Best Documentaries
by MidlineTV | created - 27 Dec 2017 | updated - 31 Jan 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. For All Mankind (1989)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary, History
An in-depth look at various NASA moon landing missions, starting with Apollo 8.
Director: Al Reinert | Stars: Jim Lovell, Ken Mattingly, Russell Schweickart, Eugene Cernan
Votes: 6,538 | Gross: $0.77M
2. Tower (2016)
TV-14 | 82 min | Documentary, Animation, Crime
Animation, testimony, and archival footage combine to relate the events of August 1, 1966 when a gunman opened fire from the University of Texas clock tower, killing 16 people.
Director: Keith Maitland | Stars: Monty Muir, Violett Beane, Cole Bee Wilson, Aldo Ordoñez
Votes: 8,291 | Gross: $0.09M
3. Citizenfour (2014)
R | 114 min | Documentary, Biography
A documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.
Director: Laura Poitras | Stars: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney, Jacob Appelbaum
Votes: 57,995 | Gross: $2.80M
4. Strong Island (2017)
TV-MA | 107 min | Documentary, Crime
When filmmaker Yance Ford investigates the 1992 murder of a young Black man, it becomes an achingly personal journey, since the victim, 24-year-old William Ford Jr., was the filmmaker's brother.
Director: Yance Ford | Stars: Yance Ford, Harvey Walker, Kevin Myers, Lauren Ford
Votes: 4,126
5. 13th (2016)
TV-MA | 100 min | Documentary, Crime, History
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: Melina Abdullah, Michelle Alexander, Cory Booker, Dolores Canales
Votes: 37,691
6. King In The Wilderness (2018)
TV-14 | 111 min | Documentary
A look at the final years in the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Director: Peter W. Kunhardt
Votes: 915
7. Weiner (2016)
R | 96 min | Documentary
An examination of disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign and today's political landscape.
Directors: Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg | Stars: Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin, Jordan Zain Weiner, Barbara Morgan
Votes: 10,534 | Gross: $1.61M
8. Get Me Roger Stone (2017)
TV-14 | 92 min | Documentary, Biography
A documentary exploring the life and career of notorious Republican dirty trickster and longtime Trump adviser, Roger Stone, who helped create the real estate mogul's political career.
Directors: Dylan Bank, Daniel DiMauro, Morgan Pehme | Stars: Roger Stone, Donald Trump, Jane Mayer, Jeffrey Toobin
Votes: 7,734
9. Man on Wire (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
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".
Director: James Marsh | Stars: Philippe Petit, Jean François Heckel, Jean-Louis Blondeau, Annie Allix
Votes: 58,689 | Gross: $2.96M
10. Faces Places (2017)
PG | 94 min | Documentary, Adventure
Director Agnes Varda and photographer/muralist J.R. journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.
Directors: JR, Agnès Varda | Stars: Agnès Varda, JR, Jeannine Carpentier, Clemens Van Dungern
Votes: 13,615 | Gross: $0.95M
11. The Witness (I) (2015)
89 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
The brother of Kitty Genovese investigates the circumstances of her murder and the truth of the story that dozens of locals witnessed the crime and did nothing to intervene.
Directors: James D. Solomon, Jessica Robinson | Stars: William Genovese, Shannon Beeby, Aaron Adler, Linda Ellen Bonekoskey
Votes: 4,552
12. Newtown (2016)
Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary, History
A look at how the community of Newtown, Connecticut came together in the aftermath of the largest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history.
Director: Kim A. Snyder | Stars: Gene Rosen, Syeda Suriya Ahmed, Abbey Clements, Sally Cox
Votes: 1,734 | Gross: $0.01M
13. Senna (2010)
PG-13 | 106 min | Documentary, Biography, Sport
A documentary on Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, who won the F1 world championship three times before his death at age 34.
Director: Asif Kapadia | Stars: Ayrton Senna, Reginaldo Leme, John Bisignano, Neyde Senna
Votes: 75,888 | Gross: $1.61M
14. Jane (II) (2017)
PG | 90 min | Documentary, Biography
The life and work of the renowned primatology scientist, Jane Goodall, especially on her research about chimpanzees.
