Documentaries

by gabrielbyrde | created - 14 Apr 2014 | updated - 04 Jan 2016 | Public
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1. Manakamana (2013)

Not Rated | 118 min | Documentary

86 Metascore

A documentary about a group of pilgrims who travel to Nepal to worship at the legendary Manakamana temple.

Directors: Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez | Stars: Chabbi Lal Gandharba, Anish Gandharba, Bindu Gayek, Narayan Gayek

Votes: 778

2. American Masters (1985– )
Episode: Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin' (2013)

TV-14 | 90 min | Documentary, Biography, History

the Definitive documentary about the extraordinary life of the greatest guitarist of all time, features new performance footage, home movies and an archive of unearthed primary documents.

Director: Bob Smeaton | Stars: Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding, Al Hendrix

Votes: 580

3. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (2002)

Unrated | 92 min | Documentary, Music

66 Metascore

First-time filmmaker and award-winning photographer Sam Jones documents the recording of Wilco's album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot."

Director: Sam Jones | Stars: Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Leroy Bach, Glenn Kotche

Votes: 2,212 | Gross: $0.45M

4. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)

Not Rated | 107 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime

90 Metascore

Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.

Director: Andrew Jarecki | Stars: Arnold Friedman, Jesse Friedman, David Friedman, Elaine Friedman

Votes: 27,107 | Gross: $3.12M

5. The Civil War (1990)

TV-14 | 76 min | Documentary, History, War

A comprehensive survey of the American Civil War.

Stars: David McCullough, Sam Waterston, Julie Harris, Jason Robards

Votes: 18,488

6. The Central Park Five (2012)

Not Rated | 119 min | Documentary, Crime, History

79 Metascore

A documentary that examines the 1989 case of five black and Latino teenagers who were convicted of raping a white woman in Central Park. After having spent between 6 and 13 years each in prison, a serial rapist confessed to the crime.

Directors: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon | Stars: Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Kharey Wise, Raymond Santana

Votes: 7,933 | Gross: $0.27M

7. The Gatekeepers (2012)

PG-13 | 101 min | Documentary, History, War

91 Metascore

A documentary featuring interviews with all surviving former heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency whose activities and membership are closely held state secrets.

Director: Dror Moreh | Stars: Ami Ayalon, Avraham Shalom, Avi Dichter, Yaakov Peri

Votes: 5,887 | Gross: $2.42M

8. The World at War (1973–1974)

TV-PG | 50 min | Documentary, History, War

A groundbreaking 26-part documentary series narrated by the actor Laurence Olivier about the deadliest conflict in history, World War II.

Stars: Laurence Olivier, Averell Harriman, Anthony Eden, Albert Speer

Votes: 29,191

9. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014)

TV-PG | 43 min | Documentary

An exploration of our discovery of the laws of nature and coordinates in space and time.

Stars: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Christopher Emerson, Keythe Farley, Piotr Michael

Votes: 128,618

10. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)

PG | 81 min | Documentary

77 Metascore

A documentary on 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, his renowned Tokyo restaurant, and his relationship with his son and eventual heir, Yoshikazu.

Director: David Gelb | Stars: Jiro Ono, Yoshikazu Ono, Masuhiro Yamamoto, Daisuke Nakazama

Votes: 38,008 | Gross: $2.55M

11. Electro Chaabi (2013)

Not Rated | 77 min | Documentary, Music

A music documentary film that covers the emergence of a new electronic genre called Mahraganat in Cairo.

Director: Hind Meddeb

Votes: 50

12. Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

R | 127 min | Documentary, Crime, History

61 Metascore

An examination of the social costs of corporate interests pursuing profits at the expense of the public good.

Director: Michael Moore | Stars: Michael Moore, William Black, Jimmy Carter, Elijah Cummings

Votes: 43,868 | Gross: $14.36M

13. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

R | 122 min | Documentary, Drama, War

67 Metascore

Michael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11 and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Director: Michael Moore | Stars: Michael Moore, George W. Bush, Ben Affleck, Stevie Wonder

Votes: 132,388 | Gross: $119.19M

14. Sicko (2007)

PG-13 | 123 min | Documentary, Drama

74 Metascore

A documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories including shotgun deaths.

