The 25 Best True Crime Documentaries of All Time

Following the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world.

A filmmaker decides to memorialize a murdered friend when his friend's ex-girlfriend announces she is expecting his son.

A 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.

A horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.

A 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".

Filmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.

A film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.

A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.

A group of online justice seekers track down a guy who posted a video of himself killing kittens.

An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.

Takes a closer look at what brought about the 2008 financial meltdown.

Using 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.

Two documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district.

Documentary 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.

Alex Gibney exposes the haunting details of the USA's torture and interrogation practices during the War in Afghanistan.

A documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.

A rivalry between big cat eccentrics takes a dark turn when Joe Exotic, a controversial animal park boss, is caught in a murder-for-hire plot.

A Cleveland grandfather is brought to trial in Israel, accused of being the infamous German death camp guard known as Ivan the Terrible.

A look inside the mind of serial killer Ted Bundy, featuring interviews with him on death row.

The twisting, turning, stranger-than-fiction true story of the Brobergs, a naive, church-going Idaho family that fell under the spell of a sociopathic neighbor with designs on their twelve-year-old daughter.

The story of how Miami became the cocaine capital of the United States in the early 1980's and the police officers who turned the tide on crime.

In 2018, 34-year-old Shanann Watts and her two young daughters disappear in Colorado. With the heartbreaking details emerging, the family's story made headlines around the world.

English In 1980s Miami, cocaine traffickers brought unprecedented violence. This story shows how Miami became the drug, murder and money center of America.

With a first-person look at the notorious Crips and Bloods, this film examines the conditions that have lead to decades of devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.