Best Documentaries
So far ... variety of topics.
List activity
71 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
84 titles
- StarsAdam CurtisRobert ReichAnn BernaysA documentary about the rise of psychoanalysis as a powerful means of persuasion for both governments and corporations.
- DirectorMami SunadaStarsHayao MiyazakiYumiko MiyoshiToshio SuzukiFollows the routines of those employed at Studio Ghibli, including filmmakers Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki as they work to release two films simultaneously, The Wind Rises and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
- DirectorMichael Lindsay-HoggStarsJohn LennonPaul McCartneyGeorge HarrisonThe filmed account of The Beatles' attempt to recapture their old group spirit by making a back-to-basics album, which instead drove them further apart.
- DirectorKirby DickStarsKirby DickKimberly PeirceDarren AronofskyKirby Dick's exposé about the American movie ratings board.
- DirectorTony KayeStarsNoam ChomskyBill BairdFlip BenhamA graphic documentary on both sides of the abortion debate.
- DirectorPeter AskinStarsDalton TrumboJoan AllenBrian DennehyThrough a focus on the life of Dalton Trumbo (1905-1976), this film examines the effects on individuals and families of a congressional pursuit of Hollywood Communists after World War II. Trumbo was one of several writers, directors, and actors who invoked the First Amendment in refusing to answer questions under oath. They were blacklisted and imprisoned. We follow Trumbo to prison, to exile in Mexico with his family, to poverty, to the public shunning of his children, to his writing under others' names, and to an eventual but incomplete vindication. Actors read his letters; his children and friends remember and comment. Archive photos, newsreels and interviews add texture.
- DirectorSlavko MartinovStarsTony BlairLloyd BlankfeinGeorge BushAn anti-western propaganda film about the influences of American visual and consumption culture on the rest of the world, as told from a North Korean perspective.
- DirectorDean DeBloisStarsAmiinaHildur ArsaelsdottirJon Thor BirgissonIn the summer of 2006, Sigur Rós returned home to play a series of free, unannounced concerts for the people of Iceland.
- DirectorVincent MorissetStarsJon Thor BirgissonOrri P. DyrasonGeorg HolmIcelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós melds its sonic landscape with visuals in this concert film/documentary.
- DirectorTristán BauerBiography built from unpublished military and family archive material, highlights the formation of Ernesto Guevara, his poetic view of reality, his thought at the service of action and his desire for the construction of a new world.
- DirectorRoss AshcroftStarsDominic FrisbyGillian TettLawrence WilkersonThe modern day Four Horsemen continue to ride roughshod over the people who can least afford it. Crises are converging when governments, religion and mainstream economists have stalled. 23 international thinkers come together and break their silence about how the world really works and why there is still hope in re-establishing a moral and just society. Four Horsemen is free from mainstream media propaganda, doesn't bash bankers, criticize politicians or get involved in conspiracy theories. The film ignites the debate about how we usher a new economic paradigm into the world which, globally, would dramatically improve the quality of life for billions.
- DirectorTerry HughesIan MacNaughtonStarsJohn CleeseMichael PalinEric IdleThe Monty Python troupe perform a combination of classic sketches and new material at the Hollywood Bowl.
- DirectorLarry CharlesStarsBill MaherTal BachmanJonathan BouldenBill Maher's take on the current state of world religion.
- DirectorAri FolmanStarsAri FolmanRon Ben-YishaiRonny DayagAn Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.
- DirectorBanksyStarsBanksyMr. BrainwashSpace InvaderFollowing the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world.
- DirectorJoshua OppenheimerAnonymousChristine CynnStarsAnwar CongoHerman KotoSyamsul ArifinA documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.
- StarsCharlie BrookerLiz May BriceKevin EldonA comedic documentary series in which Charlie Brooker uses a mix of sketches and jaw-dropping archive footage to explore the gulf between real life and television.
- StarsJulian Rhind-TuttCharles Shaar MurrayDavid FrickeSeven Ages of Rock is about the history of rock music. It comprised six 60-minute episodes, with a final episode of 90 minutes. Each episode focused on one type of rock music, each typified by one or two artists or bands.
- DirectorReed CowanSteven GreenstreetStarsSpencer JonesTyler BarrickDustin Lance BlackA scorching indictment of the Mormon Church's historic involvement in the promotion & passage of California's Proposition 8 and the Mormon religion's secretive, decades-long campaign against LGBT human rights.
- DirectorLixin FanStarsChanghua ZhangYang ZhangSuqin ChenA couple embarks on a journey home for Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. Their unseen story plays out as China soars towards being a world superpower.
- DirectorCullen HobackStarsMax SchremsMobyMark ZuckerbergA documentary that exposes what corporations and governments learn about people through Internet and cell phone usage, and what can be done about it ... if anything.
