100 best documentary movies of 2021

He knows our natural world like no other, and there’s never been a more urgent time to hear his story and vision for our future.

In the 1980s Keith Haring blazed a trail through the galleries and nightclubs of downtown New York's art scene. Rebellious and ingenious, Haring chose to operate both inside and outside the art world. Inspired by the city's graffiti scene, he made New York's subways, tarpaulins and walls his canvas. This new feature documentary blends stunning archive and an edgy soundtrack, with tender and candid first-hand accounts of Haring. It tells the extraordinary story of an artist who lived and created with a boundless energy, throughout the social, cultural and political counter-revolution of the 1980s.

Follow the Indianapolis Star reporters that broke the story about USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar's abuse and hear from gymnasts.

A brief history of Russian skateboarding: from the first Union Cup, which took place in Saratov in 1991, to the present day, when skateboarding was included in the 2020 Olympics program. Famous Russian skateboarders - Tolya Titaev, Katya Shengelia, Yegor Kaldikov, Kostya Kabanov - tell us what is happening with skating today and why we will not soon catch up with Western athletes.

When indie comic character Pepe the Frog becomes an unwitting icon of hate, his creator, artist Matt Furie, fights to bring Pepe back from the darkness and navigate America's cultural divide.

In 1990, SEGA, a fledgling arcade company assembled a team of misfits to take on the greatest video game company in the world, Nintendo. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, no-holds-barred conflict that pit brother against brother, kids against grownups, Sonic against Mario, and uniquely American capitalism against centuries-old Japanese tradition. For the first time ever, the men and women who fought on the front lines for Sega and Nintendo discuss this battle that defined a generation.

Using raw, firsthand footage, this documentary examines the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children, and the terrible events that followed.

Banksy is a household name, but behind this name hides a multitude of stories, artworks, stunts, political statements and identities, leading to one of the art world's biggest unanswered questions- who is Banksy?

Banksy, the world's most infamous street artist, whose political art, criminal stunts and daring invasions have outraged the establishment for over two decades. Featuring rare interviews with Banksy, this is the story of how an outlaw artist led a revolutionary new movement and built a multi-million dollar empire, while his identity remained shrouded in mystery.

This documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.

Celebrities recall their most mind-bending trips via animations, reenactments and more in this comedic documentary exploring the story of psychedelics.

A film that answers basic questions about the coronavirus. Scientists shared their opinions on how and why such viruses occur, how dangerous the speed of 2019-nCoV spread is, how quickly you can create a vaccine for it, and what is the probability of a virus leak from a medical laboratory.

The film is about the historical role of Georgians in Russian, and later - Soviet politics, culture and science. The heroes of the film are Bagration and Shevardnadze, Pirosmani and Danelia, Balanchine and Andronikov.

Jim Marshall was a maverick with a camera. An outsider who captured the heights of Rock’N’Roll music and the seismic changes of an era, from the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, to the civil rights movements and some of the most iconic moments of the 60’s.

In 1991 a group of countercultural visionaries built an enormous replica of earth’s ecosystem called Biosphere 2. When eight “biospherians” lived sealed inside, they faced ecological calamities and cult accusations. Their epic adventure is a cautionary tale but also a testament to the power of small groups reimagining the world.

He gave us an unforgettable and unique childhood. What was the great Russian storyteller really like? A documentary film about Eduard Uspensky.

The enigma of the personality cult is revealed in the grand spectacle of Stalin’s funeral. The film is based on unique archive footage, shot in the USSR on March 5 - 9, 1953, when the country mourned and buried Joseph Stalin.

The life story of the legendary music critic, journalist, TV and radio host Artemy Troitsky, who for many years has been recognized as a musical authority not only in Russia, but also beyond its borders.

What once seemed like an esoteric world now seems essential to our culture: the community of rare book dealers and collectors who, in their love of the delicacy and tactility of books, are helping to keep the printed word alive. D.W. Young’s elegant and entertaining documentary, executive produced by Parker Posey, is a lively tour of New York’s book world, past and present, from the Park Avenue Armory’s annual Antiquarian Book Fair, where original editions can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars; to the Strand and Argosy book stores, still standing against all odds; to the beautifully crammed apartments of collectors and buyers. The film features a litany of special guests, including Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean, Gay Talese, and a community of dedicated book dealers who strongly believe in the wonder of the object and the everlasting importance of what’s inside.

A documentary chronicling the shared experiences of prominent former child stars and the personal and professional price of fame and failure on a child.

Amid shifting times, two women kept their decades-long love a secret. But coming out later in life comes with its own set of challenges.

An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.

