1001 Movies:Documenatries To Watch

Director John Huston documents the Battle of San Pietro Infine in December 1943.

A documentary about the everyday lives of ordinary Parisians, done in the style of cinéma vérité.

Landscape shots of Utah with narration chronicling its history by way of The New York Times excerpts from the 1850s to the 1990s.

A tale of firefighters in London during the Blitz.

Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside Northeast High School as a fly on the wall to observe the teachers and how they interact with the students.

A documentary about Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief of Lyon, and his life after the war.

Set in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.

A documentary chronicling the background to, and history of, the Vietnam War.

A surrealist film, a pseudo-documentary portrait of Las Hurdes, a remote region of Spain where civilisation has barely developed, showing how the local peasants try to survive without even the most basic utilities and skills.

An in-depth exploration of the various reactions by the French people to the Vichy government's acceptance of the German invasion.

The true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.

A documentary short depicting a Hauka ceremony where young workers are possessed by British colonial officers.

A short film documenting the seas and shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

In this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.

The document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin.

The document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin, orchestrated as Nazi propaganda.

After General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.

Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee sets out to make a movie about Union General Sherman's March to the Sea towards the end of the American Civil War, but keeps getting sidetracked by his own love life.

Claude Lanzmann's epic documentary recounts the story of the Holocaust through interviews with witnesses - perpetrators as well as survivors.

An elderly, asthmatic filmmaker travels to China, hoping to film the wind.

Kon Ichikawa examines the beauty and rich drama on display at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, creating a record of observations that range from the expansive to the intimate.

A documentary about the experiences of black homosexual men living in the United States of America.

The infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany.