Letterboxd Top 250 Documentaries, a list by smccrack

8.7

/23669/

85

/1120/

83

/342/

4.7

/172044/

100

/71/

97

/571/

94

/15/

3.5

A concert film documenting Talking Heads at the height of their popularity, on tour for their 1983 album "Speaking in Tongues." The band takes the stage one by one and is joined by a cadre of guest musicians for a career-spanning and cinematic performance that features creative choreography and visuals.

91

8.2

/33174/

83

/661/

79

/256/

4.6

/103646/

100

/105/

100

/64/

93

/24/

4.0

This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.

84

8.2

/20665/

83

/1046/

79

/521/

4.5

/201027/

98

/65/

88

/215/

82

/22/

3.0

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

92

8.7

/11433/

81

/278/

82

/214/

4.5

/16063/

100

/37/

97

/117/

99

/4/

4.0

age 15+

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

80

46

8.2

/1679/

77

/81/

76

/78/

4.5

/14284/

78

/2/

A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.

92

8.9

/23670/

84

/313/

84

/253/

4.5

/48526/

100

/56/

98

/90/

4.0

age 15+

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.

89

8.3

/29319/

79

/782/

76

/322/

4.4

/50913/

98

/60/

92

/881/

98

/19/

4.0

age 13+

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

87

85

8.6

/11345/

83

/391/

80

/216/

4.4

/26710/

100

/13/

96

/297/

75

/11/

British progressive rock band Pink Floyd perform at the ancient Roman Amphitheater in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy in 1971. Although the band perform a typical live set from the era, there is no audience beyond the basic film crew.

87

8.2

/43700/

79

/1548/

76

/737/

4.4

/91993/

96

/163/

85

/536/

92

/34/

4.0

age 14+

In this chilling and groundbreaking documentary, former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of various film genres. As they recreate their past atrocities, the line between reality and performance blurs, exposing the lingering impact of Indonesia’s 1965-66 anti-communist purge and the unsettling psychology of its perpetrators.

79

?

8.2

/1512/

76

/30/

77

/49/

4.4

/4189/

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

86

8.5

/44794/

83

/1781/

80

/560/

4.4

/89050/

94

/51/

96

/1065/

82

/11/

age 16+

In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.

89

8.5

/13675/

84

/647/

82

/298/

4.4

/27125/

98

/102/

92

/48/

89

/19/

4.0

age 15+

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

87

8.2

/3546/

81

/165/

75

/64/

4.4

/17109/

100

/12/

4.0

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 theft.

84

8.5

/42828/

84

/1310/

82

/660/

4.3

/38272/

81

/26/

96

/21691/

3.0

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

87

8.2

/7279/

82

/236/

75

/110/

4.3

/22626/

100

/22/

92

/186/

80

/5/

4.0

age 15+

This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastover's refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with New York Women in Film & Television in 2004.

86

50

8.3

/2063/

84

/88/

84

/71/

4.3

/19206/

94

/4/

Eduardo Coutinho was filming a movie with the same name in the Northeast of Brazil, in 1964, when there came the military coup. He had to interrupt the project, and came back to it in 1981, looking for the same places and people, showing what had ocurred since then, and trying to gather a family whose patriarch, a political leader fighting for rights of country people, had been murdered.

86

8.3

/14765/

79

/572/

78

/301/

4.3

/25569/

96

/140/

89

/87/

92

/29/

3.5

age 14+

An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

86

8.0

/5258/

82

/145/

77

/134/

4.3

/29389/

96

/72/

88

/96/

86

/19/

4.0

Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.

77

30

7.5

/753/

77

/11/

72

/13/

4.3

/2795/

75

/7/

A heart-rending depiction of the aftermath of Israel's destruction of Jenin refugee camp in 2002, where every scene and interview is profound and distressing in equal measure.

87

8.6

/42795/

83

/1020/

80

/255/

4.3

/39074/

100

/70/

97

/72/

83

/19/

3.5

As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.

83

8.2

/44200/

80

/1188/

78

/750/

4.3

/81646/

91

/23/

91

/1147/

3.0

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

87

8.0

/10986/

79

/643/

77

/188/

4.3

/47926/

100

/130/

90

/117/

89

/28/

4.0

age 16+

Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship.

86

8.2

/39059/

81

/2471/

78

/773/

4.3

/116290/

97

/105/

90

/240/

81

/29/

4.0

age 16+

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

89

79

8.5

/4792/

83

/418/

81

/58/

4.3

/17538/

100

/11/

96

/11/

93

/4/

age 10+

David Attenborough takes viewers on a breathtaking journey showing there is nowhere more vital for our survival, more full of life, wonder, or surprise, than the ocean. Through spectacular sequences featuring coral reefs, kelp forests and the open ocean, Attenborough shares why a healthy ocean keeps the entire planet stable and flourishing.

78

54

8.2

/1425/

79

/45/

76

/38/

4.3

/4707/

67

Chronicles the events immediately surrounding the CIA- supported coup itself.

83

58

8.3

/1976/

83

/81/

81

/54/

4.3

/21488/

The daily lives and routine of 37 families living in a huge 12-story building in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: their drama, aspirations, intimate revelations, loneliness, dreams...

85

69

8.1

/2343/

80

/77/

75

/48/

4.3

/7738/

100

/6/

90

/37/

Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, sets out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives to find the truth behind atrocities committed while the Japanese garrison was surrounded, in particular the unexplained killing of two Japanese privates in his unit.

