1. Nanook of the North
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
It has an average vote of 7.105 on TMDB.
2. Olympia: Part One – Festival of the Nations (Olympia - Fest der Völker)
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
3. Olympia: Part Two – Festival of Beauty (Olympia - Fest der Schönheit)
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. Where the two-part epic's first half, Festival of the Nations, focused on the international aspects of the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, part two, The Festival of Beauty, concentrates on individual athletes such as equestrians, gymnasts, and swimmers, climaxing with American Glenn Morris' performance in the decathalon and the games' majestic closing ceremonies.
It has an average vote of 6.6 on TMDB.
4. The Education of Auma Obama
The Education of Auma Obama is a captivating and intimate portrait of the U.S. president's older half-sister, who embodies a post-colonial, feminist identity.
5. Clouds: Letters to My Son (Nuages: Lettres à mon fils)
Marion Hänsel directed this personal meditation on the joys and responsibilities of parenthood, in which a narrator reads Hansel's philosophic musings on raising her young son on her own, while carefully shot and selected footage of different cloud formations from around the world provide a striking visual backdrop. Catherine Deneuve read Hänsel's text in the original French-language version of Nuages; Charlotte Rampling did the honors for the English-language print, while Barbara Auer, Carmen Maura, and Antje De Boeck respectively lent their voices to the German, Spanish, and Dutch editions of the film.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
6. Los Punks: We Are All We Have
Los Punks: We Are All We Have is an intimate documentary about the teens and young adults who find meaning in the thriving punk rock scene in the backyards of South Central and East Los Angeles.
It has an average vote of 5.8 on TMDB.
7. Look at Us Now, Mother!
LOOK AT US NOW, MOTHER! is about the transformation of a highly charged mother/daughter relationship from Mommie Dearest to Dear Mom, from hatred to love, as told through the filmmaker's story. The film is an unflinching look at the complex bond between mother and daughter. It reveals insights into family behaviors, patterns and generational, societal, cultural and individual histories. The film takes the audience on a journey spanning decades and continents, filled with conflict and emotional land mines. Told through biting humor and raw honesty, this is an intimate story about family dysfunctions and forgiveness.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
8. Kedi (Kedi)
A profile of Istanbul and its unique people, seen through the eyes of the most mysterious and beloved animal humans have ever known, the Cat.
It has an average vote of 7.577 on TMDB.
9. Rebel Citizen
What began as a video master class evolved into a film about the political documentaries of Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler. Comprised of footage from his films as well as interviews, the film is an intimate portrait of the genius behind the camera.
10. Fragility (Skörheten)
"You are suffering from a mental fragility,” the doctor tells Ahang as she desperately tries to understand why she sometimes feels so terribly sad, as though everything has fallen apart. From the outside, she seems to live a sound and good life. For periods of time everything feels really good. But then it hits her: that horrific panic and despair that destroys everything and presses her down into a deep black hole.
11. Cocolos & Rockeros: For Rock or Salsa? (Cocolos y Rockeros)
This documentary examines the musical tastes of Puerto Rico's youth. The terms "cocolos" refers to those who prefer salsa music, and "rockeros" to those who prefer rock music. Through interviews and an array of musical settings, the film explores the young people's feelings in a humorist yet serious manner, bringing to the forefront issues of biases and national identity inherent in this innocent yet very powerful form of social entertainment.
It has an average vote of 1.5 on TMDB.
12. Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
Shut Up and Sing is a documentary about the country band from Texas called the Dixie Chicks and how one tiny comment against President Bush dropped their number one hit off the charts and caused fans to hate them, destroy their CD’s, and protest at their concerts. A film about freedom of speech gone out of control and the three girls lives that were forever changed by a small anti-Bush comment
It has an average vote of 6.643 on TMDB.
13. The Battle of The Alamo
(The Battle of The Alamo)
14. Dig!
A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.
It has an average vote of 6.788 on TMDB.
15. In the Realms of the Unreal
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
It has an average vote of 7.3 on TMDB.
16. The Do Gooders
British documentary filmmaker Chloe Ruthven’s grandparents were aid workers in Palestine. Growing up, she had avoided getting too involved in the subject, recalling how mention of the country made all the adults in her life angry. In her forties, after revisiting her grandmother’s book on the subject, she starts to research a documentary on the effects of foreign aid in the area and is shocked at the continued reliance on it there. Along the way she meets Lubna, a Palestinian woman who acts as her driver and fixer, and who is fiercely critical of Western aid efforts in her country. What begins as a quest to better understand her family history turns into a deeply emotional account of two women trying to understand one another. Ruthven’s determination to focus her film on deeply subjective analysis results in a unique joining of the acutely personal and complexly political.
17. Two Marxists in Hollywood
Russian avant-garde filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein and German playwright Bertolt Brecht recount the brief portions of their lives they spent in Hollywood trying to make art that was both radical and popular.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
18. City 40
Hidden in the heart of Russia, there is a Soviet-era city where thousands of people live and work behind barbed-wire fences monitored by armed guards. It is Ozyorsk , located in the Chelyabinsk Oblast, one of the most polluted places on the planet and home to the largest stockpiles of nuclear material. Its code name: City 40.
It has an average vote of 6.4 on TMDB.
19. Real Boy
REAL BOY is the coming-of-age story of Bennett Wallace, a transgender teenager on a journey to find his voice-as a musician, a friend, a son, and a man. As he navigates the ups and downs of young adulthood, Bennett works to gain the love and support of his mother, who has deep misgivings about her child's transition. Along the way, he forges a powerful friendship with his idol, Joe Stevens, a celebrated transgender musician with his own demons to fight.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
20. Behind the Blue Veil
Beyond the mystical city of Timbuktu, Mamatal, the son of a Tuareg chief sets out on a journey across the Sahara to save his culture known as the blue people of the Sahara before they disappear. But when the North African government of Mali collapses, he finds himself and his people caught up in an international crisis,a battle between the Tuareg fighting for independence and Al Qaeda bent on taking over the Sahara to plot future terrorist attacks against the United States and Europe. documentary looks behind the international headlines of the crisis in the Sahara and exposes the government corruption and neglect of an indigenous people who might be the only hope for defeating Islamic radicals in the region.
