Documentary Movies
16 Days of Glory

16 Days of Glory

16 Days of Glory
IMDb: 7.7
285

The definitive photographic record of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, told “from the inside” through the lives of the participants, the words of David Perry, and the singing voice of…

Genre: Documentary
Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin’

Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin’

Richard Pryor: Live and Smokin’
IMDb: 6.4
48

Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin’ is the first stand-up act of Richard Pryor to be filmed out of the four that were released in total. This film was filmed in…

Pumping Iron II: The Women

Pumping Iron II: The Women

Pumping Iron II: The Women
IMDb: 6
107

PUMPING IRON II: THE WOMEN, a film that is changing the way the world views the female physique-creating “a new definition of the female form.” Join four women as they…

Genre: Documentary
Ornette: Made in America

Ornette: Made in America

Ornette: Made in America
IMDb: 7
78

Shirley Clarke’s frenetic documentary about multi-talented musician Ornette Coleman.

Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats

Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats

Jack Kerouac: King of the Beats
IMDb: 6.8
71

Jack Kerouac’s life is examined through interviews with his contemporaries and friends including Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and William S. Burroughs. The film also employs dramatic recreations of Kerouac’s life…

Genre: Documentary
Huey Long

Huey Long

Huey Long
IMDb: 7.6
88

Ken Burns’ portrait of Louisiana governor and U.S. senator Huey Long.

Genre: Documentary
F/X

F/X

F/X
IMDb: 6.7
N/A

Your monthly journey through the fascinating world of space and astronomy with the latest thinking on what’s out there in space and what you can see in the night sky.

Genre: Documentary, News
The Dream Is Alive

The Dream Is Alive

The Dream Is Alive
IMDb: 7.6
37

The Dream Is Alive takes you into space alongside the astronauts on the space shuttle. Share with them the delights of zero gravity while working, eating and sleeping in orbit…

Genre: Documentary
Dario Argento’s World of Horror

Dario Argento’s World of Horror

Dario Argento’s World of Horror
IMDb: 6.4
71

Documentary on horror/mystery filmmaker Dario Argento. Features an in-depth interview with Argento and covers his work from 1969 to 1985.

Genre: Documentary
Chronos

Chronos

Chronos
IMDb: 7.7
43

Carefully picked scenes of nature and civilization are viewed at high speed using time-lapse cinematography in an effort to demonstrate the history of various regions.

Genre: Documentary
Sting: Bring on the Night

Sting: Bring on the Night

Sting: Bring on the Night
IMDb: 7.4
97

Bring on the Night is a 1985 documentary film, that focuses on the jazz-inspired project and band led by the British musician Sting during the early stages of his solo…

28 Up

28 Up

28 Up
IMDb: 8.1
136

Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted’s documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they’ve found their place in the world.

Genre: Documentary
The Road to Bresson

The Road to Bresson

The Road to Bresson
IMDb: 7.1
54

A Dutch documentary about legendary French filmmaker Robert Bresson.

Genre: Documentary
Streetwise

Streetwise

Streetwise
IMDb: 8.2
91

This documentary about teenagers living on the streets in Seattle began as a magazine article. The film follows nine teenagers who discuss how they live by panhandling, prostitution, and petty…

Genre: Documentary
The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt

The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt

The Indomitable Teddy Roosevelt
IMDb: 7.5
93

Theodore Roosevelt was America’s 26th president and a larger-than-life legend whose incredible story must be seen to be believed. Narrated by George C. Scott, this documentary weaves extremely rare archival…

Genre: Documentary
Ballad of the Little Soldier

Ballad of the Little Soldier

Ballad of the Little Soldier
IMDb: 7.2
46

A group of Miskito Indians use Nicaraguan child soldiers in their resistance against the Sandinistas.

Genre: Documentary
Tosca’s Kiss

Tosca’s Kiss

Tosca’s Kiss
IMDb: 7.9
87

Memoirs of the Italian Opera by the singers and musicians of the Casa Verdi, Milan, the world’s first nursing home for retired opera singers, founded by composer Giuseppe Verdi in…

First Graders

First Graders

First Graders
IMDb: 7.2
85

A documentary film about a boys school in Iran. The film shows numerous, funny and moving interviews of many different young pupils of this school summoned by their superintendent for…

Genre: Documentary
Antonio Gaudí

Antonio Gaudí

Antonio Gaudí
IMDb: 7.2
72

Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926) designed some of the world’s most astonishing buildings, interiors, and parks; Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara constructed some of the most aesthetically audacious films ever made….

Genre: Documentary
Dressed in Blue

Dressed in Blue

Dressed in Blue
IMDb: 7.5
96

A documentary about the lives of six transgender women in post-Franco Spain.

