Rachel Mason’s gripping true crime doc My Brother’s Killer is, first and foremost, a love letter. My Brother’s Killer emerged, in part, from Rachel Mason’s previous documentary Circus of Books, named after her parents’ West Hollywood gay porn bookstore, where she grew up enamored by the men who frequented it. Her latest film is also an ode to West Hollywood’s famed yet notorious stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard of the 1990s. Moreover, it is a love letter to a VHS era; a magazine era; a video awards era (ushered in by the likes of Chi Chi LaRue); a cyberpunk era […]
Gianfranco Rosi discusses Below the Clouds with NYFF programmer Dan Sullivan at the 63rd New York Film Festival. An NYFF63 Main Slate selection, Below the Clouds opens at Film at Lincoln Center on March 6. Get tickets: https://www.filmlinc.org/films/below-the-clouds/
Documentarian Gianfranco Rosi’s monumental latest details with pointillist precision and unnerving beauty a region in Naples living under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius and above the simmering Campi Flegrei volcanic caldera. Winner, Special Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival.
The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.
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Gianfranco Rosi discusses Below the Clouds with NYFF programmer Dan Sullivan at the 63rd New York Film Festival. An NYFF63 Main Slate selection, Below the Clouds opens at Film at Lincoln Center on March 6. Get tickets: https://www.filmlinc.org/films/below-the-clouds/
Documentarian Gianfranco Rosi’s monumental latest details with pointillist precision and unnerving beauty a region in Naples living under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius and above the simmering Campi Flegrei volcanic caldera. Winner, Special Jury Prize, Venice Film Festival.
The 63rd New York Film Festival is presented in partnership with Rolex.
Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=filmlincdotcom
Showtimes and tickets: https://filmlinc.org
Follow on X: http://x.com/filmlinc
Follow on Instagram: http://instagram.com/filmlinc
Follow on Facebook: http://facebook.com/filmlinc
Defend Documentary’s Place in Greek Public Media
ida-admin
Fri, 03/13/2026 – 13:02
Defend Documentary’s Place in Greek Public Media
ida-admin
Fri, 03/13/2026 – 13:02
I don’t have much to discuss this week. A lot of documentaries are on the calendar, including a massive surplus of overpriced DVD titles for fans of art and history, but very few are recommended. At least we finally get to find out what the best documentaries of 2025 were, according to the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Other than that, the world is going to hell in a handbasket faster than ever before, giving documentary filmmakers plenty to make movies about in the future, if we’re around long enough to see them. Good thing there’s another docuseries on the way about how to live forever (see the sneak peek section). If we might be so lucky, I suggest you spend some of your remaining time binging Werner Herzog documentaries and seeing if you agree with our recently updated ranking.
Without further ado, below are this week’s documentary highlights, followed by daily listings for all known releases and broadcasts, along with a brief look at what’s coming soon for doc fans. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive more in-depth highlights and reviews in the future, plus full access to special posts like our best-of and most-anticipated lists, and to give me more time to watch more (if not everything) available. If you have a doc in need of coverage or a mention, you can reach me at christopherbartoncampbell (at) gmail.
Nonfics Pick Of The Week: 2026 Oscar Winners*
Will Geeta Gandbhir win two Oscars for two different documentaries on Sunday? The 98th Academy Awards are this weekend, and at least two nonfiction films will be victorious at the end of the night. Maybe three, but I don’t think the Diane Warren documentary (Diane Warren: Relentless, now available on Kanopy) will be the film to finally win Diane Warren a competitive Oscar for Best Music (Original Song).
I expect that Gandbhir will win the Best Documentary Feature Film award for The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix), given its dominance throughout the season. However, there is also a chance that Mr. Nobody Against Putin (Kino Film Collection) could pull an upset, as it did at the BAFTAs. Or, Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple TV) could surprise as an audience favorite. Considering even some of the Academy’s Documentary Branch members are abstaining due to new rules requiring all nominees in a category to be watched before voting, there may be fewer votes for these awards than usual. The Alabama Solution (HBO Max) hasn’t performed that well during awards season despite being a strong contender. Cutting Through Rocks (currently unavailable) is the least likely to be recognized, even if all the voters of the category watch it.
As for the Best Documentary Short Film category, I think Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (HBO Max) will speak the most to Academy members who watch all five nominees. However, All the Empty Rooms (Netflix) could pull the win based on its issue and focus on children. Then again, Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” (currently unavailable), which unites some Israelis in solidarity with Palestinians, may be more popular with the same voters who honored the documentary feature No Other Land last year. While Gandbhir’s The Devil is Busy (HBO Max) is my favorite of the bunch (see my ranking of all the 2026 documentary short Oscar nominees), it may not be as timely as those others to resonate with voters. I really don’t see any chance for perfectly a strangeness (The Criterion Channel).
*After the Oscars telecast on Sunday, March 15, 2026, I will update this section highlighting the documentary winners and where to watch them.
Other Documentary Highlights
The Battle Of Chile: Part II (1976)
The second installment of Patricio Guzmán’s The Battle of Chile (subtitled The Coup d’état) turns 50 years old this week, having premiered on Cuban television on March 13, 1976. It’s not as well-known and maybe not as widely seen as the first part of the trilogy, which is famous for its conclusion with the shot of a cameraman documenting his own death. The Battle of Chile: Part II is where events really pick up, though. This installment covers the coup attempt and continued unrest, and climaxes with the end of Salvador Allende’s rule (and life) with a coup d’etat on September 11, 1973. This is a riveting work of political historicism and one of the most essential films of all time.
The Battle of Chile: Part II is currently available to stream on OVID.
Bella! This Woman’s Place Is In The House (2023)
Clearly timed for Women’s History Month, Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House delivers a basic but necessary biographical documentary about Congresswoman and feminist movement icon Bella Abzug (I’m surprised she hadn’t already received one). The form is standard, mainly chronological, but also segmented into pronounced phases of her life and career. The expected talking heads participated, including Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, and Barbra Streisand (plus Letty Cottin Pogrebin to remind us of the subject’s support for Zionism — a more controversial issue right now). But the archival clips of Abzug herself are what do the job best.
Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House makes its broadcast premiere on PBS on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, as an episode of American Masters.
Born To Bowl (2026)
Not many documentaries strike the perfect balance of appealing to both fans and those unfamiliar with the subject, but this series manages that feat. Executive produced by A24 and Ben Stiller, Born to Bowl tries to do for professional bowlers what other hit sports docuseries (particularly those made by Box to Box Films) have done for their drivers, riders, and other athletes.
The five-part documentary follows a handful of notables in their field, while Liev Schreiber, of all actors, voices dry yet jocular narration explaining history and other information about bowling. Like the film Kingpin, it can be enjoyed by audiences who love bowling as well as those who think it’s a silly pastime deserving of ridicule and, like me, had no idea that lanes have patterns that alter the balls’ path. I appreciated the educational element, even if the series tries too hard to be funny, more than the character aspect. None of the bowlers had interesting enough narratives to be memorable beyond little pronounced quirks.
Born to Bowl premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Monday, March 16, 2026.
Dynasty: The Murdochs (2026)
Not to be confused with the Murdaugh dynasty, which would seem likely given director Liz Garbus’s association with true-crime series, this four-part documentary follows the family behind the News Corp media empire. Dynasty: The Murdochs will be particularly appealing to fans of the HBO series Succession, which was partly based on Rupert Murdoch and his children. The makers of the series (which also includes producer Sara Enright in a rare capacity as a co-director) know this a little too much, considering they’ve used a music score that constantly reminds viewers of that show’s main title theme. It’s a well-crafted biographical chronicle, though, and goes beyond what Succession took as inspiration to prove the Murdochs are just as bad, if not worse, at family relationships than the Roys.
Dynasty: The Murdochs premieres exclusively on Netflix on Friday, March 13, 2026.
Iron Family (2022)
Patrick Longstreth, a visual effects artist who worked on Good Night Oppy, directed this documentary feature that won the Audience Award at the Slamdance Film Festival four years ago. It’s about the family of the film’s producer, Chad Faries, but mainly focused on his sister, Jazmine, who has Down syndrome. She’s an interesting character, a firecracker personality who writes original, soap-opera-ish stage plays in which she’s in romantic relationships with Matthew McConaughey and Mark Wahlberg. As with many documentaries on people with disabilities, Iron Family portrays its subject as someone who shouldn’t be treated differently but obviously is simply by being the subject of a documentary because of their disability.
Iron Family will be released on VOD on Monday, March 16, 2026.
Magic City: An American Fantasy (2025)
The Atlanta Hawks were supposed to honor the iconic strip club Magic City on Monday night with a tie-in event during their game against the Orlando Magic. They were forced to cancel the promotion because the NBA is too uptight. So, I wanted to recommend the docuseries Magic City: An American Fantasy, a Critics Choice nominee and former Nonfics Pick of the Week that includes Hawks co-owner Jami Gertz among its executive producers, to show why it’s an institution worthy of more respect than the league is allowing. But it’s not available anywhere at the moment, not even on Starz, which is where it exclusively debuted last summer. More disrespect!
The Plastic Detox (2026)
The latest feature from Oscar-winning director Louie Psihoyos (The Cove), this time collaborating with co-director Josh Murphy, looks at the harms of plastics in our lives. Written by prolific documentary scripter Mark Monroe, The Plastic Detox is primarily centered around the efforts of one scientist leading the cause (environmental and reproductive epidemiologist Dr. Shanna Swan), follows several couples dealing with infertility in an unofficial experiment to give up plastics to see if it helps them conceive, and throws a whole bunch of other things at the wall tied to the same issue.
[Our opinion of this film is under embargo until March 16, 2026)
The Plastic Detox begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on March 16, 2026.
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story (2025)
One of the top-grossing documentaries of the year, Standout: The Ben Kjar Story has made more than half a million dollars in theaters since its late January release. Now it’s heading to home video, where it will continue its popularity. The film is about the titular wrestler turned public speaker, who overcame low expectations for his life after he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. I haven’t seen it yet, but I have heard good things from some of my colleagues. I’ll be making a point to watch it now.
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story will debut exclusively on the Angel Studios streaming platform on Thursday, March 19, 2026.
Awards Highlights
As we head into Oscar weekend, we have some updates on other documentary awards winners from around the industry. The best nonfiction feature of last year, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, won the Documentary Award from the American Society of Cinematographers, for Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko, and it won the WGA Award for Best Documentary Screenplay. Becoming Led Zeppelin won an award from the Cinema Audio Society for its sound mix, and Deaf President Now!, Love + War, and Billy Joel: And So It Goes all won Golden Reel Awards for their sound or music editing.
