Top Ten Documentary Films
Hoop Dreams is a 1994 American documentary film directed by Steve James and Simon Schumann, and written by James and Frederick Marx, with Kartemquin Films. It follows the story of two African-American high school students in Chicago and their dream of becoming professional basketball players.
The Thin Blue Line is a 1988 American documentary film by Errol Morris, depicting the story of Randall Dale Adams, a man convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. Adams' case was reviewed, and he was released from prison approximately a year after the film's release.
Man on Wire is a 2008 British-American biographical documentary film directed by James Marsh. The film chronicles Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center. It is based on Petit's book, To Reach the Clouds, released in paperback with the title Man on Wire.
Capturing the Friedmans is a 2003 HBO documentary film directed by Andrew Jarecki. It focuses on the 1980s investigation of Arnold and Jesse Friedman for child molestation. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2003.
The film depicts the everyday lives of two reclusive, formerly upper class women, a mother and daughter both named Edith Beale, who lived in poverty at Grey Gardens, a derelict mansion at 3 West End Road in the wealthy Georgica Pond neighborhood of East Hampton, New York.
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is a 2003 American documentary film about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara illustrating his observations of the nature of modern warfare.
Bowling for Columbine is a 2002 American documentary film written, produced, directed, and narrated by Michael Moore. The film explores what Moore suggests are the primary causes for the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and other acts of violence with guns.
Crumb is a 1994 documentary film about the noted underground cartoonist Robert Crumb (R. Crumb) and his family. Directed by Terry Zwigoff and produced by Lynn O'Donnell, it won widespread acclaim. It was released in the USA on April 28, 1995, having been screened at film festivals the previous year.
Grizzly Man is a 2005 American documentary film by German director Werner Herzog. It chronicles the life and death of bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell.
The Cove is a 2009 documentary film directed by Louie Psihoyos which analyzes and questions dolphin hunting practices in Japan. It was awarded the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2010. The film is a call to action to halt mass dolphin kills, change Japanese fishing practices, and to inform and educate the public about the risks, and increasing hazard, of mercury poisoning from dolphin meat.
The Act of Killing won the 2013 European Film Award for Best Documentary, the Asia Pacific Screen Award, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 86th Academy Awards.
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father is a 2008 American documentary conceived and created by Kurt Kuenne. Kuenne's close friend Andrew Bagby was murdered by Shirley Jane Turner after Bagby ended their tumultuous relationship. Shortly after she was arrested, Turner announced she was pregnant with Bagby's child, a boy she named Zachary.
Harlan County, USA is a 1976 Oscar-winning documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike", an effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, southeast Kentucky in 1973.
The film opened in limited release in the United States on August 17, 2007 in five theaters, and by September 9, 2007, it had expanded to 39 theaters. The film's DVD release was on January 29, 2008. [citation needed] Reception. On Metacritic, The King of Kong has an average score of 83 out of 100, based on 23 reviews.
Blackfish is a 2013 American documentary film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. It concerns Tilikum, an orca held by SeaWorld and the controversy over captive killer whales. The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013, and was picked up by Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films for wider release.
Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film about the Holocaust, directed by Claude Lanzmann. Over nine hours long and 11 years in the making, the film presents Lanzmann's interviews with survivors, witnesses and perpetrators during visits to German Holocaust sites across Poland, including extermination camps.
But it is also the film’s subject: man and cinema. Vertov shows machinery and factories and intuits that this is what cinema is: the mass production and consumption of image. The combustion engine gave humanity the new experience of speed; now the movie camera gave us a dizzying new speed of perception and creation.
The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz is a 2014 American biographical documentary film about Aaron Swartz written, directed, and produced by Brian Knappenberger. The film premiered in the US Documentary Competition program category at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014.
Super Size Me is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald's food.
The Gleaners and I (French: Les glaneurs et la glaneuse; "The gleaners and the female gleaner", a reference to the director herself) is a 2000 French documentary film by Agnès Varda that features various kinds of gleaning.
In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth-grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion from their homeroom teacher, Toshiro Kanamori.
It's led by Buddhist Monk Lobsang, a renowned spiritual teacher who works to create a reality of love and acceptance for children who have been abused or orphaned. Tashi and the Monk follows that mission as it relates to one of the newest arrivals to his commune - a reluctant five-year old girl who's endured unimaginable neglect and tragedy during her brief life.
Stephen Fry presents this documentary exploring the disease of manic depression; a little understood but potentially devastating condition affecting an estimated two percent of the population. Stephen embarks on an emotional journey to meet fellow sufferers, and discuss the literal highs and lows of being bi-polar.
Facts for The Perfect Vagina Synopsis: What began as a wander through the wacky world of genital plastic surgery became a passionate documentary about modern femininity, The Perfect Vagina.
Nanook of the North was filmed from 1920-1921 in Port Harrison, Northern Quebec by Robert Joseph Flaherty. This was the first successful documentary ever...
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 American documentary film based on the best-selling 2003 book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a study of one of the largest business scandals in American history.