75

46

8.1

/1803/

78

/63/

72

/49/

4.3

/6350/

60

/10/

The chronicle of the political tension in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.

86

51

8.4

/1571/

85

/105/

83

/57/

4.3

/24070/

93

/8/

Following a newspaper ad, ordinary women tell part of their life stories to director Eduardo Coutinho, which are then re-enacted by actresses, blurring the barriers between truth, fiction and interpretation.

80

37

8.2

/751/

74

/23/

71

/34/

4.3

/3074/

88

/5/

WELFARE shows the nature and complexity of the welfare system in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare: housing, unemployment, divorce, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned and abused children, and the elderly. These issues are presented in a context where welfare workers as well as clients struggle to cope with and interpret the laws and regulations that govern their work and life.

81

8.4

/3231/

81

/159/

82

/28/

4.3

/6065/

3.0

An intimate documentary that looks at the vicious cycles of drug addiction and street crime in one of the roughest parts of New Jersey.

80

37

7.7

/480/

74

/20/

56

/11/

4.3

/3660/

100

/5/

87

/2/

African-American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs was working on this final film as he died from AIDS-related complications in 1994; he addresses the camera from his hospital bed in several scenes. The film directly addresses sexism and homophobia within the black community, with snippets of misogynistic and anti-gay slurs from popular hip-hop songs juxtaposed with interviews with African-American intellectuals and political theorists, including Cornel West, bell hooks and Angela Davis.

81

8.5

/2231/

80

/97/

82

/21/

4.3

/6828/

94

/49/

91

/19/

2.0

Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.

88

8.3

/29948/

79

/713/

78

/781/

4.3

/78492/

98

/43/

88

/577/

96

/16/

4.0

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

76

24

8.1

/133/

80

/9/

60

/6/

4.3

/1870/

On the death of his mother, a filmmaker makes a film to see how much her disappearance has changed his vision of the world. It is an opportunity for him to look back over his relationship with her: a relationship that made him a free individual, as a man and as a filmmaker. The second night is the final part of a trilogy that began with Letter from a filmmaker to his daughter, which was followed by Dreaming films. The making of this " Cabin Trilogy" is the fruit of fifteen years of work and reflection.

77

7.7

/1767/

77

/94/

79

/17/

4.3

/37838/

72

/17/

3.0

Rising musician Jeff Buckley had only released one album when he died suddenly in 1997. Now, never-before-seen footage, exclusive voice messages, and accounts from those closest to him offer a portrait of the captivating singer.

87

8.2

/5779/

81

/340/

76

/81/

4.3

/27415/

97

/143/

85

/46/

93

/28/

4.0

age 12+

A filmed version of David Byrne's Broadway show, a unifying musical celebration that inspires audiences to connect to each other and to the global community.

74

54

7.1

/2104/

70

/74/

66

/60/

4.3

/13316/

100

/6/

51

/9/

Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.

85

8.4

/25090/

81

/704/

81

/655/

4.3

/31835/

94

/95/

90

/118/

83

/29/

3.5

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

75

44

7.9

/543/

72

/20/

70

/26/

4.3

/2745/

70

/5/

An insight into the everyday lives of 50 inmates of a mental institution in the Chinese province of Yunnan, who are there for killing someone, committing a crime against a public official, or have a developmental disability.

86

67

8.9

/5070/

84

/210/

84

/85/

4.3

/8109/

89

/10/

Exposing the dark underbelly of modern animal agriculture through drones, hidden & handheld cameras, the feature-length film explores the morality and validity of our dominion over the animal kingdom.

82

8.4

/83246/

83

/3479/

81

/1142/

4.3

/92587/

93

/121/

95

/1590/

79

/30/

2.5

age 13+

The remarkable story of Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna, charting his physical and spiritual achievements on the track and off, his quest for perfection, and the mythical status he has since attained, is the subject of Senna, a documentary feature that spans the racing legend's years as an F1 driver, from his opening season in 1984 to his untimely death a decade later.

84

7.7

/9964/

76

/297/

76

/212/

4.2

/54565/

93

/45/

87

/131/

86

/20/

4.0

Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.

75

41

6.6

/1658/

80

/21/

74

/6/

4.2

/4495/

72

/5/

Students flooded Columbia University’s lawn to create the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in order to pressure their university to divest from the US and Israeli weapons companies. The film follows the central organizers of the encampment as they are thrust into the spotlight, face violent police repression and suspension, congressional pressure, and a media firestorm, all while fighting to attain their goal of divestment at any cost.

82

76

7.9

/7093/

76

/161/

74

/97/

4.2

/10030/

96

/49/

88

/159/

78

/15/

Five broken cameras – and each one has a powerful tale to tell. Embedded in the bullet-ridden remains of digital technology is the story of Emad Burnat, a farmer from the Palestinian village of Bil’in, which famously chose nonviolent resistance when the Israeli army encroached upon its land to make room for Jewish colonists. Emad buys his first camera in 2005 to document the birth of his fourth son, Gibreel. Over the course of the film, he becomes the peaceful archivist of an escalating struggle as olive trees are bulldozed, lives are lost, and a wall is built to segregate burgeoning Israeli settlements.

84

8.1

/21795/

80

/616/

76

/296/

4.2

/42320/

98

/58/

94

/927/

84

/16/

3.0

age 13+

Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.

78

28

8.3

/679/

75

/16/

69

/15/

4.3

/1248/

Chronicles of everyday life in Iraq before and after the U.S. invasion.

82

8.4

/39664/

81

/1418/

80

/663/

4.2

/36236/

75

/77/

87

/439/

65

/24/