The Best Documentaries of 2016, Ranked

fresh twelvemonth , fresh list . Here are theBest flick of 2017 .

With so many documentaries being produce these days , and many of them going now to TV and cyclosis site , it ’s gruelling for a lot of movie rooter to sail what ’s all important showing . Fortunately for you , we ’ve compiled a lean – not just of the good nonfiction feature of 2016 , but a ranking of the must - see documentary released in every format that arrived this year .

go parallel to our rollingBest Movies of the Yearlist , these are only documentaries that we 100 % recommend – nothing that ’s midway decent or but " interesting . " Throughout the year , we ’ll be adding to the list for an exhaustive case of the unspoilt of the best . For now , here ’s what you absolutely require to track down .

best documentaries 2016

Weiner|Sundance Selects

31.The Bandit

release : August 6thDirector : Jesse Moss ( The Overnighters)Why it ’s great : While a documentary film about the making ofSmokey and the Banditsounds like a glorified videodisc spear carrier , The Banditis actually a very satisfyingly self - contained picture about the marvelous friendship betweenSmokeydirector Hal Needham and wiz Burt Reynolds , serving as a joint profile on both their lives and life history . Plus , it ’s a chronicle of Hollywood stuntmen and Needham ’s contributions to that unsung discipline , a celebration of seventies trucker movies as an offset of the Western , and , perhaps most importantly , a acknowledgement of amusement that plays more to Middle American spectator than to masses on the coasts . And this film , which was made for Country Music Television , is that same sort of thing . It ’s a good ol' documentary for the well ol' boy ( and girls).Where to watch it : flow on CMT.com

30.The Eagle Huntress

Released : November 2ndDirector : Otto BellWhy it ’s great : Bell ’s directorial debut is the sort of feel - good movie you have to actively stress to dislike . Not even the unneeded narration fromStar Warsactress Daisy Ridley , who is also an executive manufacturer alongside Morgan Spurlock , can take away from the documentary ’s tremendous charm . The subject area is a 13 - year - onetime Kazakh young lady who make her mark in the male - dominated tradition of bird of Jove hunting during a major sporting contention . Staged to a arcdegree to facilitate with the cinematic storytelling , The Eagle Huntressis filled with grand airy landscape shots of the Altai Mountains gear up , as well as more intimate moments that have us take root for the inspiring teen on screen and untried women conk out sex stereotypes everywhere . Where to watch out it : In theaters

29.My Beautiful Broken Brain

release : March 18thDirector : Sophie Robinson with Lotje SodderlandWhy it ’s outstanding : In 2011 , Lotje Sodderland bear a haemorrhagic cam stroke in her slumber and wake up not knowing who she was or how to communicate . Within day , though , she began to document her situation and her recovery , recording selfie picture that are now a devastatingly personal part ofMy Beautiful Broken Brain . The film , which also demand David Lynch on screen and off ( he gets a manufacturer credit ) , put us in Sodderland ’s mind to the best of nonfictional prose movie house ’s capabilities . In gain to candidly partake the struggles and insight of its case , Brainalso map her fresh raise sensory perception through augmented POV shots , using visual effect that could have been cheesy in a less work . Where to watch it : teem on Netflix

28.The Witness

Released : June 3rdDirector : James D. SolomonWhy it ’s great : It ’s been more than 50 years since the execution of Kitty Genovese , a on-key crime ikon famous for her death , witnessed by 38 neighbor who reportedly did nothing to help . In these sidereal day of " fake intelligence " and sensational journalism , the incident ’s relevance maintain grow , as evidenced inThe attestant . The film begins as a seemingly small take on the news report as Kitty ’s brother Bill start off talking to family fellow member about the murder , and it expands to a full - on , obsessive investigation for him into the witness affirmation , media account and more , including an unforgettable consultation with the killer ’s son . “ One interrogation leads to another motion moderate to five interrogative sentence … , ” Bill says about his enquiry to bring out and empathize the Sojourner Truth , and we ’re pulled in deeply alongside him . Where to watch it : pullulate on Netflix

27.City of Gold

Released : March 11thDirector : Laura Gabbert ( No Impact Man)Why it ’s outstanding : On the open , City of Goldseems to be just anotherfoodie documentaryabout a popular food writer . But it ’s so much more : a profile of Pulitzer Prize - winning critic Jonathan Gold that caters to oecumenical doc fan as much as culinary cognoscente , and a great cinematic honey alphabetic character to Los Angeles . Through Gabbert ’s lens , Gold , who started his authorship career brood opera and the ' ninety hip - record hop scene , inspires writer of all sort , with his penetration translating to a liberal discernment of criticism as an artistic creation form . Of course , there ’s also a mess of great give-and-take of food , too . Where to look on it : Stream on Amazon Prime

