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Vogue's 78 (or 86) Best Documentaries of All Time

Vogue, Oct 6 2021
Largely in reverse chronological order, but with all the Up Series listed together.

Purportedly documentaries that are "critically acclaimed, historically important, and pivotal".

86 titles (including all current Up films which were a single entry on the original list)
1920s - 1
1930s - 0
1940s - 0
1950s - 1
1960s - 3
1970s - 8
1980s - 7
1990s - 9
2000s - 15
2010s - 37
2020s - 5

Read notes
  • Framing Britney Spears

    1

  • Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

    2

  • TINA

    3

  • Disclosure

    4

  • My Octopus Teacher

    5

  • American Factory

    6

  • Honeyland

    7

  • Dark Money

    8

  • McQueen

    9

  • Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind

    10

  • Shirkers

    11

  • Won't You Be My Neighbor?

    12

  • Jane

    13

  • 13th

    14

  • Cameraperson

    15

  • I Am Not Your Negro

    16

  • Kate Plays Christine

    17

  • Kedi

    18

  • O.J.: Made in America

    19

  • Weiner

    20

  • A Poem Is a Naked Person

    21

  • Amy

    22

  • City of Gold

    23

  • Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

    24

  • Citizenfour

    25

  • 20 Feet from Stardom

    26

  • Blackfish

    27

  • The Act of Killing

    28

  • How to Survive a Plague

    29

  • The Queen of Versailles

    30

  • Searching for Sugar Man

    31

  • Stories We Tell

    32

  • West of Memphis

    33

  • Jiro Dreams of Sushi

    34

  • Pina

    35

  • Bill Cunningham New York

    36

  • Exit Through the Gift Shop

    37

  • Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

    38

  • Restrepo

    39

  • Senna

    40

  • The September Issue

    41

  • Man on Wire

    42

  • Waltz with Bashir

    43

  • When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

    44

  • Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

    45

  • Grizzly Man

    46

  • How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)

    47

  • Super Size Me

    48

  • Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

    49

  • Capturing the Friedmans

    50

  • The Fog of War

    51

  • Bowling for Columbine

    52

  • Spellbound

    53

  • The Gleaners and I

    54

  • American Movie

    55

  • Buena Vista Social Club

    56

  • Crumb

    57

  • Hoop Dreams

    58

  • The War Room

    59

  • Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

    60

  • Paris Is Burning

    61

  • The Thin Blue Line

    62

  • Sherman's March

    63

  • Shoah

    64

  • The Times of Harvey Milk

    65

  • Burden of Dreams

    66

  • Koyaanisqatsi

    67

  • Harlan County U.S.A.

    68

  • Grey Gardens

    69

  • A Bigger Splash

    70

  • F for Fake

    71

  • Gimme Shelter

    72

  • Original Cast Album: Company

    73

  • Salesman

    74

  • Dont Look Back

    75

  • Seven Up!

    76

  • 7 Plus Seven

    77

  • 21 Up

    78

  • 28 Up

    79

  • 35 Up

    80

  • 42 Up

    81

  • 49 Up

    82

  • 56 Up

    83

  • 63 Up

    84

  • Night and Fog

    85

  • Nanook of the North

    86