Director: Michael Moore | Stars: Michael Moore, Tucker Albrizzi, Tony Benn, George W. Bush

Votes: 76,828 | Gross: $24.54M

15. Citizenfour (2014)

R | 114 min | Documentary, Biography

88 Metascore

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: 57,975 | Gross: $2.80M

16. Salad Days (2014)

Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary, Music

72 Metascore

"Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-90)" examines the early DIY punk scene in the Nation's Capital. It was a decade when seminal bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, ... See full summary »

Director: Scott Crawford | Stars: Fred Armisen, Brendan Canty, Dave Grohl, Andre 'Whiteboy' Johnson

Votes: 735

17. Do I Sound Gay? (2014)

Unrated | 77 min | Documentary

65 Metascore

A documentary about the stereotype of the gay voice.

Director: David Thorpe | Stars: David Thorpe, George Takei, Tim Gunn, David Sedaris

Votes: 2,053 | Gross: $0.06M

18. All This Mayhem (2014)

Not Rated | 104 min | Documentary, Biography, History

Brothers Tas and Ben Pappas become the kings of professional skateboarding, but their hedonistic ways lead to a hard fall from grace.

Director: Eddie Martin | Stars: Tas Pappas, Ben Pappas, Tommy Caudill, Lance Conklin

Votes: 3,784

19. Manson (1973)

R | 83 min | Documentary, Biography, Crime

Documentary on Charles Manson and his family. Has a number of insightful interviews with many family members most notably Squeaky and Sandy (Blue and Red). There is also a history of Manson... See full summary »

Directors: Robert Hendrickson, Laurence Merrick | Stars: Bobby Beausoleil, Mary Brunner, Vincent Bugliosi, Bruce Davis

Votes: 1,115

20. Ivor Cutler: Looking for Truth with a Pin (2005 TV Movie)

60 min | Comedy, Documentary

An affectionate tribute to the Glasgow-born Cutler who has been Britain's best kept secret with his mix of poetry, music, painting and comedy.

Stars: Billy Connolly, Ivor Cutler, Alex Kapranos, Andy Kershaw

Votes: 27

21. Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All (2013)

Not Rated | 90 min | Documentary, Biography, Music

Long before punk inflicted its puncture wound on the mainstream, the Descendents were in a van brewing a potent concoction of pop, angst, love and coffee.

Directors: Deedle Lacour, Matt Riggle | Stars: Bill Stevenson, Milo Aukerman, Karl Alvarez, Stephen Egerton

Votes: 1,282

22. The Price We Pay (2014)

93 min | Documentary, News

A documentary on the history and present-day reality of big-business tax avoidance, which has seen multinationals depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harboring profits in offshore havens.

Director: Harold Crooks | Stars: Angus Cameron, Saskia Sassen, Brigitte Alepin, James Henry

Votes: 245

23. Beats of the Antonov (2014)

68 min | Documentary, War

The story of the people of the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Sudan, showing how they deal with civil war. Traditionally music has always been part of daily life in these areas, but now, it has a new role in a society challenge by war.

Director: Hajooj Kuka

Votes: 158

24. The Power of Nightmares (2004)

60 min | Documentary, History

78 Metascore

A series of three documentaries about the use of fear for political gain.

Stars: Gilles Kepel, William Kristol, Melvin Goodman, Richard Perle

Votes: 4,542

25. Tomorrow We Disappear (2014)

Unrated | 80 min | Documentary, Drama

Since the 1970s New Delhi's magicians, puppeteers, and circus performers have called the tinsel slum, the Kathputli Colony, their home. Last year the government issued relocation permits to... See full summary »

Directors: Jimmy Goldblum, Adam M. Weber

Votes: 94

26. Katiyabaaz (2013)

Unrated | 84 min | Documentary, Drama

In a city with 15 hour power cuts, hundreds of people risk their lives to steal electricity. With the first female chief of the electricity company vowing to eliminate all illegal ... See full summary »

Directors: Deepti Kakkar, Fahad Mustafa | Stars: Ritu Maheshwari, Loha Singh, Irfan Solanki

Votes: 526

27. The Yes Men Fix the World (2009)

87 min | Documentary, Comedy

71 Metascore

Troublemaking duo Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, posing as their industrious alter-egos, expose the people profiting from Hurricane Katrina, the faces behind the environmental disaster in Bhopal, and other shocking events.