26.Unlocking the Cage

release : May 25thDirector : Chris Hegedus with D.A. Pennebaker ( The War Room)Why it ’s great : A trouble for Hegedus and Pennebaker , documentary film caption with many classics on their résumés , is that their less exceeding but still very good work get far less observance . Many take their talent for award with a standard likeUnlocking the John Cage , but it should n’t be overlooked : the doc follows attorney Steven Wise as he essay to free chimpanzees from captivity , and the film producer do a terrific job digesting the complex legal case . Few directors could accomplish such a unflawed character portrayal that look so much simpler and more average than it is , not the issue plastic film that it seem to be . Where to watch it : In theaters

25.Trapped

Released : March 4thDirector : Dawn Porter ( Gideon ’s Army)Why it ’s great : The only really great " issue flick " of the year is Dawn Porter’sTrapped , which closely follow the employees of two abortion clinic , one in Texas and the other in Alabama . The main focus of the documentary is local " TRAP laws , " which get aroundRoe v. Wadeand make it difficult for these and many other clinics to stay on exposed despite the legality of a woman ’s right to fire her maternity . This being a Porter pic , there ’s also a smashing direction on human being , as she capture carefully chosen issue in a way that makes you just require to watch them , whatever they ’re doing and whatever the context . Where to watch it : Rent on iTunes , Amazon , and VOD

24.Into the Inferno

Released : October 28thDirector : Werner Herzog ( Grizzly Man)Why it ’s great : Herzog riposte to volcanoes , a bailiwick he ’s shown wonderful pastime in before . A semi - subsequence to both his 1977 docudrama shortLa Soufriereand his Oscar - name 2007 featureEncounters at the destruction of the World , Into the Infernoprimarily follows and is co - directed by Clive Oppenheimer , a volcanologist we antecedently met in the latter moving picture . With Herzog always offscreen and narrating , the two friends travel to locations of study in Indonesia , Iceland , Ethiopia , and North Korea , their pursuits of knowledge both scientific and spiritual . There ’s an equivalent of the lose penguin inEncountersin a couple who pays the price of a literally fiery passion . And as a whole , Herzog render yet another essential doc on par with his good . Where to take in it : Stream on Netflix

23.Tickled

unblock : June 17thDirectors : David Farrier and Dylan ReeveWhy it ’s great : One of the wildest , most astonishing infotainment of the class , Tickledis the form of foreign nonfiction story that has to be see to be consider , even if the cinema itself may have technical and ethical shortcomings . Farrier was a newsman for an entertainment TV newsmagazine in New Zealand who began search a likely piece on an activity he hear about on the cyberspace , " competitive survival tickling . " Once he started dig , however , Farrier uncovered something much deeper and benighted – and for the filmmakers , possibly more dangerous – than a queer international meshing of fetish video . It ’s best not to divulge any more details about the inscrutable and controversial film , because it ’s full of surprisal . Where to watch it : lease on Amazon Video , iTunes , YouTube

22.Hooligan Sparrow

Released : July 22ndDirector : Nanfu WangWhy it ’s cracking : Alison Klayman , director of the fantasticAi Weiwei : Never good-for-nothing , executive director produced this documentary about another inspiring Chinese militant , Ye Haiyan , a.k.a . Hooligan Sparrow . She ’s not as amusing as the internationally famous Ai Weiwei , but she ’s also not an artist , and anyway it ’s more powerful to see a more serious subject in similar scenario of dissention and subsequent detention . Nanfu Wang herself shows braveness in her effort to document Ye ’s storey , particularly during a campaign to raise outrage against an elementary schoolhouse star accused of outrage his students . The filmmaker and her subjects are followed and harassed , some are arrested , television camera are slip , and it ’s incredible that we get to see the film at all . Where to watch it : well out on Netflix

21.Presenting Princess Shaw

Released : May 27thDirector : Ido Haar ( 9 Star Hotel)Why it ’s bully : The ripe medicine documentary of the class is a pocket-sized story of an obscure creative person , Samantha Montgomery , aka Princess Shaw . What distinguish this film , and Montgomery ’s situation , is that she ’s not somebody who go from nothing to the self-aggrandizing clock time , even after she gets a minute in the limelight . Haar does n’t seem to care about selling us on her natural endowment , songwriting , or outspoken performance upload to YouTube . represent Princess Shawworks with a unique structure in which the title singer is follow mean solar day to day , oblivious to the fact that across the world in Israel , the viral - picture player Ophir Kutiel , known as Kutiman , is sport her in his latest mash - up project . She is a singular discovery , too , but it ’s principally the doc that shines . Where to watch it : pour on Netflix

