54 articles
13th (film)
13th is Ava DuVernay's 2016 Netflix documentary, 100 minutes, arguing the 13th Amendment's criminal-punishment exception links slavery to mass incarceration; Oscar-nominated, Peabody and Emmy winner, premiered at NYFF54.
An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales
An Interview with HRH The Princess of Wales: Diana's 20 November 1995 BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, filmed at Kensington Palace, watched by 23 million; later found to have been secured by deception per the 2021 Dyson Report.
Bowling for Columbine
Bowling for Columbine (2002) is Michael Moore's Oscar-winning documentary on American gun culture, built around the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, its Cannes 55th Anniversary Prize, and its disputed factual claims.
Cartel Land
Cartel Land is Matthew Heineman's 2015 Oscar-nominated documentary about vigilantes fighting Mexican drug cartels: Dr. Jose Mireles' Autodefensas in Michoacán and Tim Foley's Arizona Border Recon; Sundance and DGA award winner.
Citizenfour
Citizenfour (2014) is Laura Poitras's Oscar-winning documentary, also known as Citizen Four, recording Edward Snowden's NSA leak disclosures in a Hong Kong hotel room with Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill.
Crude Oil (采油日记)
Crude Oil (采油日记, Caiyou riji) is Wang Bing's 2008, 14-hour documentary video installation about oil workers in the Gobi Desert of Qinghai, China; premiered at Rotterdam 2008, originally planned at 70 hours.
Empire of Dust
Empire of Dust is a 2011 Belgian documentary by Bram Van Paesschen following CREC logistics manager Lao Yang and Congolese interpreter Eddy rebuilding a 300 km road between Kolwezi and Lubumbashi, DRC; it won Docville 2012's Best Belgian Documentary award.
Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 American political documentary directed by Michael Moore that criticizes George W. Bush's presidency and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Going Clear (film)
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Alex Gibney's 2015 HBO documentary based on Lawrence Wright's book, profiles eight former Scientologists including Paul Haggis, won three Emmys and a Peabody, and examines the church's 1993 IRS tax exemption.
Hearts and Minds
Hearts and Minds (1974) is Peter Davis and Bert Schneider's Oscar-winning anti-war documentary on the Vietnam War, titled from Lyndon Johnson's 'hearts and minds' phrase, released in 1975 after Rostow's lawsuit.
Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party
Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party is a 2016 Dinesh D'Souza and Bruce Schooley political documentary attacking Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party; it grossed $13.1 million but scored 4% on Rotten Tomatoes and won the Razzie for Worst Picture.
Hot Girls Wanted
Hot Girls Wanted (2015) is a Sundance documentary by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus, produced by Rashida Jones, following five 18- and 19-year-old women in Florida's amateur porn industry; released on Netflix May 29, 2015.
HyperNormalisation
HyperNormalisation (2016) is a 166-minute BBC documentary by Adam Curtis, released 16 October 2016 on BBC iPlayer, arguing that since the 1970s elites built a simplified fake world; the title term comes from Alexei Yurchak's 2006 book on late Soviet life.
I Am Not Your Negro
I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck's 2016 Oscar-nominated documentary, builds James Baldwin's unfinished manuscript Remember This House, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, into an account of Evers, Malcolm X, and King.
Into the Abyss (film)
Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, a Tale of Life is Werner Herzog's 2011 documentary on the 2001 Conroe, Texas triple murder, death row inmate Michael Perry, executed eight days after his interview, and Jason Burkett's life sentence.
Jesus Camp
Jesus Camp is a 2006 documentary by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady about Becky Fischer's Kids on Fire Pentecostal camp in Devils Lake, North Dakota; Oscar-nominated, distributed by Magnolia Pictures.
Korengal
Korengal (2014) is Sebastian Junger's documentary follow-up to Restrepo, built from unused footage of a US platoon at Outpost Restrepo in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, exploring fear, brotherhood, and why soldiers miss war.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Mesdames et Messieurs, Brian Mulroney) is Matthew Rankin's 2026 NFB archival collage documentary on Brian Mulroney's rise from the 1976 PC leadership race to his 1984 election, which won TIFF's Midnight Madness People's Choice Award.
Live Nude Girls Unite!
Live Nude Girls Unite! is a 2000 documentary by Julia Query and Vicky Funari about Lusty Lady dancers in San Francisco forming the first US exotic dancers' union, SEIU Local 790, in 1997.
Loose Change
Loose Change, also titled Loose Change 9/11 in its HD edition, is Dylan Avery's 2005 documentary series claiming the September 11 attacks were an inside job; a viral Google Video hit watched by an estimated 100 million, it popularized the 9/11 Truth movement.
Mondo Cane
Mondo Cane (A Dog's World) is a 1962 Italian shockumentary by Jacopetti, Cavara, and Prosperi that named the mondo exploitation-documentary genre, competed at Cannes 1962, and earned an Oscar nomination for its song "More."
My Scientology Movie
My Scientology Movie (2015) is a Louis Theroux feature documentary, directed by John Dower and produced by Simon Chinn, using staged reenactments with ex-member Marty Rathbun after the Church of Scientology denied access and surveilled the filmmakers.
Please Vote for Me
Please Vote for Me (请投我一票) is a 2007 documentary by Chen Weijun about three eight-year-olds in Wuhan, China, competing in their school's first class monitor election, made for the Why Democracy? series.
Point of Order
Point of Order! is a 1964 documentary by Emile de Antonio condensing 188 hours of kinescopes of the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings into 97 narration-free minutes, ending with Welch's decency rebuke.
Primary
Primary (1960) is Robert Drew's landmark direct-cinema documentary following John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey through the Wisconsin Democratic primary, pioneering hand-held sync-sound filming; National Film Registry 1990.
Religulous
Religulous is a 2008 American documentary comedy film written by and starring Bill Maher and directed by Larry Charles, arguing that religious faith is irrational and dangerous.
Restrepo (film)
Restrepo (2010) is a war documentary by Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington following a 173rd Airborne platoon in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley; Sundance Grand Jury winner, Oscar-nominated, named for outpost honoring medic Juan Restrepo.
Roger & Me
Roger & Me is Michael Moore's 1989 Warner Bros. documentary about GM's Flint, Michigan plant closings and his failed quest to interview chairman Roger Smith; a docucomedy that became the highest-grossing documentary to its time.
Scared Straight!
Scared Straight! is a 1978 Arnold Shapiro documentary, hosted by Peter Falk, following 17 juvenile delinquents through the Lifers program at Rahway State Prison, New Jersey; it won the 1979 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, but research found scared straight programs increase offending.
Shoah (film)
Shoah (1985) is Claude Lanzmann's 566-minute French Holocaust documentary, made over nearly 12 years without archival footage, using testimony from survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators, with hidden-camera interviews of former SS men; its outtakes are held by USHMM and Yad Vashem.