Directors: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Kurt Engfehr | Stars: Reggie Watts, Mike Bonanno, Andy Bichlbaum, Richard Ebeling

Votes: 5,207 | Gross: $0.19M

28. The Red Chapel (2009)

Not Rated | 88 min | Documentary, Comedy

58 Metascore

Two Danish comedians join the director on a trip to North Korea, where they have been allowed access under the pretext of wanting to perform a vaudeville act.

Director: Mads Brügger | Stars: Mads Brügger, Simon Jul Jørgensen, Tommy Kenter, Jacob Nossell

Votes: 2,158 | Gross: $0.01M

29. Beautiful Noise (2014)

90 min | Documentary, Music

BEAUTIFUL NOISE is an in-depth exploration of a music movement in the late twentieth century, a fascinating period when some innovative musicians mixed guitar noise into conventional pop ... See full summary »

Director: Eric Green | Stars: Emma Anderson, Alex Ayuli, Andy Bell, Sonic Boom

Votes: 486

30. Sheen of Gold (2013)

82 min | Documentary, Biography, History

Simon Ogston continues his excavations of underground Kiwi rock, with a tribute to one of New Zealand's most influential and eclectic rock bands of the 80s: the incomparable Skeptics. ... See full summary »

Director: Simon Ogston

Votes: 10

31. Gates of Heaven (1978)

Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary

A documentary about a pet cemetery in California, and the people who have pets buried there.

Director: Errol Morris | Stars: Lucille Billingsley, Zella Graham, Cal Harberts, Dan Harberts

Votes: 6,289

32. The Overnighters (2014)

PG-13 | 102 min | Documentary, Drama

89 Metascore

Broken, desperate men chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields. A local Pastor risks everything to help them.

Director: Jesse Moss | Stars: Jay Reinke, Andrea Reinke, Alan Mezo, Shelly Schultz

Votes: 2,552 | Gross: $0.11M

33. National Gallery (2014)

Not Rated | 180 min | Documentary

89 Metascore

A documentary that goes inside one of the great museums of the world: The National Gallery in London.

Director: Frederick Wiseman | Stars: Leanne Benjamin, Kausikan Rajeshkumar, Jo Shapcott, Edward Watson

Votes: 1,655 | Gross: $0.10M

34. The Green Prince (2014)

PG-13 | 101 min | Documentary, Biography

67 Metascore

The son of a founding leader in the Palestinian organization, Hamas, becomes a spy for the Israelis.

Director: Nadav Schirman | Stars: Mosab Hassan Yousef, Gonen Ben Yitzhak, Sheikh Hassan Yousef

Votes: 2,874 | Gross: $0.26M

35. Last Days in Vietnam (2014)

Not Rated | 98 min | Documentary, History, War

86 Metascore

During the final days of the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese forces closed in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbled. An unlikely group of heroes emerged as Americans and South Vietnamese took matters into their own hands.

Director: Rory Kennedy | Stars: Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Stuart Herrington, Juan Valdez

Votes: 4,096 | Gross: $0.47M

36. Rich Hill (2014)

Not Rated | 91 min | Documentary, Biography, Drama

75 Metascore

Rich Hill intimately chronicles the turbulent lives of three boys living in an impoverished Midwestern town and the fragile family bonds that sustain them.

Directors: Andrew Droz Palermo, Tracy Droz Tragos | Stars: Alyssa Jewell, Andrew Jewell, Elizabeth Jewell, Willie Jewell

Votes: 2,509

37. Happy Valley (2014–2023)

TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

Yorkshire-based crime drama centering on the personal and professional life of Police Sergeant Catherine Cawood.

Stars: Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, James Norton, Rhys Connah

Votes: 64,562



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