20.Dark Horse

Released : May 6thDirector : Louise Osmond ( Deep Water)Why it ’s great : The British do flick involving elderly folks and belittled - town stories very well , and now we know they ’re not just limited to fictional offerings likeSaving Graceand ( the Ireland - set)Waking Ned Devine . In this Sundance Audience Award success , we witness the unbelievable underdog narrative of a Welsh village community that band together to own a thoroughbred race horse , which they called Dream Alliance . It ’s a light , feel - right cinema that restfully entertains whether you care about horses or ordinarily appreciate " dark sawhorse " tales or not – though it certainly does crystalize the equestrian sport and address the classism at its core . Where to check it : Rent on iTunes , Amazon , and VOD

19.The Illinois Parables

Released : November 16thDirector : Deborah Stratman ( O’er The Land)Why it ’s great : Stratman , who most notably forge as a cinematographer on Thom Andersen ’s classical essay filmLos Angeles Plays Itself , tackle another location - centric subject for her own late oeuvre of experimental nonfiction . Featuring a collage of ocular and audio artifacts plus retro - front 16 mm landscape shots and reenactments , The Illinois Parablesis a alone chronicle of the Prairie State presented through chapters on its native inhabitants , its settlers , its most phenomenal extrasensory compositor’s case , its most devastating natural catastrophe and more . Appropriate to one of those “ parables , ” this hourlong essay film is a cinematic crack cocaine that position waste material to all generic historic documentaries . It ’s not so much an informatory backstory for the titular State Department but an affect meditation on statehood and internal identity . Where to catch it : come soon to VOD

17.Fire at Sea

Released : October 21stDirector : Gianfranco Rosi ( Sacro GRA)Why it ’s peachy : A herculean look at the migration crisis in Europe , focusing on the little Sicilian island of Lampedusa , Fire at Seais not an " issue movie , " despite tackling one of the world ’s most urgent problem with great depth and world . Crashing up against firsthand footage of arriving African refugees , alive and all in , is a contrasting perspective of mundanity and innocence , that of a 12 - year - previous local with a metaphorical visual modality handicap and a family continuing a long tradition in the fishing trade . The two position of the film never directly occur in contact , except through the association of a doctor who severally treat both the male child and the tragical cases of dehydrated , burned , and often hopeless starter . That detachment is a brutal agency of the global picture . Where to watch it : In theaters

16.My Love, Don’t Cross That River

Released : June 17thDirector : Jin Mo - youngWhy it ’s great : A huge hit back home in South Korea , My Love , Do n’t Cross That Riveris the irresistible love life story of an aged couple in their 76th class of marriage . invigorate by their popular appearance on a tv set show keep their foresighted life together , Jin ’s documentary film occupy us to the remote mountain home of 98 - year - old Jo Byeong - military personnel and 89 - year - old Kang Kye - yeol , and shows them still playfully amorous – even niggle hilariously – but also quite aware of their looming dying ( or at least his ) . It ’s a beautiful and contemplative film with two unforgettable subjects whose heart and someone are feel in every frame . Where to see it : lease on iTunes , Amazon , and VOD

15.The Event

Released : August 15thDirector : Sergei Loznitsa ( Maidan)Why it ’s large : In late long time , we ’ve seen a number of remarkably courageous documentaries by filmmakers embed in violent condition of fermentation . Loznitsa made one himself with 2014’sMaidan ; as a follow - up , he made a standardised feature accumulate previously untapped footage shoot by eight cameramen during the Soviet Union ’s 1991 August takeover . All film , no television , it ’s the most exquisite fatal - and - lily-white archival material seen in a doctor in a long time , appear so fresh and unexampled as to rub out the 25 year since its images were captured . From this attractive footage comes a powerful oeuvre of historicalvérité . Where to watch it : Stream it on DAFilms.com

14.I Am Not Your Negro

Released : December 9thDirector : Raoul Peck ( Lumumba)Why it ’s great : Samuel L. Jackson narrate this celluloid found on an unfinished James Baldwin ms , voicing the late author ’s words about his fallen friends Martin Luther King Jr. , Malcolm X , and Medgar Evers and their part in the civil rights movement . Like the olympian films of Goran Olsson ( The Black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975;Concerning Violence),I Am Not Your Negrofinds vital and momentous relevancy in former writings and archival footage , with Peck ’s doc bear one of two timely indictments of slipstream relations in America that have long continued unsatisfactorily since Baldwin wrote on its story decades ago . Of the brace ( see the other below ) , this one is quietly more academic yet still quite effective . Where to watch it : Returns to theaters on February 3rd , 2017