Documentary Release Calendar 3/13/26 – 3/19/26
Friday, March 13, 2026
The Big Sur (1965) – A short documentary narrated by Richard Burton promoting his movie The Sandpiper. (TCM)
Dynasty: The Murdochs (2026) – A four-part docuseries by Liz Garbus about the succession battle of the Murdoch family media empire. *NONFICS PICK* (Netflix)
Main Street Today (1944) – An Oscar-nominated short documentary promoting community efforts on the home front during World War II. (TCM)
Neighbors Episode 5: “Halloween Competition” – The fifth installment of a six-part docuseries executive-produced by Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein about outrageous conflicts between neighbors. (HBO Max)
The Proof is Out There Season 6, Episode 2: “The Mystery Drones Over New Jersey, Taiwan’s Green Monster, and Spinning Fish Syndrome” – The latest installment of a docuseries investigating UFOs, conspiracies, and mythical creatures. (History)
Twisted Yoga (2026) – A docuseries about an abusive yoga studio. (Apple TV)
Saturday, March 14, 2026
The Blue Angels 3D (2024) – A documentary feature about the titular flight squadron. Presented as part of AMC’s IMAX Documentary Showcase. (AMC’s IMAX Theaters)
Buried in the Backyard Season 6, Episode 13: “2000 lb Secret” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about the odd locations where murder victims were found. This episode involves a man found buried at a construction site. (Oxygen True Crime)
Vet Detective Season 1, Episode 3: “The Dog That Swallowed a Skewer” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the work of veterinarian Dr. Lauren Adelman. This episode involves a dog suffering from seizures. (National Geographic)
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Audioscopiks (1935) – An Oscar-nominated short presenting the spectacle of 3D cinema. (TCM)
History’s Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe Season 1, Episode 4: “Famous Finds” – The latest installment of a docuseries about legendary treasures, relics, and artifacts from history. (History)
MGM Parade Show #4 (1955) – The fourth installment of a documentary series devoted to promoting MGM’s films. This film features a tour of Lake Metro on the MGM backlot. (TCM)
A Plan to Kill Season 2, Episode 2: “Killer Competition” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries on the meticulous planning conducted by serial killers. (Oxygen)
Monday, March 16, 2026
Beyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search for Connection Episode 1 – The first installment of a three-part docuseries about a research project studying awe. (Outside TV)
Born to Bowl (2026) – A five-part docuseries that follows five professional bowlers. (HBO Max)
Fatal Attraction: I’d Kill to Be You Season 1, Episode 8: “Blinded by Jealousy” – The latest installment of a true-crime series about cases involving jealousy. (TV One)
History’s Deadliest with Ving Rhames Season 1, Episode 7: “Missions” – The latest installment of a docuseries about history’s most devastating killers, weapons, battles, and disasters. (History)
Iron Family (2022) – A documentary about a playwright with Down syndrome. (VOD)
The Plastic Detox (2026) – A documentary about couples who try to reduce their exposure to plastics. (Netflix)
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Adriatic: The Sea That Unites (2019) – A documentary feature about the sea between Italy and the Balkans. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Jackson Pollock (2024) – A documentary about the painter Jackson Pollock. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Marc Chagall (2024) – A documentary about the artist Marc Chagall. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Wassily Kandinsky (2024) – A documentary about the painter Wassily Kandinsky. (DVD)
Baby Love: Babies Being Babies (1996) – A documentary showcasing clips of babies. (DVD)
Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House (2023) – A documentary about Congresswoman Bella Abzug. Presented as an episode of American Masters. (PBS)
Breaking the Silence (2022) – A medium-length documentary about people silently suffering. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Eugene Delacroix (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the French Romantic artist Eugene Delacroix. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Kurt Schwitters (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the German artist Kurt Schwitters. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Leonardo Da Vinci (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the artist Leonardo Da Vinci. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Maxfield Parrish (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Maxfield Parrish. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Michelangelo (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the artist Michelangelo. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Toulouse-Lautrec (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the French painter Toulouse-Lautrec. (DVD)
Eastern Philosophy (2002) – A docuseries about the doctrines of Confucianism, Shinto, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. (DVD)
Eden’s Last Chance (2023) – A documentary feature about a teenage activist entering the environmentalism movement. (DVD)
The English Masters: Hogarth (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter William Hogarth. (DVD)
Even Though the Whole World is Burning (2024) – A documentary feature about the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin. (DVD)
The Flats (2024) – A documentary about people in a Belfast neighborhood who were children during the Troubles and now reenact their memories of the era. (OVID)
Genius: Charles Darwin (2023) – A documentary about the naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin. (DVD)
Great Adventurers: Ernest Shackleton – To the End of the Earth (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Irish explorer famous for his expedition to Antarctica. (DVD)
Great Generals of the Ancient World: Hannibal (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: Alfred the Great (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 9th-century English ruler Alfred the Great. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: King Charles I (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 17th-century English ruler King Charles I. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: King Henry VIII (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 16th-century English ruler King Henry VIII. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: Richard the Lionheart (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 12th-century English ruler Richard I. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: William the Conqueror (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 11th-century ruler William the Conqueror. (DVD)
Great Queens Of England: Boudicca Of The Iceni (1996) – A documentary about the ancient British Iceni leader Boudicca. (DVD)
He Calls Me Daughter (2026) – A documentary feature celebrating God as the perfect father figure for women. (Theatrical Event via Fathom Entertainment)
The Heroes of Scotland: William Wallace, The True Story (1996) – A documentary about the Scottish knight William Wallace, the subject of the film Braveheart. (DVD)
The Impressionists: Degas (2003) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Edgar Degas. (DVD)
The Impressionists: Pissarro (2003) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Camille Pissarro. (DVD)
The Kremlin (1963) – A medium-length documentary about Russia’s presidential palace. (DVD)
Leaders in Battle: Oliver Cromwell (2001) – A medium-length documentary about the English statesman Oliver Cromwell. (DVD)
The Legends of King Arthur: Camelot (2001) – A medium-length documentary about the castle and court of King Arthur. (DVD)
Living in the Past: Life in Medieval Times (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the medieval period in England. (DVD)
Living in the Past: Life in Victorian Times (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the historical era of Queen Victoria’s reign. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Ancient China (2000) – A medium-length documentary about China’s ancient emperors, armies, and landmarks. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Ancient India (2000) – A medium-length documentary about India’s ancient era. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Pompeii (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the ancient seaside city destroyed by the volcano Mount Vesuvius. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Pyramids (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Great Pyramids of Egypt. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Romans in North Africa (2000) – A medium-length documentary about North African reaches of the Roman Empire. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Samurai Japan (2000) – A medium-length documentary about Samurai warriors and their noble Code of Bushido. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Seven Wonders (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the greatest architectural achievements of antiquity. (DVD)
The Mysteries of Egypt: The Pharaohs (2007) – A medium-length documentary about the leaders of Ancient Egypt. (DVD)
Operation Carpetbagger: The Story of Henry D. Macmillan Jr. and The William’s Crew (2018) – A documentary feature about a top-secret World War II mission. (DVD)
Pillars of Faith: Religions Around the World (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the world’s religions. (DVD)
The Post-Impressionists: Cézanne (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Paul Cézanne. (DVD)
The Post-Impressionists: Gauguin (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Paul Gauguin. (DVD)
The Romantic Poets (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Romantic era of poetry. (DVD)
Romantics & Realists: Whistler (2006) – A documentary about the painter James McNeill Whistler. (DVD)
Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny Season 2, Episode 1: “Escape Armageddon” – The return of a docuseries about declassified government activities. This installment focuses on how close we’ve gotten to apocalyptic events. (History)
The Supernatural: Nostradamus (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the seer Nostradamus. (DVD)
The Supernatural: Vampires (2000) – A medium-length documentary about vampires. (DVD)
The Supernatural: Witchcraft (2000) – A medium-length documentary about witches. (DVD)
Zodiac Killer Project (2025) – A meta-textual true-crime documentary about an abandoned documentary on the Zodiac Killer. Read our review of Zodiac Killer Project. (DVD and Blu-ray)
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
The Bad Foot Clinic Season 1, Episode 1: “Toe Be or Not Toe Be” – The first installment of a new docuseries following a podiatrist couple in their work. This episode involves a rare and painful genetic disorder. (TLC)
Dirty Rotten Scandals: The Price is Right (2026) – The third installment in a trilogy of investigative documentaries about scandals involving TV shows. (E!)
El Sisi – Egypt’s New Pharaoh (2026) – A medium-length documentary about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. (OVID)
Feds Season 2, Episode 3: “We Sell Babies” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the FBI on various cases. This episode involves an adoption scam. (Investigation Discovery)
He Calls Me Daughter (2026) – A documentary feature celebrating God as the perfect father figure for women. (Theatrical Event via Fathom Entertainment)
Hunt for the Missing: Chicago Episode 3: “The Secret Life of Jerrica Laws” – The third installment of a six-part series following a retired police detective as she re-investigates cold cases. (Investigation Discovery)
Super Bowl Champions: The 2025 Seattle Seahawks (2026) – A documentary narrated by Jeffrey Dean Morgan about this year’s Super Bowl winner. (The Roku Channel)
To Catch a Smuggler Season 10, Episode 4: “Whole Lotta Blow” – The latest installment of a docuseries following U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. This episode involves the smuggling of cocaine. (National Geographic)
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Ancient Structures: Secrets Revealed Season 1, Episodes 3 & 4: “Battling Giants” & “Volcanic Origins” – The latest installments of a docuseries about ancient landmarks. These episodes involve the Roman Colosseum, the Great Wall of China, and a fortress in Sri Lanka. (National Geographic)
David: King of Israel Episode 4: “The King” – The fourth and final installment of a docudrama series hosted by Zachary Levi about the titular biblical figure. (Fox Nation)
The Dialogue Police (2025) – A documentary feature about a police unit in Sweden created to prevent violence during protests. (OVID)
Meal Ticket (2026) – A documentary about young basketball prospects competing in the McDonald’s All American Games. (Prime Video)
Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo Season 2, Episode 14: “Wild Discoveries” – The latest installment of a docuseries exploring hidden worlds. (History)
Predator Hunters Episode 3: “We Have to Act Fast” – The latest installment of a docuseries produced by Louis Theroux following the work of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. This episode involves a teacher inappropriately messaging a student. (A&E)
The Proof is Out There: Alien Edition Season 3, Episode 2: “Bright Lights and Orbs” – The latest installment of a UFO-focused spinoff of the docuseries investigating mysteries of the unknown. (History)
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story (2025) – A biographical documentary about the titular wrestler and professional speaker who has Crouzon syndrome. (Angel)
True Crime Story: It Couldn’t Happen Here Season 3, Episode 5: “Mayfield, Kentucky” – The latest installment of a true-crime series focused on murders in small towns. (Sundance TV)
Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon
3/20 – Spacewoman – A documentary feature about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission. (In Theaters)
3/23 – Keep Quiet and Forgive – A documentary about sexual abuse in the Amish community. (PBS)
3/24 – White with Fear – A documentary about the conservative push to divide races and claim white victimization. (PBS)
3/25 – Homicide New York Season 2 – The return of Dick Wolf’s docuseries about notorious murder cases in New York City. (Netflix)
3/31 – Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom – The first installment of Untold Season 3. This documentary feature is about (still alive) NBA star Lamar Odom. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Netflix)
4/6- The Tallest Dwarf – A documentary by Julie Wyman about her place in the Little People community, presented as the season opener of Independent Lens. (PBS)
4/7 – Untold: Chess Mates – A documentary feature about the chess rivalry between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann. (Netflix)
4/11 – Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever – A six-part docuseries starring journalist Kara Swisher about the latest in longevity science. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (CNN)
4/12 – Eva Longoria: Searching for France – An eight-part docuseries in the Searching For franchise following Eva Longoria on a culinary tour of France. (CNN)
4/16 – Ronaldinho: The One and Only – A three-part docuseries about Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho Gaúcho. (Netflix)
4/17 – Lorne – A documentary directed by Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) about Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. (In Theaters)
4/24 – Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks – A documentary feature about the punk band Lunachicks. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters and VOD)
4/29 & 5/3 – Power To The People: John & Yoko Live in NYC – A multiscreen concert film presenting John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s two Madison Square Garden shows on August 30, 1972. (Theatrical Event)
5/7 – USA 94: Brazil’s Return to Glory – A documentary about the 1994 World Cup. (Netflix)
6/8 – The Root of the Game – A documentary about Brazil’s Super Copa Pioneer soccer tournament. (Netflix)
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I don’t have much to discuss this week. A lot of documentaries are on the calendar, including a massive surplus of overpriced DVD titles for fans of art and history, but very few are recommended. At least we finally get to find out what the best documentaries of 2025 were, according to the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Other than that, the world is going to hell in a handbasket faster than ever before, giving documentary filmmakers plenty to make movies about in the future, if we’re around long enough to see them. Good thing there’s another docuseries on the way about how to live forever (see the sneak peek section). If we might be so lucky, I suggest you spend some of your remaining time binging Werner Herzog documentaries and seeing if you agree with our recently updated ranking.
Without further ado, below are this week’s documentary highlights, followed by daily listings for all known releases and broadcasts, along with a brief look at what’s coming soon for doc fans. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive more in-depth highlights and reviews in the future, plus full access to special posts like our best-of and most-anticipated lists, and to give me more time to watch more (if not everything) available. If you have a doc in need of coverage or a mention, you can reach me at christopherbartoncampbell (at) gmail.
Nonfics Pick Of The Week: 2026 Oscar Winners*
Will Geeta Gandbhir win two Oscars for two different documentaries on Sunday? The 98th Academy Awards are this weekend, and at least two nonfiction films will be victorious at the end of the night. Maybe three, but I don’t think the Diane Warren documentary (Diane Warren: Relentless, now available on Kanopy) will be the film to finally win Diane Warren a competitive Oscar for Best Music (Original Song).
I expect that Gandbhir will win the Best Documentary Feature Film award for The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix), given its dominance throughout the season. However, there is also a chance that Mr. Nobody Against Putin (Kino Film Collection) could pull an upset, as it did at the BAFTAs. Or, Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple TV) could surprise as an audience favorite. Considering even some of the Academy’s Documentary Branch members are abstaining due to new rules requiring all nominees in a category to be watched before voting, there may be fewer votes for these awards than usual. The Alabama Solution (HBO Max) hasn’t performed that well during awards season despite being a strong contender. Cutting Through Rocks (currently unavailable) is the least likely to be recognized, even if all the voters of the category watch it.
As for the Best Documentary Short Film category, I think Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (HBO Max) will speak the most to Academy members who watch all five nominees. However, All the Empty Rooms (Netflix) could pull the win based on its issue and focus on children. Then again, Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” (currently unavailable), which unites some Israelis in solidarity with Palestinians, may be more popular with the same voters who honored the documentary feature No Other Land last year. While Gandbhir’s The Devil is Busy (HBO Max) is my favorite of the bunch (see my ranking of all the 2026 documentary short Oscar nominees), it may not be as timely as those others to resonate with voters. I really don’t see any chance for perfectly a strangeness (The Criterion Channel).