Sheds light on an alternative approach to farming called “regenerative agriculture” that could balance our climate, replenish our vast water supplies, and feed the world.

Fascinated by the human brain and its capacity for ruthlessness, psychiatrist Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis has spent her life investigating the interior lives of violent people. With each case, she came closer to developing a unified field theory of what makes a killer. Along the way - steering away from the conventional wisdom of her colleagues - she explored the world of multiple personality disorder.

Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old student in Sweden, started a school strike for the climate as her question for adults was, if you don’t care about my future on earth, why should I care about my future in school? Within months, her strike evolved into a global movement as the quiet teenage girl on the autism spectrum becomes a world-famous activist.

After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa, Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for months on end he eventually wins the animal’s trust and they develop a never-before-seen bond between human and wild animal.

In a quest for a new, more humane society, a counter-culture revolution takes the world by storm. In the first of the InterReflections Trilogy, we look back to the modern world and wonder how it was we managed to survive as long as we had.

Pushed to his breaking point, a master welder in a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains quietly fortifies a bulldozer with 30 tons of concrete and steel and seeks to destroy those he believes have wronged him.

With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.

The plot of the film unfolds in the ancient monastery of Dokhiar on the west coast of Mount Athos, on the Aegean peninsula. This peninsula is given to the exclusive use of the monks of Eastern Christianity. Images of nature are woven into a virtually uninterrupted series of work and prayer, lining up in the rhythmic interrelation of man and nature. The central figure of the film was the monastery’s elder, Hegumen Gregory, whose long-term experience of spiritual nourishment rewarded him with a deep understanding of the human soul and her desire to return to the state characteristic of Adam’s human nature before the fall.

Down the road from Woodstock in the early 1970s, a revolution blossomed in a ramshackle summer camp for disabled teenagers, transforming their young lives and igniting a landmark movement.

Fox Rich, indomitable matriarch and modern-day abolitionist, strives to keep her family together while fighting for the release of her incarcerated husband. An intimate, epic, and unconventional love story, filmed over two decades.

With this inventive portrait, director Kirsten Johnson seeks a way to keep her 86-year-old father alive forever. Utilizing moviemaking magic and her family’s dark humor, she celebrates Dr. Dick Johnson’s last years by staging fantasies of death and beyond. Together, dad and daughter confront the great inevitability awaiting us all.

A rare and transcendent journey into the life and films of the legendary Stanley Kubrick like we've never seen before, featuring a treasure trove of unearthed interview recordings from the master himself.

A documentary on why and how 'Money Heist' sparked a wave of enthusiasm around the world for a lovable group of thieves and their professor.

Sockeye, a species of wild salmon, is born in Kamchatkan waters and spends its entire life in the Pacific Ocean. Only once does it return to fresh waters — to give offspring, start the circle of life, and die. It is an inexhaustible resource that feeds billions of people on the planet, restored every year. But soon, we may find ourselves facing the unimaginable: humans will exhaust the inexhaustible.

When a Swedish teen rapper finds a rabid fanbase via the internet, international superstar Yung Lean is born. But as his fame grows, darkness settles in, blurring the line between reality and his own vivid imagination.

In the aftermath of a tragic fire in a Romanian club, burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life threatening. A team of investigative journalists move into action uncovering the mass corruption of the health system and of the state institutions. Collective follows journalists, whistle blowers, and authorities alike. An immersive and uncompromising look into a dysfunctional system, exposing corruption, propaganda, and manipulation that nowadays affect not only Romania, but societies around the world.

This captivating exploration of Alvar Aalto, the defining figure in Scandic design and one of Europe's greatest modern architects, focuses on his remarkable and loving partnership with wife, Aino. Theirs was a profoundly humanist vision that put people at the centre of design, and ranged from work in furniture design through to huge architectural projects. They mixed with, and influenced, major figures of modernist art and design including Le Corbusier, Gropius, Moholy-Nagy, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Come on a cinematic tour of their iconic buildings all over the world, from a library in Russia, a student dormitory at MIT, an art collector's private house near Paris, to a pavilion in Venice. Narrated by experts in the field and featuring never before seen archive footage, Aalto tells the love story of an extraordinary couple with a great passion for human scale architecture.

On October 25, 1917, construction of a new world began in Russia. One of the foremost workers in this construction was the writer Andrei Platonov. But a bright and fair future, his art and literature were seen by everyone in different ways. Its truth became impossible, and the new world was not built in the way it was conceived. Demanding millions of lives for its existence, a brighter future took the life of the writer’s son, who was arrested at the age of fifteen, and then Andrei Platonov himself. The story of the creation and death of the new world in seven days.

