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: April 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:
#112 Disintegration Loop 1.1 (2024, Basinski)

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  1. 80 -3

    Grizzly Man

    2005, in 9 top lists Check
  2. 16 -

    Koyaanisqatsi

    1982, in 12 top lists Check
  3. 158 -7

    Vals Im Bashir

    2008 — a.k.a. Waltz with Bashir, in 11 top lists Check
  4. 24 -

    Chelovek s kino-apparatom

    1929 — a.k.a. Man with a Movie Camera, in 24 top lists Check
  5. 40 -1

    Sans soleil

    1983 — a.k.a. Sans Soleil, in 16 top lists Check
  6. 111 -4

    For All Mankind

    1989, in 2 top lists Check
  7. 189 -3

    Häxan

    1922, in 17 top lists Check
  8. 50 -1

    The Last Waltz

    1978, in 9 top lists Check
  9. 37 -

    Senna

    2010, in 4 top lists Check
  10. 2 -

    Shoah

    1985, in 18 top lists Check
  11. 74 -3

    Woodstock

    1970, in 13 top lists Check
  12. 19 -

    Baraka

    1992, in 5 top lists Check
  13. 68 -3

    Crumb

    1994, in 12 top lists Check
  14. 48 -2

    F for Fake

    1973, in 11 top lists Check
  15. 7 -

    Hoop Dreams

    1994, in 15 top lists Check
  16. 161 -5

    Gimme Shelter

    1970, in 8 top lists Check
  17. 153 -3

    Grey Gardens

    1975, in 10 top lists Check
  18. 46 -2

    Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

    1991, in 2 top lists Check
  19. 101 -

    Dont Look Back

    1967 — a.k.a. Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back, in 10 top lists Check
  20. 248 -8

    My Winnipeg

    2007, in 9 top lists Check
  21. 9 -

    The Act of Killing

    2012, in 9 top lists Check
  22. 77 -2

    Hearts and Minds

    1974, in 7 top lists Check
  23. 147 -2

    Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit

    1971 — a.k.a. Land of Silence and Darkness, in 5 top lists Check
  24. 135 -3

    Burden of Dreams

    1982, in 4 top lists Check
  25. 116 -2

    Monterey Pop

    1968, in 2 top lists Check
  26. 86 -3

    American Masters: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

    2005, in 0 top lists Check
  27. 96 -

    Lektionen in Finsternis

    1992 — a.k.a. Lessons of Darkness, in 6 top lists Check
  28. 133 -4

    The Thin Blue Line

    1988, in 12 top lists Check
  29. 43 -1

    Century of Cinema: A Personal Journey with...

    1995, in 1 top list Check
  30. 64 -3

    Le chagrin et la pitié

    1969 — a.k.a. The Sorrow and the Pity, in 11 top lists Check
  31. 170 -1

    Encounters at the End of the World

    2007, in 2 top lists Check
  32. 218 -5

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

    2003 — a.k.a. The Fog of War, in 6 top lists Check
  33. 88 +1

    Jimi Plays Monterey

    1986, in 1 top list Check
  34. 219 -3

    Être et avoir

    2002 — a.k.a. To Be and to Have, in 8 top lists Check
  35. 209 -4

    The King of Kong

    2007 — a.k.a. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, in 1 top list Check
  36. 18 -

    Harlan County U.S.A.

    1976, in 11 top lists Check
  37. 99 -1

    The Times of Harvey Milk

    1984, in 8 top lists Check
  38. 190 -

    21 Up

    1977, in 2 top lists Check
  39. 125 -3

    28 Up

    1984, in 5 top lists Check
  40. 57 -

    American Movie

    1999, in 5 top lists Check
  41. 200 -3

    The Great White Silence

    1922, in 3 top lists Check
  42. 103 -

    Searching for Sugar Man

    2012, in 6 top lists Check
  43. 49 -2

    Tôkyô orinpikku

    1965 — a.k.a. Tokyo Olympiad, in 6 top lists Check
  44. 172 +1

    35 Up

    1991, in 2 top lists Check
  45. 173 -10

    Il mio viaggio in Italia

    1999 — a.k.a. My Voyage to Italy, in 2 top lists Check
  46. 113 -2

    News from Home

    1976, in 7 top lists Check
  47. 98 -7

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

    1996, in 2 top lists Check
  48. 14 -

    Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii

    1972, in 1 top list Check
  49. 39 -1

    Samsara

    2011, in 3 top lists Check
  50. 141 -6

    42 Up

    1998, in 2 top lists Check
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Last updated on Apr 24, 2024 by Chilton; source