- DirectorDavid GelbStarsJiro OnoYoshikazu OnoMasuhiro YamamotoA documentary on 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, his renowned Tokyo restaurant, and his relationship with his son and eventual heir, Yoshikazu.
- DirectorAsif KapadiaStarsAmy WinehouseMitch WinehouseMark RonsonArchival footage and personal testimonials present an intimate portrait of the life and career of British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse.
- DirectorFrank PavichStarsAlejandro JodorowskyMichel SeydouxH.R. GigerThe story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreWilliam BlackJimmy CarterAn examination of the social costs of corporate interests pursuing profits at the expense of the public good.
- DirectorLouie PsihoyosStarsRichard O'BarryLouie PsihoyosHardy JonesUsing state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health.
- DirectorShaun MonsonStarsJoaquin PhoenixUsing hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, Earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreTucker AlbrizziTony BennA documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories including shotgun deaths.
- DirectorMorgan SpurlockStarsJ.J. AbramsPeter BergPaul BrennanA documentary about branding, advertising and product placement that is financed and made possible by brands, advertising and product placement.
- DirectorYael MelamedeStarsDan ArielyFrom ticket-fixing in our police departments to test-score scandals in our schools, from our elected leaders' extra-marital affairs to financial schemes undermining our economy, dishonesty seems to be a ubiquitous part of the news. But it's not just true in the headlines - we ALL cheat.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreRoger B. SmithRhonda BrittonAfter General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.
- DirectorHeidi EwingRachel GradyStarsMike PapantonioLou EngleBecky FischerA documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.
- DirectorAmy BergStarsOliver O'GradyThomas DoyleAdamDocumentary about Father Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the United States during the 1970s in an attempt by the Catholic Church to cover up his rape of dozens of children.
- DirectorMichael GlawoggerStarsEmmaNingTohAn examination of the lives, needs, troubles, and hopes of prostitutes in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico.
- DirectorLee HirschStarsAlex LibbyLona JohnsonKelby JohnsonA documentary on peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsGaspar GalazLautaro NúñezLuís HenríquezA documentary about two different searches conducted in the Chilean Atacama Desert: one by astronomers looking for answers about the history of the cosmos, and one by women looking for the remains of loved ones killed by Pinochet's regime.
- DirectorJennifer Siebel NewsomStarsJennifer Siebel NewsomJean KilbourneJim SteyerExplores the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America, and challenges the media's limited portrayal of what it means to be a powerful woman.
- DirectorJim BruceStarsLiev SchreiberPaul VolckerJanet YellenNearly 100 years after its creation, the power of the U.S. Federal Reserve has never been greater. Markets and governments around the world hold their breath in anticipation of the Fed Chairman's every word. Yet the average person knows very little about the most powerful - and least understood - financial institution on earth. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, Money For Nothing is the first film to take viewers inside the Fed and reveal the impact of Fed policies - past, present, and future - on our lives. Join current and former Fed officials as they debate the critics, and each other, about the decisions that helped lead the global financial system to the brink of collapse in 2008. And why we might be headed there again.
- DirectorRithy PanhStarsRandal DoucJean-Baptiste PhouRithy Panh uses clay figures, archival footage, and his narration to recreate the atrocities Cambodia's Khmer Rouge committed between 1975 and 1979.
- DirectorJan HarlanStarsKatharina KubrickMalcolm McDowellStanley KubrickThe career and life of Stanley Kubrick is explored through pictures, clips from his films, his old home movies, comments from his colleagues and a narration by Tom Cruise.
- StarsAdam CurtisStewart BrandAl GoreA series of films about how humans have been colonized by the machines we have built. Although we don't realize it, the way we see everything in the world today is through the eyes of the computers.
- DirectorBen LewisStarsShaun ParkesEmmanuel AkyeampongJoseph StiglitzAn animated documentary that takes a look at humanity's efforts to alleviate poverty.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsMichael PollanEric SchlosserRichard LobbAn unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.
- DirectorMark AchbarPeter WintonickStarsNoam ChomskyMark AchbarKarin Aguilar-San JuanA film about the noted American linguist/political dissident and his warning about corporate media's role in modern propaganda.
- DirectorMat WhitecrossMichael WinterbottomStarsJanine HuardEwen CameronNaomi KleinAn investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.
- DirectorYann Arthus-BertrandStarsYann Arthus-BertrandGlenn CloseJacques GamblinWith aerial footage from fifty-four countries, 'Home' is a depiction of how Earth's problems are all interlinked.
- DirectorSophie FiennesStarsSlavoj ZizekSlavoj Zizek examines famous films in a philosophical and a psychoanalytic context.
- DirectorDavid LeafJohn ScheinfeldStarsJohn LennonYoko OnoStew AlbertA documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
- DirectorJennifer BaichwalStarsEdward BurtynskyPhotographer Edward Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing.
