BFI Screen Guides' 100 Documentary films
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- DirectorBoris KaufmanJean VigoWhat starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Cote d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAt a morgue, forensic pathologists conduct autopsies of the corpses assigned.
- DirectorJayne LoaderKevin RaffertyPierce RaffertyStarsPaul TibbetsHarry S. TrumanW.H.P. BlandyDisturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsAbilio FernándezSalvador AllendeThe chronicle of the political tension in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsSalvador AllendeCarlos AltamiranoFernando CastilloFilmmaker Patricio Guzmán tracks the deterioration of Salvador Allende's position following the attempted coup d'état of 29 June 1973, and analyzes the 10 weeks before Augusto Pinochet's CIA-backed seizure of power.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsSalvador AllendeAbilio FernándezErnesto MalbranThis film investigates the factory worker's response to the insurrection, as well as Chile's socialist aspirations for the future. The camera captures the optimism in the industrial working class before Pinochet's US-backed coup d'état.
- DirectorWalter RuttmannStarsPaul von HindenburgThis movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreCharlton HestonMarilyn MansonFilmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsMelvyn BraggRoss DonnellyKen RussellKen Russell's biopic on his own life and career.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardJean-Henri RogerAn examination of the daily routine at a British auto factory assembly line, set against class-conflict and The Communist Manifesto.
- DirectorJosé PadilhaFelipe LacerdaStarsSandro do NascimentoRodrigo PimentelLuiz Eduardo SoaresOn June 12, 2000, a young man with a gun took the passengers aboard Bus 174 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hostage. This documentary examines the event itself, the resulting media frenzy, the police response, and the perpetrator's background.
- DirectorMark LewisStarsTip ByrneH.W. KerrGlen IngramA documentary detailing the spread of Hawaiian sugar-cane toads through Australia in a botched effort to introduce them as counter pests.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsHelmut TausendMarcel VerdierAlexis GraveAn in-depth exploration of the various reactions by the French people to the Vichy government's acceptance of the German invasion.
- DirectorEdgar MorinJean RouchStarsAngeloNadine BallotCatherineA documentary about the everyday lives of ordinary Parisians, done in the style of cinéma vérité.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsHossain SabzianMohsen MakhmalbafAbolfazl AhankhahThe true story of Hossain Sabzian, a cinephile who impersonated the director Mohsen Makhmalbaf to convince a family they would star in his so-called new film.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsW.H. AudenMontagu SlaterDocumentary showing the dangerous working conditions of coal mining across England, Scotland and Wales.
- DirectorRobert DrewStarsJames LipscombJohn F. KennedyGeorge WallaceGovernor George Wallace will not let two black students into an Alabama school, against the wishes of President Kennedy. Loud shouts come from both sides of the issue as JFK stands by his decisions.
- DirectorMichelle CitronStarsVictor PenelopeAnne WilfordA documentary of a daughter's problematic relationship with her mother.
- DirectorJim McBrideStarsL.M. Kit CarsonEileen DietzLouise LevineA young filmmaker decides to make a movie of his life.
- DirectorRobert GardnerStarsRobert GardnerAn ethnographic documentary with allegorical undertones about the Dani people of Papua Barat and their social values based on an elaborate system of tribal warfare and revenge.
- DirectorHumphrey JenningsStarsMichael RedgraveMyra HessJohn GielgudThis brief documentary-style film presents the status of Great Britain near the end of the Second World War by means of a visual diary for a baby boy born in September, 1944. Narration explains to "Timothy" what his family, his neighbors, and his fellow citizens are going through as the war nears its end, and what problems may remain for new Englishmen like Timothy to solve.
- DirectorD.A. PennebakerStarsBob DylanAlbert GrossmanBob NeuwirthDocumentary covering Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, which includes appearances by Joan Baez and Donovan.
- DirectorKazuo HaraStarsKenzo OkuzakiRiichi AikawaMasaichi HamaguchiA documentary following Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old WW2 veteran notorious for his protests against Emperor Hirohito, as he tries to expose the needless executions of two Japanese soldiers during the war.