*After the Oscars telecast on Sunday, March 15, 2026, I will update this section highlighting the documentary winners and where to watch them.
Other Documentary Highlights
The Battle Of Chile: Part II (1976)
The second installment of Patricio Guzmán’s The Battle of Chile (subtitled The Coup d’état) turns 50 years old this week, having premiered on Cuban television on March 13, 1976. It’s not as well-known and maybe not as widely seen as the first part of the trilogy, which is famous for its conclusion with the shot of a cameraman documenting his own death. The Battle of Chile: Part II is where events really pick up, though. This installment covers the coup attempt and continued unrest, and climaxes with the end of Salvador Allende’s rule (and life) with a coup d’etat on September 11, 1973. This is a riveting work of political historicism and one of the most essential films of all time.
The Battle of Chile: Part II is currently available to stream on OVID.
Bella! This Woman’s Place Is In The House (2023)
Clearly timed for Women’s History Month, Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House delivers a basic but necessary biographical documentary about Congresswoman and feminist movement icon Bella Abzug (I’m surprised she hadn’t already received one). The form is standard, mainly chronological, but also segmented into pronounced phases of her life and career. The expected talking heads participated, including Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, and Barbra Streisand (plus Letty Cottin Pogrebin to remind us of the subject’s support for Zionism — a more controversial issue right now). But the archival clips of Abzug herself are what do the job best.
Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House makes its broadcast premiere on PBS on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, as an episode of American Masters.
Born To Bowl (2026)
Not many documentaries strike the perfect balance of appealing to both fans and those unfamiliar with the subject, but this series manages that feat. Executive produced by A24 and Ben Stiller, Born to Bowl tries to do for professional bowlers what other hit sports docuseries (particularly those made by Box to Box Films) have done for their drivers, riders, and other athletes.
The five-part documentary follows a handful of notables in their field, while Liev Schreiber, of all actors, voices dry yet jocular narration explaining history and other information about bowling. Like the film Kingpin, it can be enjoyed by audiences who love bowling as well as those who think it’s a silly pastime deserving of ridicule and, like me, had no idea that lanes have patterns that alter the balls’ path. I appreciated the educational element, even if the series tries too hard to be funny, more than the character aspect. None of the bowlers had interesting enough narratives to be memorable beyond little pronounced quirks.
Born to Bowl premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Monday, March 16, 2026.
Dynasty: The Murdochs (2026)
Not to be confused with the Murdaugh dynasty, which would seem likely given director Liz Garbus’s association with true-crime series, this four-part documentary follows the family behind the News Corp media empire. Dynasty: The Murdochs will be particularly appealing to fans of the HBO series Succession, which was partly based on Rupert Murdoch and his children. The makers of the series (which also includes producer Sara Enright in a rare capacity as a co-director) know this a little too much, considering they’ve used a music score that constantly reminds viewers of that show’s main title theme. It’s a well-crafted biographical chronicle, though, and goes beyond what Succession took as inspiration to prove the Murdochs are just as bad, if not worse, at family relationships than the Roys.
Dynasty: The Murdochs premieres exclusively on Netflix on Friday, March 13, 2026.
Iron Family (2022)
Patrick Longstreth, a visual effects artist who worked on Good Night Oppy, directed this documentary feature that won the Audience Award at the Slamdance Film Festival four years ago. It’s about the family of the film’s producer, Chad Faries, but mainly focused on his sister, Jazmine, who has Down syndrome. She’s an interesting character, a firecracker personality who writes original, soap-opera-ish stage plays in which she’s in romantic relationships with Matthew McConaughey and Mark Wahlberg. As with many documentaries on people with disabilities, Iron Family portrays its subject as someone who shouldn’t be treated differently but obviously is simply by being the subject of a documentary because of their disability.
Iron Family will be released on VOD on Monday, March 16, 2026.
Magic City: An American Fantasy (2025)
The Atlanta Hawks were supposed to honor the iconic strip club Magic City on Monday night with a tie-in event during their game against the Orlando Magic. They were forced to cancel the promotion because the NBA is too uptight. So, I wanted to recommend the docuseries Magic City: An American Fantasy, a Critics Choice nominee and former Nonfics Pick of the Week that includes Hawks co-owner Jami Gertz among its executive producers, to show why it’s an institution worthy of more respect than the league is allowing. But it’s not available anywhere at the moment, not even on Starz, which is where it exclusively debuted last summer. More disrespect!
The Plastic Detox (2026)
The latest feature from Oscar-winning director Louie Psihoyos (The Cove), this time collaborating with co-director Josh Murphy, looks at the harms of plastics in our lives. Written by prolific documentary scripter Mark Monroe, The Plastic Detox is primarily centered around the efforts of one scientist leading the cause (environmental and reproductive epidemiologist Dr. Shanna Swan), follows several couples dealing with infertility in an unofficial experiment to give up plastics to see if it helps them conceive, and throws a whole bunch of other things at the wall tied to the same issue.
[Our opinion of this film is under embargo until March 16, 2026)
The Plastic Detox begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on March 16, 2026.
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story (2025)
One of the top-grossing documentaries of the year, Standout: The Ben Kjar Story has made more than half a million dollars in theaters since its late January release. Now it’s heading to home video, where it will continue its popularity. The film is about the titular wrestler turned public speaker, who overcame low expectations for his life after he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. I haven’t seen it yet, but I have heard good things from some of my colleagues. I’ll be making a point to watch it now.
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story will debut exclusively on the Angel Studios streaming platform on Thursday, March 19, 2026.
Awards Highlights
As we head into Oscar weekend, we have some updates on other documentary awards winners from around the industry. The best nonfiction feature of last year, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, won the Documentary Award from the American Society of Cinematographers, for Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko, and it won the WGA Award for Best Documentary Screenplay. Becoming Led Zeppelin won an award from the Cinema Audio Society for its sound mix, and Deaf President Now!, Love + War, and Billy Joel: And So It Goes all won Golden Reel Awards for their sound or music editing.
Documentary Release Calendar 3/13/26 – 3/19/26
Friday, March 13, 2026
The Big Sur (1965) – A short documentary narrated by Richard Burton promoting his movie The Sandpiper. (TCM)
Dynasty: The Murdochs (2026) – A four-part docuseries by Liz Garbus about the succession battle of the Murdoch family media empire. *NONFICS PICK* (Netflix)
Main Street Today (1944) – An Oscar-nominated short documentary promoting community efforts on the home front during World War II. (TCM)
Neighbors Episode 5: “Halloween Competition” – The fifth installment of a six-part docuseries executive-produced by Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein about outrageous conflicts between neighbors. (HBO Max)
The Proof is Out There Season 6, Episode 2: “The Mystery Drones Over New Jersey, Taiwan’s Green Monster, and Spinning Fish Syndrome” – The latest installment of a docuseries investigating UFOs, conspiracies, and mythical creatures. (History)
Twisted Yoga (2026) – A docuseries about an abusive yoga studio. (Apple TV)
Saturday, March 14, 2026
The Blue Angels 3D (2024) – A documentary feature about the titular flight squadron. Presented as part of AMC’s IMAX Documentary Showcase. (AMC’s IMAX Theaters)
Buried in the Backyard Season 6, Episode 13: “2000 lb Secret” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about the odd locations where murder victims were found. This episode involves a man found buried at a construction site. (Oxygen True Crime)
Vet Detective Season 1, Episode 3: “The Dog That Swallowed a Skewer” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the work of veterinarian Dr. Lauren Adelman. This episode involves a dog suffering from seizures. (National Geographic)
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Audioscopiks (1935) – An Oscar-nominated short presenting the spectacle of 3D cinema. (TCM)
History’s Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe Season 1, Episode 4: “Famous Finds” – The latest installment of a docuseries about legendary treasures, relics, and artifacts from history. (History)
MGM Parade Show #4 (1955) – The fourth installment of a documentary series devoted to promoting MGM’s films. This film features a tour of Lake Metro on the MGM backlot. (TCM)
A Plan to Kill Season 2, Episode 2: “Killer Competition” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries on the meticulous planning conducted by serial killers. (Oxygen)
Monday, March 16, 2026
Beyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search for Connection Episode 1 – The first installment of a three-part docuseries about a research project studying awe. (Outside TV)
Born to Bowl (2026) – A five-part docuseries that follows five professional bowlers. (HBO Max)
Fatal Attraction: I’d Kill to Be You Season 1, Episode 8: “Blinded by Jealousy” – The latest installment of a true-crime series about cases involving jealousy. (TV One)
History’s Deadliest with Ving Rhames Season 1, Episode 7: “Missions” – The latest installment of a docuseries about history’s most devastating killers, weapons, battles, and disasters. (History)
Iron Family (2022) – A documentary about a playwright with Down syndrome. (VOD)
The Plastic Detox (2026) – A documentary about couples who try to reduce their exposure to plastics. (Netflix)
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Adriatic: The Sea That Unites (2019) – A documentary feature about the sea between Italy and the Balkans. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Jackson Pollock (2024) – A documentary about the painter Jackson Pollock. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Marc Chagall (2024) – A documentary about the artist Marc Chagall. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Wassily Kandinsky (2024) – A documentary about the painter Wassily Kandinsky. (DVD)
Baby Love: Babies Being Babies (1996) – A documentary showcasing clips of babies. (DVD)
Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House (2023) – A documentary about Congresswoman Bella Abzug. Presented as an episode of American Masters. (PBS)
Breaking the Silence (2022) – A medium-length documentary about people silently suffering. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Eugene Delacroix (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the French Romantic artist Eugene Delacroix. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Kurt Schwitters (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the German artist Kurt Schwitters. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Leonardo Da Vinci (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the artist Leonardo Da Vinci. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Maxfield Parrish (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Maxfield Parrish. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Michelangelo (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the artist Michelangelo. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Toulouse-Lautrec (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the French painter Toulouse-Lautrec. (DVD)
Eastern Philosophy (2002) – A docuseries about the doctrines of Confucianism, Shinto, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. (DVD)
Eden’s Last Chance (2023) – A documentary feature about a teenage activist entering the environmentalism movement. (DVD)
The English Masters: Hogarth (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter William Hogarth. (DVD)
Even Though the Whole World is Burning (2024) – A documentary feature about the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin. (DVD)
The Flats (2024) – A documentary about people in a Belfast neighborhood who were children during the Troubles and now reenact their memories of the era. (OVID)
Genius: Charles Darwin (2023) – A documentary about the naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin. (DVD)
Great Adventurers: Ernest Shackleton – To the End of the Earth (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Irish explorer famous for his expedition to Antarctica. (DVD)
Great Generals of the Ancient World: Hannibal (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: Alfred the Great (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 9th-century English ruler Alfred the Great. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: King Charles I (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 17th-century English ruler King Charles I. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: King Henry VIII (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 16th-century English ruler King Henry VIII. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: Richard the Lionheart (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 12th-century English ruler Richard I. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: William the Conqueror (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 11th-century ruler William the Conqueror. (DVD)
Great Queens Of England: Boudicca Of The Iceni (1996) – A documentary about the ancient British Iceni leader Boudicca. (DVD)
He Calls Me Daughter (2026) – A documentary feature celebrating God as the perfect father figure for women. (Theatrical Event via Fathom Entertainment)
The Heroes of Scotland: William Wallace, The True Story (1996) – A documentary about the Scottish knight William Wallace, the subject of the film Braveheart. (DVD)
The Impressionists: Degas (2003) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Edgar Degas. (DVD)
The Impressionists: Pissarro (2003) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Camille Pissarro. (DVD)
The Kremlin (1963) – A medium-length documentary about Russia’s presidential palace. (DVD)
Leaders in Battle: Oliver Cromwell (2001) – A medium-length documentary about the English statesman Oliver Cromwell. (DVD)
The Legends of King Arthur: Camelot (2001) – A medium-length documentary about the castle and court of King Arthur. (DVD)
Living in the Past: Life in Medieval Times (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the medieval period in England. (DVD)
Living in the Past: Life in Victorian Times (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the historical era of Queen Victoria’s reign. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Ancient China (2000) – A medium-length documentary about China’s ancient emperors, armies, and landmarks. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Ancient India (2000) – A medium-length documentary about India’s ancient era. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Pompeii (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the ancient seaside city destroyed by the volcano Mount Vesuvius. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Pyramids (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Great Pyramids of Egypt. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Romans in North Africa (2000) – A medium-length documentary about North African reaches of the Roman Empire. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Samurai Japan (2000) – A medium-length documentary about Samurai warriors and their noble Code of Bushido. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Seven Wonders (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the greatest architectural achievements of antiquity. (DVD)
The Mysteries of Egypt: The Pharaohs (2007) – A medium-length documentary about the leaders of Ancient Egypt. (DVD)
Operation Carpetbagger: The Story of Henry D. Macmillan Jr. and The William’s Crew (2018) – A documentary feature about a top-secret World War II mission. (DVD)
Pillars of Faith: Religions Around the World (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the world’s religions. (DVD)
The Post-Impressionists: Cézanne (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Paul Cézanne. (DVD)
The Post-Impressionists: Gauguin (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Paul Gauguin. (DVD)
The Romantic Poets (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Romantic era of poetry. (DVD)
Romantics & Realists: Whistler (2006) – A documentary about the painter James McNeill Whistler. (DVD)
Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny Season 2, Episode 1: “Escape Armageddon” – The return of a docuseries about declassified government activities. This installment focuses on how close we’ve gotten to apocalyptic events. (History)
The Supernatural: Nostradamus (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the seer Nostradamus. (DVD)
The Supernatural: Vampires (2000) – A medium-length documentary about vampires. (DVD)
The Supernatural: Witchcraft (2000) – A medium-length documentary about witches. (DVD)
Zodiac Killer Project (2025) – A meta-textual true-crime documentary about an abandoned documentary on the Zodiac Killer. Read our review of Zodiac Killer Project. (DVD and Blu-ray)
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
The Bad Foot Clinic Season 1, Episode 1: “Toe Be or Not Toe Be” – The first installment of a new docuseries following a podiatrist couple in their work. This episode involves a rare and painful genetic disorder. (TLC)
Dirty Rotten Scandals: The Price is Right (2026) – The third installment in a trilogy of investigative documentaries about scandals involving TV shows. (E!)