13.The Other Side

relinquish : May 20thDirector : Roberto Minervini ( Stop the Pounding Heart)Why it ’s great : An amazing and perturbing feature that may not be for everyone ( though it should be required look at for all),The Other Sideshowcases two distinct and often shock portrait of life in rural Louisiana . One part follows a meth junkie who recently got out of a 10 - yr prison house least sandpiper on his daily routine of smoke and selling drug . The other engross us in the training and debaucherous partying of an armed militia . There ’s an unconvincing amount of nudeness , explicit sexual routine , and illegal body process on concealment , but this film is neither provocation nor poverty porn . It is , however , a variety of reality carrying into action firearm , and a magnetise one at that . Where to learn it : Stream on Fandor ; split on Amazon

12.Homeland: Iraq Year Zero

11.No Home Movie

Released : April 1stDirector : Chantal Akerman ( From the Other Side)Why it ’s smashing : Even without the context of Akerman ’s suicide last downslope , No Home Movieis a significant and deeply distressing effort from the feminist film fable . The personal , broody documentary consists primarily of farseeing , still shots inside the apartment of Akerman ’s mother , Natalia , focused on conversation between the two adult female before the elder ’s demise in 2014 . As Akerman attempt some late agreement of her parents ' account , one of the main point of word is Natalia ’s experience as a Holocaust survivor . The title has a double meaning , but it principally addresses how Akerman still considered her mother ’s home to be her own – until Natalia ’s expiry , after which Chantal had no real house at all . Where to watch it : Stream on Fandor ; rent on iTunes , Amazon , and on VOD

10.Rats

release : October 22ndDirector : Morgan Spurlock ( Super Size Me)Why it ’s bang-up : Spurlock ’s first great MD since 2011’sComic - Con Episode IV : A Fan ’s Hopeproves that the documentarian ’s best when off tv camera and showcasing passionate human beings . The master focus ofRatsis the gnawer in enquiry , and the film takes as much of an attempt at propose a repugnance film as nonfictional prose movie theatre is open . The more substantial unifying melodic theme here is that bum are very important to the lives of a bunch of hoi polloi around the mankind . We receive an unforgettable New York City exterminator , a chemical group of New Orleans scientist almost airheaded in their research of parasites , and even some rat - eff Hindus , who share meals with the small beast they believe are reincarnate ancestors . It ’s gross and eerie and enthralling and perfectly orchestrated in its writing style gimmickry . Where to check it : swarm on Netflix

9.Gleason

Released : July 29thDirector : Clay Tweel ( Finders Keepers)Why it ’s gravid : When former NFL safety Steve Gleason finds out he has ALS at the same time his wife Michel learns she ’s meaning , he begins at the same time chronicle his declining health and his son ’s growth . What sounds like a completely devastating tearjerker is sate with humor thanks to its subjects ' candor . Much of the film ’s footage is shot by Gleason for his personal project , which helps us to be him and his family over many old age in a manner of elan Tweel calls " experientialvérité . " Even if you do n’t have sex Gleason from his football career fit in , the documentary is now engaging and will have you caring about him long after it ’s over . Where to watch it : In theaters ; watercourse on Amazon Prime December 29th

8.Nuts!

Released : June 22ndDirector : Penny Lane ( Our Nixon)Why it ’s great : Nuts!is an unbelievable animated folk story about people getting screwed in more ways than one . Main field of study John R. Brinkley was a medical mountebank who promised to heal impotence by way of a goat testicle graft during the Great Depression . The biography , which bring like aCitizen Kaneof quackery with a good deal of sound - trial reenactment , is difficult to keep straight as a whole true business relationship , as it veer into tall - tale territory and has legerdemain up its own sleeve . Plenty of documentaries show us unusual story , but few have this much play doing so . Lane has trump up something unfermented with old - timey charms – a pure pleasure . Where to watch it : Stream on Amazon Prime ; rent on iTunes and Amazon

7.13th

Released : October 7thDirector : Ava DuVernay ( Selma)Why it ’s great : As DuVernay indicate , the film is a primer , but not only that . The title refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution , which get rid of thraldom in the US " except as a penalty for crime , " and the infotainment research how the enslavement of African - Americans has continue by way of the constant criminalization of their race . There is much more to the stories of the drug warfare and mass immurement and other exit addressed than is found here , but as a appetiser it ’s an alarm ring loud . And this is an authoritative pic in craftsmanship as much as mental object , with its positive propagandic flashes of text and its powerful use of montage . Where to see it decently now : Stream on Netflix