- DirectorNicolas PhilibertStarsGeorges LopezAlizéAxel ThouveninA documentary portrait of a one-room school in rural France, where the students (ranging in age from 4 to 11) are educated by a single dedicated teacher.
- DirectorEsfir ShubStarsMikhail AlekseyevAlexei BrusilovNikolai ChkheidzeIn May 1913 the Romanov Dynasty celebrates its 300th anniversary at the Russian throne. The last emperor in the long line is Tsar Nicholas II. He rules over a country with huge social and economic differences. Russia is for the most part still an agrarian society, but capitalism and its industries are growing. In 1914 Russia gets involved in the First World War. Tsar Nicholas II declares a general mobilization. A vast number of peasants and workers have to go to the front as soldiers. After three years the country is ruined by the war, and there is a shortage of provisions. In February 1917 workers begin striking in the capital, Petrograd. Their protests are soon joined by soldiers. A complete anarchy is threatening the country, when the parliament, called the duma, reorganizes the power structure by forming a new Provisional Government. At the same time the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies forms another ruling body at the City Hall of Petrograd. In this situation Tsar Nicholas II sees no other possibility than to resign from his government. On the 4th of March 1917 he declares his abdication from the throne. The new Provisional Government and its war minister Kerensky continue the war. This presents an opportunity for the Bolsheviks to organize demonstrations and to persuade the workers and soldiers to overthrow the Provisional Government and seize power themselves.
- DirectorGeorges RouquierOne year in the life of a French peasant family, whose existence is closely tied with the changing of the seasons.
- DirectorHossein TorabiStarsShapour BakhtiarMehdi BazarganMohammad BeheshtiA documentary on last days of Shah's regime, the event ensued after the arson of cinema Rex in Abadan, which lead to final victory of 1979 revolution.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsDave HooverGeorge MendonçaRodney BrooksAn exploration of the careers of four unrelated professionals: a lion tamer, a robotics expert, a topiary gardener, and a naked mole rat specialist.
- DirectorCosta BotesPeter JacksonStarsPeter JacksonJeffrey ThomasCosta BotesThe film deals with the career of a supposedly forgotten pioneer of international cinema, Colin McKenzie, who was allegedly born in rural New Zealand in 1888.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsFrançois WertheimerAgnès VardaJean La PlancheVarda films and interviews gleaners in France in all forms, from those picking fields after the harvest to those scouring the dumpsters of Paris.
- DirectorEllen HovdeAlbert MayslesDavid MayslesStarsEdith Bouvier BealeEdith 'Little Edie' Bouvier BealeBrooks HyersMeet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Camelot.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsTimothy TreadwellAmie HuguenardWerner HerzogA 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.
- DirectorJohn AkomfrahStarsPervaiz KhanMeera SyalYvonne WeekesDocumentary examining the 1985 riots in London and Birmingham's Handsworth district that erupted in reaction to the repressive policing of black communities.
- DirectorJoyce ChopraRichard LeacockIn 1963, the first US quintuplets to survive were born in Aberdeen, South Dakota. We meet the Fischers - the babies' parents - two weeks after the babies' birth; we see the physician and each infant. Then, we meet their several older siblings, see some of the donated items, watch dad take his older children around the farm in his Model T Ford, and follow mom on a shopping trip. The family discusses keeping the quints' lives away from the spotlight, and the city fathers talk about commercial possibilities. The film ends with a town dinner, speeches, and a parade to mark the quints' first month of life. The school band, the parents in a convertible, and then a sudden rain.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleStarsJohn L. LewisCarl HornNorman YarboroughA heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.
- DirectorFred W. FriendlyStarsEdward R. MurrowHarriet BeemanMichael CassidyIn this CBS News production broadcast on Thanksgiving 1960, Edward R. Murrow points out the plight of migrant farm workers in America. Topics range from the harsh living conditions, endless travel, low wages, and poor opportunities for their children.