- DirectorDaniel G. KarslakeStarsImogene RobinsonVictor RobinsonGene RobinsonAn exploration of the intersection between religion and homosexuality in the U.S. and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community.
- DirectorGary HustwitStarsAmanda M. BurdenRem KoolhaasNorman FosterA documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world's foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers.
- DirectorLucy WalkerKaren HarleyJoão JardimStarsVik MunizOn the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro is Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill, where men and women sift through garbage for a living. Artist Vik Muniz produces portraits of the workers and learns about their lives.
- DirectorNikolaus GeyrhalterStarsClaus Hansen PetzArkadiusz RydellekBarbara HinzOUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn't always easy to digest - and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas.
- DirectorRob EpsteinJeffrey FriedmanStarsLily TomlinTony CurtisSusie BrightA documentary surveying the various Hollywood screen depictions of homosexuals and the attitudes behind them throughout the history of North American film.
- CreatorNick ParkStarsPeter SallisAshley JensenJem StansfieldWallace introduces correspondents, inventors and experts who explain various real-life contraptions, inventions and scientific accomplishments.
- DirectorToby KeelerStarsPatricia ArquetteAngelo BadalamentiRobert BlakeFrom an early age, David Lynch was inspired by the arts and the warm inner glow that comes with the pursuit of creative expression. "Pretty as a Picture:The Art of David Lynch" examines how this modern day Renaissance man makes a motion picture, and examines, through his artistic explorations, the very nature of creativity.
- DirectorIrene Lilienheim AngelicoStarsHelen KingBlack Coffee is a 2007 Canadian documentary film examining the complicated history of coffee and detailing its political, social, and economic influence from the past to the present day. The film details how coffee is the eighth most traded legal commodity in the world. It is also the fourth most valuable agricultural commodity. However, only one cent of a $2 cup of coffee goes to the grower.[1] This inequality has helped shape the history of continents and the Cold War.
- DirectorScott NobleStarsMichael AlbertMorris BermannNoam ChomskyHuman Resources is a documentary about Social Control, examining the history, the philosophy and ultimately the pathology of elite power.
- DirectorVít KlusákFilip RemundaStarsVarhan Orchestrovich BauerJaromír KalinaVít KlusákTwo students from the Czech Film Academy commission a leading advertising agency to organize a huge campaign for the opening of a new supermarket named Czech Dream. The supermarket however does not exist and is not meant to. The advertising campaign includes radio and television ads, posters, flyers with photos of fake Czech Dream products, a promotional song, an internet site, and ads in newspapers and magazines. Will people believe in it and show up for the grand opening?
- DirectorRobert GreenwaldStarsDouglas CheekWalter CronkiteBob McChesneyDocumentary on reported Conservative bias of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel (FNC), which promotes itself as "Fair and Balanced". Material includes interviews with former FNC employees and the inter-office memos they provided.
- DirectorSteven GorelickHelena Norberg-HodgeJohn PageStarsJan BarhamRonald ColmanEliana Amparo Apaza Espillico'The Economics of Happiness' features a chorus of voices from six continents calling for systemic economic change. The documentary describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance - and, far from the old institutions of power, they're starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm - an economics of localization.
- DirectorLaura PoitrasStarsEdward SnowdenGlenn GreenwaldWilliam BinneyA documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.
- DirectorCarol BlackStarsWade DavisHelena Norberg-HodgeElijah GergenIf you wanted to change an ancient culture in a generation, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates its children. The U.S. Government knew this in the 19th century when it forced Native American children into government boarding schools. Today, volunteers build schools in traditional societies around the world, convinced that school is the only way to a 'better' life for indigenous children. But is this true? What really happens when we replace a traditional culture's way of learning and understanding the world with our own? SCHOOLING THE WORLD takes a challenging, sometimes funny, ultimately deeply disturbing look at the effects of modern education on the world's last sustainable indigenous cultures.
- DirectorMike ReillyStarsStephen FryHugh LaurieAlison SteadmanStephen Fry and Hugh Laurie get together to talk about their early lives, their highly successful comedy partnership, and Marjorie.
- DirectorTiffany ShlainStarsKen GoldbergPeter CoyoteLeonard ShlainFilmmaker and Founder of the Webby Awards, Tiffany Shlain, investigates the interconnections between the major issues of the 21st century and her own experience of these issues during a family crisis.
- DirectorTonje Hessen ScheiStarsBrandon BryantZubair RehmanJohn Bellinger IIIThe documentary is about the covert CIA drone war. Through voices on both sides of this new technology, the film reveals crucial information about the drone war in Pakistan and offers unique insights into the nature of drone warfare.
