Best Documentary Features
These are the best feature length documentaries. Learn, watch, and enjoy.
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- DirectorShaun MonsonStarsJoaquin PhoenixUsing hidden cameras and never-before-seen footage, Earthlings chronicles the day-to-day practices of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit.
- DirectorMarius A. MarkeviciusStarsSarunas MarciulionisArvydas SabonisRimas KurtinaitisThe incredible story of the 1992 Lithuanian basketball team, whose athletes struggled under Soviet rule, became symbols of Lithuania's independence movement, and - with help from the Grateful Dead - triumphed at the Barcelona Olympics.
- DirectorTyler WrightStarsTyler SowdersTyler WrightNathan HaleyA documentary following a Texas-based high school metal band on their road to success and all of the problems they face while trying to make it big.
- DirectorKip AndersenKeegan KuhnStarsBruce HamiltonKip AndersenAl GoreFollow the shocking, yet humorous, journey of an aspiring environmentalist, as he daringly seeks to find the real solution to the most pressing environmental issues and true path to sustainability.
- DirectorPeter DavisStarsTin ChanChau DiemNgo Dinh DiemA startling and courageous landmark documentary that unflinchingly confronted the United States' involvement in Vietnam at the height of the controversy that surrounded it.
- DirectorCharles FergusonStarsCampbell ScottGerald BurkeAli FadhilA comprehensive look at the Bush Administration's conduct of the Iraq war and its occupation of the country.
- 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.
- DirectorWinterfilm CollectiveStarsRusty SachsJoe BangertScott ShimabukuroFor three days in 1971, former US soldiers who were in Vietnam testify in Detroit about their war experiences. Nearly 30 speak, describing atrocities personally committed or witnessed, telling of inaccurate body counts, and recounting the process of destroying a village. The atrocities are casual, seem routine, and are sanctioned or committed by officers. Images from the war illustrate the testimony; there's a side discussion among veterans about racism and a couple of interviews about the soldiers' self-realization. The testimony appears in the US Congressional Record on April 6 and 7, 1971. A "winter soldier" contrasts with Paine's "summer soldier and sunshine patriot."
- DirectorMarshall CurryStarsJen BluesteinCory BookerBill BradleyThis documentary follows the 2002 mayoral campaign in Newark, New Jersey in which a City Councilman, Cory Booker, attempted to unseat longtime mayor Sharpe James.
- 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.
- DirectorGabriela CowperthwaiteStarsTilikumDave DuffusSamantha BergA documentary following the controversial captivity of killer whales, and its dangers for both humans and whales.
- DirectorAndrius LekaviciusStarsKestutis KemzuraJonas ValanciunasSarunas JasikeviciusCelebration in a country of basketball. Lithuania, probably the only country in the world where basketball is routinely described as a religion, hosts the most important basketball event of the year - the European basketball championship or EuroBasket 2011. The biggest nation's pride, Lithuania's national basketball team has a long winning tradition. The entire Lithuania is waiting only for the gold. However the team's star player Linas Kleiza has suffered a serious injury and will not be playing for the championship. The players attempt to compensate the absence of the leader with a dedicated coach, who works hard to encourage believing in team spirit, a will to win, and securing a place at the London Olympics. The documentary viewers will follow the intense preparation for EuroBasket 2011 with exclusive footage from the locker room and will witness all the challenges encountered by the players in sometimes dramatic, sometimes comical situations. At last, the moment comes - it's a match day and the energy is high. The fans are waiting for the winning team. After months of the preparation, tension, and enormous pressure, the fate of 3 million is now in the hands of twelve... But the fate has brought a twist. And the team will need to rise again to become heroes of their nation.
- DirectorJonas MekasStarsJonas MekasStan BrakhageRobert BreerDirector Jonas Mekas provides an intimate glimpse of his personal life by constructing a feature length narrative from over 30 years of private home movie footage.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsPatrick DisantoA collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.
- DirectorJeff KurrStarsChris FallowsAlison KockRob LawrenceShark experts study the amazing jumping great white sharks in South Africa's False Bay.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsBalinese Tari Legong DancersNi Made Megahadi PratiwiPuti Sri Candra DewiFilmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
- 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.
- DirectorBanksyStarsBanksyMr. BrainwashSpace InvaderFollowing the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world.
- DirectorAbbas KiarostamiStarsBabak AhmadpoorFarhang AkhavanMohammad Reza NematzadehIn this documentary, Kiarostami asks a number of students about their school homework. The answers of some children shows the darker side of this method of education.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsRoger EbertChaz EbertGene SiskelThe life and career of the renowned film critic and social commentator, Roger Ebert.
- DirectorGreg KohsStarsDick MackeyLance MackeyThe Great Alone is a feature length independent documentary film that tells the inspiring comeback story of Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey.
- 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.
- DirectorJonas MekasStarsJonas MekasAdolfas MekasPola ChapelleFilmmaker Jonas Mekas creates an elegiac diary of a trip to his home country of Lithuania.
- 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.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsJames HetfieldKirk HammettLars UlrichThe iconic metal band struggles for two years to create their album St. Anger, dealing with alcoholism, the loss of their bass player, and the challenge of working with a psychotherapist.
- DirectorZana BriskiRoss KauffmanStarsKochiAvijit HalderShanti DasTwo documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district.
- DirectorHeidi EwingRachel GradyStarsMike PapantonioLou EngleBecky FischerA documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.
- DirectorJames SpoonerStarsRalph DardenMatt DavisMaya GlickAfro-Punk explores race identity within the punk scene. More than your everyday "Behind the Music" or typical "black history month" documentary, this film tackles hard questions, covering issues such as exile, loneliness, inter-racial dating and black power. We follow the lives of four people who have dedicated themselves to the punk rock lifestyle. They find themselves in conflicting situations, living the dual life of a person of color in a mostly white community.
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsBelladonnaMarlon BrandoElton JohnA visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioImage and music are intertwined in this third collaboration between director Godfrey Reggio and composer Philip Glass. The film was produced to celebrate the World Wildlife Fund's Biological Diversity Campaign. The film combines images of nature with pulsing rhythms in a Microcosmos (1997) meets Koyaanisqatsi (1983) spectacle.
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsAlex GibneyBrian Keith AllenMoazzam BeggAlex Gibney exposes the haunting details of the USA's torture and interrogation practices during the War in Afghanistan.
- DirectorEmile de AntonioStarsHarry S. AshmoreDaniel BerriganJoseph ButtingerA documentary chronicling the background to, and history of, the Vietnam War.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogRichard LopezMichael PerryConversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.
- DirectorMarisa Miller WolfsonStarsMarisa Miller WolfsonChloe DavisCody TarlowVegucated is a guerrilla-style documentary that follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks and learn what it's all about.
- DirectorRon FrickeCarefully 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.