A found footage film compiled from countless YouTube videos in which the people of Russia make a direct appeal to president Putin. A kaleidoscope of the mood in the country – from submissive pleas to pure rage about injustice and rampant corruption.

In 2008, after a show celebrating the 20th anniversary of his fashion house, Maison Margiela, visionary designer Martin Margiela left the fashion world for good. Throughout his career, the Belgian designer remained anonymous, refusing interviews and never being photographed, leading some to call him the fashion world’s answer to Banksy. Now, more than a decade after his departure, Margiela digs into his meticulous and idiosyncratic personal archives to reflect on his revolutionary career and legacy.

In an unusual experiment, a thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas join together to build a representative government from the ground up.

When two of artist Barbora Kysilkova’s most valuable paintings are stolen from a gallery at Frogner in Oslo, the police are able to find the thief after a few days, but the paintings are nowhere to be found. Barbora goes to the trial in hopes of finding clues, but instead she ends up asking the thief if she can paint a portrait of him. This will be the start of a very unusual friendship. Over three years, the cinematic documentary follows the incredible story of the artist looking for her stolen paintings, while at the same time turning the thief into art.

Surviving WWII, small tight-knit Jewish communities (known as Shtetls) in the former Soviet Union clung to the old religion, language and craft until very recently. This documentary explores what used to be and what remains of these small communities, as well as the lives of the people who have chosen to stay.

When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappears after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, his fiancée and dissidents around the world are left to piece together the clues to a brutal murder and expose a global cover up perpetrated by the very country he loved.

A raw and emotionally revealing look at one of the most iconic artists of our time during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer, but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice.

When a daughter becomes concerned about her mother's well-being in a retirement home, private investigator Romulo hires Sergio, an 83-year-old man who becomes a new resident—and a mole inside the home, who struggles to balance his assignment with becoming increasingly involved in the lives of several residents.

Join former first lady Michelle Obama in an intimate documentary looking at her life, hopes and connection with others.

Record-shattering Korean girl band BLACKPINK tell their story — and detail the hard fought journey of the dreams and trials behind their meteoric rise.

Here’s a little story they’re about to tell… Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz share the story of their band and 40 years of friendship in a live documentary directed by friend, collaborator, and their former grandfather, Spike Jonze.

This documentary follows a team of local archaeologists excavating never before explored passageways, shafts, and tombs, piecing together the secrets of Egypt’s most significant find in almost 50 years in Saqqara.

Class Action Park explores the legend, legacy, and truth behind the 1980's water park in Vernon, New Jersey that long ago entered the realm of myth. Known for its dangerous, unsupervised rides and lack of regulation, guests of Action Park expected to walk away with injuries and were lucky if they made it out alive. Shirking the trappings of nostalgia, the film uses investigative journalism, original animations, recordings, and interviews with the people who lived it to reveal the true story of Action Park.

The story of the triumphs and hurdles of brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb, otherwise known as the Bee Gees. The iconic trio, who found early fame in the 1960s, went on to write over 1,000 songs and have 20 No. 1 hits throughout their career, transcending more than five decades of changing tastes and styles.

A filmed version of David Byrne's Broadway show, a unifying musical celebration that inspires audiences to connect to each other and to the global community.

Based on Lee Smith's book of the same name, this documentary follows the story of the biggest political scandal in U.S. history.

Once the world's most famous astrologer, Walter Mercado seeks to resurrect a forgotten legacy. Raised in the sugar cane fields of Puerto Rico, Walter grew up to become a gender non-conforming, cape-wearing psychic whose televised horoscopes reached 120 million viewers a day for decades before he mysteriously disappeared.

This documentary puts a spotlight on the White House’s failed response to the global pandemic and how it could have been prevented. Featuring damning testimony from public health officials and hard investigative reporting, director Alex Gibney reveals a system-wide collapse caused by a profound dereliction of presidential leadership.

Sanctuary tells the story of a campaign by Greenpeace, for whom the Bardems currently act as Antarctic ambassadors, to preserve the Southern Ocean. Knowing that there's no replacement for first-hand experience, Javier and Carlos travel to the continent with a team of scientists to learn about its astonishing diversity of ecosystems, and the role of oceans in reducing carbon dioxide.

The story of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash's first wife and the mother of his four daughters. Includes never-before-seen footage and photographs of Johnny Cash and Rosanne Cash, as well as footage featuring Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix, Tim Robbins, Whoopi Goldberg, John C. Reilly and many more.

