Greatest Documentary Films
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33 titles
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsRobert CrumbAline Kominsky-CrumbCharles CrumbAn intimate portrait of controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb and his traumatized family.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsKid ThomasAllen ToussaintBlue Lu BarkerA look at the spirit of New Orleans. First a funeral: Allen Toussaint explains that you arrive slow and cut up afterwards. Then it's food, with a lesson in eating crayfish at Frankie and Johnny's. Next, a St. Patrick's Day party: New Orleans celebrates holidays on the streets. Then it's preparation for Mardi gras, with roots in slave days, when slaves gathered on Sundays to prepare for the one holiday they could celebrate. The Wild Tchoupitoulas society makes Indian costumes to honor the help Indians gave slaves. At Mardi gras, we're with this society parading, singing, and partying. We end with the annual parade for St. Joseph, the saint of the people. More music, dance and ritual.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogRichard LopezMichael PerryConversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsPina BauschRegina AdventoMalou AiraudoA tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, as her dancers perform her most famous creations.
- DirectorLes BlankSkip GersonStarsMance LipscombElnora LipscombHattie FranklinA deeply moving tribute to the Texas songster, Mance Lipscomb, considered by many to be the greatest guitarist of all time.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreCharlton HestonMarilyn MansonFilmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsWilliam GatesArthur AgeeEmma GatesA film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsWerner HerzogKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleA documentary following German auteur Werner Herzog as he deals with difficult actors, bad weather and getting a boat over a mountain, all in an effort to make his film Fitzcarraldo (1982).
- DirectorLes BlankSkip GersonStarsLightnin HopkinsBilly BizorMance LipscombA portrait of the great Texas bluesman, 'Lightnin' Hopkins. The film includes interviews and a performance by Hopkins.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogJean ClottesJulien MonneyWerner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.
- 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.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreGeorge W. BushBen AffleckMichael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11 and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- 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.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsGerald GaxiolaAlice GaxiolaPeter MollicaThis documentary from Les Blank follows the indomitable Gerald "The Maestro" Gaxiola, who turned to a life of prolific art making after years as an aircraft mechanic, traveling salesman, and body builder.
- DirectorKirsten JohnsonStarsKirsten JohnsonAisha BukarEric W. DavisExposing her role behind the camera, Kirsten Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation of the power of the camera.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorLes BlankMaureen GoslingStarsAlphonse ArdoinGustave ArdoinMorris ArdoinA portrait of black Creole life in the Louisiana Delta, accompanied by the hot sounds of Zydeco music.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsHossain SabzianMohsen MakhmalbafAbolfazl AhankhahThe true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.
- DirectorChapman WayMaclain WayStarsLou RussellKurt RussellKen WheelerIn 1973, Hollywood actor Bing Russell starts an independent minor league baseball team in Portland consisting of outcasts and misfits, and turns them into unlikely overnight success.
- DirectorHeidi EwingRachel GradyStarsMike PapantonioLou EngleBecky FischerA documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.
- DirectorGeorge ButlerRobert FioreStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLou FerrignoMatty FerrignoArnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno face off in a no-holds-barred competition for the title of Mr. Olympia in this critically-acclaimed film that made Schwarzenegger a household name.
- DirectorJohn MaloofCharlie SiskelStarsVivian MaierJohn MaloofDaniel ArnaudA documentary on the late Vivian Maier, a nanny whose previously unknown cache of 100,000 photographs earned her a posthumous reputation as one of the most accomplished street photographers.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsRoger EbertChaz EbertGene SiskelThe life and career of the renowned film critic and social commentator, Roger Ebert.
- DirectorLes BlankCece ConwayAlice GerrardStarsTommy JarrellJulie Jarrell LyonsTogie McGeeA documentary about Tommy Jarrell, a fiddler from North Carolina. This films shows a bit of his current life and those around him and includes a lot of his Appalachian Old-Time music.
- DirectorJason WiseStarsBo BarrettShayn BjornholmDave CaubleFour sommeliers attempt to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier exam, a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world.
- DirectorAva DuVernayStarsMelina AbdullahMichelle AlexanderCory BookerAn in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
- DirectorOrson WellesGary GraverOja KodarStarsOrson WellesOja KodarFrançois ReichenbachA documentary about fraud and fakery.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsAnzonini Del PuertoKathleen BendelHarrod BlankA documentary on the history of garlic. Blank interviews chefs, garlic lovers, and historians about the their love of the 'stinking rose.'
- 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.
- DirectorTerry ZwigoffStarsHoward ArmstrongTed BoganYank RachellAbout the obscure country-blues musician and idiosyncratic visual artist Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, member of the last known black string band in America.
- DirectorLes BlankSkip GersonStarsNathan AbshireGlenn AllensanSavy AugustinePortrait of the Cajun lifestyle in Southwest Louisiana.