Primitive Technology
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA
I think this guy is most of HN's silent hero.
Two documentaries on working class skills approaching a true art form.
Ben's Mill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2KJbRHO76s
Sadly only part is available unless you pay a few thousand dollars. It is really good though. It's a guy using the raw power of water to create wooden objects for local farmers.
Glas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYh0f1CPuc
A Dutch documentary on glass making in the '50s.
Three made for Television documentary series are:
James Burke's Connections. This is the first episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4tLYYXDg74
This series had an enormous influence on many of HN's older hackers. History, Technology, Philosophy, it's all there. One of the best television series I've seen, and I'm a millennial so it isn't just nostalgia. It is smart.
Carl Sagan's Cosmos. This is so famous I assume you've already watched it. Carl is scientist and poet. The recent adaption is a fair effort but the original is by far the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YgBXLUSsmg
Lord Kenneth Clarke's Civilization (1969!). This is the favorite documentary of many Western conservatives and reactionaries because it doesn't constantly caveat, qualify or diminish the history of The West. It is not shy about showing wickedness as well as greatness but nor is it politically correct.
Before I watched this it was quite hard to fully grasp the motivations of the right wing. After watching it I came to the view we have narrowed our view to a chronocentric interpretation of reality. This shows the grand sweep of history, which is admirable even if you don't agree with its worldview for political reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDm4Sl6CdYU&list=PLFYDyLgHrF...
FWIW I'm not right wing and I'm a US/West minority (Hispanic). No problem with the language or topics in the series.
A school history class doesn't give you a sense of the spirit of the times the way Clarke or Burke do. This may sound elitist but when I hear my own generation (millennial) talk about the past I feel like I'm hearing an aural caricature.
Unfortunately you'll notice all my examples of excellent documentary making are unusually old examples of television.
I suspect that between advertisers demand and a culture uncomfortable with bold or frankly even nuanced ideas you just cannot make good television for a large audience.
Adam Curtis for example still makes interesting documentaries from a centrist political perspective but he is notable precisely because he is rare. I think "Curtis and then who?".
Many geeks I assume, have gotten rid of their televisions for that reason.