El Sisi – Egypt’s New Pharaoh (2026) – A medium-length documentary about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. (OVID)
Feds Season 2, Episode 3: “We Sell Babies” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the FBI on various cases. This episode involves an adoption scam. (Investigation Discovery)
He Calls Me Daughter (2026) – A documentary feature celebrating God as the perfect father figure for women. (Theatrical Event via Fathom Entertainment)
Hunt for the Missing: Chicago Episode 3: “The Secret Life of Jerrica Laws” – The third installment of a six-part series following a retired police detective as she re-investigates cold cases. (Investigation Discovery)
Super Bowl Champions: The 2025 Seattle Seahawks (2026) – A documentary narrated by Jeffrey Dean Morgan about this year’s Super Bowl winner. (The Roku Channel)
To Catch a Smuggler Season 10, Episode 4: “Whole Lotta Blow” – The latest installment of a docuseries following U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. This episode involves the smuggling of cocaine. (National Geographic)
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Ancient Structures: Secrets Revealed Season 1, Episodes 3 & 4: “Battling Giants” & “Volcanic Origins” – The latest installments of a docuseries about ancient landmarks. These episodes involve the Roman Colosseum, the Great Wall of China, and a fortress in Sri Lanka. (National Geographic)
David: King of Israel Episode 4: “The King” – The fourth and final installment of a docudrama series hosted by Zachary Levi about the titular biblical figure. (Fox Nation)
The Dialogue Police (2025) – A documentary feature about a police unit in Sweden created to prevent violence during protests. (OVID)
Meal Ticket (2026) – A documentary about young basketball prospects competing in the McDonald’s All American Games. (Prime Video)
Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo Season 2, Episode 14: “Wild Discoveries” – The latest installment of a docuseries exploring hidden worlds. (History)
Predator Hunters Episode 3: “We Have to Act Fast” – The latest installment of a docuseries produced by Louis Theroux following the work of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. This episode involves a teacher inappropriately messaging a student. (A&E)
The Proof is Out There: Alien Edition Season 3, Episode 2: “Bright Lights and Orbs” – The latest installment of a UFO-focused spinoff of the docuseries investigating mysteries of the unknown. (History)
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story (2025) – A biographical documentary about the titular wrestler and professional speaker who has Crouzon syndrome. (Angel)
True Crime Story: It Couldn’t Happen Here Season 3, Episode 5: “Mayfield, Kentucky” – The latest installment of a true-crime series focused on murders in small towns. (Sundance TV)
Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon
3/20 – Spacewoman – A documentary feature about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission. (In Theaters)
3/23 – Keep Quiet and Forgive – A documentary about sexual abuse in the Amish community. (PBS)
3/24 – White with Fear – A documentary about the conservative push to divide races and claim white victimization. (PBS)
3/25 – Homicide New York Season 2 – The return of Dick Wolf’s docuseries about notorious murder cases in New York City. (Netflix)
3/31 – Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom – The first installment of Untold Season 3. This documentary feature is about (still alive) NBA star Lamar Odom. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Netflix)
4/6- The Tallest Dwarf – A documentary by Julie Wyman about her place in the Little People community, presented as the season opener of Independent Lens. (PBS)
4/7 – Untold: Chess Mates – A documentary feature about the chess rivalry between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann. (Netflix)
4/11 – Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever – A six-part docuseries starring journalist Kara Swisher about the latest in longevity science. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (CNN)
4/12 – Eva Longoria: Searching for France – An eight-part docuseries in the Searching For franchise following Eva Longoria on a culinary tour of France. (CNN)
4/16 – Ronaldinho: The One and Only – A three-part docuseries about Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho Gaúcho. (Netflix)
4/17 – Lorne – A documentary directed by Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) about Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. (In Theaters)
4/24 – Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks – A documentary feature about the punk band Lunachicks. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters and VOD)
4/29 & 5/3 – Power To The People: John & Yoko Live in NYC – A multiscreen concert film presenting John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s two Madison Square Garden shows on August 30, 1972. (Theatrical Event)
5/7 – USA 94: Brazil’s Return to Glory – A documentary about the 1994 World Cup. (Netflix)
6/8 – The Root of the Game – A documentary about Brazil’s Super Copa Pioneer soccer tournament. (Netflix)
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I don’t have much to discuss this week. A lot of documentaries are on the calendar, including a massive surplus of overpriced DVD titles for fans of art and history, but very few are recommended. At least we finally get to find out what the best documentaries of 2025 were, according to the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Other than that, the world is going to hell in a handbasket faster than ever before, giving documentary filmmakers plenty to make movies about in the future, if we’re around long enough to see them. Good thing there’s another docuseries on the way about how to live forever (see the sneak peek section). If we might be so lucky, I suggest you spend some of your remaining time binging Werner Herzog documentaries and seeing if you agree with our recently updated ranking.
Without further ado, below are this week’s documentary highlights, followed by daily listings for all known releases and broadcasts, along with a brief look at what’s coming soon for doc fans. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive more in-depth highlights and reviews in the future, plus full access to special posts like our best-of and most-anticipated lists, and to give me more time to watch more (if not everything) available. If you have a doc in need of coverage or a mention, you can reach me at christopherbartoncampbell (at) gmail.
Nonfics Pick Of The Week: 2026 Oscar Winners*
Will Geeta Gandbhir win two Oscars for two different documentaries on Sunday? The 98th Academy Awards are this weekend, and at least two nonfiction films will be victorious at the end of the night. Maybe three, but I don’t think the Diane Warren documentary (Diane Warren: Relentless, now available on Kanopy) will be the film to finally win Diane Warren a competitive Oscar for Best Music (Original Song).
I expect that Gandbhir will win the Best Documentary Feature Film award for The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix), given its dominance throughout the season. However, there is also a chance that Mr. Nobody Against Putin (Kino Film Collection) could pull an upset, as it did at the BAFTAs. Or, Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple TV) could surprise as an audience favorite. Considering even some of the Academy’s Documentary Branch members are abstaining due to new rules requiring all nominees in a category to be watched before voting, there may be fewer votes for these awards than usual. The Alabama Solution (HBO Max) hasn’t performed that well during awards season despite being a strong contender. Cutting Through Rocks (currently unavailable) is the least likely to be recognized, even if all the voters of the category watch it.
As for the Best Documentary Short Film category, I think Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud (HBO Max) will speak the most to Academy members who watch all five nominees. However, All the Empty Rooms (Netflix) could pull the win based on its issue and focus on children. Then again, Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” (currently unavailable), which unites some Israelis in solidarity with Palestinians, may be more popular with the same voters who honored the documentary feature No Other Land last year. While Gandbhir’s The Devil is Busy (HBO Max) is my favorite of the bunch (see my ranking of all the 2026 documentary short Oscar nominees), it may not be as timely as those others to resonate with voters. I really don’t see any chance for perfectly a strangeness (The Criterion Channel).
*After the Oscars telecast on Sunday, March 15, 2026, I will update this section highlighting the documentary winners and where to watch them.
Other Documentary Highlights
The Battle Of Chile: Part II (1976)
The second installment of Patricio Guzmán’s The Battle of Chile (subtitled The Coup d’état) turns 50 years old this week, having premiered on Cuban television on March 13, 1976. It’s not as well-known and maybe not as widely seen as the first part of the trilogy, which is famous for its conclusion with the shot of a cameraman documenting his own death. The Battle of Chile: Part II is where events really pick up, though. This installment covers the coup attempt and continued unrest, and climaxes with the end of Salvador Allende’s rule (and life) with a coup d’etat on September 11, 1973. This is a riveting work of political historicism and one of the most essential films of all time.
The Battle of Chile: Part II is currently available to stream on OVID.
Bella! This Woman’s Place Is In The House (2023)
Clearly timed for Women’s History Month, Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House delivers a basic but necessary biographical documentary about Congresswoman and feminist movement icon Bella Abzug (I’m surprised she hadn’t already received one). The form is standard, mainly chronological, but also segmented into pronounced phases of her life and career. The expected talking heads participated, including Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem, and Barbra Streisand (plus Letty Cottin Pogrebin to remind us of the subject’s support for Zionism — a more controversial issue right now). But the archival clips of Abzug herself are what do the job best.
Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House makes its broadcast premiere on PBS on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, as an episode of American Masters.
Born To Bowl (2026)
Not many documentaries strike the perfect balance of appealing to both fans and those unfamiliar with the subject, but this series manages that feat. Executive produced by A24 and Ben Stiller, Born to Bowl tries to do for professional bowlers what other hit sports docuseries (particularly those made by Box to Box Films) have done for their drivers, riders, and other athletes.
The five-part documentary follows a handful of notables in their field, while Liev Schreiber, of all actors, voices dry yet jocular narration explaining history and other information about bowling. Like the film Kingpin, it can be enjoyed by audiences who love bowling as well as those who think it’s a silly pastime deserving of ridicule and, like me, had no idea that lanes have patterns that alter the balls’ path. I appreciated the educational element, even if the series tries too hard to be funny, more than the character aspect. None of the bowlers had interesting enough narratives to be memorable beyond little pronounced quirks.
Born to Bowl premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Monday, March 16, 2026.
Dynasty: The Murdochs (2026)
Not to be confused with the Murdaugh dynasty, which would seem likely given director Liz Garbus’s association with true-crime series, this four-part documentary follows the family behind the News Corp media empire. Dynasty: The Murdochs will be particularly appealing to fans of the HBO series Succession, which was partly based on Rupert Murdoch and his children. The makers of the series (which also includes producer Sara Enright in a rare capacity as a co-director) know this a little too much, considering they’ve used a music score that constantly reminds viewers of that show’s main title theme. It’s a well-crafted biographical chronicle, though, and goes beyond what Succession took as inspiration to prove the Murdochs are just as bad, if not worse, at family relationships than the Roys.
Dynasty: The Murdochs premieres exclusively on Netflix on Friday, March 13, 2026.
Iron Family (2022)
Patrick Longstreth, a visual effects artist who worked on Good Night Oppy, directed this documentary feature that won the Audience Award at the Slamdance Film Festival four years ago. It’s about the family of the film’s producer, Chad Faries, but mainly focused on his sister, Jazmine, who has Down syndrome. She’s an interesting character, a firecracker personality who writes original, soap-opera-ish stage plays in which she’s in romantic relationships with Matthew McConaughey and Mark Wahlberg. As with many documentaries on people with disabilities, Iron Family portrays its subject as someone who shouldn’t be treated differently but obviously is simply by being the subject of a documentary because of their disability.
Iron Family will be released on VOD on Monday, March 16, 2026.
Magic City: An American Fantasy (2025)
The Atlanta Hawks were supposed to honor the iconic strip club Magic City on Monday night with a tie-in event during their game against the Orlando Magic. They were forced to cancel the promotion because the NBA is too uptight. So, I wanted to recommend the docuseries Magic City: An American Fantasy, a Critics Choice nominee and former Nonfics Pick of the Week that includes Hawks co-owner Jami Gertz among its executive producers, to show why it’s an institution worthy of more respect than the league is allowing. But it’s not available anywhere at the moment, not even on Starz, which is where it exclusively debuted last summer. More disrespect!
