioOttmar EdenhoferCan we reverse climate change? Ice on Fire explores the many ways we reduce carbon inputs to the atmosphere and, more important, how to "draw" carbon down, bringing CO2 out of the atmosphere and thus paving the way for global temperatures to go down. Reversing climate change is urgent, given that the world passed 400 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere resulting in climate instability across the globe. We have heard the predictions but now climate related events are a daily reality - summer 2018 was the hottest on record, storms are stronger, droughts are longer, the arctic ice is thin or non-existent and antarctica is melting faster than predicted. Through visiting visionaries and scientists young and old, the film explores the deep hope that we can turn away from the brink. And, just as we figure out drawdown, we face an added complexity, the release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas in the arctic, that is now entering the atmsphere. As the film says: "Is it game over? Or is it game on? As we have at hand, the ability, the capacity, and solutions that can reverse global warming...not mitigate, not reduce, not stabilize, but reverse.'
- DirectorRobert NixonFisher StevensStarsBarbara BlockJames CameronMichael deGruyFeature documentary about legendary oceanographer, marine biologist, environmentalist, and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle and her campaign to create a global network of protected marine sanctuaries.
- DirectorJacques PerrinJacques CluzaudMichel DebatsStarsJacques PerrinPhilippe LabroDocumentary on the migratory patterns of birds, shot over the course of three years on all seven continents.
- DirectorFisher StevensStarsLeonardo DiCaprioBan Ki-moonAlejandro G. IñárrituA look at how climate change affects our environment and what society can do to prevent the demise of endangered species, ecosystems and native communities across the planet.
- DirectorRob HerringRyan WirickStarsErik CutterRosario DawsonDouglas GayetonThe Need To GROW follows pioneers of cutting edge technology as they fight to localize sustainable food systems and regenerate Earth's dying soils.
- DirectorOrlando von EinsiedelStarsAndré BaumaEmmanuel de MerodeMélanie GoubyA team of brave individuals risk their lives to protect the last mountain gorillas.
- DirectorJeffrey KimballStarsRegina AlvarezAnya AuerbachMike BryantA diverse group of full-of-attitude New Yorkers reveals how a hidden world of beautiful wild birds in the middle of Manhattan has upended and magically transformed their lives.
- DirectorDamon GameauStarsDamon GameauEva LazzaroZoë GameauPractical solutions to environmental concerns are addressed with the hope that the filmmaker's daughter, 21 years old in the year 2040, will face a hopeful future.
- DirectorNicolas BrownStarsJim EstesJaime ExcellBob PaineExploring some of the most remote and spectacular places on Earth, five pioneering scientists make surprising discoveries that flip our understanding of nature on its head, and offer new hope for restoring our world.
- DirectorTamara KotevskaLjubomir StefanovStarsHatidze MuratovaNazife MuratovaHussein SamThe last female bee-hunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.
- DirectorTom BeardStarsDavid AttenboroughIsrafeel AhamedBhashkar BaraA fresh new approach to the global lockdown and the uplifting stories that have come out of it. People all over the world have had the chance to engage with nature like never before.
- DirectorJonathan ClayStarsDavid AttenboroughElena BennettJason BoxDavid Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.
- DirectorAlison ReidStarsTatiana MaslanyVictor GarberAnne Innis DaggA profile of giraffe researcher Anne Dagg who, in 1956, became one of the first people to ever observe and report on animal behaviour.
- DirectorNathan GrossmanStarsGreta ThunbergSvante ThunbergNiclas SvenningsenThe documentary follows Greta Thunberg, a teenage climate activist from Sweden, on her international crusade to get people to listen to scientists about the world's environmental problems.
- DirectorLouie PsihoyosStarsJames WilksArnold SchwarzeneggerPatrik BaboumianA UFC fighter's world is turned upside down when he discovers an elite group of world-renowned athletes and scientists who prove that everything he had been taught about protein was a lie.
- DirectorAlex PritzStarsNeidinha BandeiraBitaté Uru Eu Wau WauWhen a network of Brazilian farmers seizes a protected area of the Amazon rainforest, a young Indigenous leader and his mentor must fight back in defense of the land and an uncontacted group living deep within the forest.
- DirectorShaunak SenStarsSalik RehmanMohammad SaudNadeem ShehzadAmidst the darkening backdrop of Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protect one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the Black Kite.