Filmmaker Paul Saltzman retraces his journey of 50 years ago when he spent a life-changing time with the Beatles at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram on the banks of the Ganges River. In 1968, he discovered his own soul, learned meditation, which changed his life, and hung out with John, Paul, George and Ringo. Fifty years later, he finds "Bungalow Bill" in Hawaii; connects with David Lynch about his own inner journey; as well as preeminent Beatles historian, Mark Lewisohn; Academy Award nominated film composer, Laurence Rosenthal; and Pattie and Jenny Boyd. And much of this is due to Saltzman's own daughter, Devyani, reminding him that he had put away and forgotten these remarkably intimate photographs of that time in 1968.

The story of Tiny Tim’s improbable rise to stardom is the ultimate fairytale - and so is that of his downfall. For a brief time, the shy and truly unusual outsider artist was the biggest star in the world.

A heartbroken documentary filmmaker focuses his camera on interesting women with hopes of meeting the love of his life.

Former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza's journey as a person with top secret clearance and total access to the President.

Bright Sun Films' Jake Williams makes his feature debut with this documentary about the infamous Six Flags New Orleans, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and has become a holy grail of sorts for urban exploration.

This documentary follows the 15-year journey of the founding members of the improv hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme, as they reflect upon why this show remains such an important piece of their personal, creative, and professional history–from the basement of the Drama Bookshop in NYC to the Broadway stage.

In the secret forests of Northern Italy, a dwindling group of joyful old men and their faithful dogs search for the world’s most expensive ingredient, the white Alba truffle. Their stories form a real-life fairy tale that celebrates human passion in a fragile land that seems forgotten in time.

Explore the personal and professional triumphs and challenges of actor Natalie Wood, which have often been overshadowed by her premature death.

Jacques Peretti goes back to Jackson’s beginnings, charting his rise and fall and seeking a fuller picture of this complex, contradictory character by exploring the clues that were missed.

The story lives forever in this feature-length documentary that charts the making of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Like nobody else Jean-Pierre Melville influenced modern filmmaking. This documentary follows his creative process step by step, showing him becoming the father of the Nouvelle Vague and one of the most iconic directors of French cinema.

Follow filmmakers as they capture the epic journey of African elephants across the Kalahari desert. The team faces extreme weather, inaccessible terrain, crocodile-infested waters and close encounters with lions in order to shine a light on these remarkable creatures and their ancient migrations.

In a heartfelt tribute to Hollywood legend Garry Marshall, his family and friends share their favorite memories of the creative genius behind some of the most memorable series in television history.

Hull, England, 1970. In a run-down commune in a tough port city, a group of social misfits - mostly working class, mostly self-educated - adopted new identities and began making simple street theater under the name COUM Transmissions. Their playful performances gradually gave way to work that dealt openly with sex, pornography, and violence. COUM lived on the edges of society, surviving on meager resources, finding fellowship with others marginalized by the mainstream. At the core of the group were two artists, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti. As their work evolved, Cosey embarked on a career modeling for pornographic magazines, which she claimed for herself as a conceptual artwork, using it to forge a specific position in relationship to 1970s feminism. In performances, Genesis pushed himself to extremes, testing the limits of the human body.

"Wings Of Desire" and "Buena Vista Social Club", "Paris, Texas" and "The State Of Things": Wim Wenders is considered one of the pioneers of New German Cinema and one of the most important and influential representatives of contemporary cinema. With never before shown archive material and extraordinary encounters with companions and contemporary witnesses such as Francis Ford Coppola, Willem Dafoe, Andie MacDowell, Hanns Zischler, Patti Smith and Werner Herzog, this documentary provides unique insights into the life and work of one of the most multifaceted artists of our times. Renowned documentary filmmaker Eric Friedler ("It Must Schwing. The Blue Note Story") and his co-director Andreas Frege were given the exclusive opportunity to portray Wenders for this film. From Dusseldorf to Paris, and all the way to the desert of Texas, the film traces iconic locations and decisive moments in Wenders' work as director, producer, photographer and author.

Captures a 1970 meeting between the movie industry titan Orson Welles and the then-rising star Dennis Hopper, who had just made Easy Rider.

Raw and intimate, this documentary captures the struggles of patients and frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan.

A witty and tenacious team of filmmakers brave the Antarctic to film Disneynature's "Penguins."

The final word in the story of what really happened to Robin Williams at the end of his life, focusing on his fight against a deadly neurodegenerative disorder known as Lewy body dementia.

As the first all-female band to play their instruments, write their songs and have a No. 1 album, The Go-Go’s made history. Underpinned by candid testimonies, this film chronicles the meteoric rise to fame of a band born in the LA punk scene who became a pop phenomenon.

Spends a season with the Boston Renegades, a womens' tackle football team on the path to redemption after going undefeated but losing their championship the previous year. These unpaid athletes put their bodies on the line while maintaining full-time careers that support their lifelong dream… proving that football is for everyone.