- DirectorNick BroomfieldStarsNick BroomfieldNina Xining ZuoMadam AlexA documentary crew from the BBC arrives in L.A. intent on interviewing Heidi Fleiss, a year after her arrest for running a brothel but before her trial. Several months elapse before the interview, so the crew searches for anyone who'll talk about the young woman. Two people have a lot to say to the camera: a retired madam named Alex for whom Fleiss once worked and Fleiss's one-time boyfriend, Ivan Nagy, who introduced her to Alex. Alex and Nagy don't like each other, so the crew shuttles between them with "she said" and "he said." When they finally interview Fleiss, they spend their time reciting what Alex and Nagy have had to say and asking her reaction.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsWilliam GatesArthur AgeeEmma GatesA film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.
- DirectorOctavio GetinoFernando E. SolanasStarsMaría de la PazFernando E. SolanasEdgardo SuárezDivided into three segments, namely 1 Neocolonialism, 2 Act for liberation, 3 Violence and liberation, the documentary lasts more than 4 hours this deals with the defense of the revolution and the revolution of the third world such as the revolt of the students in the United States and Western Europe, Czech citizens protest against the Soviet Union's State bureaucracy and also the revolution that (probably) is unprecedented in Argentina.
- DirectorEdgar AnsteyArthur EltonStarsMr. NorwoodMrs. HillMrs. GravesSlum conditions, slum clearance, bright new public housing.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsAbel JacquinAlexandre O'NeillA surrealist film, a pseudo-documentary portrait of Las Hurdes, a remote region of Spain where civilisation has barely developed, showing how the local peasants try to survive without even the most basic utilities and skills.
- DirectorSandhya SuriStarsYash Pal SuriThe myth of return. In 1966, Yash and Sheel Suri leave India for a temporary stay in England while he burnishes his resume as a doctor. He buys projectors, tape recorders, and movie cameras, and sends one set to India beginning a 40-year exchange of tapes and Super 8 movies between his family in India and his household near Manchester. We watch their three daughters grow and we hear increasingly plaintive calls from Yash's parents and sister to return home. In 1982, it's back to India where Yash sets up a practice. A return to England, one daughter's marriage, another's move to Australia, and the third's film project complete the 40-year story. Yash still loves his homeland.
- DirectorEmile de AntonioStarsHarry S. AshmoreDaniel BerriganJoseph ButtingerA documentary chronicling the background to, and history of, the Vietnam War.
- StarsKeith DavidWynton MarsalisGary GiddinsA survey of the musical form's history and major talents.
- DirectorThor HeyerdahlStarsThor HeyerdahlHerman WatzingerErik HesselbergA documentary about the Kon-Tiki expedition of the Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsEdward AsnerPat BenatarJerry BrownA collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on the relationship between nature, humanity, and technology.
- 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.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsWalter HustonBenjamin SimonA group of mentally traumatized veteran patients is followed as they go through psychiatric treatment.
- DirectorConnie FieldStarsLola WeixelMargaret WrightLyn ChildsDocumentary about women working in factories during WWII and resultant loss of jobs after the war. Five women tell their stories. Fascinating clips of racist, sexist propaganda of the era.
- DirectorWolf KoenigRoman KroitorStarsPaul AnkaJules PodellA documentary chronicling the career of teen singing star Paul Anka (the title is taken from one of his hit songs).
- DirectorJonas MekasStarsPeter BeardEd EmshwillerKen JacobsArtist-writer-poet-filmmaker Jonas Mekas documents his early years building a life and discovering an arts community in New York.
- DirectorLouis LumièreWorkers leaving the Lumière factory for lunch in Lyon, France in 1895; a place of great photographic innovation and one of the birth places of cinema.
- DirectorLouis LumièreA man tries to get on a horse , but he climbs to one side and falls from the other, until he manages to stay in balance.
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsAndrée LumièreAuguste LumièreA baby held by his father dips his little hands into a water jug and he can' t catch the goldfish .
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsAuguste LumièreP.J.C. JanssenThe photographers who need to participate in the congress of Lyon get off a boat in Neuville-sur-Saône, dividing to the right and left.
- DirectorLouis LumièreTwo blacksmiths work while the vapors rise in the air. Later, another man arrives and offers a drink.