6.Zero Days

Released : July 8thDirector : Alex Gibney ( proceed Clear : Scientology and the Prison of Belief)Why it ’s great : Gibney makes so many films that a lot of them can feel unpolished , and quite a few go unnoticed . ButZero Daysis one of his most meticulous work , and as a result is his most fulfilling in years . Not only is it a chilling revelation of how cyber war is unseating nukes as a much scarier scourge , its specific focus on the Stuxnet virus show how such artillery are already being deploy . The documentary , which plays as intensely as any Hollywood spy thriller , also proves Gibney is the original of finding groundbreaking and cagy ways to make talk - head interview visually interesting , even when a majority of the cite source on a labor want or take to persist anonymous . Where to watch it : Stream on Showtime or Hulu ; rent on iTunes , Amazon , and VOD

5.Under the Sun

Released : July 6thDirector : Vitaly Mansky ( Pipeline)Why it ’s great : Mansky is a serious infotainment filmmaker of the non - busy observational custom who was countenance to shoot a characteristic in North Korea about a immature little girl and her family as she prepares to connect the Young Pioneer Corps of the Korean Children ’s Union . However , the state insisted on approving everything he did , and wound up casting and stage the whole affair , with multiple takes for every guessing . Mansky managed to record each circle - up and shot on two retentivity cards , so one would be turned over and censored while the other was smuggled out and employed for his feature . The resultant role is a closemouthed observation of the propagandic process , as well as a spotlight on the Communist area ’s indoctrination practice . Where to ascertain it : Stream on Netflix

4.Weiner

Released : May 20thDirectors : Josh Kriegman and Elyse SteinbergWhy it ’s great : Anthony Weiner is among the all - time corking documentary subjects . The disgraced politico is a tragical character who opened his sprightliness up to television camera to document his replication from a preceding sexting outrage – only for them to charm his fall , another sexting outrage that cost him the New York City mayoral election . Weiner is also one of the most self - aware and documental - savvy subjects , making him absorbing to watch for his contradictory intelligence activity and behaviors . Weiner , which manages such penetrating admittance because Kriegman was a trusted ex - employee of the former congressman , is a political masterpiece and sucha unadulterated filmfor what ’s plough out to be a disturbed election class – as well as a year that ’s seen the topic proceed to spiral downward . Where to watch it : pour on Showtime and Hulu , Rent on iTunes , Amazon , and VOD

3.Kate Plays Christine

turn : August 29thDirector : Robert Greene ( Actress)Why it ’s great : Of this year ’s two movie about Christine Chubbuck , the Sarasota newscaster who killed herself on melodic line in 1974,Kate wager Christineis the documentary version , though it ’s as unlawful a doc as you ’ll find oneself . Greene cooperate with actress Kate Lyn Sheil ( House of Cards ) , whom he follows through the process of research the role of Chubbuck to also limn her in this very film . There is still a lot of room for traditional nonfictional prose elements , such as talk - head interviews conducted by way of Sheil ’s own probe into Chubbuck ’s life and last . Atop typical documentary image is one of the most innovative , complex , and psychological nonfiction films ever made . Where to watch it : In house

2.O.J.: Made in America

Released : June 11thDirector : Ezra Edelman ( Requiem for the Big East)Why it ’s nifty : Another documentary with an almostequally expectant spectacular counterpart , O.J. Simpson : Made in America– viewed as either a nearly eight - hour feature or a five - part miniseries – is not just about the O.J. Simpson slaying test . That is the centrepiece of the docudrama , though , as it first explores Simpson ’s former biography and a history of race relations in the US , particularly in Los Angeles , which culminate in that legal circus . Then it continues the taradiddle of both the man and the country , in what would seem to be the longest epilogue ever but is one of the most sharp third acts ever produced for a nonfiction film . Where to check it : rain cats and dogs Episode 1 on Hulu ; stream the entire serial on ESPN.com

1.Cameraperson

release : September 9thDirector : Kirsten Johnson ( Deadline)Why it ’s great : Camerapersonis everything . It ’s a unique cinematic memoir , which Johnson compile from material she charge as a cinematographer for legion documentaries ( including this year’sTrapped ) , plus some more personal footage she recorded of her Alzheimer’s - afflict mother . It ’s also a broad look at the 21st century through the various films Johnson reference ( others includeCitizenfourandDarfur Now ) , present an outside portraiture of state of war and racial extermination and other human right horrors , but also some sublime human - interest taradiddle too . And it ’s a peek under the pall of documentary filmmaking , exposing even more than what ’s usually see in the typically reflexive field of nonfiction cinema . There ’s never been a film like this , and there will never be another of its kind , either . Where to watch it : In theaters

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