The British are frequently considered the best journalists on the planet, so it adds up that they would make fantastic documentaries. This list of the best British documentaries spans a wide range of topics with one constant: they are all excellent examples of British documentary filmmaking. Whether you're from the UK or not, if you enjoy documentaries and British perspective, then you you'll want to watch the films below.
Exit Through the Gift Shop was directed by famous graffiti artist Banksy, and tells the story of Thierry Guetta, who become known as the graffiti artist Mr. Brainwash. To this day people still aren’t sure whether or not the entire project was a hoax orchestrated by Banksy.
Dont Look Back documented Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of the UK. It is widely considered to be one of the finest documentaries ever made.
Which of these English documentaries are your favorites? Vote them to the top of the list, and add any to the poll that aren't already here.
list ordered by
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The Thin Blue Line
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Exit Through the Gift Shop Watch for Free with Amazon Prime Free Trial "In the late 1990s, a hybrid form of graffiti began appearing in cities around the world. Enlisting stickers, stencils, posters, and sculpture and spread by the burgeoning Internet, it ...more
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9 3
Cracked Actor Cracked Actor is a 53-minute-long BBC television documentary film about the rock star David Bowie. It was filmed in 1974. At the time he was a cocaine addict and the documentary has become ...more
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5 1
Chronicle of a SummerRégis Debray, Marceline Loridan Ivens, Landry Chronique d'un été is a documentary film made during the summer of 1960 by sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch, with the technical and aesthetic ...more
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5 1
Dont Look Back Dont Look Back [sic] is a 1967 American documentary film by D. A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in the United Kingdom. In 1998 the film was selected for preservation in ...more
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6 3
The Up Series
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6 4
Sans Soleil
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5 3
Grey Gardens Grey Gardens is a 1975 American documentary film by Albert and David Maysles. Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer also directed, and Susan Froemke was the associate producer. Although Susan Froemke is ...more
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4 2
Nanook of the NorthNyla, Allakariallak, Cunayou Nanook of the North is a 1922 American silent documentary film by Robert J. Flaherty, with elements of docudrama, at a time when separating films into documentary and drama did not yet exist. In ...more
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Man with a Movie Camera Man with a Movie Camera is an experimental 1929 silent documentary film, with no story and no actors, by Soviet director Dziga Vertov, edited by his wife Elizaveta Svilova. Vertov's feature ...more
Nostalgia for the Light Nostalgia for the Light is a 2010 documentary drama written and directed by Patricio Guzmán. "In Chile, at three thousand metres altitude, astronomers from all over the world gather ...more
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2 1
West of the Tracks
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2 1
The Sorrow and the Pity The Sorrow and the Pity is a two-part 1969 documentary film by Marcel Ophüls about the collaboration between the Vichy government and Nazi Germany during World War II. The film uses ...more
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2 2
Listen to BritainBud Flanagan, Chesney Allen Listen to Britain is a 1942 British propaganda short film by Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister. The film was produced during World War II by the Crown Film Unit, an organisation within ...more
The House is Black The House Is Black is an acclaimed Iranian documentary short film directed by Forough Farrokhzad. The film is a look at life and suffering in a leper colony and focuses on the human condition ...more
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Land without Bread Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan, is a 27-minute-long documentary film directed by Luis Buñuel and co-produced by Buñuel and Ramon Acin. The narration was written by Buñuel, ...more
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2 2
F for FakePeter Bogdanovich, Joseph Cotten, Elmyr de Hory F for Fake is the last major film completed by Orson Welles, who directed, co-wrote, and starred in the film. Initially released in 1974, it focuses on Elmyr de Hory's recounting of his career ...more
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1 1
Harlan County U.S.A.
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1 1
SalesmanMelbourne I. Feltman, Kennie Turner, Margaret McCarron Salesman is a 1969 direct cinema documentary film directed by brothers Albert and David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin.
Shoah Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann about the Holocaust. The film primarily consists of his interviews and visits to German Holocaust sites across Poland, ...more
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2 3
The Gleaners and I The Gleaners and I is a 2000 French documentary film by Agnès Varda that features various kinds of gleaning. It was entered into competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, and later ...more
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2 3
Hoop Dreams
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1 2
The Battle of Chile
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1 2
Histoire(s) du Cinema
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1 3
Titicut Follies Titicut Follies is a 1967 American documentary film directed by Frederick Wiseman and filmed by John Marshall, about the patient-inmates of Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane, ...more
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0 2
HelveticaDavid Carson, Stefan Sagmeister, Neville Brody Iraqi film student Muthana Mohmed gets his dream job working on a Hollywood movie, where expectations and misunderstandings collide. / Iraqi film student Muthana Mohmed, whose school was ...more
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0 2
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches OnKenzo Okuzaki The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On is a 1987 Japanese war documentary film by director Kazuo Hara. The documentary centers on 62-year-old veteran of Japan's Second World War campaign in New ...more
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0 2
Capturing the Friedmans Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS was the most riveting, provocative, and hotly debated film of the year. Despite their predilection for ...more
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1 4
The Act of Killing The Act of Killing is a 2012 documentary film directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous and Christine Cynn.
