Bravest Documentary Filmmakers

1. Alex Gibney

Producer | Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Alex Gibney was born on October 23, 1953 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005), Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) and The Looming Tower (2018). He has been married to Anne Gibney since August 14, 1982. They have three ...

2. Joshua Tickell

Director | Kiss the Ground

Josh Tickell is film Director who specializes in movies with a social message. His first feature movie, Fuel (2008) won the Sundance Audience Award for Best Documentary, and was released theatrically in the United States. FUEL became a global sensation gaining over 1 million viewers on Netflix, ...

3. Michael Moore

Director | Bowling for Columbine

Michael Francis Moore was born in Flint, Michigan on April 23, 1954, and was raised in its Davison suburb. He is the son of Helen Veronica (Wall), a secretary, and Francis Richard Moore, who worked on an auto assembly line. He has Irish, as well as English and Scottish, ancestry.

Moore studied ...

4. Robert Greenwald

Director | Xanadu

Robert Greenwald is president of Brave New Films, a nonprofit film company that he founded after a career in commercial television and film to motivate and educate viewers on the most pressing issues of the day.

Brave New Films distributes its work for free through social media and in concert with ...

5. Charles Ferguson

Producer | Inside Job

Charles Ferguson was born on March 24, 1955 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Inside Job (2010), No End in Sight (2007) and Watergate (2018).

6. Morgan Spurlock

Producer | Super Size Me

Morgan Spurlock was born on November 7, 1970 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Super Size Me (2004), The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011) and Mansome (2012). He has been married to Sara Bernstein since May 2, 2016. He was previously married to Alexandra ...

7. Davis Guggenheim

Producer | Training Day

Davis Guggenheim was born on November 3, 1963 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Training Day (2001), Waiting for Superman (2010) and An Inconvenient Truth (2006). He has been married to Elisabeth Shue since August 1994. They have three children.

8. Werner Herzog

Director | Fitzcarraldo

Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has...

9. James Marsh

Director | The Theory of Everything

James Marsh was born on April 30, 1963 in Truro, Cornwall, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Theory of Everything (2014), The King (2005) and Shadow Dancer (2012).

10. Rob VanAlkemade

Producer | Preacher with an Unknown God

With production training from NYU and an MA in Media Studies from The New School, Sundance award winner Rob VanAlkemade has been a broadcast showrunner/executive producer for National Geographic, LOGO, CMT and A&E. Rob has also been, variously, a documentary producer, director, cinematographer, ...

11. Richard Schickel

Producer | The Big Red One

Richard Schickel was born on February 10, 1933 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Big Red One (1980), Minnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente (1987) and Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us (2005). He was married to Carol Rubenstein and ...

12. Errol Morris

Director | The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

His documentaries helped spur a rebirth of non-fiction film in the 80s & garnered wide critical success. But until 2003's "The Fog of War," Morris was shunned by the Academy Awards.

Morris' first two films won much acclaim (Gates of Heaven (1978) and Vernon, Florida (1981)). In the second movie, ...

13. Leslie Iwerks

Producer | The Imagineering Story

Leslie Iwerks is an Oscar® and Emmy® nominated documentary director and producer, as well as the granddaughter of famed Disney animation legend and designer of Mickey Mouse, Ub Iwerks.

Iwerks is a graduate of the USC School of Cinema-Television and serves on the USC School of Cinematic Arts Alumni ...

14. Tristan Loraine

Producer | A Dark Reflection

Tristan Loraine is known for A Dark Reflection (2015), Shady Lady (2012) and Spitfire Sisters (2010).

15. Lucy Walker

Director | The Crash Reel

Lucy Walker was born in London, England, UK. She is known for The Crash Reel (2013), Waste Land (2010) and Blindsight (2006).

16. Alastair Fothergill

Producer | Planet Earth

Alastair Fothergill was born on April 10, 1960. He is a producer and director, known for Planet Earth (2006), Our Planet (2019) and The Blue Planet (2001).

17. Steve James

Director | Hoop Dreams

Steve James was born in Hampton, Virginia, USA. He has been based in Chicago, Illinois, USA for his entire career. He is known for the documentary films Hoop Dreams (1994), Stevie (2002), The Interrupters (2011), Life Itself (2014) and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2016). His documentary series ...

18. Kirby Dick

Director | On the Record

Kirby Dick is a two time Emmy-award winning and two-time Academy award-nominated documentary film director. His most recent film, The Hunting Ground (2015), a monumental exposé about sexual assault on college campuses, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, was released by Radius/The ...

19. Eugene Jarecki

Director | Why We Fight

Eugene Jarecki is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning director of dramatic and documentary subjects who has twice won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, first in 2005 for Why We Fight (2005) and again in 2012 for The House I Live In (2012)

A public intellectual on domestic and ...

