This is a list of my favourite documentary films.
Most Influential Documentary Films
Shoah
dir. Claude Lanzmann
[France, 1985]
铁西区 (Tie Xi Qu – West of the Tracks)
dir. Wang Bing
[China, 2002]
Hoop Dreams
dir. Steve James
[USA, 1994]
Recent Great Documentary Films
Favoriten
dir. Ruth Beckermann
[Austria, 2024]
Cow
dir. Andrea Arnold
[UK, 2021]
Futura
dir. Francesco Munzi, Pietro Marcello, Alice Rohrwacher
[Italy, 2021]
Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse
(Mr. Bachmann and His Class)
dir. Maria Speth
[Germany, 2021]
A Night of Knowing Nothing
dir. Payal Kapadia
[France / India, 2021]
Final Account
dir. Luke Holland
[USA / UK, 2020]
Notturno
dir. Gianfranco Rosi
[Italy / France / Germany, 2020]
76 Days
dir. Hao Wu / Weixi Chen / Anonymous
[China / USA, 2020]
Diego Maradona
dir. Asif Kapadia
[UK, 2019]
我的镜头 – Chinese Portrait
dir. Wang Xiaoshuai
[China, 2018]
死灵魂 – (Dead Souls)
dir. Wang Bing
[France / Switzerland, 2018]
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection
dir. Julien Faraut
[France, 2018]
Uncertain
dir. Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands
[USA, 2015]
Safari
dir. Ulrich Seidl
[Austria, 2016]
Homo Sapiens
dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter
[Austria, 2016]
The Look of Silence
dir. Joshua Oppenheimer
[International Co-Production, 2014]
Citizenfour
dir. Laura Poitras
[USA / Germany, 2014]
Manakamana
dir. Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez
[USA, 2013]
The Act of Killing
dir. Joshua Oppenheimer
[Denmark / Norway / UK, 2012]
Leviathan
dir. Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
[USA, 2012]
Blackfish
dir. Gabriela Cowperthwaite
[USA, 2013]
הדירה – (The Flat)
dir. Arnon Goldfinger
[Israel / Germany, 2011]
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
dir. Alison Klayman
[USA, 2012]
Senna
dir. Asaf Kapadia
[UK / France, 2010]
El Sicario: Room 164
dir. Gianfranco Rosi
[USA / France, 2010]
Restrepo
dir. Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
[USA, 2010]
Last Train Home
dir. Lixin Fan
[Canada, 2009]
Up the Yangtze
dir. Yung Chang
[Canada, 2007]