- DirectorJason BarkerAlexandra WeltzStarsJason BarkerMichael HardtToni NegriMarx Reloaded is a cultural documentary that examines the relevance of German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx's ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis of 2008-09. The crisis triggered the deepest global recession in 70 years and prompted the US government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from collapse. Today the full implications of the crisis in Europe and around the world still remain unclear. Nevertheless, should we accept the crisis as an unfortunate side-effect of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why it happened and its likely effects on our society, our economy and our whole way of life? Written and directed by Jason Barker - himself an experienced writer, lecturer, translator and doctor of philosophy - Marx Reloaded comprises interviews with the world's leading philosophers of Marxism, including those at the forefront of a popular revival in Marxist and communist ideas. The film also includes interviews with skeptics of this revival as well as light-hearted animation sequences which follow Marx's adventures through the matrix of his own ideas.
- DirectorDanny SchechterJoel SucherStarsNina AdamsDavid AguilarRoy BarnesJust a few decades ago, owing more money than you had in your bank account was the exception, not the rule.
- DirectorChris LandrethStarsRyan LarkinChris LandrethFelicity FanjoyThe movie talks about the life of Ryan Larkin, a gifted Canadian animator of the late '60s and the early '70s.
- DirectorAvi LewisStarsMatilde AdornoMichel CamadessusBill ClintonIn the wake of Argentina's economics collapse of 2001, factory workers break into abandoned factories and restart production. Could these pioneers of cooperative ownership be a model for rebuilding Argentina's economy?
- DirectorDavid MorrisJacqui MorrisStarsHarold EvansRalph NaderMichael SheenBefore the Internet. Before Social Media. Before Breaking News. The victims of Thalidomide had to rely on something even more extraordinary to fight their corner: Investigative Journalism. This is the story of how Harold Evans fought and won the battle of his and many other lives.
- DirectorSam VallelyStarsSam VallelyThe film explores the potential for automation in every sector of employment and questions the integrity of our methods of resource distribution going into the future.
- DirectorChristoffer GuldbrandsenStarsChristoffer GuldbrandsenBernhard ElsenerIvan GlasenbergHow Africa gets exploited even after most of the official colonialism has been 'abrupted'. How it systematically stays the impoverished continent whilst having so much resources. How for every $1 given in so called 'aid', $10 drains out.
- DirectorAndrzej FidykStarsKim HyokKim Joung-SoonLee Min-bokToday, more than 200.000 men, women and children are locked up in North Korea's concentration camps. Systematic torture, starvation and murder is what faces the inmates. Few survive many years in the camps, but the population is kept stable by a steady influx of new persons considered to be 'class enemies'. A small group of people have managed to flee from the camps to a new life in the prosperous South Korea. Some of them gather and decide to make an extraordinary and controversial musical about their experiences in the Yodok concentration camp. Despite death treats and many obstacles the musical becomes a tour de force for this ensemble of refugees and for them a possibility opens to talk about their experiences and inspire others to protest the existence of the camps.
- DirectorTomo KriznarMaja WeissStarsAdam BakhitJanez DrnovsekSuleiman JamousDar Fur - War for Water is about a mission, that Tomo Kriznar, a human rights activist and (former) Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek's special emissary in Darfur, made.
- DirectorDavide GrassiEmil HrvatinZiga KarizA name... Everybody has one. The documentary discusses the role of one's name in private and public life, exploring the problem of homonimity and reasons fr changing one's name. The film draws references from history and popular culture, leading us to the case of three artists who officialy changed their names to that of the leader of the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Janez Jansa. This act blurred the boundaries between their lives and art in numerous and unforseen ways, and provoked a variety of enterpretations among the general public and in art circles in Slovenia and beyond.
- DirectorAdam NimoyStarsChris PineKarl UrbanJim ParsonsAn examination of the enduring appeal of Leonard Nimoy and his portrayal of Spock in Star Trek (1966).
- StarsChristian SlaterJonathan Sway CallowayAlison StewartThis documentary takes a look back at the times and inventions for those who were born between 1961-81 who got to experience them and even inspire them to change the world as a result
- History and popular culture from the 1990's is examined.
- StarsRob LoweKurt AndersenDavid SirotaThe '80s: The Decade That Made Us is the defining biography of a decade, as told through exclusive interviews with more than 40 icons, entertainers and innovators who shaped its identity.
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsThomas AdlamWilliam ArgentJohn AshbyA documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war.
- DirectorArthur JonesStarsMatt FurieAiyana UdesenChris SullivanArtist Matt Furie, creator of the comic character Pepe the Frog, begins an uphill battle to take back his iconic cartoon image from those who used it for their own purposes.
- DirectorSteven BognarJulia ReichertStarsJunming 'Jimmy' WangRobert AllenSherrod BrownIn post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
- DirectorDave GrohlStarsHenri CashExene CervenkaArrow de WildeThe movie follows young bands RadKey and Starcrawler who are taking on the world one town at a time, while also telling stories of the biggest artists in the music industry, recalling the romance and adventure, as well as the insanity and chaos, of their own time on the road.