Based on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ #1 New York Times bestseller and originally adapted and staged by the Apollo Theater, this special combines elements of that production - including powerful readings from Coates’ book - with documentary footage from the actors’ home life, archival footage, and animation.

Examines the often overlooked, yet insidious issue of voter suppression in the United States in anticipation of the 2020 presidential election. With the perspective and expertise of Stacey Abrams, the former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, the film offers an insider’s look into laws and barriers to voting that most people don’t even know is a threat to their basic rights as citizens of the United States.

A look at the record number of first-time female candidates who ran, won and upended politics in the historic 2018 midterm elections; featuring three candidates in Texas, Indiana and Illinois who each were looking to flip their red district to blue.

Featuring never-before-seen footage and interviews, cameras follow Sting backstage before his big match at WCW Slamboree 1995.

“Homo Sperans” is a portrait of a Russian person composed of many images. The film's heroes are common men who answer with their lives the universal questions: what is the purpose of our existence, what is happiness, what is it to be a patriot. Their strength is in their ability to keep their chins up and always believe in a good outcome.

War is a killer of some of our best and youngest men and women in America. However, not all of the death happens while deployed or at the hands of enemy troops. Sadly, because of their service's impact, many of our young heroes are dying at their own hands. Forgotten Battalion follows the Second Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment, one of the toughest and hardest hit during their tour in Afghanistan. In 2008, 1,200 members deployed to cover a territory the size of Oregon, engaging in heavy combat with insurgent elements with no air support and beyond supply lines due to military cutbacks, they routinely ran short on food, water, and ammunition. Upon returning home, they soon discovered the horror of war and the challenges of surviving were not over. Their suicide rate is approximately four times the rate for other young vets and 14 times the average for most Americans.

The ultimate ‘80s Horror retrospective just got BIGGER. In Search of Darkness: Part II is a four-hour-plus sequel to the Rondo Hatton-nominated In Search of Darkness, adding 15 new interviewees and 40+ returning favorites for the biggest and most comprehensive ‘80s Horror documentary cast ever assembled.

SKY BLOSSOM is a raw, uplifting window into 24.5 million children and millennials stepping forward as frontline heroes. Caring for family with tough medical conditions, they stay at home doing things often seen only in hospitals. They are cheerleaders, work part time, and go to college - but also live double lives - quietly growing up as America's next greatest generation. The filmmaker, veteran journalist and award-winning CNN/MSNBC news anchor Richard Lui says the interviews were so honest they genuinely surprised him, as they revealed insights into the lives of young people across America. Troops used to look up and say, "Here come the Sky Blossoms"-paratroopers rushing to their aid. Today, there is a new generation answering that call. These are their stories.

Cuba is well known as a so-called time capsule. The place where the New World was discovered has become both a romantic vision and a warning. With ongoing global cultural and financial upheavals, large parts of the world could face a similar kind of existence.

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A behind the scenes look at the making of Jay & Silent Bob Reboot.

An epic journey around Mars — built from real satellite and rover data — revealing the red planet as you’ve never seen it before.

Trump Card is an expose of the socialism, corruption and gangsterization that now define the Democratic Party. Whether it is the creeping socialism of Joe Biden or the overt socialism of Bernie Sanders, the film reveals what is unique about modern socialism, who is behind it, why it’s evil, and how we can work together with President Trump to stop it.

One of the most famous Italian singers opens up about his music and his journey through love and addiction.

Finnish award-winning barista Kalle Freese travels to San Francisco with his girlfriend to start an instant coffee start-up with big goals. At stake are Kalle's health, relationship and the newly formed start-up.

The Verfassungsschutz wants to be an "early warning system" against the dangers to our democracy. Critics accuse the intelligence service of being "blind in the right eye". But how does the agency deal with the increasing networking of new right-wing extremist groups and the new virtual threat?

An examination of the notorious high priest of LSD Timothy Leary through the eyes of his famed lover Joanna Harcourt-Smith.

Following the process of a visionary project that combines waste management and infrastructure with spectacular architecture and a recreational urban space. Bjarke Ingels’ prestigious project Amager Hill - the waste-to-energy plant with a ski slope on top.

Mikhail Petrovich Zorin is the last surviving signalman of the first composition of the legendary 330th Infantry Regiment (86th Infantry Division), who heroically fought on the Nevsky Piglet during the defense of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. In April 1942, in the course of a powerful onslaught of the German group, almost all the soldiers who were at that time in the regiment's location were killed, and the wounded were taken prisoner. Mikhail Zorin survived thanks to a unique combination of circumstances.