Director: Brett Morgen | Stars: Jane Goodall, Hugo Van Lawick, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick
Votes: 5,667 | Gross: $1.72M
15. Blackfish (2013)
PG-13 | 83 min | Documentary
A documentary following the controversial captivity of killer whales, and its dangers for both humans and whales.
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite | Stars: Tilikum, Dave Duffus, Samantha Berg, Dean Gomersall
Votes: 72,485 | Gross: $2.07M
16. Finding Vivian Maier (2013)
Not Rated | 83 min | Documentary, Biography, Mystery
A 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.
Directors: John Maloof, Charlie Siskel | Stars: Vivian Maier, John Maloof, Daniel Arnaud, Simon Amédé
Votes: 15,087 | Gross: $1.51M
17. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Not Rated | 95 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime
A filmmaker decides to memorialize a murdered friend when his friend's ex-girlfriend announces she is expecting his son.
Director: Kurt Kuenne | Stars: Kurt Kuenne, Andrew Bagby, David Bagby, Kathleen Bagby
Votes: 40,748 | Gross: $0.02M
18. Quest (II) (2017)
104 min | Documentary, Family, Music
A husband and wife live in an impoverished neighborhood in north Philadelphia while they raise their daughter and run a recording studio in their basement.
Director: Jonathan Olshefski | Stars: Christopher Rainey, Christine'a Rainey, P.J. Rainey, William Withers
Votes: 359 | Gross: $0.05M
19. Crime + Punishment (2018)
112 min | Documentary
A group of brave NYPD officers risk it all to expose the truth about illegal quota practices in police departments.
Director: Stephen Maing | Stars: Manuel 'Manny' Gomez, Sandy Gonzales, Rukia Lumumba, Edwin Raymond
Votes: 697 | Gross: $0.02M
20. Cutie and the Boxer (2013)
R | 82 min | Documentary, Biography
This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role as her overbearing husband's assistant, Noriko finds an identity of her own.
Director: Zach Heinzerling | Stars: Ushio Shinohara, Noriko Shinohara, Alex Shinohara, Ethan Cohen
Votes: 4,738 | Gross: $0.20M
21. Shirkers (2018)
TV-14 | 97 min | Documentary
A woman explores the events surrounding a film she and her friends began making with a mysterious stranger decades ago.
Director: Sandi Tan | Stars: Jasmine Kin Kia Ng, Philip Cheah, Sophia Siddique Harvey, Sharon Siddique
Votes: 5,674
22. McQueen (2018)
R | 111 min | Documentary, Biography
The life and career of fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen: from his start as a tailor, to launching and overseeing his eponymous line and his untimely death.
Directors: Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui | Stars: Alexander McQueen, Joyce McQueen, John Hitchcock, Danny Hall
Votes: 8,422 | Gross: $1.26M
23. They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018)
TV-MA | 98 min | Documentary, Biography
In the final fifteen years of the life of legendary director Orson Welles, he pins his Hollywood comeback hopes on a film, The Other Side of the Wind (2018), in itself a film about an aging film director trying to finish his last great movie.
Director: Morgan Neville | Stars: Alan Cumming, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar, Orson Welles
Votes: 5,445
24. Free Solo (2018)
PG-13 | 100 min | Documentary, Adventure, Sport
Alex Honnold faces the biggest challenge of his career, climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He pursues it Free Solo, which means climbing without a rope and alone.
Directors: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi | Stars: Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell, Jimmy Chin, Cheyne Lempe
Votes: 77,488 | Gross: $17.54M
25. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Not Rated | 101 min | Documentary, Crime
A film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
Director: Errol Morris | Stars: Randall Adams, David Harris, Gus Rose, Jackie Johnson
Votes: 25,988 | Gross: $1.21M
26. Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
PG-13 | 86 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock n roller, Rodriguez.