20. Michael Brown

Cinematographer | Lava

Michael Brown is known for The Weight of Water (2018), High Ground (2012) and Farther Than the Eye Can See (2003).

21. Don Argott

Director | Last Days Here

Don Argott is known for Last Days Here (2011), Believer (2018) and Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021).

22. Eddie Schmidt

Producer | Chelsea Does

Eddie Schmidt was born on August 29, 1970 in the USA as Edward Robert Schmidt. He is a director, producer and show runner known for Ugly Delicious (2018), In Search of... (2018), Chelsea Does (2016), Valentine Road (2013), and This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006). He has been married to Rachel ...

23. Amir Bar-Lev

Director | The Tillman Story

Amir Bar-Lev is known for The Tillman Story (2010), Long Strange Trip (2017) and My Kid Could Paint That (2007).

24. Robert B. Weide

Producer | Curb Your Enthusiasm

Robert B. Weide is a producer and director, known for Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000), Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998) and The Giver (2014). He was previously married to Linda Bates.

25. Matthew Akers

Cinematographer | Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present

Matthew Akers is known for Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2012), David Blaine: Real or Magic (2013) and David Blaine: Beyond Magic (2016).

26. Heidi Ewing

Director | I Carry You with Me

Heidi Ewing is a director and producer known for Jesus Camp (2006), The Boys of Baraka (2005), Detropia (2012) ,12th &Delaware (2010), Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You (2016), One of Us (2017) and Freakonomics (2010). She is currently completing her (currently untitled) first narrative ...

27. Rachel Grady

Producer | The Boys of Baraka

Rachel Grady is known for The Boys of Baraka (2005), Jesus Camp (2006) and Detropia (2012).

28. Rob Epstein

Producer | The Celluloid Closet

Rob Epstein was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA as Robert P. Epstein. He is a producer and director, known for The Celluloid Closet (1995), Paragraph 175 (2000) and The Times of Harvey Milk (1984).

Rob has produced films that have screened worldwide, in cinemas, on television, home video and ...

29. Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Producer | Erde

Nikolaus Geyrhalter was born in 1972 in Vienna, Austria. He is a producer and director, known for Earth (2019), Over the Years (2015) and Our Daily Bread (2005).

30. Adam Del Deo

Producer | Stay Alive

Adam Del Deo is known for Stay Alive (2006), Every Little Step (2008) and The Square (2013).

31. James D. Stern

Producer | All the Rage

James D. Stern is known for All the Rage (1999), Looper (2012) and I'm Not There (2007).

32. Michèle Ohayon

Producer | Colors Straight Up

Michele Ohayon is an award winning director, writer and producer. Born in Casablanca and raised in Israel, Michele graduated from Tel Aviv University (Film & Television), after serving in the army. Her critically acclaimed feature documentaries include: It was a Wonderful Life (1987, narrated by ...

33. John Gianvito

Director | Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind

John Gianvito is known for Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind (2007), The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein (2001) and Her Socialist Smile (2020).

34. Macky Alston

Director | Family Name

Macky Alston is known for Family Name (1997), Love Free or Die (2012) and Hard Road Home (2007). He has been married to Nicholas Gottlieb since August 14, 2002.

Academy Award, eight-time Emmy nominated, and Peabody, DGA, and Sundance winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger has been a pioneering force in nonfiction filmmaking for over three decades. In a recent Bloomberg profile, Berlinger was described as a "true crime hit factory" for Netflix, whose work has "...

38. Bruce Sinofsky

Director | Brother's Keeper

Bruce Sinofsky was born on March 31, 1956 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Brother's Keeper (1992), Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004) and Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996). He was married to Florence Sinofsky. He died on ...

39. Daniel Lindsay

Producer | Undefeated

Daniel Lindsay is known for Undefeated (2011), LA 92 (2017) and Tina (2021).

40. T.J. Martin

Director | Tina

T.J. Martin was born on September 7, 1979 in Seattle, Washington, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Tina (2021), LA 92 (2017) and Undefeated (2011).

41. Amy Berg

Producer | Deliver Us from Evil

Amy Berg was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is known for Deliver Us from Evil (2006), West of Memphis (2012) and Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015).

42. Dan Krauss

Producer | The Kill Team

Dan Krauss is known for The Kill Team (2019), The Anthrax Attacks (2022) and Extremis (2016).

43. Steven Okazaki

Director | White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Steven Okazaki was born in 1952 in Venice, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007), Days of Waiting (1991) and Mifune: The Last Samurai (2015).

