Favourite Documentaries
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- 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.
- DirectorKurt KuenneStarsKurt KuenneAndrew BagbyDavid BagbyA filmmaker decides to memorialize a murdered friend when his friend's ex-girlfriend announces she is expecting his son.
- DirectorJeffrey BlitzStarsAngela ArenivarUbaldo ArenivarJorge ArenivarSpellbound follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee.
- DirectorLauren GreenfieldStarsShelly GuilloryBrittany RobinsonAlisa WilliamsThe story of four women suffering from anorexia and bulimia in South Florida.
- DirectorJennifer VendittiStarsPenny BakerBilly P.Heather Pelletier"I'm not black, I'm not white, not foreign, just different in the mind. Different brains, that's all," explains 15-year-old Billy in Jennifer Venditti's provocative coming of age film. Billy's intuitive commentary and intimate verite footage reveal a unique attitude as he responds to a painful childhood, first time love, and his experience as an outsider in small town Maine. By turns humorous and disturbing, this portrait challenges the viewer to understand a triumphant teen on his own terms.
- DirectorSandrine BonnaireStarsSabine BonnaireSandrine BonnaireA sensitive portrait of Sabine Bonnaire, the autistic sister of the french actress Sandrine Bonnaire.
- DirectorAndrew JareckiStarsArnold FriedmanJesse FriedmanDavid FriedmanDocumentary 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.
- DirectorAmy BergStarsOliver O'GradyThomas DoyleAdamDocumentary about Father Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the United States during the 1970s in an attempt by the Catholic Church to cover up his rape of dozens of children.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsTony BrooksDiana DavisTerry WoodA horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.
- DirectorSteve JamesStarsSteve JamesStephen FieldingTonya GregoryIn 1995, director Steve James (of 'Hoop Dreams') returned to rural Southern Illinois to reconnect with Stevie Fielding, a troubled young boy to whom he had been an "Advocate Big Brother" ten years earlier.
- DirectorHenry JoostAriel SchulmanStarsNev SchulmanAriel SchulmanHenry JoostYoung filmmakers document their colleague's budding online friendship with a young woman and her family which leads to an unexpected series of discoveries.
- DirectorDoug BlockA humorous and deeply moving look at father-daughter relationships, modern-day parenting, marriage and the looming empty nest.
- DirectorHeidi EwingRachel GradyStarsMike PapantonioLou EngleBecky FischerA documentary on kids who attend a summer camp hoping to become the next Billy Graham.
- DirectorKirby DickStarsJeff AndersonBarbara BlaineDavid ClohessyA man confronts the trauma of past sexual abuse as a boy by a Catholic priest only to find his decision shatters his relationships with his family, community and faith.
- DirectorRob EpsteinStarsHarvey FiersteinHarvey MilkAnne KronenbergA documentary of the successful career and assassination of San Francisco's first elected gay city supervisor.
- DirectorWilliam GazeckiStarsDan GiffordJim CavanaughDick DeGuerinA reassessment of the tragedy at Waco that left 76 members of the Branch Davidian religious sect dead.
- DirectorNick BroomfieldStarsAileen WuornosNick BroomfieldArlene Pralle1992, Florida, USA. Aileen Wuornos is claimed to be the world's first female serial killer.
- DirectorSusan MuskaGréta OlafsdóttirStarsThea SpyerEdie WindsorAfter 42 years, feisty and delightful lesbian couple Edie and Thea are finally getting married. From the early '60s to the present day, the tireless community activists persevere through many battles, both personal and political. As Edie says, We just went on with this talent we have for wrestling joy from the shit. Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir (THE BRANDON TEENA STORY) return with a love story of two remarkable women whose commitment to each other is an inspiration to us all.
- DirectorSusan MuskaGréta OlafsdóttirStarsDaphneReannaGinaDocumentary about a multiple murder in rural Nebraska in 1993.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsGary GitchellTodd MooreDana MooreA further followup of the case of the West Memphis Three and the decades long fight to exonerate them that finally gained traction with new DNA evidence.
- DirectorRalph ArlyckStarsRalph ArlyckSean FarrellThirty years, three generations, and a lifetime later, award-winning filmmaker Ralph Arlyck returns to San Francisco in search of Sean, the boy who was the subject of his controversy-sparking 1969 documentary.
- DirectorLiz GarbusStarsJesse TempleBrad KatinasDiane SchulerThis documentary explores the depth behind the case of a woman whose vehicle collision killed numerous people, including herself. Was she really the reckless drunk, or the perfect suburban mother?
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsDamien Wayne EcholsMelissa ByersNorris DeajonThe case of the West Memphis Three, its questionable circumstances and the parties involved are followed up years later.
- 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.
- DirectorDoug BlockStarsCarol BlockDoug BlockEllen BlockIn the wake of his mother's passing, filmmaker Doug Block discovers a trove of unearthed secrets in the pages of her diary.