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsFrançois ClercBenoît DuvalAn impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants.
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsAuguste LumièreMrs. Auguste LumiereAndrée LumièreAs part of a maiden public film screening at the Salon Indien, on December 28, in Paris, Auguste Lumière pivots the centre of attention around his baby daughter, as he tries to feed her from a spoon.
- DirectorLouis LumièreOutdoors, with a nondescript building in the background, four men stand, each holding the corner of a blanket stretched parallel to the ground. They wear the clothes of laborers. By the back corner on our left stands a uniformed man who seems in charge. A sixth man stands back from the blanket about six paces; he runs forward and takes a leap but stops at the edge of the blanket and is upbraided by the uniformed gent. The same thing happens a second time, but the next three times, he completes a flip, landing on his back in the middle of the blanket, and the four then boost him out toward the camera. The final time seems like it will be his last for awhile.
- DirectorLouis LumièreA stationary camera looks across the boulevard at a diagonal toward one corner of Lyon's Cordeliers' Square. It's a long shot, with a great deal of depth of focus. We can see the sky and fronts of four buildings, each four or five stories tall. It's a busy thoroughfare, with pedestrians walking in front of the buildings and crossing the boulevard between horse-drawn vehicles. A double-decker bus passes in front of us, pulled by two horses. Various tradesmen pass on wagons. One van passes.
- DirectorLouis LumièreSeveral little boys run along a pier, then jump into the ocean.
- DirectorJean RouchStarsJean RouchA documentary short depicting a Hauka ceremony where young workers are possessed by British colonial officers.
- DirectorCharles SheelerPaul StrandThis groundbreaking silent documentary captures the beauty and majesty of the New York City in its streets, skyscrapers, bridges, rail yards and harbors.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsColman 'Tiger' KingMaggie DirraneMichael DirraneIn this blend of documentary and fictional narrative from pioneering filmmaker Robert Flaherty, the everyday trials of life on Ireland's unforgiving Aran Islands are captured with attention to naturalistic beauty and historical detail.
- DirectorLuc JacquetStarsMorgan FreemanRomane BohringerCharles BerlingIn the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family.
- DirectorAllan KingStarsBilly EdwardsAntoinette EdwardsBogart EdwardsAn "actuality drama" about a real-life marriage in crisis, in which the couple attempts to identify and resolve the conflicts and resentments that have driven them to the brink of separation.
- DirectorNoriaki TsuchimotoA documentary about the plight of the victims of Minamata disease, which was caused by the ingestion of fish containing abnormal amounts of mercury released into the sea by a fertilizer factory owned by the Chisso company.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsDarcy FehrAnn SavageLouis NeginFact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this portrait of film-maker Guy Maddin's home town of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorLeo HurwitzPaul StrandStarsPaul RobesonFred JohnsonMary GeorgePaul Robeson narrates a mix of dramatizations and archival footage about the bill of rights being under attack during the 1930s by union busting corporations, their spies and contractors. In dramatizations, we see a Michigan farmer beaten for speaking up at a meeting, a union man murdered in an apartment in Cleveland, two sharecroppers near Fort Smith Arkansas shot by men deputized by the local sheriff, a spy stealing the names of union members, and a dead Chicago union man eulogized. In archival footage we witness police and goons beating lawfully assembled union organizers, and we see men at work and union families at play. The narration celebrates patriotism and democracy.
- DirectorStandish LawderStarsLouise P. AdamsJack AlpernPrescott AndersonPeople ascending into darkness.
- DirectorJoris IvensStarsJoris IvensThe film is a documentary portraying a struggle as man tries to subdue nature. To prevent flooding and for purposes of land reclamation, the people of the Netherlands struggle and succeed in building a breaker, thereby eliminating the wild inland body of water once known as the Zuider Zee (now called Ijsselmeer).
- DirectorChantal AkermanStarsChantal AkermanImpersonal and beautiful images of Akerman's life in New York are combined with letters from her loving but manipulative mother, read by Akerman herself.
