D O C U M E N T A R i E S . .
the BEST Documentary movies I've seen.
List activity
693 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
75 titles
- DirectorMalik BendjelloulStarsRodriguezStephen 'Sugar' SegermanDennis CoffeyTwo South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock n roller, Rodriguez.
- DirectorTahani RachedThe story of several young women living on the streets of Cairo.
- DirectorBryan FogelStarsBryan FogelDave ZabriskieDon CatlinWhen Bryan sets out to uncover the truth about doping in sports, a chance meeting with a Russian scientist transforms his story from a personal experiment into a geopolitical thriller.
- DirectorAi WeiweiStarsIsraa AbboudHiba AbedRami Abu SondosHuman Flow is director and artist Ai Weiwei's detailed and heartbreaking exploration into the global refugee crisis.
- DirectorIsabelle LavigneStéphane ThibaultStarsReda Ibrahim Mohamed AliAmira Said Samir SayedBossy Said Samir SayedSeldom has Egypt's capital been so evocatively captured. A fly-on-the-wall doc exploring the mysterious and hard-knock reality of a typical Egyptian belly dancer clan in working-class Cairo. Unparalleled access to this hidden world leaves the viewer fascinated and surprised that at night they dance. - Such frankness among Arabic women is all too rare in film... - Variety
- DirectorHenry JoostAriel SchulmanStarsNev SchulmanAriel SchulmanHenry JoostYoung filmmakers document their colleague's budding online friendship with a young woman and her family which leads to an unexpected series of discoveries.
- DirectorBoris MiticStarsIggy PopIggy Pop narrates - in simple childlike verse - Nothing's weekend on Earth.
- DirectorBrian KnappenbergerStarsAaron SwartzTim Berners-LeeCindy CohnThe story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz, who took his own life at the age of 26.
- DirectorHanna PolakStarsYulaHanna PolakTen-year-old Yula has but one dream: to lead a normal life. For 14 years, Hanna Polak follows Yula as she grows up in the forbidden territory of Svalka, the garbage dump located 13 miles from the Kremlin in Putin's Russia.
- DirectorMahdi FleifelStarsMahdi FleifelAn intimate, and often humorous, portrait of three generations of exile in the refugee camp of Ein el-Helweh, in southern Lebanon. Based on a wealth of personal recordings, family archives, and historical footage, the film is a sensitive, and illuminating study of belonging, friendship, and family in the lives of those for whom dispossession is the norm, and yearning their daily lives.
- DirectorGianfranco RosiStarsSamuele PucilloMattias CucinaSamuele CaruanaCapturing life on the Italian island of Lampedusa, a frontline in the European migrant crisis.
- DirectorAsif KapadiaStarsAmy WinehouseMitch WinehouseMark RonsonArchival footage and personal testimonials present an intimate portrait of the life and career of British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse.
- DirectorRodney AscherStarsBill BlakemoreGeoffrey CocksJuli KearnsAn exploration of various interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's horror film, The Shining (1980).
- 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.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsPatrick DisantoA collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.
- DirectorKaouther Ben Hania2009. Tunisian Nine-year-old Zaineb lost her father. Her mother will rebuild her life with a man in Canada. But she wants nothing to do with this new country, because Zaineb has decided to hate the snow.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsPina BauschRegina AdventoMalou AiraudoA tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, as her dancers perform her most famous creations.
- 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.
- DirectorPieter-Jan De PueStarsGholam NasirKhyrgyz BajNoorA gang of Afghan kids from the Kuchi tribe dig out old Soviet mines and sell the explosives to children working in a lapis lazuli mine. When not dreaming of the time when American troops finally withdraw from their land, another gang of children keeps tight control on the caravans smuggling the blue gemstones through the arid mountains of Pamir.
- DirectorAbou Bakar SidibéMoritz SiebertEstephan WagnerMount Gurugu overlooks the Spanish enclave of Melilla on northern Africa's Mediterranean coast. The European Union and Africa are separated here by a high-security border facility consisting of three fences. Refugees, mostly from the sub-Saharan region, live in the tree-covered foothills, from where they try to cross the land border between Morocco and Spain. One of them is Abou Bakar Sidibé from Mali, who in Les Sauteurs is both the protagonist and the one doing the documenting.
- DirectorSara TakslerStarsBassem YoussefJon StewartShadi AlfonsWhile the Egyptian revolution of 2011 is underway, surgeon turned comedian Bassem Youssef airs a television show that makes him popular to his countrymen but disliked by the government.
- DirectorRaoul PeckStarsSamuel L. JacksonJames BaldwinMartin Luther KingWriter James Baldwin tells the story of race in modern America with his unfinished novel, Remember This House.
- DirectorPhilip GnadtMickey YamineStarsIbrahim N. ArafatMohammed Abu JayabSabah Abu GhanemIn a country locked between Egypt and Israel, Gaza's youth are drawn to their beaches. Weary of the daily 'state of emergency' they seek meaning and perspective to their lives through surfing.
- DirectorJulia DahrStarsKisilu MusyaChristina KisiluAlec BaldwinFive years ago Kisilu, a Kenyan farmer, started to use his camera to capture the life of his family, his village and the damages of climate change. When a violent storm throws him and a Norwegian filmmaker together we see him transform from a father, to a community leader and activist on the global stage.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogThis film surveys the disaster of the Kuwaiti oil fields in flames, with little narration and scarcely any interviews. Hell on Earth is presented in such transcendent visions and music that one can only be fascinated by it.