Warren Miller’s Ski Time

Warren Miller’s Ski Time

Warren Miller’s Ski Time
IMDb: 6.8
105

Time is the most precious and valuable thing we own, so hopefully, you’ll invest yours in Ski Time. From the Alps to Oregon, Montana, Idaho, down to New Zealand, and…

Genre: Documentary
Seventeen

Seventeen

Seventeen
IMDb: 7.6
120

In their final year at Muncie’s Southside High School, a group of seniors hurtles toward maturity with a combination of joy, despair, and an aggravated sense of urgency. They are…

Genre: Documentary
Richard Pryor: Here and Now

Richard Pryor: Here and Now

Richard Pryor: Here and Now
IMDb: 7.2
94

One of comedian Richard Pryor’s later stand-up performances. As foul-mouthed as ever, Pryor touches on most of the same topics as in his previous live shows.

Pirate Tape

Pirate Tape

Pirate Tape
IMDb: 5.7
17

Derek Jarman’s film portrait of American writer William S. Burroughs was shot in September 1982 during his first visit to England to attend the legendary Final Academy events at the…

Genre: Documentary
The Power of Emotion

The Power of Emotion

The Power of Emotion
IMDb: 6.7
112

Emotions and feelings should not be confused with sentimentality. Emotion is ancient and more powerful than any artistic expression. The film observes young couples facing difficulties while trying to move…

Pharos of Chaos

Pharos of Chaos

Pharos of Chaos
IMDb: 7.1
119

A superb, moving and thrilling interview with American actor Sterling Hayden (1916-86), held in Besançon, France, on board a dilapidated barge, when he was 65 years old. An unparalleled portrait,…

Genre: Documentary
Hells Angels Forever

Hells Angels Forever

Hells Angels Forever
IMDb: 6.2
87

What starts off as a squadron of American daredevil bombers in World War II, branded by society as renegades, turns into a revealing ride into the world of honor, violence,…

Genre: Documentary
Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance
IMDb: 6.6
100

Through the experiences of two women in Paris and London, Ghost Dance offers an analysis of the complexity of our conceptions of ghosts, memory and the past. The film focuses…

Faces of Death II

Faces of Death II

Faces of Death II
IMDb: 3.8
78

Brief scenes of death related material: mortuaries, accidents and police work are filmed by TV crews and home video cameras. Some of it is most likely fake, some not as…

Visit, or Memories and Confessions

Visit, or Memories and Confessions

Visit, or Memories and Confessions
IMDb: 7.1
68

A long-hidden, personal doc about leaving a beloved house by the late, revered Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira.

Genre: Documentary
Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections

Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections

Scenes from the Life of Andy Warhol: Friendships & Intersections
IMDb: 6.9
36

This intimate portrait of Andy Warhol pulls together a unique library of material shot by New York film legend Jonas Mekas. Spanning from 1963 to 1990, the film features a…

Genre: Documentary
Sans Soleil

Sans Soleil

Sans Soleil
IMDb: 7.7
100

A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.

Genre: Documentary
The Road to Patriation

The Road to Patriation

The Road to Patriation
IMDb: N/A
94

This feature documentary retraces the century of haggling by successive federal and provincial governments to agree on a formula to bring home the Canadian Constitution from England. This film concentrates…

Genre: Documentary
Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip

Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip

Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip
IMDb: 7.6
82

Richard Pryor’s stand-up act includes his frank discussion about his freebasing addiction, as well as the infamous night on June 9, 1980 that he caught on fire.

Reassemblage: From the Firelight to the Screen

Reassemblage: From the Firelight to the Screen

Reassemblage: From the Firelight to the Screen
IMDb: 6.5
40

A complex visual study of the women of rural Senegal. Through a complicity of interaction between film and spectator, Reassemblage reflects on documentary filmmaking and the ethnographic representation of cultures.

Genre: Documentary
Poetry in Motion

Poetry in Motion

Poetry in Motion
IMDb: 7
91

More than 20 contemporary North American poets recite, sing, and perform their work. Early in the film, Charles Bukowski talks about the energy of poets and of a poem. These…

Genre: Documentary
In the King of Prussia

In the King of Prussia

In the King of Prussia
IMDb: 6.3
92

Dramatization of the trial of Christian anti-war activists, known collectively as the “Plowshares Eight”. In September 1980, they broke into a General Electric weapons plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania,…

Genre: Documentary
Illuminated Texts

Illuminated Texts

Illuminated Texts
IMDb: 7
174

“Breathtaking in its techniques, rhapsodic in its passion, and encyclopedic in its scope, the film traces the long fall from paradise into modern barbarism.” – Art Gallery of Ontario

Genre: Documentary
The Compleat Beatles

The Compleat Beatles

The Compleat Beatles
IMDb: 8.2
119

Now, for the first time, you can re-live the Beatles legends with this stunning 2-hour musical “Rockumentary”. It’s all there from the wild exuberance of the early Cavern Club days…

Burden of Dreams

Burden of Dreams

Burden of Dreams
IMDb: 7.9
97

The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents,…

Genre: Documentary