Every documentary film here was chosen with a movie marathon in mind. These aren't algorithmically ranked, they were chosen because they actually work for this.
The best documentary movies for a movie marathon from the 80s and 90s that will restore your faith in humanity. Includes Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Free Solo...
A movie marathon lives or dies on the quality of its list. Start strong, vary the pace, and make sure at least one film in the sequence is one nobody in the room has seen.
Go back far enough and you find films that had no idea they'd become classics. The 80s and 90s produced more of them than any other era.
A great documentary finds the universal in the specific. One person's story becomes everyone's story.
An intimate look at America's favourite neighbor and the life, lessons, and legacy of Fred Rogers.
Follow Alex Honnold as he attempts to become the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite's El Capitan.
An in-depth look at the US prison system and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock musician Rodriguez.
What makes a documentary essential viewing is specificity. These films don't deal in generalities - they follow real people making impossible choices in real moments.
A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, and illegal, high-wire routine performed between the World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974.
When Bryan Fogel sets out to uncover the truth about doping in sports, a chance meeting with a Russian scientist transforms his project into a geopolitical thriller.
A documentary about the 1965-66 Indonesian mass killings, in which former paramilitary leaders re-enact their crimes.
There are films that remind you, without sentimentality, that people are capable of extraordinary things. These are some of them.
The best documentaries don't resolve neatly. They give you something to carry. These do that.
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