Best Documentaries

by rafacanoba | created - 20 Mar 2014 | updated - 06 Sep 2019 | Public
 Refine See titles to watch instantly, titles you haven't rated, etc
  • Instant Watch Options
  • Genres
  • Movies or TV
  • IMDb Rating
  • In Theaters
  • Release Year
  • Keywords




IMDb user rating (average) to
Number of votes to »




Reset
Release year or range to »




































































































1. Love Exists (1961)

21 min | Documentary, Short

A social commentary on post-war France's urban developments.

Director: Maurice Pialat | Star: Jean-Loup Reynold

Votes: 699

2. Paris Is Burning (1990)

R | 78 min | Documentary

82 Metascore

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: 17,599 | Gross: $3.78M

3. Videograms of a Revolution (1992)

106 min | Documentary, History, War

This documentary uses news footage and amateur video to paint a vivid picture of Romania's 1989 revolution and the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Directors: Harun Farocki, Andrei Ujica | Stars: Ion Caramitru, Elena Ceausescu, Nicolae Ceausescu, Mircea Dinescu

Votes: 655

4. The Case of the Grinning Cat (2004 TV Movie)

Not Rated | 59 min | Documentary

79 Metascore

Paris 2002. Yellow cats appears on the walls. Chris Marker is looking for these mysterious cats and captures with his camera the political and international events of these last two years (war in Iraq...).

Director: Chris Marker | Stars: Bertrand Cantat, Dieudonné, Léon Schwartzenberg, Marina Vlady

Votes: 558

5. Grey Gardens (1975)

PG | 95 min | Documentary, Comedy, Drama

83 Metascore

Meet 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.

Directors: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer | Stars: Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale, Brooks Hyers

Votes: 15,276 | Gross: $0.03M

6. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Not Rated | 68 min | Documentary

96 Metascore

A man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.

Director: Dziga Vertov | Stars: Mikhail Kaufman, Elizaveta Svilova

Votes: 27,977

7. Finding Vivian Maier (2013)

Not Rated | 83 min | Documentary, Biography, Mystery

75 Metascore

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: 15,082 | Gross: $1.51M

8. Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)

TV-MA | 132 min | Documentary, Animation, Biography

83 Metascore

An authorized documentary on the late musician Kurt Cobain, from his early days in Aberdeen, Washington to his success and downfall with the grunge band Nirvana.

Director: Brett Morgen | Stars: Kurt Cobain, Wendy O'Connor, Don Cobain, Jenny Cobain

Votes: 32,129

9. Koyaanisqatsi (1982)

Not Rated | 86 min | Documentary, Music

72 Metascore

A collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on the relationship between nature, humanity, and technology.

Director: Godfrey Reggio | Stars: Edward Asner, Pat Benatar, Jerry Brown, Johnny Carson

Votes: 41,469 | Gross: $1.72M

10. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012)

R | 91 min | Documentary

81 Metascore

A documentary that chronicles artist and activist Ai Weiwei as he prepares for a series of exhibitions and gets into an increasing number of clashes with the Chinese government.

Director: Alison Klayman | Stars: Ai Weiwei, Dan Ai, Lao Ai, Lee Ambrozy

Votes: 4,527 | Gross: $0.53M

11. Bixa Travesty (2018)

75 min | Documentary, Biography, Music

A documentary that follows Mc Linn Da Quebrada, a black trans woman, performer and activist living in impoverished São Paulo. Her electrifying performances (with plenty of nudity) brazenly take on Brazil's hetero-normative machismo.

Directors: Kiko Goifman, Claudia Priscilla | Stars: Linn da Quebrada, Jup do Bairro, Liniker, As Bahias e a Cozinha Mineira

Votes: 588

12. No Intenso Agora (2017)

127 min | Documentary, History

72 Metascore

A personal essay which analyses and compares images of the political upheavals of the 1960s. From the military coup in Brazil to China's Cultural Revolution, from the student uprisings in Paris to the end of the Prague Spring.

Director: João Moreira Salles

Votes: 609 | Gross: $0.02M

13. São Paulo in Hi-Fi (2013)

95 min | Documentary

An historical documentary about Sao Paulo's gay night life during the 60's, 70's and 80's.

Director: Lufe Steffen | Stars: Celso Curi, Darby Daniel, Kaká di Polly, Leão Lobo

Votes: 99

14. Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance (2015)

100 min | Documentary, Biography

71 Metascore

Mr. Gaga tells the story of Ohad Naharin, renowned choreographer and artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company, an artistic genius who redefined the language of modern dance.

Director: Tomer Heymann | Stars: Ohad Naharin, Tzofia Naharin, Eliav Naharin, Judith Brin Ingber

Votes: 954 | Gross: $0.17M

15. Waiting for B. (2015)

71 min | Documentary

A group of Beyoncé's fans camped-out for two months to be the first in line for her 2013 concert in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This film is an intimate portrait of the these fans and their day-to-day lives in camp and off.

Directors: Paulo Cesar Toledo, Abigail Spindel | Stars: Charles Angels, Bruno Brunet, Rick Caled, Richard Carter

Votes: 75



Recently Viewed