Movies Similar to Annie Proulx: Way Out West

Richard Wright: Native Son, Author and Activist(2009)

RICHARD WRIGHT was an African-American author of novels, short stories and non-fiction that dealt with powerful themes and controversial topics. Much of his works concerned racial themes that helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century. Born on a plantation in Mississippi, Wright was a descendent of the first slaves who arrived in Jamestown Massachusetts. This program follows his arduous path from sharecropper to literary giant. Through authors like H.L. Menken, Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, he discovered that literature could be used as a catalyst for social change. In 1937 Wright moved to New York and his work began to garner national attention for it's political and social commentary. Much of Wright's writing focused on the African American community and experience; his novel Native Son won him a Guggenheim Fellowship and was adapted to the Broadway stage with Orson Welles directing in 1941.

What The Durrells Did Next(2019)

Hosted by Keeley Hawes, star of the popular television series The Durrells, this documentary reveals the adventures of the eccentric Durrell family once they left Corfu, Greece.

Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats(1985)

Jack Kerouac's life is examined through interviews with his contemporaries and friends including Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and William S. Burroughs. The film also employs dramatic recreations of Kerouac's life beginning with his early childhood.

Untitled 1(2023)

Images from across the town of Laramie Wyoming.

L'acte de la beauté(2021)

Ed McClanahan: Kentucky Muse(1995)

Unable or unwilling to conform to the rigid atmosphere of Washington and Lee College as a freshman, Ed bailed out after a brief stint there to attend—and graduate from—Miami of Ohio. After graduate work at UK, he left for the Left Coast, and it suited him just fine. The first stop was a writing instructorship at Oregon State, then enrollment into the Stanford Writing Program, a move shared by Jim, Wendell, and Gurney. There he cultivated, among other things, relationships with Larry McMurtry, Robert Stone, and—most importantly—Ken Kesey. Ed didn’t just experience the 1960s; he wallowed in them. Also, a bonus interview from 1996 program, Signature Live.

Narnia's Lost Poet: The Secret Lives and Loves of C.S. Lewis(2013)

C.S. Lewis's biographer A.N. Wilson goes in search of the man behind Narnia, a highly secretive man whose personal life was marked by the loss of the three women he most loved.

Rumer Godden: An Indian Affair(1995)

Rumer Godden the 88 year old author is taken back to India, where she lived from 1908-1945 to revisit her unconventional life there and to share with her daughter the experiences which inform all her writing.

Fantastic Mr. Dahl(2005)

Documentary about author Roald Dahl, produced for the British television series Imagine.

Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun(2023)

An intimate and thrilling portrait of a young Siksika woman and the deep bonds between her father and family in the golden plains of Blackfoot Territory as she prepares for one of the most dangerous horse races in the world… bareback.

Philip K Dick: A Day in the Afterlife(1994)

A poetic look at the life and legacy of legendary author Philip K. Dick (1928-1982), who wrote over a hundred short stories and 44 novels of mind-bending sci-fi, exploring themes of authority, drugs, theology, mental illness and much more.

The Secret Centre(2000)

The English novelist, John Le Carré discusses his life as a secret agent and writer in this documentary about spies in fact and fiction, produced for British television.

Lettre d'Alain Cavalier(1982)

A movie director attemps to film the way he writes a screenplay.

Things That Go Bump in the Night: Tales of Haunted New England(2009)

Things That Go Bump in the Night: Tales of Haunted New England takes you on a journey throughout historic New England collecting tales of the supernatural, the unexplained, and the mysterious — spooky stories of ghosts, spirits, witches... and even a vampire!

Best of Enemies(2015)

A documentary about the legendary series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between two great public intellectuals, the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. Intended as commentary on the issues of their day, these vitriolic and explosive encounters came to define the modern era of public discourse in the media, marking the big bang moment of our contemporary media landscape when spectacle trumped content and argument replaced substance. Best of Enemies delves into the entangled biographies of these two great thinkers, and luxuriates in the language and the theater of their debates, begging the question, "What has television done to the way we discuss politics in our democracy today?"

J.R.R.T. : A Study of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, 1892-1973(1992)

J.R.R.T.: A Study of J.R.R. Tolkien is a 1992 documentary, narrated by Judi Dench, produced to celebrate the centenary of J.R.R. Tolkien's birth. It is sometimes called "J.R.R. Tolkien: A Portrait" and "J.R.R. Tolkien - An Authorized Film Portrait". It features archive footage and audio recordings of J.R.R. Tolkien, and interviews with three of his children Priscilla, John, and Christopher. It also includes interviews with Baillie Tolkien, Robert Murray, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Rayner Unwin, Tom Shippey, and Verlyn Flieger.

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time(2021)

A documentary 33 years in the making. A director and friend of Kurt Vonnegut seeks through his archives to create the first film featuring the revolutionary late writer.

The Bozeman Trail: A Rush for Montana's Gold(2019)

The Bozeman Trail was an offshoot of the Oregon Trail, a shortcut to the newly discovered gold fields of Montana Territory. Cutting through the heart of Indian country. It became a flash point for a clash of cultures that would explode into warfare, destruction and tragedy.

Sex, Lies and Jerzy Kosinski(1995)

The making of Jerzy Kosinski. The BBC documentary on the life and art of enigmatic novelist Jerzy Kosinski. Through interviews with his second wife Kiki von Fraunhofer-Kosinski, friends and fellow authors, and Polish villagers who knew Kosinski when he was a child hiding from the scourge of Nazism, this program attempts to assess the verity of Kosinski's "autobiographical" fiction, the need for him to maintain a nebulous mystique about his early life, and to understand his obsession with S&M sex clubs in Manhattan during the 1970s and 1980s.

The Geographies of DAR(2023)

A visually stunning film on acclaimed author David Adams Richards and his connection to one of Canada’s most overlooked yet breathtaking regions.