The Plastic Detox (2026)
The latest feature from Oscar-winning director Louie Psihoyos (The Cove), this time collaborating with co-director Josh Murphy, looks at the harms of plastics in our lives. Written by prolific documentary scripter Mark Monroe, The Plastic Detox is primarily centered around the efforts of one scientist leading the cause (environmental and reproductive epidemiologist Dr. Shanna Swan), follows several couples dealing with infertility in an unofficial experiment to give up plastics to see if it helps them conceive, and throws a whole bunch of other things at the wall tied to the same issue.
[Our opinion of this film is under embargo until March 16, 2026)
The Plastic Detox begins streaming exclusively on Netflix on March 16, 2026.
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story (2025)
One of the top-grossing documentaries of the year, Standout: The Ben Kjar Story has made more than half a million dollars in theaters since its late January release. Now it’s heading to home video, where it will continue its popularity. The film is about the titular wrestler turned public speaker, who overcame low expectations for his life after he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. I haven’t seen it yet, but I have heard good things from some of my colleagues. I’ll be making a point to watch it now.
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story will debut exclusively on the Angel Studios streaming platform on Thursday, March 19, 2026.
Awards Highlights
As we head into Oscar weekend, we have some updates on other documentary awards winners from around the industry. The best nonfiction feature of last year, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, won the Documentary Award from the American Society of Cinematographers, for Mstyslav Chernov and Alex Babenko, and it won the WGA Award for Best Documentary Screenplay. Becoming Led Zeppelin won an award from the Cinema Audio Society for its sound mix, and Deaf President Now!, Love + War, and Billy Joel: And So It Goes all won Golden Reel Awards for their sound or music editing.
Documentary Release Calendar 3/13/26 – 3/19/26
Friday, March 13, 2026
The Big Sur (1965) – A short documentary narrated by Richard Burton promoting his movie The Sandpiper. (TCM)
Dynasty: The Murdochs (2026) – A four-part docuseries by Liz Garbus about the succession battle of the Murdoch family media empire. *NONFICS PICK* (Netflix)
Main Street Today (1944) – An Oscar-nominated short documentary promoting community efforts on the home front during World War II. (TCM)
Neighbors Episode 5: “Halloween Competition” – The fifth installment of a six-part docuseries executive-produced by Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein about outrageous conflicts between neighbors. (HBO Max)
The Proof is Out There Season 6, Episode 2: “The Mystery Drones Over New Jersey, Taiwan’s Green Monster, and Spinning Fish Syndrome” – The latest installment of a docuseries investigating UFOs, conspiracies, and mythical creatures. (History)
Twisted Yoga (2026) – A docuseries about an abusive yoga studio. (Apple TV)
Saturday, March 14, 2026
The Blue Angels 3D (2024) – A documentary feature about the titular flight squadron. Presented as part of AMC’s IMAX Documentary Showcase. (AMC’s IMAX Theaters)
Buried in the Backyard Season 6, Episode 13: “2000 lb Secret” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries about the odd locations where murder victims were found. This episode involves a man found buried at a construction site. (Oxygen True Crime)
Vet Detective Season 1, Episode 3: “The Dog That Swallowed a Skewer” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the work of veterinarian Dr. Lauren Adelman. This episode involves a dog suffering from seizures. (National Geographic)
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Audioscopiks (1935) – An Oscar-nominated short presenting the spectacle of 3D cinema. (TCM)
History’s Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe Season 1, Episode 4: “Famous Finds” – The latest installment of a docuseries about legendary treasures, relics, and artifacts from history. (History)
MGM Parade Show #4 (1955) – The fourth installment of a documentary series devoted to promoting MGM’s films. This film features a tour of Lake Metro on the MGM backlot. (TCM)
A Plan to Kill Season 2, Episode 2: “Killer Competition” – The latest installment of a true-crime docuseries on the meticulous planning conducted by serial killers. (Oxygen)
Monday, March 16, 2026
Beyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search for Connection Episode 1 – The first installment of a three-part docuseries about a research project studying awe. (Outside TV)
Born to Bowl (2026) – A five-part docuseries that follows five professional bowlers. (HBO Max)
Fatal Attraction: I’d Kill to Be You Season 1, Episode 8: “Blinded by Jealousy” – The latest installment of a true-crime series about cases involving jealousy. (TV One)
History’s Deadliest with Ving Rhames Season 1, Episode 7: “Missions” – The latest installment of a docuseries about history’s most devastating killers, weapons, battles, and disasters. (History)
Iron Family (2022) – A documentary about a playwright with Down syndrome. (VOD)
The Plastic Detox (2026) – A documentary about couples who try to reduce their exposure to plastics. (Netflix)
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Adriatic: The Sea That Unites (2019) – A documentary feature about the sea between Italy and the Balkans. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Jackson Pollock (2024) – A documentary about the painter Jackson Pollock. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Marc Chagall (2024) – A documentary about the artist Marc Chagall. (DVD)
Artists of the 20th Century: Wassily Kandinsky (2024) – A documentary about the painter Wassily Kandinsky. (DVD)
Baby Love: Babies Being Babies (1996) – A documentary showcasing clips of babies. (DVD)
Bella! This Woman’s Place is in the House (2023) – A documentary about Congresswoman Bella Abzug. Presented as an episode of American Masters. (PBS)
Breaking the Silence (2022) – A medium-length documentary about people silently suffering. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Eugene Delacroix (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the French Romantic artist Eugene Delacroix. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Kurt Schwitters (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the German artist Kurt Schwitters. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Leonardo Da Vinci (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the artist Leonardo Da Vinci. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Maxfield Parrish (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Maxfield Parrish. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Michelangelo (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the artist Michelangelo. (DVD)
Discovery of Art: Toulouse-Lautrec (2024) – A medium-length documentary about the French painter Toulouse-Lautrec. (DVD)
Eastern Philosophy (2002) – A docuseries about the doctrines of Confucianism, Shinto, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. (DVD)
Eden’s Last Chance (2023) – A documentary feature about a teenage activist entering the environmentalism movement. (DVD)
The English Masters: Hogarth (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter William Hogarth. (DVD)
Even Though the Whole World is Burning (2024) – A documentary feature about the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin. (DVD)
The Flats (2024) – A documentary about people in a Belfast neighborhood who were children during the Troubles and now reenact their memories of the era. (OVID)
Genius: Charles Darwin (2023) – A documentary about the naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin. (DVD)
Great Adventurers: Ernest Shackleton – To the End of the Earth (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Irish explorer famous for his expedition to Antarctica. (DVD)
Great Generals of the Ancient World: Hannibal (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: Alfred the Great (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 9th-century English ruler Alfred the Great. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: King Charles I (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 17th-century English ruler King Charles I. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: King Henry VIII (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 16th-century English ruler King Henry VIII. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: Richard the Lionheart (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 12th-century English ruler Richard I. (DVD)
Great Kings of England: William the Conqueror (1994) – A medium-length documentary about the 11th-century ruler William the Conqueror. (DVD)
Great Queens Of England: Boudicca Of The Iceni (1996) – A documentary about the ancient British Iceni leader Boudicca. (DVD)
He Calls Me Daughter (2026) – A documentary feature celebrating God as the perfect father figure for women. (Theatrical Event via Fathom Entertainment)
The Heroes of Scotland: William Wallace, The True Story (1996) – A documentary about the Scottish knight William Wallace, the subject of the film Braveheart. (DVD)
The Impressionists: Degas (2003) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Edgar Degas. (DVD)
The Impressionists: Pissarro (2003) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Camille Pissarro. (DVD)
The Kremlin (1963) – A medium-length documentary about Russia’s presidential palace. (DVD)
Leaders in Battle: Oliver Cromwell (2001) – A medium-length documentary about the English statesman Oliver Cromwell. (DVD)
The Legends of King Arthur: Camelot (2001) – A medium-length documentary about the castle and court of King Arthur. (DVD)
Living in the Past: Life in Medieval Times (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the medieval period in England. (DVD)
Living in the Past: Life in Victorian Times (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the historical era of Queen Victoria’s reign. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Ancient China (2000) – A medium-length documentary about China’s ancient emperors, armies, and landmarks. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Ancient India (2000) – A medium-length documentary about India’s ancient era. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Pompeii (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the ancient seaside city destroyed by the volcano Mount Vesuvius. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Pyramids (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Great Pyramids of Egypt. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Romans in North Africa (2000) – A medium-length documentary about North African reaches of the Roman Empire. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: Samurai Japan (2000) – A medium-length documentary about Samurai warriors and their noble Code of Bushido. (DVD)
Lost Treasures of the Ancient World: The Seven Wonders (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the greatest architectural achievements of antiquity. (DVD)
The Mysteries of Egypt: The Pharaohs (2007) – A medium-length documentary about the leaders of Ancient Egypt. (DVD)
Operation Carpetbagger: The Story of Henry D. Macmillan Jr. and The William’s Crew (2018) – A documentary feature about a top-secret World War II mission. (DVD)
Pillars of Faith: Religions Around the World (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the world’s religions. (DVD)
The Post-Impressionists: Cézanne (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Paul Cézanne. (DVD)
The Post-Impressionists: Gauguin (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the painter Paul Gauguin. (DVD)
The Romantic Poets (1999) – A medium-length documentary about the Romantic era of poetry. (DVD)
Romantics & Realists: Whistler (2006) – A documentary about the painter James McNeill Whistler. (DVD)
Secrets Declassified with David Duchovny Season 2, Episode 1: “Escape Armageddon” – The return of a docuseries about declassified government activities. This installment focuses on how close we’ve gotten to apocalyptic events. (History)
The Supernatural: Nostradamus (2000) – A medium-length documentary about the seer Nostradamus. (DVD)
The Supernatural: Vampires (2000) – A medium-length documentary about vampires. (DVD)
The Supernatural: Witchcraft (2000) – A medium-length documentary about witches. (DVD)
Zodiac Killer Project (2025) – A meta-textual true-crime documentary about an abandoned documentary on the Zodiac Killer. Read our review of Zodiac Killer Project. (DVD and Blu-ray)
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
The Bad Foot Clinic Season 1, Episode 1: “Toe Be or Not Toe Be” – The first installment of a new docuseries following a podiatrist couple in their work. This episode involves a rare and painful genetic disorder. (TLC)
Dirty Rotten Scandals: The Price is Right (2026) – The third installment in a trilogy of investigative documentaries about scandals involving TV shows. (E!)
El Sisi – Egypt’s New Pharaoh (2026) – A medium-length documentary about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. (OVID)
Feds Season 2, Episode 3: “We Sell Babies” – The latest installment of a docuseries that follows the FBI on various cases. This episode involves an adoption scam. (Investigation Discovery)
He Calls Me Daughter (2026) – A documentary feature celebrating God as the perfect father figure for women. (Theatrical Event via Fathom Entertainment)
Hunt for the Missing: Chicago Episode 3: “The Secret Life of Jerrica Laws” – The third installment of a six-part series following a retired police detective as she re-investigates cold cases. (Investigation Discovery)
Super Bowl Champions: The 2025 Seattle Seahawks (2026) – A documentary narrated by Jeffrey Dean Morgan about this year’s Super Bowl winner. (The Roku Channel)
To Catch a Smuggler Season 10, Episode 4: “Whole Lotta Blow” – The latest installment of a docuseries following U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. This episode involves the smuggling of cocaine. (National Geographic)
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Ancient Structures: Secrets Revealed Season 1, Episodes 3 & 4: “Battling Giants” & “Volcanic Origins” – The latest installments of a docuseries about ancient landmarks. These episodes involve the Roman Colosseum, the Great Wall of China, and a fortress in Sri Lanka. (National Geographic)
David: King of Israel Episode 4: “The King” – The fourth and final installment of a docudrama series hosted by Zachary Levi about the titular biblical figure. (Fox Nation)
The Dialogue Police (2025) – A documentary feature about a police unit in Sweden created to prevent violence during protests. (OVID)
Meal Ticket (2026) – A documentary about young basketball prospects competing in the McDonald’s All American Games. (Prime Video)
Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo Season 2, Episode 14: “Wild Discoveries” – The latest installment of a docuseries exploring hidden worlds. (History)
Predator Hunters Episode 3: “We Have to Act Fast” – The latest installment of a docuseries produced by Louis Theroux following the work of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. This episode involves a teacher inappropriately messaging a student. (A&E)
The Proof is Out There: Alien Edition Season 3, Episode 2: “Bright Lights and Orbs” – The latest installment of a UFO-focused spinoff of the docuseries investigating mysteries of the unknown. (History)
Standout: The Ben Kjar Story (2025) – A biographical documentary about the titular wrestler and professional speaker who has Crouzon syndrome. (Angel)
True Crime Story: It Couldn’t Happen Here Season 3, Episode 5: “Mayfield, Kentucky” – The latest installment of a true-crime series focused on murders in small towns. (Sundance TV)
Sneak Peek At What’s Coming Soon
3/20 – Spacewoman – A documentary feature about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a Space Shuttle mission. (In Theaters)
3/23 – Keep Quiet and Forgive – A documentary about sexual abuse in the Amish community. (PBS)
3/24 – White with Fear – A documentary about the conservative push to divide races and claim white victimization. (PBS)
3/25 – Homicide New York Season 2 – The return of Dick Wolf’s docuseries about notorious murder cases in New York City. (Netflix)
3/31 – Untold: The Death & Life of Lamar Odom – The first installment of Untold Season 3. This documentary feature is about (still alive) NBA star Lamar Odom. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (Netflix)
4/6- The Tallest Dwarf – A documentary by Julie Wyman about her place in the Little People community, presented as the season opener of Independent Lens. (PBS)
4/7 – Untold: Chess Mates – A documentary feature about the chess rivalry between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann. (Netflix)
4/11 – Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever – A six-part docuseries starring journalist Kara Swisher about the latest in longevity science. Watch the new trailer for the series below. (CNN)
4/12 – Eva Longoria: Searching for France – An eight-part docuseries in the Searching For franchise following Eva Longoria on a culinary tour of France. (CNN)
4/16 – Ronaldinho: The One and Only – A three-part docuseries about Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho Gaúcho. (Netflix)
4/17 – Lorne – A documentary directed by Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) about Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels. (In Theaters)
4/24 – Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks – A documentary feature about the punk band Lunachicks. Watch the new trailer for the film below. (In Theaters and VOD)
4/29 & 5/3 – Power To The People: John & Yoko Live in NYC – A multiscreen concert film presenting John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s two Madison Square Garden shows on August 30, 1972. (Theatrical Event)
5/7 – USA 94: Brazil’s Return to Glory – A documentary about the 1994 World Cup. (Netflix)
6/8 – The Root of the Game – A documentary about Brazil’s Super Copa Pioneer soccer tournament. (Netflix)
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Werner Herzog is a name well known in the cinemasphere. From Aguirre, the Wrath of God to Nosferatu the Vampyre, his fictional films are critically acclaimed and original in nearly every aspect. But it’s with his documentaries that Herzog truly earns most of his acclaim. As an artist, he is a man of many talents, but his tenacity for capturing the human experience at the farthest reaches of the known world is second to none.