- DirectorHarry WattStarsBill BlewittA dramatic reconstruction of the fishing trawler 'John Gillman' in trouble in a storm.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsMichel BouquetReinhard HeydrichHeinrich HimmlerThe history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.
- DirectorBonnie Sherr KleinStarsLinda Lee TraceyBonnie Sherr KleinSuze RandallDocumentary about the pornography industry and the apparent violent anti-woman slant much of it takes.
- DirectorEdgardo CozarinskyStarsNiels Arestrup
- DirectorJennie LivingstonStarsBrooke XtravaganzaAndré ChristianDorian CoreyA 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.
- DirectorRobert SiodmakEdgar G. UlmerRochus GlieseStarsErwin SplettstößerBrigitte BorchertWolfgang von WaltershausenTwo men and two women enjoy a pleasant Sunday at the beach amid the unending toil of the working week.
- DirectorPare LorentzStarsThomas ChalmersBam WhiteThis documentary is about what happened to the Great Plains of the United States when a combination of farming practices and environmental factors led to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
- DirectorShirley ClarkeStarsJason HollidayShirley ClarkeCarl LeeBlack gay prostitute Jason Holliday is rigorously interviewed on his story and character, revealing nuanced truths about life and art.
- DirectorRobert DrewStarsRobert DrewHubert H. HumphreyMuriel Buck HumphreyCinéma vérité feature that follows presidential hopefuls John F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey during the 1960 Wisconsin primary.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanThis film casts a forensic observational eye over researchers working with primates. After a time watching it is possible to wonder which ones of these two sets of primates is the more strange.
- DirectorMichel BraultGilles GroulxFootage of a snowshoe festival in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Depictions of culture in the early years including snowshoe races, and musical attractions.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreRoger B. SmithRhonda BrittonAfter General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.
- DirectorAlbert MayslesDavid MayslesCharlotte ZwerinStarsPaul BrennanCharles McDevittJames BakerFour dogged door-to-door Bible salesmen travel from Boston to Florida on a seemingly futile quest to sell luxury editions of the Good Book to working-class Catholics.
- DirectorGeorges FranjuStarsGeorges HubertNicole LadmiralAlfred MacquartBucolic scenes from the outskirts of Paris are contrasted with stark footage from slaughterhouses.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsAmilcar CabralFlorence DelayArielle DombasleA woman narrates the contemplative writings of a seasoned world traveler, focusing on contemporary Japan.
- DirectorSantiago ÁlvarezAn agit-prop documentary marking the death of Vietnamese nationalist leader Ho Chí Minh, using found footage to link his work to worldwide political movements including the Cuban revolution and resistance within the USA to the Vietnam war.
- DirectorPaul RothaThe building and launch of an ocean liner.
- DirectorClaude LanzmannStarsSimon SrebnikMichael PodchlebnikMotke ZaïdlClaude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsAntonio LópezMaría MorenoEnrique GranThe artist Antonio López tries to capture the sunlight hitting his quince tree all autumn, but the struggle seems futile.
- DirectorJoris IvensStarsEnrique ListerCarlos Romero GiménezJosé DíazA documentary showing the struggle of the Spanish Republican government against a rebellion by ultra-right-wing forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco and backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
- DirectorTrinh T. Minh-haTrinh T. Minh-ha combines archival footage, text, and interviews to paint portraits of Vietnamese women past and present. She explores the fiction of documentary and the truth of subjective experience and all their inherent contradictions.
- DirectorKrzysztof KieslowskiPeople of different age, profession and social status answer two simple questions: who they are and what they want from life.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsRob ReinerMichael McKeanChristopher GuestSpinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.
- DirectorRoss McElweeStarsSteve AscherMichael BlumenthalRobert GardnerForty year old documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee has a penchant for filming everything around him. Following the announcement of his impending marriage to his film-making partner Marilyn Levine - marriage something that he and his family never thought would happen for him - McElwee turns on the camera to film life as it happens in respect to this new phase in his life. Both in real terms (as it applies to himself and those around him) and philosophical terms, McElwee discusses, through self-narration, life, death, love, family and babies.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanDocumentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater where people stay trapped in their madness.