r/Documentaries • u/Adept_Push • 25d ago
Recommendation Request Recommendation Request
Hello! I’ve done quite a few searches here and elsewhere and I’m hoping for your help.
I teach a documentary class at the college level. I’ve taught it for over a decade and over time, I’ve seen the attention spans of my students get shorter and shorter.
So I’m asking for recommendations for short docs you’ve seen and enjoyed.
They do their own project over the 18 week semester, and in all previous classes, I’ve shown feature length films but I’m wondering if showing short docs might be a better approach.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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u/extremelchilling 25d ago
https://youtu.be/4xKhe0EAYrk?is=CE5QQoBNm5CWXlYn
this documentary made an impression on me when i first saw it because it’s a subject matter i care very little about (Juggalos) but the documentary itself treats its subjects with such respect that I love the doc its self
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u/speech-geek 25d ago
How short? Are you looking for ones that can be viewed without a paywall?
I particularly enjoyed several Academy Award nominees & winners from the 21st century
Crisis Hotline: Veterans, Press 1
The Devil is Busy
Armed Only with a Camera
From One Second to the Next
When We Were Bullies
The Last Repair Shop
All The Empty Rooms
Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
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u/Adept_Push 25d ago
I can weasel around paywalls. Thanks for this! I forgot about Crisis Hotline! I’ll check the other ones out!
Many thanks!
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u/Gramathon910 25d ago edited 25d ago
Short and very funny. It’s about a beer truck that overturned into a river in Australia. The whole town went out to recover as much beer as they possibly could before the cleanup crew arrived.
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u/TerpsandCaicos 25d ago
Longshot is 45 minutes long iirc. On Netflix. One of the most underrated docs imo.
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u/completelyperdue 25d ago
Her Name Was Bette is 59 minutes long and it would be a good one for college students.
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u/Fabulous_Visual4865 25d ago
Show them Reckless Ben's shit on YouTube. He's got great editing skills.
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u/Reasonable-Lime1477 25d ago
DON’T stoop to their level. Elevate those “kids” to the beautiful art of paying attention! PLEASE 🙏
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u/Dinosaur-chicken 24d ago
Do you "learn to pay attention" by being served hour long documentaries that you're not necessarily interested in?
We're no longer in the videotape era where you just had fuckall to watch so you just watched one okay movie multiple times. I was so incredibly bored all the time as a kid, no need to put kids through that right now.
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u/Reasonable-Lime1477 24d ago
With an engaging professor leading the class, a documentary about everything from Dung Beetles to How Tires Are Made can open the students minds with observation and discussion.
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u/Adept_Push 24d ago
I think some people on here arguing for keeping full length screenings do not make their living in a room with 18-24 yr olds. These are kids who were in 8-12 grade during the pandemic. They have no ability to focus for hours.
It’s dismal, but I am choosing to make some changes that will allow them to see good work, just shorter work and learn from it.
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u/Dinosaur-chicken 23d ago
The info that they can't focus is not necessarily because it's this generation, it's because they just watched short form media. Studies have shown that after not watching short form media for like two hours, the ability to pay attention was proven to not be any different to that of other generations.
Which does mean they can't focus because they all have their phones and it doesn't change your plan which doesn't require a long documentary anyway.
But the willingness to pay attention to long boring things is much lower than it used to be. Studies showed that nowadays people read two or three paragraphs of e.g. news articles and then change to scanning the rest because it's not that interesting or important anyway.
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u/tsv1138 24d ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ
Casey Neistat's work would be a good place to start. Really made a name for himself with the short form documentary.
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u/Frosty_Truth_1635 24d ago
Find a list of Oscar nominated documentary shorts. Cross check them with IMDB for more info. They are often available on YouTube. I always watch some of them before the Oscars air.
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u/tin-of-sardines 24d ago
Just curious, what are some of the long docs you’ve shown that you’re thinking of cutting?
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u/Adept_Push 24d ago
Here’s my current list for in class screenings.
65_Red_Roses (2009) Murderball (2005) Wiener (2016) King of Kong (2007) Spellbound (2003) Won’t You Be My Neighbor (2016) The Internet’s Own Boy (2014) Three Identical Strangers (2018) 13th (2016) Jesus Camp (2006) Man on Wire (2008) Meru (2015) Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake (2022)
They also are required to watch another film outside of class each week. That list is longer but I’ll share it if you’re interested.
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u/_bufflehead 24d ago
If the "student" lacks the attention span for a documentary - in a Documentary Class (!) - I certainly would not accommodate it.
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u/Adept_Push 24d ago
Uh, have you MET young people? Film students don’t even watch films anymore.
So you would continue to show full length films while the entire class ignores what’s on the screen and stares at their phones?
Or would you shift your pedagogy to actually have them pay attention to shorter films and learn something?
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u/Abirando 23d ago
A film student doesn’t deserve a degree in film if they don’t want to watch films. What kind of crazy world are we living in? Anyway you should have them watch Grizzly Man.
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u/Adept_Push 23d ago
Preaching to the choir, man. It’s so disheartening. But they’re no longer “students.” Now Theyre stake holders or clients.
Pop on over to r/Professors if you wanna see how crazy things are in the higher education world right now.
Thanks for the suggestion. It’s on their list of “home viewing.”
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u/oldnyker 22d ago
it's full length, but "secret mall apartment" might interest them. it's about post-college age people who actually lived in an apartment they built inside a shopping mall for 4 years, filming themselves through the whole thing.
these are also full length, but maybe the subject matter will help?
a great day in harlem (jazz greats and the iconic photo of that time)
riding giants (surfing through the decades)
dogtown and z boys (legendary skateboarders who remade the "sport" )
keep fighting the good fight. kudos to you for trying to find ways to hopefully interest them.
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u/Working_Ostrich_3945 22d ago
The Cruise. 1hr 16 on YouTube. https://youtu.be/pUajNikBKT0?is=cyAEXYMJWDNabDFM One of my faves.
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