The Imposter is a 2012 British-American documentary film about the 1997 case of the French confidence trickster Frédéric Bourdin, who impersonated Nicholas Barclay, a Texas boy who disappeared at the age of 13 in 1994.
Searching for Sugar Man is a 2012 Swedish–British documentary film of a South African cultural phenomenon directed and written by Malik Bendjelloul which details the efforts of two Cape Town fans in the late 1990s, Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom, to find out whether the rumoured death of American musician Sixto Rodriguez was ...
Salesman is a 1969 direct cinema documentary film about door-to-door Bible salesmen, directed by brothers Albert and David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin.
The film features a number of celebrities, including James Brown, Jim Brown, B.B. King, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, Spike Lee and Thomas Hauser. When We Were Kings was released in 1996 to strong reviews, and won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 American documentary film directed, written by, and starring filmmaker, director and political commentator Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the media.
Koyaanisqatsi (English: / k oʊ j ɑː n ɪ s ˈ k ɑː t s iː /), also known as Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance, is a 1982 American experimental film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke.
Don't Look Back is one film that will go down in the canon of groundbreaking documentaries. But while there are many interpretations of what D.A. Pennebaker attempted to accomplish (besides an experiment in early cinema-verité and initiating the 'rockumentary' genre), it would be a grave mistake to watch this film and come to any conclusions about Dylan without considering his entire musical body of work.
Murderball is a 2005 American documentary film about athletes who are physically disabled who play wheelchair rugby. It centers on the rivalry between the Canadian and U.S. teams leading up to the 2004 Paralympic Games.
Citizenfour is a 2014 documentary film directed by Laura Poitras, concerning Edward Snowden and the NSA spying scandal. The film had its US premiere on October 10, 2014, at the New York Film Festival and its UK premiere on October 17, 2014, at the BFI London Film Festival.
I Am Not Your Negro grossed $7,089,174 in the United States as of May 11, 2017. The film industry website IndieWire attributed, in part, the financial success of the movie to the release shortly before the announcement of Academy Award nominees, opening in an unusually high number of cities, and in non-traditional movie theaters that would generate a word of mouth following.
The Times of Harvey Milk is a 1984 American documentary film that premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and then on November 1, 1984 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.
Sans Soleil (French pronunciation: [sɑ̃ sɔ.lɛj], "Sunless") is a 1983 French documentary directed by Chris Marker, a meditation on the nature of human memory, showing the inability to recall the context and nuances of memory, and how, as a result, the perception of personal and global histories is affected.
The film is named after "Gimme Shelter", the lead track from the group's 1969 album Let It Bleed. Gimme Shelter was screened out of competition as the opening film of the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.
The Sorrow and the Pity is not only the greatest documentary film ever made, but also one of the greatest films of any kind. A straightforward description of the film seems to promise limitless boredom: more than four hours of talking-head interviews in at least three different languages, blended with old wartime footage and occasional clips from the likes of Maurice Chevalier.
Stories We Tell is a love-letter to her mother and father: the film's stars are retired British actor Michael Polley and the once-famous Canadian performer and TV personality Diane Polley, who died of cancer when Sarah was 11 years old.
Night and Fog (French: Nuit et brouillard) is a 1956 French documentary short film. Directed by Alain Resnais, it was made ten years after the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. The title is taken from the notorious Nacht und Nebel (German for "Night and Fog") program of abductions and disappearances decreed by the Nazis on 7 December 1941.
The film was released on DVD in 2002 as was a four-CD box set of the concert and related studio recordings. The Last Waltz is hailed as one of the greatest documentary concert films ever made, although it has been criticized for its focus on Robertson.
Blisteringly powerful, HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE transports us back to a vital time of unbridled death, political indifference, and staggering resilience and constructs a commanding archetype for activism today.
An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate made in the film, he has given more than a thousand times.
The Look of Silence (Indonesian: Senyap, "Silence") is a 2014 internationally co-produced documentary film directed by Joshua Oppenheimer about the Indonesian killings of 1965–66. The film is a companion piece to Oppenheimer's 2012 documentary The Act of Killing. It was executive produced by Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, and Andre Singer.
Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film is a 2010 British documentary film, directed by street artist Banksy. It tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, and his obsession with street art.
Senna is a 2010 British documentary film that depicts the life and death of Brazilian motor-racing champion Ayrton Senna, directed by Asif Kapadia. The film was produced by StudioCanal, Working Title Films, and Midfield Films, and was distributed by the parent company of the latter two production companies, Universal Pictures.
Waltz with Bashir (Hebrew: ואלס עם באשיר , translit. Vals Im Bashir) is a 2008 Israeli animated war documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories of his experience as a soldier in the 1982 Lebanon War.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a 2011 American documentary film directed by David Gelb. The film follows Jiro Ono (小野 二郎, Ono Jirō), an 85-year-old sushi master and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a Michelin three-star restaurant. Sukiyabashi Jiro is a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station.
Netflix’s Icarus documentary, which outlines Russia’s state-sponsored doping, won big at the Oscars 2018, beating four other films to bring Netflix its first Oscar for a documentary feature.