Curated by SceneIt · United States
Discover popular and highly rated documentary movies. This page focuses on useful, popular choices for viewers in the United States.
Updated 2026-08-04 · Ratings from TMDB
Eligible titles are ranked using TMDB popularity, audience rating, and vote count. Streaming availability and ratings can change over time.
2015 · TMDB 6.7/10 · 328 votes
Locked away from society in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Angulo brothers learn about the outside world through the films that they watch. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
1966 · TMDB 7.2/10 · 136 votes
Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2012 · TMDB 7.3/10 · 142 votes
Performance artist Marina Abramovic prepares for a major retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2022 · TMDB 6.5/10 · 668 votes
The inspirational rise of SpaceX as well as Elon Musk's two-decade effort to resurrect America’s space travel ambitions. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
1965 · TMDB 8.2/10 · 295 votes
Pier Paolo Pasolini sets out to interview Italians about sex, apparently their least favorite thing to talk about in public: he asks children if they know where babies come from; asks old and young women if they support gender equality; asks both sexes if a woman's virginity still matters, what do they think of homosexuality, if divorce should be legal, or if they support the recent abolition of brothels. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
1963 · TMDB 7.4/10 · 147 votes
Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness," of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
1994 · TMDB 7.6/10 · 336 votes
Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2012 · TMDB 7.5/10 · 171 votes
When National Geographic photographer James Balog asked, “How can one take a picture of climate change?” his attention was immediately drawn to ice. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2011 · TMDB 7.6/10 · 121 votes
FOO FIGHTERS BACK AND FORTH chronicles the 16 year history of the Foo Fighters: from the band's very first songs created as cassette demos Dave Grohl recorded during his tenure as Nirvana's drummer, through its ascent to their Grammy-winning, multi-platinum, arena and stadium headlining status as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2021 · TMDB 7.8/10 · 127 votes
Fresh off the heels of her brand-new album, "Happier Than Ever," this cinematic concert experience features an intimate performance of every song in the album's sequential order – for the first and only time – from the stage of the legendary Hollywood Bowl. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2016 · TMDB 7.6/10 · 204 votes
Combining archival footage with rotoscopic animation, Tower reveals the action-packed untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting, when the worst in one man brought out the best in so many others. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2022 · TMDB 7.2/10 · 276 votes
Cat experts dive into the mind of the feline to reveal the true capabilities of the pouncing pet in this captivating and cuddly documentary. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
1953 · TMDB 4.5/10 · 102 votes
Stanley Kubrick’s first color film, commissioned by the Seafarers International Union to promote the benefits of union membership. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2016 · TMDB 7.0/10 · 107 votes
Follow Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rise to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been typically been handed down from father to son for centuries. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2009 · TMDB 6.6/10 · 119 votes
A documentary chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2007 · TMDB 7.5/10 · 113 votes
Archival material from the original NASA film footage – much of it seen for the first time – plus interviews with the surviving astronauts, including Jim Lovell, Dave Scott, John Young, Gene Cernan, Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Edgar Mitchell, Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2017 · TMDB 6.6/10 · 182 votes
A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
1976 · TMDB 7.3/10 · 248 votes
Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2009 · TMDB 7.0/10 · 163 votes
A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.
2018 · TMDB 7.2/10 · 107 votes
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the recording of Aretha Franklin's best-selling album finally sees the light of day more than four decades after the original footage was shot. This title fits the list's theme and selection thresholds.