Director: Malik Bendjelloul | Stars: Rodriguez, Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman, Dennis Coffey, Mike Theodore
Votes: 72,927 | Gross: $3.97M
27. Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski (2018)
TV-MA | 115 min | Documentary, Biography
This documentary chronicles the life of Polish-American artist Stanislav Szukalski (1893-1987) from his early years in Chicago, to his time in Poland and Los Angeles, and his artistic and political contributions to the world.
Director: Ireneusz Dobrowolski | Stars: Stanislav Szukalski, Glenn Bray, Robert Williams, Suzanne Williams
Votes: 4,638
28. Apollo 11 (I) (2019)
G | 93 min | Documentary, History
A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilots Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins.
Director: Todd Douglas Miller | Stars: Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Deke Slayton
Votes: 27,229 | Gross: $9.04M
29. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017)
Not Rated | 100 min | Documentary, Music
A portrait of genius music composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Director: Stephen Nomura Schible | Stars: Yellow Magic Orchestra, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Votes: 1,986 | Gross: $0.12M
30. Bathtubs Over Broadway (2018)
PG-13 | 87 min | Documentary, Comedy, Music
A Late Night comedy writer stumbles upon a hilarious, hidden world of corporate entertainment and finds an unexpected connection to his fellow man. Tribeca and WGA Award winner.
Director: Dava Whisenant | Stars: David Letterman, Martin Short, Chita Rivera, Susan Stroman
Votes: 1,226
31. Infinite Football (2018)
TV-PG | 70 min | Documentary, Sport
They talk about the beautiful game, but for Laurentiu Ginghina, it's not enough. Football must be modified, streamlined, freed from restraints; corners are to be rounded off, players ... See full summary »
Director: Corneliu Porumboiu | Stars: Laurentiu Ginghina, Corneliu Porumboiu
Votes: 548
32. Bisbee '17 (2018)
PG | 112 min | Documentary, History, Western
An old mining town on the Arizona-Mexico border finally reckons with its darkest day: the deportation of 1200 immigrant miners exactly 100 years ago. Locals collaborate to stage recreations of their controversial past.
Director: Robert Greene | Stars: Mike Anderson, Charles Bethea, Chris Dietz, Mary Ellen Dunlap
Votes: 714 | Gross: $0.12M
33. Elvis Presley: The Searcher (2018)
TV-PG | 205 min | Documentary, Biography, Music
Elvis Presley's evolution as a musician and a man.
Director: Thom Zimny | Stars: Steve Allen, Ann-Margret, Chet Atkins, Chris Bearde
Votes: 2,697
34. The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling (2018 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 259 min | Documentary, Biography, Comedy
Judd Apatow presents an emotional two-part in-depth look at the life, career and complex internal struggles of his loving mentor, the influential stand-up comedian and actor Garry Shandling, based on Shandling's personal diaries.
Director: Judd Apatow | Stars: Garry Shandling, Judd Apatow, Kevin Nealon, Mike Shandling
Votes: 2,178
35. Charm City (2018)
TV-MA | 108 min | Documentary
Charm City delivers a candid portrait of citizens, police, community advocates, and government officials on the frontlines during three years of unparalleled, escalating violence in Baltimore.
Director: Marilyn Ness | Stars: Dante Barksdale, Tre'a Bertrille, Ericcka Bridgeford, Monique Brown
Votes: 201 | Gross: $0.03M
36. Dead Souls (2018)
495 min | Documentary, History
A dozen aging survivors are interviewed from Jiabiangou, a complex of three work camps in Northwest China where supposed rightists were sent for re-education in the 1950s and 1960s under Mao Zedong.
Director: Wang Bing
Votes: 379
37. Bowling for Columbine (2002)
R | 120 min | Documentary, Crime, Drama
Filmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.
Director: Michael Moore | Stars: Michael Moore, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Manson, Salvador Allende
Votes: 148,775 | Gross: $21.58M
38. For Sama (2019)
TV-PG | 100 min | Documentary, Biography, War
FOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war.
Directors: Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts | Stars: Waad Al-Kateab, Sama Al-Khateab, Hamza Al-Khateab, Afra
Votes: 12,824 | Gross: $0.04M
39. A Brief History of Time (1991)
G | 80 min | Documentary, Biography
A film about the life and work of the cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, who despite his near total paralysis, was one of the great minds of all time.