Herzog is a filmmaker obsessed with experience — if he films in the jungle, then he truly films in the jungle. Brilliance or hubris, it is hard to decide, but his filmmaking struggles are the stuff of legend. Just read his journal Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo or watch Les Blank‘s brilliant Burden of Dreams, in which we see Herzog at his most broken on the notoriously grueling location shoot for Fitzcarraldo. Experience and tangibility are everything to Herzog; he is as obsessed with the image as with the intangible essence of the image.
From loneliness in the Antarctic to finding kinship among grizzly bears, here are all of Werner Herzog’s documentaries* ranked (*presently Herzog’s Theatre of Thought is unavailable to us and therefore not yet included in this list):
42. Nomad: In The Footsteps Of Bruce Chatwin (2019)
Perhaps Herzog’s becoming such an institution has hurt his ability to make objective biographical documentaries. Interestingly, Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin is technically a very personal film for the director. It’s about his old friend, the writer Bruce Chatwin, who died 30 years before the making of the documentary, but it’s as different as can be from his more notable feature on his relationship with Klaus Kinski, My Best Fiend. It also, despite Herzog’s narration and his appearances on screen in some rather clumsily shot scenes, feels made at a distance from the subject. He’s maybe too close to the subject to properly acquaint the audience with him. Nomad is disappointingly Herzog’s least memorable documentary. – CC
41. La Soufrière (1977)
In the short documentary La Soufrière, Herzog visits the island of Guadeloupe, which has just been evacuated due to an imminent volcanic eruption. He finds three men remaining on the island, and in his interactions with them, the sublime quality that Herzog always seeks to conjure uncomfortably comes to life. The three men are content with death by immolation from the volcano, and Herzog seeks to understand their perspective. Their stories, along with the looming disaster, ground the film in a steep melancholy, and Herzog’s imagery highlights the sheer force of nature and just how unimportant humankind is at the whims of higher powers. – CH
40. Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World (2016)
Ah yes, the documentary in which Herzog meets the internet — let the memes begin. Levity aside, Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World is a somber and introspective look at the interconnective nature of the global digital sprawl. Herzog narrates the film with his usual melancholic eloquence, and learning about the history of the internet is pretty compelling. The interviews with modern tech giants and other creators are less interesting. Of course, Herzog finds his way to artificial intelligence and eventually asks, “Can the internet dream of itself?” – CH
39. Handicapped Future (1971)
This documentary sees Herzog turning his existential gaze on physically disabled children in Munich, Germany. Handicapped Future was made in order to raise awareness throughout the country at the behest of one of Herzog’s disabled friends. For a Werner Herzog documentary, it is shockingly conventional and handles the subject with genuine sensitivity. It never feels exploitative, just shows life for what it is: sometimes unfair, sometimes joyous. And it highlights the fact that empathy is necessary in order to fulfill every condition of the human experience. – CH
38. The Flying Doctors Of East Africa (1969)
The Flying Doctors of East Africa is also quite conventional in both structure and execution. It is wholly unstylistic, and this works well for the type of film that Herzog has made. It is a dense and informative documentary that recounts, through interviews, the stories of many in the “flying doctor” arm of the African Medical and Research Foundation. Herzog has even gone on record saying that it is more of a report than it is a film, and that rings fairly true. The stories themselves, ranging from locations in Nairobi, Kenya, and Tanzania, are told with little flair — these stories do not require it. They are grueling at times and hopeful on occasion. – CH
37. Christ And Demons In New Spain (1999)
Sparse is a term I often use when describing this short documentary to friends. Visually, it is far from desolate. Every frame is packed to the brim with subtext, but as an entire work, it is thin. Christ and Demons in New Spain is the most televisual of all of Herzog’s documentaries, as it was co-opted into the German TV series 2000 Years of Christianity. Thus, it is quite jarring. Herzog’s visuals tell the story of Christian expansion and conversion, colonialism, post-colonial structures, and the ethics of the church. But the narration is done by a third party to tie the piece into the other program. So, as Herzog’s imagery tells its own tale, his meaning becomes obfuscated by a drab and tedious voiceover that feels akin to a third-rate History Channel special. – CH
36. How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck (1976)
Here we have Herzog once again traversing into the realm of the abstract. This film sees him defining the career of auctioneering as the creation of a new language. He sees the work akin to a form of poetry. How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck is a delightfully odd little film, but it asks some truly captivating questions. From the day-to-day life of auctioneering to the life of the Pennsylvania Amish, the doc wrestles with some interesting themes. But unlike some of Herzog’s later works, this one only feels skin-deep. – CH
35. The Fire Within: A Requiem For Katia And Maurice Krafft (2022)
Herzog had the bad luck of having the second documentary about Katia and Maurice Krafft to debut in 2022, following the much better, eventually Oscar-nominated Fire of Love. That film was more biographical and more focused on the romantic aspect of the Kraffts’ story. The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft is primarily interested in the ultimately tragic daredevil element, almost aligning the titular couple’s demise at the hands of the very thing they passionately studied with Timothy Treadwell’s notorious death at the center of Herzog’s Grizzly Man. This is also kind of a spinoff of Into the Inferno (itself kind of a spinoff of Encounters at the End of the World), which highlighted the Kraffts’ work — and their death — as part of a broader yet more direct and intimate exploration of volcanoes. The Fire Within celebrates and largely consists of the Kraffts’ incredible footage. Herzog narrates a bit too heavily, taking occasional breaks to let the increasingly clichéd Herzogian score by Ernst Reijseger erupt over the archival clips. When Herzog admits that he wishes he could have been the Kraffts’ companion and been there in and as part of their film, he acknowledges why this is more their achievement than his. – CC
34. The Great Ecstasy Of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner is a fascinating entry in the nonfiction filmography of Werner Herzog. It is both wholly Herzogian but also quite commercial— made-for-television, even. The film is focused on Walter Steiner, a trophy-winning ski jumper who just so happens to do carpentry as his full-time job. The footage of the German towns that serve as a backdrop for Steiner and his life is quite picturesque. He is an interesting character, and Herzog studies the man with a sense of reverie. Like Steiner, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner exists in a state of flux — the push and pull between normalcy and ecstasy. – CH
33. Ode To The Dawn Of Man (2011)
Ode to the Dawn of Man serves as a bite-sized companion piece to one of Herzog’s best documentaries, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. This short film focuses on the making of the soundtrack for that feature and how music can give texture and language to a time long past. Personal interviews with the composer Ernst Reijseger and pianist Harmen Fraanje help to highlight the creative process that comes with working with Herzog and such an odd concept. It is nothing short of pure magic. – CH
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32. Huie’s Sermon (1981)
It is hard to classify this film as a documentary because, through its structure, it seems that Herzog set his camera up in a church and just started filming. For a Herzog documentary, it is disorientingly objective. Huie’s Sermon consists of an uncut sermon given by Reverend Huie L. Rogers in a Brooklyn church. Herzog never gives the film a purpose or reason to exist beyond the sermon itself. If anything, it is a genuinely fascinating look at religious fervor and the uncomfortable power of inflection. – CH
31. Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds (2020)
After showcasing the volcanologist in Encounters at the End of the World and Into the Inferno, Herzog teamed up again with Clive Oppenheimer for Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, for which they share directorial credit. The film would seem to have a sci-fi-tinged premise, as it’s about extraterrestrial entities, namely meteorites as large as the one that likely killed the dinosaurs and as small as rocks you could hold in the palm of your hand. It’s well-guided by Herzog and very informative and concentrated, but it’s not as personally philosophical or spiritual as you’d expect from the filmmaker. Even though it’s far from his best, though, it’s still Herzog narrating about space and religion, so it’s still better than most things. – CC
30. Bells From The Deep: Faith And Superstition In Russia (1993)
Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia is where Herzog and the practice of mysticism collide. Comprised mainly of interviews and scenes from religious services, the documentary oscillates between being utterly confounding and bizarre. The first half or so focuses mainly on a man who sees himself as the reincarnation of God. His self-appointed name is Vissarion, and he teaches his ways to a devout, near-cult-like group of followers. Later, we are introduced to the story of the lost city of Kitzeh. It is a myth about a city that God, to ensure the town’s safety from Mongol marauders, placed at the bottom of a lake. The hearsay is that one can still hear the city’s church bells, as they ring ominously from the depths. Local pilgrims and priests recount this story with an air of ominous fervor. Devotion has many faces, and in Bells from the Deep, devotion wears the face of a mythmaker. – CH
29. God’s Angry Man (1981)
Gene Scott, a televisual pastor, serves as the subject in Herzog’s often uncomfortable look at the intersection between religion and capitalism. God’s Angry Man consists mainly of Herzog’s interviews with Scott and his family. These are fascinating and often infuriating conversations that make obvious the many problems of the “salvation-for-profit” business. Most interestingly, the film also spends a lot of time with Scott and his associates on the set of his television show, Festival of Faith. We see Scott, akin to a snake oil salesman, urge viewers to donate money to his holy cause, and at the film’s peak, we see Scott unleash a tirade of a rant against the F.C.C. The parallels between Scott and the television pastors of today are all too obvious and alarming. – CH
28. Wheel Of Time (2003)
Tibetan Buddhism is a religion deeply concerned with the soul and its essence, much like Herzog’s films. In Wheel of Time, Herzog documents two Kalachakra initiations and interviews the 14th Dalai Lama. The initiations, one of which is interrupted by the Dalai Lama’s health, are sumptuous to watch — beautiful and deeply serious. Wheel of Time is at its most fascinating when Herzog interviews Jigme Zangpo, the longest-serving political prisoner from Tibet. He spent 37 years locked up in China due to his devout and outspoken support of the International Tibet Independence Movement. The words he and Herzog share with one another are reason enough to seek out this wonderful piece of cinema. – CH
27. Pilgrimage (2001)
Herzog, always one to embellish, opens this documentary with a quote that Herzog came up with, but he credits it to Thomas à Kempis. Beyond that, Pilgrimage has a tangible feeling of natural, waking life. Shots are only accompanied by music, and the imagery therein fluctuates between pilgrims by the tomb of Saint Sergei in Sergiyev Posad, Russia, and pilgrims who have flocked to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico. As an entire work, Pilgrimage is deceptively simple. What it lacks in urtext, it makes up for in a subtext that is so rich and overflowing with human emotion. – CH
26. From One Second To The Next (2013)
Well, this is a weird one. Like, weird even by the standards of Werner Herzog. In 2013, he teamed up with — you’ll never guess it — AT&T to make a short documentary about the harms of texting and driving. Honestly, it is a rather cut-and-dry work, but I put it somewhat far down this list because, when one watches it, they are filled with mental images of Herzog and some AT&T marketing executives workshopping ideas together. If that doesn’t sell you on From One Second to the Next, then Herzog’s ever-humanist interviews will. – CH
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25. Ghost Elephants (2025)
Starring naturalist Steve Boyes and focused on his pursuit of an elusive herd (if not species) of gigantic pachyderms, Ghost Elephants finds Herzog too old to physically accompany his subject on the documented adventure. He’s also at peak contemplation of not his own mortality but the impending demise of all of humanity. The surface narrative is not the clearest, but this film’s thematic storytelling is as deep as anything Herzog has dwelt on. The visual and scientific tri-level contrast between Boyes and the Indigenous tracker companions joining his quest, and Boyes and the lab scientists he encounters later, proves a poignant display of cultural evolutionary distinction, especially in relation to the biological evolutionary distinction of the elephant species being sought. It’s a reminder that Herzog can make any film better by taking the helm. – CC
24. The Dark Glow Of The Mountains (1984)
Subverting audience expectations, The Dark Glow of the Mountains is sold as a mountain-climbing documentary when, in fact, it is about the internal motivations and desires of those who seek to risk their lives endeavoring on dangerous mountaineering expeditions. Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander are freestyle mountaineers whose collective goal is to climb two peaks (Gasherbrum 1 and 2) without returning to basecamp. Yet, we rarely see the climb itself. Instead, Herzog peels back the layers of these men and studies them at their metaphysical core. – CH