44. Cynthia Wade

Director | The Flagmakers

Cynthia Wade is a documentary, commercial & fiction director who has won over 50 film awards worldwide, including an Oscar for Freeheld (2008), an Oscar nomination for Mondays at Racine (2013), an Emmy for The Flagmakers (2023), and an Emmy nomination for Grit (2020). She holds an MA in Documentary...

45. James Longley

Producer | Iraq in Fragments

James Longley was born on January 4, 1972 in Eugene, Oregon, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Iraq in Fragments (2006), Angels Are Made Of Light (2018) and Sari's Mother (2006).

46. Barbara Kopple

Producer | Harlan County U.S.A.

Barbara Kopple was born on July 30, 1946 in New York City, New York, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), American Dream (1990) and Shut Up & Sing (2006).

47. Lee Hirsch

Director | Bully

Lee Hirsch was born and raised on Long Island, New York, and attended the Putney School in Vermont, Hampshire College and the New York Film Academy. He is the founder, director and producer of the Local Voices for Obama project, a series of ads featuring Obama supporters in small towns in swing ...

48. Ken Burns

Producer | The Central Park Five

Celebrated American documentarian who gradually amassed a considerable reputation and a devoted audience with a series of reassuringly traditional meditations on Americana. Burns' works are treasure troves of archival materials; he skillfully utilizes period music and footage, photographs, ...

49. Lauren Greenfield

Director | The Queen of Versailles

Lauren Greenfield was born on June 28, 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is a director and producer, known for The Queen of Versailles (2012), The Kingmaker (2019) and Thin (2006).

50. Guy Davidi

Director | Five Broken Cameras

Academy Award Nominated and Emmy Award Winner Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi has been directing, shooting, and editing since the age of sixteen. His documentaries have been dealing with Human-Rights issues especially around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some of them have been touching very ...

51. Petr Lom

Director | Back to the Square

Petr Lom was born on May 15, 1968 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Back to the Square (2012), On a Tightrope (2006) and Burma Storybook (2017).

52. David Redmon

Director | Girl Model

David Redmon is known for Girl Model (2011), Kim's Video (2023) and Night Labor (2013). David is married to Ashley Sabin.

53. Ashley Sabin

Director | Girl Model

Ashley Sabin is known for Girl Model (2011), Kim's Video (2023) and Night Labor (2013).

54. Andrea Nix

Producer | War Dance

Andrea Nix is an Oscar®, Emmy® and Peabody® award-winning director, producer, and writer. She is best known for her films Inocente (2012), which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject), War/Dance (2007), which was nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards, and the Emmy...

55. Kief Davidson

Director | The Ivory Game

Kief Davidson was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Ivory Game (2016), A Lego Brickumentary (2014) and Open Heart (2013).

56. Jon Alpert

Producer | Baghdad ER

Jon Alpert was born on December 13, 1948 in Port Chester, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Baghdad ER (2006), Cuba and the Cameraman (2017) and Independent Lens (1999).

57. Matthew O'Neill

Producer | Axios

Matthew O'Neill is an Emmy® Award winning and Academy Award ® nominated director whose been working with DCTV making documentaries for the last ten years. For the 2006 HBO documentary he directed with Jon Alpert, Baghdad ER, he earned a Columbia DuPont Award, a Peabody Award, an Overseas Press Club...

58. James Spione

Director | Silenced

Academy Award and Emmy nominee James Spione is a director, producer, writer and editor of both documentary and fiction films. His most recent feature, "Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock," is a unique collaborative work about the historic indigenous resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline project ...

59. Rebecca Cammisa

Producer | Sister Helen

Rebecca Cammisa is a two-time Oscar®-nominated and Emmy award-winning filmmaker.

Her first feature documentary film, "Sister Helen" aired on HBO, and won the 2002 Sundance Film Festival's Documentary Directing Award. "Sister Helen" also received an Emmy award nomination for Outstanding Cultural and ...

60. Jed Rothstein

Director | WeWork

Jed Rothstein is known for WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn (2021), Killing in the Name (2010) and Before the Spring: After the Fall (2013).

61. Ruby Yang

Editor | Zheng qi

Ruby Yang won an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject for The Blood of Yingzhou District (2006). She is also known for directing The Warriors of Qiugang (2010) and My Voice, My Life (2014).

With filmmaker Thomas Lennon, Yang mounted a vast multi-year AIDS prevention campaign seen over 900 ...

62. Megan Mylan

Producer | Simple as Water

Megan Mylan is known for Simple as Water (2021), Lost Boys of Sudan (2003) and Smile Pinki (2008).

63. Albert Maysles

Cinematographer | Grey Gardens

Albert Maysles was born on November 26, 1926 in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Grey Gardens (1975), Salesman (1969) and Gimme Shelter (1970). He was married to Gillian Walker. He died on March 5, 2015 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, ...

