Another three months down, it’s time to look at the first half of 2025 and share an updated list of the best documentaries of the year. Some of my favorites are still to come out in official release (including Mr. Nobody Against Putin, which doesn’t have a distributor or release date). I’m cheating a bit, though, because one of the best films of 2025 isn’t hitting theaters for a few more weeks, but I want to spotlight it early rather than holding off until September when it’ll be well into its run. For this edition of the list, I’ve added some slots to increase the ranking to 15, and six newer films, three of them in the top five, have joined the remaining nine docs from the previous version.
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H. Paul Moon is a filmmaker based in New York City and Washington, D.C. whose works concentrate on the performing arts. Major films include “Sitka: A Piano Documentary” about the craftsmanship of Steinway pianos, “Quartet for the End of Time” about Olivier Messiaen’s transcendent WWII composition, and an acclaimed feature film about the life and music of American composer Samuel Barber that premiered on PBS. Moon has created music videos for numerous composers including Moondog, Susan Botti and Angélica Negrón, and three opera films set in a community garden. His film “The Passion of Scrooge” was awarded “Critic's Choice” by Opera News as a “thoroughly enjoyable film version, insightfully conceived and directed” with “first-rate and remarkably illustrative storytelling.” Further highlights include works featured in exhibitions at the Nevada Museum of Art and the City Museum of New York, PBS television broadcasts, and best of show awards in over a dozen international film festivals.