23. The White Diamond (2004)
The history of aviation is rife with struggles and eventual triumphs, and Herzog uses a modern-day example of aviation exploration to recount the history of aviation itself. The White Diamond follows an aeronautical engineer named Graham Dorrington, who has designed a white, teardrop-shaped airship that he wants to test out over the forests of Guyana. By focusing on the man behind the airship’s creation, Herzog gets to delve into the struggles of the creative process. Furthermore, Herzog turns his lens from the skies of Guyana to the forest floor, where we see the life of a local diamond farmer named Marc Anthony Yhap. A lot is going on in The White Diamond, and it is a testament to Herzog’s skills as a filmmaker that the film ends up flying rather than crashing to the forest floor. – CH
22. Ten Thousand Years Older (2002)
Only Werner Herzog could pack so much thematic density into just 10 minutes. Ten Thousand Years Older is a documentary short that is part of the Ten Minutes Older Project and focuses on the Amondauas people of Brazil. The film begins with archival footage of the Amondauas’s first contact with the modernized world. Before that meeting, they lived a life akin to a “Stone Age existence.” But after being found by the modern world, the majority of the tribe died — most were killed by the common cold and chicken pox. Herzog visits the tribe 20 years after they were initially discovered and speaks to village elders who long for the life before their discovery. Yet, the children are embarrassed by their elders’ adherence to old ways and overall reluctance to modernize. It is gut-wrenching stuff that Herzog handles with a grace that stands in stark contrast to his immensely serious and emotionally distant voice. – CH
21. Jag Mandir (1991)
A lot of Werner Herzog’s films have a subtext that is concerned with performance, or what it means to be performative in a documentary sense. Jag Mandir is wholly concerned with performance and the many aspects that make up theatre, on both a large and small scale. The majority of the film is focused on a bombastic theatrical performance, helmed by André Heller, for the Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar at the City Palace in Rajasthan. Two thousand performers take part in an elaborate theatrical performance that spans many hours in a single day, and Herzog’s documentary splits up a lot of this with rehearsals that took place over several days before the stage performance. It is colorfully bombastic and texturally rich. – CH
20. La Bohème (2009)
Commissioned for Sky Arts and the English Opera, La Bohème is a four-minute documentary that focuses on the harsh realities of life in Ethiopia. The confrontational imagery is set to the operatic duet “O soave fanciulla” from the opera La Bohème. It is a deeply expressionistic work that showcases Herzog’s documentary form stripped down to its very essence. It captures a specific feeling of a harsh place that is often neglected by the Western world. – CH
19. Happy People: A Year In The Taiga (2010)
Sharing directorial duties with Dmitry Vasyukov, in Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, Herzog showcases the life of people in the village of Bakhtia beside the Yenisei River in the Siberian taiga. Harsh, desolate, and existential — this is Herzog where he is most comfortable (and relatable). It focuses on many fur trappers and hunters, as well as the life of the native Ket people. Herzog’s voiceovers are poetic, and he tries to unpack the specific form of the human experience that could keep people happy and content at the farthest reaches of the habitable world. Ever the humanist, Herzog finds his answer among many other answers, as everyone shown in the film has a different idea of what it means to live in the Siberian taiga. – CH
18. The Transformation Of The World Into Music (1994)
Opera is an often daunting form of art — it is at times confusing, and one often needs a bevy of external knowledge to understand and enjoy the insular world of the artform. But Herzog’s The Transformation of the World into Music invites all types of viewers into the fascinating world of opera. Focused on bringing the operas and music of Richard Wagner to life, this film shows all of the behind-the-scenes machinations that go into staging an opera specifically for the Bayreuth Festival. Herzog focuses on every aspect of opera, from specific music sheets to the finding of the right performers. Furthermore, he does not shy away from the complicated history of Wagner, one of Germany’s most well-known composers. His ties to Nazism and Adolf Hitler are broached and confronted in both a humanistic and damning way. Wagner’s legacy is eternally tarnished, but Herzog argues that his music rises above such controversies. Yet, he also leaves it to the viewer to come to their own conclusions on such a touchy matter. – CH
17. Gesualdo: Death For Five Voices (1995)
Werner Herzog’s stoic face may lead one to believe that his heart is as cold as ice, but if one watches any of his works, then they will come to the inevitable conclusion that Mr. Herzog’s heart is as big as a mountain. That is why it is surprising that he calls Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices “one of the films closest to my heart.” He focuses on the music and life of Carlo Gesualdo, a musician with an endlessly fascinating and unsettling life story. Intercut with scenes of Gesualdo’s madrigals being performed, Herzog’s camera studies Gesualdo’s supposedly cursed castle, the legends of his personality, and the eventual murder of his wife and her lover by his very hand. This is undoubtedly one of Herzog’s oddest documentaries in that a surprising amount of it is staged, which subverts the very idea of what it means to document reality. One of the most memorable segments sees Herzog walking through Gesualdo’s castle and coming upon a man who plays music into the castle’s cracked walls in order to keep the demons therein at bay. – CH
16. Wings Of Hope (1998)
Julian Koepcke is a German-Peruvian woman who happens to be the sole survivor of the fated LANSA Flight 508. Herzog’s Wings of Hope explores her story and recounts the crash and her escape from the jungle. He has a deeply personal connection to Flight 508, as he almost took the flight when getting ready to location scout for Aguirre, the Wrath of God. His flight ticket was canceled at the last minute due to an eternally lucky scheduling error. Herzog and Koepcke fly from Lima to Pucallpa, and they sit in the same seats she was in when her flight crashed. Later, they visit the crash site in the jungle and unearth fragments of the plane, and they then trace the path of her escape from the jungle along specific river routes. Herzog has a sixth sense that allows him to unearth the deepest, most complicated emotions of individuals who have suffered not of their own accord. Better yet, he knows how to handle these emotions in a confrontational manner that is both uncomfortable and somehow deeply moving. – CH
Werner Herzog is a name well known in the cinemasphere. From Aguirre, the Wrath of God to Nosferatu the Vampyre, his fictional films are critically acclaimed and original in nearly every aspect. But it’s with his documentaries that Herzog truly earns most of his acclaim. As an artist, he is a man of many talents, but his tenacity for capturing the human experience at the farthest reaches of the known world is second to none.
Herzog is a filmmaker obsessed with experience — if he films in the jungle, then he truly films in the jungle. Brilliance or hubris, it is hard to decide, but his filmmaking struggles are the stuff of legend. Just read his journal Conquest of the Useless: Reflections from the Making of Fitzcarraldo or watch Les Blank‘s brilliant Burden of Dreams, in which we see Herzog at his most broken on the notoriously grueling location shoot for Fitzcarraldo. Experience and tangibility are everything to Herzog; he is as obsessed with the image as with the intangible essence of the image.
From loneliness in the Antarctic to finding kinship among grizzly bears, here are all of Werner Herzog’s documentaries* ranked (*presently Herzog’s Theatre of Thought is unavailable to us and therefore not yet included in this list):
42. Nomad: In The Footsteps Of Bruce Chatwin (2019)
Perhaps Herzog’s becoming such an institution has hurt his ability to make objective biographical documentaries. Interestingly, Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin is technically a very personal film for the director. It’s about his old friend, the writer Bruce Chatwin, who died 30 years before the making of the documentary, but it’s as different as can be from his more notable feature on his relationship with Klaus Kinski, My Best Fiend. It also, despite Herzog’s narration and his appearances on screen in some rather clumsily shot scenes, feels made at a distance from the subject. He’s maybe too close to the subject to properly acquaint the audience with him. Nomad is disappointingly Herzog’s least memorable documentary. – CC
41. La Soufrière (1977)
In the short documentary La Soufrière, Herzog visits the island of Guadeloupe, which has just been evacuated due to an imminent volcanic eruption. He finds three men remaining on the island, and in his interactions with them, the sublime quality that Herzog always seeks to conjure uncomfortably comes to life. The three men are content with death by immolation from the volcano, and Herzog seeks to understand their perspective. Their stories, along with the looming disaster, ground the film in a steep melancholy, and Herzog’s imagery highlights the sheer force of nature and just how unimportant humankind is at the whims of higher powers. – CH
40. Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World (2016)
Ah yes, the documentary in which Herzog meets the internet — let the memes begin. Levity aside, Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World is a somber and introspective look at the interconnective nature of the global digital sprawl. Herzog narrates the film with his usual melancholic eloquence, and learning about the history of the internet is pretty compelling. The interviews with modern tech giants and other creators are less interesting. Of course, Herzog finds his way to artificial intelligence and eventually asks, “Can the internet dream of itself?” – CH
39. Handicapped Future (1971)
This documentary sees Herzog turning his existential gaze on physically disabled children in Munich, Germany. Handicapped Future was made in order to raise awareness throughout the country at the behest of one of Herzog’s disabled friends. For a Werner Herzog documentary, it is shockingly conventional and handles the subject with genuine sensitivity. It never feels exploitative, just shows life for what it is: sometimes unfair, sometimes joyous. And it highlights the fact that empathy is necessary in order to fulfill every condition of the human experience. – CH
38. The Flying Doctors Of East Africa (1969)
The Flying Doctors of East Africa is also quite conventional in both structure and execution. It is wholly unstylistic, and this works well for the type of film that Herzog has made. It is a dense and informative documentary that recounts, through interviews, the stories of many in the “flying doctor” arm of the African Medical and Research Foundation. Herzog has even gone on record saying that it is more of a report than it is a film, and that rings fairly true. The stories themselves, ranging from locations in Nairobi, Kenya, and Tanzania, are told with little flair — these stories do not require it. They are grueling at times and hopeful on occasion. – CH
37. Christ And Demons In New Spain (1999)
Sparse is a term I often use when describing this short documentary to friends. Visually, it is far from desolate. Every frame is packed to the brim with subtext, but as an entire work, it is thin. Christ and Demons in New Spain is the most televisual of all of Herzog’s documentaries, as it was co-opted into the German TV series 2000 Years of Christianity. Thus, it is quite jarring. Herzog’s visuals tell the story of Christian expansion and conversion, colonialism, post-colonial structures, and the ethics of the church. But the narration is done by a third party to tie the piece into the other program. So, as Herzog’s imagery tells its own tale, his meaning becomes obfuscated by a drab and tedious voiceover that feels akin to a third-rate History Channel special. – CH
36. How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck (1976)
Here we have Herzog once again traversing into the realm of the abstract. This film sees him defining the career of auctioneering as the creation of a new language. He sees the work akin to a form of poetry. How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck is a delightfully odd little film, but it asks some truly captivating questions. From the day-to-day life of auctioneering to the life of the Pennsylvania Amish, the doc wrestles with some interesting themes. But unlike some of Herzog’s later works, this one only feels skin-deep. – CH
35. The Fire Within: A Requiem For Katia And Maurice Krafft (2022)
Herzog had the bad luck of having the second documentary about Katia and Maurice Krafft to debut in 2022, following the much better, eventually Oscar-nominated Fire of Love. That film was more biographical and more focused on the romantic aspect of the Kraffts’ story. The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft is primarily interested in the ultimately tragic daredevil element, almost aligning the titular couple’s demise at the hands of the very thing they passionately studied with Timothy Treadwell’s notorious death at the center of Herzog’s Grizzly Man. This is also kind of a spinoff of Into the Inferno (itself kind of a spinoff of Encounters at the End of the World), which highlighted the Kraffts’ work — and their death — as part of a broader yet more direct and intimate exploration of volcanoes. The Fire Within celebrates and largely consists of the Kraffts’ incredible footage. Herzog narrates a bit too heavily, taking occasional breaks to let the increasingly clichéd Herzogian score by Ernst Reijseger erupt over the archival clips. When Herzog admits that he wishes he could have been the Kraffts’ companion and been there in and as part of their film, he acknowledges why this is more their achievement than his. – CC
