Letterboxd's Official Top 250 Documentary Films

Letterboxd's Official Top 250 Documentary Films's icon

Created by Chilton.

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LAST UPDATE: March 2024

A companion piece to Dave Vis' list of Letterboxd's official top 250 films of all-time, which excludes documentaries from consideration.

Ranked by average user rating. This list was extracted from here. Updated once a month. This is an official list progress project on all-time stats pages for Pro and Patron users. Expanded from a top 100 to a top 250 on June 27th, 2021, on the list's 3-year anniversary.

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ELIGIBILITY RULES:

• Documentaries must be feature-length (45+ minutes), with a theatrical and/or festival release in its entirety.
• TV series, miniseries, and episodes are excluded but docs listed as 'TV movie' on IMDb are eligible. Exceptions made for series and episodes that also had a limited theatrical release.
• No featurettes unless theatrically distributed, even if feature-length (featurettes are marked as 'Video' on IMDb, such as 'making of' docs).
• In an attempt to combat unintentional fan manipulation, all music-adjacent films must have screened at a film festival to qualify.
• No standup comedy marked as a documentary, nor any stage shows. Exceptions may be made for borderline exceptions.
• Skateboarding compilations are excluded.
• There is a 1,000 minimum ratings threshold.

NOT ON IMDB:
#115 Disintegration Loop 1.1 (2024, Basinski)

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  1. 77 -3

    Grizzly Man

    2005, in 9 top lists Check
  2. 205 -1

    The King of Kong

    2007 — a.k.a. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, in 1 top list Check
  3. 151 -5

    Vals Im Bashir

    2008 — a.k.a. Waltz with Bashir, in 11 top lists Check
  4. 210 -

    The Cove

    2009, in 2 top lists Check
  5. 37 -1

    Senna

    2010, in 4 top lists Check
  6. 16 -

    Koyaanisqatsi

    1982, in 12 top lists Check
  7. 7 -

    Hoop Dreams

    1994, in 15 top lists Check
  8. 24 -

    Chelovek s kino-apparatom

    1929 — a.k.a. Man with a Movie Camera, in 24 top lists Check
  9. 129 -2

    The Thin Blue Line

    1988, in 12 top lists Check
  10. 71 -3

    Woodstock

    1970, in 13 top lists Check
  11. 9 -

    The Act of Killing

    2012, in 9 top lists Check
  12. 103 -

    Searching for Sugar Man

    2012, in 6 top lists Check
  13. 19 +1

    Baraka

    1992, in 5 top lists Check
  14. 10 -

    Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

    2008, in 2 top lists Check
  15. 44 -1

    Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

    1991, in 2 top lists Check
  16. 65 -3

    Crumb

    1994, in 12 top lists Check
  17. 224 -2

    Blackfish

    2013, in 0 top lists Check
  18. 191 -3

    Jiro Dreams of Sushi

    2011, in 0 top lists Check
  19. 213 -2

    The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of...

    2003 — a.k.a. The Fog of War, in 6 top lists Check
  20. 186 -

    Häxan

    1922, in 17 top lists Check
  21. 46 -2

    F for Fake

    1973, in 11 top lists Check
  22. 232 -

    Citizenfour

    2014, in 3 top lists Check
  23. 156 -1

    Gimme Shelter

    1970, in 8 top lists Check
  24. 150 +2

    Grey Gardens

    1975, in 10 top lists Check
  25. 49 +1

    The Last Waltz

    1978, in 9 top lists Check
  26. 83 -

    American Masters: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

    2005, in 0 top lists Check
  27. 168 +1

    Amy

    2015, in 2 top lists Check
  28. 39 -

    Sans soleil

    1983 — a.k.a. Sans Soleil, in 16 top lists Check
  29. 57 +1

    American Movie

    1999, in 5 top lists Check
  30. 14 -

    Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii

    1972, in 1 top list Check
  31. 1 -

    Stop Making Sense

    1984, in 9 top lists Check
  32. 15 -

    13th

    2016, in 3 top lists Check
  33. 38 -

    Samsara

    2011, in 3 top lists Check
  34. 139 -3

    Free Solo

    2018, in 1 top list
    Check
  35. 3 -

    Paris Is Burning

    1990, in 12 top lists Check
  36. 231 -18

    Jodorowsky's Dune

    2013, in 1 top list Check
  37. 40 +2

    Les glaneurs et la glaneuse

    2000 — a.k.a. The Gleaners & I, in 13 top lists Check
  38. 108 +3

    When We Were Kings

    1996, in 7 top lists Check
  39. 91 +2

    Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood...

    1996, in 2 top lists Check
  40. 74 -3

    Sigur Rós: Heima

    2007, in 3 top lists Check
  41. 101 -2

    Dont Look Back

    1967 — a.k.a. Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back, in 10 top lists Check
  42. 98 -4

    The Times of Harvey Milk

    1984, in 8 top lists Check
  43. 169 +2

    Encounters at the End of the World

    2007, in 2 top lists Check
  44. 2 -

    Shoah

    1985, in 18 top lists Check
  45. 18 -1

    Harlan County U.S.A.

    1976, in 11 top lists Check
  46. 190 -7

    21 Up

    1977, in 2 top lists Check
  47. 6 -

    O.J.: Made in America

    2016, in 7 top lists Check
  48. 53 -

    I Am Not Your Negro

    2016, in 6 top lists Check
  49. 118 -1

    Earthlings

    2005, in 1 top list Check
  50. 93 +2

    George Harrison: Living in the Material World

    2011, in 0 top lists Check
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Last updated on Mar 28, 2024 by Chilton; source