Top 25 Best Documentaries
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- DirectorMads BrüggerStarsMads BrüggerSimon Jul JørgensenTommy KenterTwo Danish comedians join the director on a trip to North Korea, where they have been allowed access under the pretext of wanting to perform a vaudeville act.
- DirectorHelena TrestíkováHelena Trestikova is the author of 10 episodes from the series Women on the Brink of the New Millennium, intimate portraits of both successful women and women on the social periphery. The tragic story of a girl named Katka who believes that joy and happiness can be applied through a hypodermic needle. All she is left with is despair. We first meet Katka at a rehab clinic in Nemcice, still full of optimism and faith in a drug-free future. The film tries to draw attention to the drug problem from a somewhat different point of view.
- DirectorPeter FriedmanTom JoslinStarsLiane BoninTom JoslinMark MassiA documentary about two gay men as they live through their last months of life with AIDS.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannStarsPaul von HindenburgThis movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
- DirectorJanus MetzDanish soldiers are sent to Afghanistan in 2009 for 6 months, to help stabilize the country against the Taliban. They're stationed on Armadillo military base in Helman province. Unlike other war movies, this is the real deal - no actors.
- DirectorAlbert MayslesDavid MayslesCharlotte ZwerinStarsMick JaggerKeith RichardsMick TaylorWhen three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco's Altamont Speedway, the bloody slash that transformed a decade's dreams into disillusionment was immortalized on this film.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogScott RowlandStefan PashovFilm-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.
- DirectorClaude LanzmannStarsSimon SrebnikMichael PodchlebnikMotke ZaïdlClaude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorMads BrüggerStarsMads BrüggerHeather SchmidDanish journalist Mads Brügger goes undercover as a Liberian Ambassador to embark on a dangerous yet hysterical journey to uncover the blood diamond trade in Africa.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreCharlton HestonMarilyn MansonFilmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorJames MarshStarsPhilippe PetitJean François HeckelJean-Louis BlondeauA look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century".
- DirectorLeni RiefenstahlStarsAdolf HitlerHermann GöringMax AmannThe infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany.
- DirectorAnders ØstergaardStarsGeorge W. BushJoshua Min HtutKo MuangUsing smuggled footage, this documentary tells the story of the 2007 protests in Burma by thousands of monks.
- DirectorPeter WatkinsStarsTony CosgroveOlivier Espitalier-NoelDon FairserviceThe 1746 Battle of Culloden, the last land battle fought in the British Isles and the battle that ensured that Scotland was controlled by England.
- DirectorOrson WellesGary GraverOja KodarStarsOrson WellesOja KodarFrançois ReichenbachA documentary about fraud and fakery.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsTimothy TreadwellAmie HuguenardWerner HerzogA devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsMichel BouquetReinhard HeydrichHeinrich HimmlerThe history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.
- DirectorGünter SchwaigerStarsCristina de RuedaPaul HafnerHans LandauerA portrait of ex-S.S. officer Paul Hafner, who moved to Madrid under Franco in 1945 and has no moral qualms about his past.
- DirectorHeidi EwingRachel GradyStarsMike PapantonioLou EngleBecky FischerA documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.Sekts ha
- DirectorMichael WadleighStarsJoan BaezRichie HavensRoger DaltreyOscar-winning musical chronicle that brilliantly captures the three-day rock concert and celebration of peace and love that became a capstone for the Sixties.What did the '60s revolution of free love and piece look like? You could answer that with one simple word; 'Woodstock'. The registration of a free festival with legendary performances of people like Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin and many more contains a unique insight into a different mindset that ruled the world, which to some of us might now seem like a utopia.
- DirectorMarc SchmidtMatthew's autism give him a special way to see the world, but at the same time it causes him to have legal problems with his landlords, who want to have him evicted due to the alterations he makes in his apartment.Wonderful dutch documentary which follows the life of a 45-year old man who suffers from autism. He drilled a hole in his wall and is now being forced outside of his apartment; the only place where he has a control over the chaos of life. Matthijs doesn't understand the world and the world doesn't seem to want to understand Matthijs either. The filmmaker follows Matthijs close and gives a unique insight into the mind and frustration of a man who due to his condition is simply not in the right place in our society.
- DirectorMalik BendjelloulStarsRodriguezStephen 'Sugar' SegermanDennis CoffeyTwo South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock n roller, Rodriguez.No-one heard of Sixto Rodriguez (or so we think...) until 'Searching for Sugar Man' got released. This film is a perfect example of great storytelling in the form of documentary. With a plot (and twist...) that seems like the documentary-equavalent of 'The Sixth Sense'. One wonderful ride into the life of the best musician you've never heard of.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsLello BersaniAlberto MoraviaCesare MusattiDirector Pasolini traverses Italy in 1963 with camera and microphone interviewing people in public places about sex, marriage and gender roles.Pier Paolo Pasolini's facsination with the human sexuality apart from his famous 'trilogy of life' also made it into a documentary. The concept is simple; Pasolini travels across Italy from the modern city centers (and clubs) to the countryside and asks people about their sex life and the differences between men and women. The result is a very important piece of film which shows an entire generation and moment in time just before (or in the midst of?) the sexual revolution. It's remarkable how many women were fine with the idea that they where not equal to men. One even points out the benefits of not being equal!