34. The Great Ecstasy Of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner is a fascinating entry in the nonfiction filmography of Werner Herzog. It is both wholly Herzogian but also quite commercial— made-for-television, even. The film is focused on Walter Steiner, a trophy-winning ski jumper who just so happens to do carpentry as his full-time job. The footage of the German towns that serve as a backdrop for Steiner and his life is quite picturesque. He is an interesting character, and Herzog studies the man with a sense of reverie. Like Steiner, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner exists in a state of flux — the push and pull between normalcy and ecstasy. – CH
33. Ode To The Dawn Of Man (2011)
Ode to the Dawn of Man serves as a bite-sized companion piece to one of Herzog’s best documentaries, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. This short film focuses on the making of the soundtrack for that feature and how music can give texture and language to a time long past. Personal interviews with the composer Ernst Reijseger and pianist Harmen Fraanje help to highlight the creative process that comes with working with Herzog and such an odd concept. It is nothing short of pure magic. – CH
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32. Huie’s Sermon (1981)
It is hard to classify this film as a documentary because, through its structure, it seems that Herzog set his camera up in a church and just started filming. For a Herzog documentary, it is disorientingly objective. Huie’s Sermon consists of an uncut sermon given by Reverend Huie L. Rogers in a Brooklyn church. Herzog never gives the film a purpose or reason to exist beyond the sermon itself. If anything, it is a genuinely fascinating look at religious fervor and the uncomfortable power of inflection. – CH
31. Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds (2020)
After showcasing the volcanologist in Encounters at the End of the World and Into the Inferno, Herzog teamed up again with Clive Oppenheimer for Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds, for which they share directorial credit. The film would seem to have a sci-fi-tinged premise, as it’s about extraterrestrial entities, namely meteorites as large as the one that likely killed the dinosaurs and as small as rocks you could hold in the palm of your hand. It’s well-guided by Herzog and very informative and concentrated, but it’s not as personally philosophical or spiritual as you’d expect from the filmmaker. Even though it’s far from his best, though, it’s still Herzog narrating about space and religion, so it’s still better than most things. – CC
30. Bells From The Deep: Faith And Superstition In Russia (1993)
Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia is where Herzog and the practice of mysticism collide. Comprised mainly of interviews and scenes from religious services, the documentary oscillates between being utterly confounding and bizarre. The first half or so focuses mainly on a man who sees himself as the reincarnation of God. His self-appointed name is Vissarion, and he teaches his ways to a devout, near-cult-like group of followers. Later, we are introduced to the story of the lost city of Kitzeh. It is a myth about a city that God, to ensure the town’s safety from Mongol marauders, placed at the bottom of a lake. The hearsay is that one can still hear the city’s church bells, as they ring ominously from the depths. Local pilgrims and priests recount this story with an air of ominous fervor. Devotion has many faces, and in Bells from the Deep, devotion wears the face of a mythmaker. – CH
29. God’s Angry Man (1981)
Gene Scott, a televisual pastor, serves as the subject in Herzog’s often uncomfortable look at the intersection between religion and capitalism. God’s Angry Man consists mainly of Herzog’s interviews with Scott and his family. These are fascinating and often infuriating conversations that make obvious the many problems of the “salvation-for-profit” business. Most interestingly, the film also spends a lot of time with Scott and his associates on the set of his television show, Festival of Faith. We see Scott, akin to a snake oil salesman, urge viewers to donate money to his holy cause, and at the film’s peak, we see Scott unleash a tirade of a rant against the F.C.C. The parallels between Scott and the television pastors of today are all too obvious and alarming. – CH
28. Wheel Of Time (2003)
Tibetan Buddhism is a religion deeply concerned with the soul and its essence, much like Herzog’s films. In Wheel of Time, Herzog documents two Kalachakra initiations and interviews the 14th Dalai Lama. The initiations, one of which is interrupted by the Dalai Lama’s health, are sumptuous to watch — beautiful and deeply serious. Wheel of Time is at its most fascinating when Herzog interviews Jigme Zangpo, the longest-serving political prisoner from Tibet. He spent 37 years locked up in China due to his devout and outspoken support of the International Tibet Independence Movement. The words he and Herzog share with one another are reason enough to seek out this wonderful piece of cinema. – CH
27. Pilgrimage (2001)
Herzog, always one to embellish, opens this documentary with a quote that Herzog came up with, but he credits it to Thomas à Kempis. Beyond that, Pilgrimage has a tangible feeling of natural, waking life. Shots are only accompanied by music, and the imagery therein fluctuates between pilgrims by the tomb of Saint Sergei in Sergiyev Posad, Russia, and pilgrims who have flocked to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico. As an entire work, Pilgrimage is deceptively simple. What it lacks in urtext, it makes up for in a subtext that is so rich and overflowing with human emotion. – CH
26. From One Second To The Next (2013)
Well, this is a weird one. Like, weird even by the standards of Werner Herzog. In 2013, he teamed up with — you’ll never guess it — AT&T to make a short documentary about the harms of texting and driving. Honestly, it is a rather cut-and-dry work, but I put it somewhat far down this list because, when one watches it, they are filled with mental images of Herzog and some AT&T marketing executives workshopping ideas together. If that doesn’t sell you on From One Second to the Next, then Herzog’s ever-humanist interviews will. – CH
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25. Ghost Elephants (2025)
Starring naturalist Steve Boyes and focused on his pursuit of an elusive herd (if not species) of gigantic pachyderms, Ghost Elephants finds Herzog too old to physically accompany his subject on the documented adventure. He’s also at peak contemplation of not his own mortality but the impending demise of all of humanity. The surface narrative is not the clearest, but this film’s thematic storytelling is as deep as anything Herzog has dwelt on. The visual and scientific tri-level contrast between Boyes and the Indigenous tracker companions joining his quest, and Boyes and the lab scientists he encounters later, proves a poignant display of cultural evolutionary distinction, especially in relation to the biological evolutionary distinction of the elephant species being sought. It’s a reminder that Herzog can make any film better by taking the helm. – CC
24. The Dark Glow Of The Mountains (1984)
Subverting audience expectations, The Dark Glow of the Mountains is sold as a mountain-climbing documentary when, in fact, it is about the internal motivations and desires of those who seek to risk their lives endeavoring on dangerous mountaineering expeditions. Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander are freestyle mountaineers whose collective goal is to climb two peaks (Gasherbrum 1 and 2) without returning to basecamp. Yet, we rarely see the climb itself. Instead, Herzog peels back the layers of these men and studies them at their metaphysical core. – CH
23. The White Diamond (2004)
The history of aviation is rife with struggles and eventual triumphs, and Herzog uses a modern-day example of aviation exploration to recount the history of aviation itself. The White Diamond follows an aeronautical engineer named Graham Dorrington, who has designed a white, teardrop-shaped airship that he wants to test out over the forests of Guyana. By focusing on the man behind the airship’s creation, Herzog gets to delve into the struggles of the creative process. Furthermore, Herzog turns his lens from the skies of Guyana to the forest floor, where we see the life of a local diamond farmer named Marc Anthony Yhap. A lot is going on in The White Diamond, and it is a testament to Herzog’s skills as a filmmaker that the film ends up flying rather than crashing to the forest floor. – CH
22. Ten Thousand Years Older (2002)
Only Werner Herzog could pack so much thematic density into just 10 minutes. Ten Thousand Years Older is a documentary short that is part of the Ten Minutes Older Project and focuses on the Amondauas people of Brazil. The film begins with archival footage of the Amondauas’s first contact with the modernized world. Before that meeting, they lived a life akin to a “Stone Age existence.” But after being found by the modern world, the majority of the tribe died — most were killed by the common cold and chicken pox. Herzog visits the tribe 20 years after they were initially discovered and speaks to village elders who long for the life before their discovery. Yet, the children are embarrassed by their elders’ adherence to old ways and overall reluctance to modernize. It is gut-wrenching stuff that Herzog handles with a grace that stands in stark contrast to his immensely serious and emotionally distant voice. – CH
21. Jag Mandir (1991)
A lot of Werner Herzog’s films have a subtext that is concerned with performance, or what it means to be performative in a documentary sense. Jag Mandir is wholly concerned with performance and the many aspects that make up theatre, on both a large and small scale. The majority of the film is focused on a bombastic theatrical performance, helmed by André Heller, for the Maharana Arvind Singh Mewar at the City Palace in Rajasthan. Two thousand performers take part in an elaborate theatrical performance that spans many hours in a single day, and Herzog’s documentary splits up a lot of this with rehearsals that took place over several days before the stage performance. It is colorfully bombastic and texturally rich. – CH
20. La Bohème (2009)
Commissioned for Sky Arts and the English Opera, La Bohème is a four-minute documentary that focuses on the harsh realities of life in Ethiopia. The confrontational imagery is set to the operatic duet “O soave fanciulla” from the opera La Bohème. It is a deeply expressionistic work that showcases Herzog’s documentary form stripped down to its very essence. It captures a specific feeling of a harsh place that is often neglected by the Western world. – CH
19. Happy People: A Year In The Taiga (2010)
Sharing directorial duties with Dmitry Vasyukov, in Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, Herzog showcases the life of people in the village of Bakhtia beside the Yenisei River in the Siberian taiga. Harsh, desolate, and existential — this is Herzog where he is most comfortable (and relatable). It focuses on many fur trappers and hunters, as well as the life of the native Ket people. Herzog’s voiceovers are poetic, and he tries to unpack the specific form of the human experience that could keep people happy and content at the farthest reaches of the habitable world. Ever the humanist, Herzog finds his answer among many other answers, as everyone shown in the film has a different idea of what it means to live in the Siberian taiga. – CH
18. The Transformation Of The World Into Music (1994)
Opera is an often daunting form of art — it is at times confusing, and one often needs a bevy of external knowledge to understand and enjoy the insular world of the artform. But Herzog’s The Transformation of the World into Music invites all types of viewers into the fascinating world of opera. Focused on bringing the operas and music of Richard Wagner to life, this film shows all of the behind-the-scenes machinations that go into staging an opera specifically for the Bayreuth Festival. Herzog focuses on every aspect of opera, from specific music sheets to the finding of the right performers. Furthermore, he does not shy away from the complicated history of Wagner, one of Germany’s most well-known composers. His ties to Nazism and Adolf Hitler are broached and confronted in both a humanistic and damning way. Wagner’s legacy is eternally tarnished, but Herzog argues that his music rises above such controversies. Yet, he also leaves it to the viewer to come to their own conclusions on such a touchy matter. – CH
17. Gesualdo: Death For Five Voices (1995)
Werner Herzog’s stoic face may lead one to believe that his heart is as cold as ice, but if one watches any of his works, then they will come to the inevitable conclusion that Mr. Herzog’s heart is as big as a mountain. That is why it is surprising that he calls Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices “one of the films closest to my heart.” He focuses on the music and life of Carlo Gesualdo, a musician with an endlessly fascinating and unsettling life story. Intercut with scenes of Gesualdo’s madrigals being performed, Herzog’s camera studies Gesualdo’s supposedly cursed castle, the legends of his personality, and the eventual murder of his wife and her lover by his very hand. This is undoubtedly one of Herzog’s oddest documentaries in that a surprising amount of it is staged, which subverts the very idea of what it means to document reality. One of the most memorable segments sees Herzog walking through Gesualdo’s castle and coming upon a man who plays music into the castle’s cracked walls in order to keep the demons therein at bay. – CH
16. Wings Of Hope (1998)
Julian Koepcke is a German-Peruvian woman who happens to be the sole survivor of the fated LANSA Flight 508. Herzog’s Wings of Hope explores her story and recounts the crash and her escape from the jungle. He has a deeply personal connection to Flight 508, as he almost took the flight when getting ready to location scout for Aguirre, the Wrath of God. His flight ticket was canceled at the last minute due to an eternally lucky scheduling error. Herzog and Koepcke fly from Lima to Pucallpa, and they sit in the same seats she was in when her flight crashed. Later, they visit the crash site in the jungle and unearth fragments of the plane, and they then trace the path of her escape from the jungle along specific river routes. Herzog has a sixth sense that allows him to unearth the deepest, most complicated emotions of individuals who have suffered not of their own accord. Better yet, he knows how to handle these emotions in a confrontational manner that is both uncomfortable and somehow deeply moving. – CH