64. Daniel Junge

Producer | Being Evel

Daniel Junge is known for Being Evel (2015), Saving Face (2012) and A Lego Brickumentary (2014).

65. Rick Rowley

Cinematographer | 16 Shots

Richard Rowley is an Oscar nominated and 3-time Emmy winning director. His films have won Television Academy Honors, the DuPont-Columbia Award, the George Polk Award, multiple Peabody Nominations, and have been honored at festivals around the world.

Rowley's Oscar nominated feature Dirty Wars (2013)...

66. Jehane Noujaim

Producer | Control Room

Jehane Noujaim was born on May 17, 1974 in Cairo, Egypt. She is a producer and director, known for Control Room (2004), Startup.com (2001) and The Square (2013).

67. Leanne Pooley

Director | Beyond the Edge

Leanne Pooley is known for Beyond the Edge (2013), Shackleton's Captain (2012) and The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (2009).

68. Alanis Obomsawin

Director | Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

Alanis Obomsawin was born on August 31, 1932 in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA. She is a director and producer, known for Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993), Waban-aki: People from Where the Sun Rises (2006) and Is the Crown at War with Us? (2002).

69. Yoav Shamir

Director | Machssomim

Yoav Shamir was born in November 1970 in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel. He is a writer and director, known for Checkpoint (2003), Defamation (2009) and The Prophet and the Space Aliens (2020).

70. Sebastian Junger

Director | Restrepo

Sebastian Junger was born on January 17, 1962 in Belmont, Massachusetts, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Restrepo (2010), The Perfect Storm (2000) and Korengal (2014). He has been married to Daniela since 2002.

71. Rithy Panh

Director | L'image manquante

Rithy Panh was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on the 18th april 1964. He is today one of the most acclaimed documentary filmmakers and the most famous Cambodian filmmaker worldwide. After 1975 his family died through the genocidal Khmer Rouge government (1975-1979) while he could escape in 1979 to ...

72. Avi Lewis

Producer | This Changes Everything

Avi Lewis is known for This Changes Everything (2015), The Take (2004) and When the Storm Fades (2018).

73. Irena Salina

Director | Ghost Bird: The Life and Art of Judith Deim

She was born in France July 8, 1968. She acted in French theatre before moving to New York where she studied with Charles Laughton in the Actors Studio. She worked in production in various capacities on numerous films before writing and directing her first short, "See You on Monday", which was ...

74. Fernando E. Solanas

Producer | El exilio de Gardel: Tangos

Fernando E. Solanas was born on February 16, 1936 in Olivos, Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a producer and director, known for Tangos, the Exile of Gardel (1985), The Journey (1992) and The South (1988). He was married to Angela Correa. He died on November 6, 2020 in ...

75. Sean McAllister

Director | A Syrian Love Story

Sean McAllister was born in 1965 in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for A Syrian Love Story (2015), The Reluctant Revolutionary (2012) and Japan: A Story of Love and Hate (2008).

76. Sam Green

Director | The Weather Underground

Sam Green is known for The Weather Underground (2002), A Thousand Thoughts (2018) and The Universal Language (2011).

77. Jeff Feuerzeig

Writer | The Devil and Daniel Johnston

Jeff Feuerzeig is known for The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005), Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016) and The Real Rocky (2011).

78. Hubert Sauper

Director | Darwin's Nightmare

He studied film directing in Vienna (Univ. of Performing Arts). In 1994 he emigrated to France and wrote a thesis about French movie director Ciryl Collard in Université Der Paris VIII and graduated B.A.(Mag. art). Actually Hubert teaches film classes in Europe and the United Stated while he ...

79. Andy Bichlbaum

Writer | The Yes Men Fix the World

Andy Bichlbaum was born in 1963 in the USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Yes Men Fix the World (2009), The Yes Men Are Revolting (2014) and When the Storm Fades (2018).

80. Mike Bonanno

Producer | Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Mike Bonanno is known for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020), The Yes Men Fix the World (2009) and Le petomane: Fin de siècle fartiste (1998).

81. Joshua Oppenheimer

Director | The Act of Killing

Joshua Oppenheimer was born on September 23, 1974 in Texas, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Act of Killing (2012), The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (1998) and The Look of Silence (2014).

82. Laura Poitras

Producer | Citizenfour

Laura Poitras was born on February 2, 1964 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Citizenfour (2014), The Oath (2010) and My Country, My Country (2006).

83. Marshall Curry

Producer | The Neighbors' Window

Marshall Curry was born in 1970 in Summit, New Jersey, USA. He is a director and writer, known for The Neighbors' Window (2019), Street Fight (2005) and Racing Dreams (2009). He is married to Elizabeth Martin.