- DirectorSkye BorgmanStarsJan BrobergBob BrobergMary Ann BrobergThe twisting, turning, stranger-than-fiction true story of the Brobergs, a naive, church-going Idaho family that fell under the spell of a sociopathic neighbor with designs on their twelve-year-old daughter.
- DirectorJedd WiderTodd WiderStarsKevin CarboneMatthew NelsonWayne DiGeronimoThrough diary entries, this documentary follows the life and death of homeless woman Linda Bishop and her struggles with starvation, sanity and God.
- DirectorErin Lee CarrStarsJessica ThomasJim ArnottDavid BlanchardIn this documentary, the murder of Deedee Blanchard by her daughter Gypsy Rose is explored, as well as the circumstances leading up to the event.
- DirectorTim WardleStarsRobert ShafranMichael DomnitzHoward SchneiderIn 1980 New York, three young men who were all adopted meet each other and find out they're triplets who were separated at birth. But their quest to find out why turns into a bizarre and sinister mystery.
- DirectorAntonio SantiniDan SicklesStarsDina BunoScott LevinFrank CostanzoAn eccentric suburban woman and a Walmart door greeter navigate their evolving relationship in this unconventional love story.
- DirectorStanley NelsonStarsRebecca MooreJanet ShularTim CarterFeaturing never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
- DirectorTom FassaertOn his 30th birthday, Tom Fassaert receives a mysterious invitation from his 95-year-old grandmother Marianne to come visit her in South Africa. At that time, the only thing he knows about her are the myths and predominantly negative stories his father told him. She was a femme fatale who went through countless men, a famous model in the 1950s, and a mother that put her two sons into a children's home. Fassaert decides to accept her invitation. But when his grandmother makes an unexpected confession, his venture becomes much more complicated than he could ever have imagined.
- DirectorLucy CohenStarsJamie-Jodie ShanksKacie-Kimie ShanksLorie-Lanie ShanksA father's suicide sends a family of eight on a journey through childhood memories and treacherous emotional waters in this poignant documentary.
- DirectorJames D. SolomonJessica RobinsonStarsWilliam GenoveseShannon BeebyAaron AdlerThe brother of Kitty Genovese investigates the circumstances of her murder and the truth of the story that dozens of locals witnessed the crime and did nothing to intervene.
- DirectorDavid BeilinsonMichael GalinskySuki HawleyStarsNoreen GoschNancy AllenPaul BonacciAn examination into the cold case of the Iowa boy, Johnny Gosch, who disappeared on his paper route 30 years earlier.
- DirectorLiz GarbusStarsNina SimoneLisa Simone KellyRoger NupieA documentary about the life and legend Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist labeled the "High Priestess of Soul."
- DirectorAmy BergStarsCat PowerJanis JoplinKarleen BennettMusician Cat Power narrates this documentary on Janis Joplin's evolution into a star from letters that Joplin wrote over the years to her friends, family, and collaborators.
- DirectorAsif KapadiaStarsAmy WinehouseMitch WinehouseMark RonsonArchival footage and personal testimonials present an intimate portrait of the life and career of British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse.
- DirectorJohn MaloofCharlie SiskelStarsVivian MaierJohn MaloofDaniel ArnaudA 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.
- DirectorMarta CunninghamStarsJames BingJeremy BingRosalie BlackOn February 12, 2008 in Oxnard, California, eighth-grade student Brandon McInerney shot his classmate Larry King twice in the back of the head during first period. When Larry died two days later, his murder shocked the nation. Was this a hate crime, one perpetrated by a budding neo-Nazi whose masculinity was threatened by an effeminate gay kid who might have had a crush on him? Or was there even more to it? Looking beyond all the copious news coverage of this tragic event, 'Valentine Road' tells the story of two victims: the murdered and the murderer. With keen insight, the film connects the human wreckage of Larry's and Brandon's troubled lives--both physically abused, both from broken homes, and both searching for a sense of belonging.
- DirectorMorgan DewsA grandmother dies and leaves behind hours of secret film and audio recordings as well as an envelope with the words "Must read after my death", which reveal a dark history for her family to discover.
- DirectorSarah PolleyStarsMichael PolleyJohn BuchanMark PolleyA film that excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a family of storytellers.
- DirectorCarol MorleyStarsZawe AshtonAlix Luka-CainAlistair AbrahamsA filmmaker sets out to discover the life of Joyce Vincent, who died in her bedsit in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, and newspaper reports offered few details of her life - not even a photograph.
- DirectorAmy BergStarsJason BaldwinDamien Wayne EcholsJessie MisskelleyAn examination of a failure of justice in the case against the West Memphis Three.
- DirectorAngelo J. Guglielmo Jr.StarsTania HeadElia ZedenoGerry BogaczA psychological thriller that goes inside the mind of history's most infamous 9/11 "survivor."