Director: Errol Morris | Stars: Stephen Hawking, Isobel Hawking, Janet Humphrey, Mary Hawking
Votes: 5,917 | Gross: $2.28M
40. Crumb (1994)
R | 119 min | Documentary, Biography, Comedy
An intimate portrait of controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb and his traumatized family.
Director: Terry Zwigoff | Stars: Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Charles Crumb, Maxon Crumb
Votes: 21,603 | Gross: $3.17M
41. Hoop Dreams (1994)
PG-13 | 170 min | Documentary, Drama, Sport
A film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.
Director: Steve James | Stars: William Gates, Arthur Agee, Emma Gates, Curtis Gates
Votes: 28,029 | Gross: $7.83M
42. Shoah (1985)
Not Rated | 566 min | Documentary, History, War
Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
Director: Claude Lanzmann | Stars: Simon Srebnik, Michael Podchlebnik, Motke Zaïdl, Hanna Zaïdl
Votes: 10,559 | Gross: $0.02M
43. Rewind (III) (2019)
86 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama
Digging through the vast collection of his father's home videos, a young man reconstructs the unthinkable story of his boyhood and exposes vile abuse passed through generations.
Director: Sasha Joseph Neulinger | Stars: Sasha Joseph Neulinger, Henry Nevison, Howard Nevison
Votes: 2,635
44. Paris Is Burning (1990)
R | 78 min | Documentary
A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
Director: Jennie Livingston | Stars: Brooke Xtravaganza, André Christian, Dorian Corey, Paris Duprée
Votes: 17,623 | Gross: $3.78M
45. The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A documentary of the successful career and assassination of San Francisco's first elected gay city supervisor.
Director: Rob Epstein | Stars: Harvey Fierstein, Harvey Milk, Anne Kronenberg, Tory Hartmann
Votes: 6,579 | Gross: $0.01M
46. Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)
PG-13 | 89 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama
A daughter helps her father prepare for the end of his life.
Director: Kirsten Johnson | Stars: Michael Hilow, Ana Hoffman, Dick Johnson, Kirsten Johnson
Votes: 7,240
47. Hearts and Minds (1974)
R | 112 min | Documentary, History, War
A startling and courageous landmark documentary that unflinchingly confronted the United States' involvement in Vietnam at the height of the controversy that surrounded it.
Director: Peter Davis | Stars: Tin Chan, Chau Diem, Ngo Dinh Diem, John Foster Dulles
Votes: 6,114 | Gross: $0.03M
48. Boys State (2020)
PG-13 | 109 min | Documentary
A thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas join together to build a representative government from the ground up.
Directors: Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss | Stars: Ben Feinstein, Steven Garza, Robert MacDougall, René Otero
Votes: 5,733
49. Feels Good Man (2020)
92 min | Documentary, Comedy
Artist Matt Furie, creator of the comic character Pepe the Frog, begins an uphill battle to take back his iconic cartoon image from those who used it for their own purposes.
Director: Arthur Jones | Stars: Matt Furie, Aiyana Udesen, Chris Sullivan, Johnny Ryan
Votes: 5,555
50. Grizzly Man (2005)
R | 103 min | Documentary, Biography
A 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.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Werner Herzog, Carol Dexter
Votes: 61,936 | Gross: $3.17M
51. Collective (2019)
Not Rated | 109 min | Documentary, Crime
Director Alexander Nanau follows a crack team of investigators at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor as they try to uncover a vast health-care fraud that enriched moguls and politicians and led to the deaths of innocent citizens.
Director: Alexander Nanau | Stars: Dan Alexandru Condrea, Liviu Iolu, Razvan Lutac, Mirela Neag
Votes: 13,444
52. Stop Making Sense (1984)
PG | 88 min | Documentary, Music
Considered by critics as the greatest concert film of all time, the live performance was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December of 1983 and features Talking Heads' most memorable songs.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: David Byrne, Bernie Worrell, Alex Weir, Steven Scales
Votes: 20,094 | Gross: $5.02M
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