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. 2 -

    Shoah

    1985, in 18 top lists Check
  2. 9 -

    The Act of Killing

    2012, in 9 top lists Check
  3. 61 +3

    Le chagrin et la pitié

    1969 — a.k.a. The Sorrow and the Pity, in 11 top lists Check
  4. 71 -3

    Woodstock

    1970, in 13 top lists Check
  5. 83 -

    American Masters: No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

    2005, in 0 top lists Check
  6. 98 -4

    The Times of Harvey Milk

    1984, in 8 top lists Check
  7. 107 -1

    For All Mankind

    1989, in 2 top lists Check
  8. 108 +3

    When We Were Kings

    1996, in 7 top lists Check
  9. 113 -3

    Los Angeles Plays Itself

    2003, in 5 top lists Check
  10. 114 +1

    Monterey Pop

    1968, in 2 top lists Check
  11. 125 -

    102 Minutes That Changed America

    2008, in 0 top lists Check
  12. 128 +3

    Om våld

    2014 — a.k.a. Concerning Violence, in 1 top list Check
  13. 141 +6

    Obyknovennyy fashizm

    1965 — a.k.a. Triumph Over Violence, in 6 top lists Check
  14. 180 -5

    Let the Fire Burn

    2013, in 0 top lists Check
  15. 208 -1

    How to Survive a Plague

    2012, in 0 top lists Check
  16. 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
  17. 215 -1

    Night Will Fall

    2014, in 0 top lists Check
  18. 228 -5

    4 Little Girls

    1997, in 1 top list Check
  19. 244 -8

    Shakedown

    2018, in 0 top lists Check
  20. 247 -1

    Pearl Jam Twenty

    2011, in 1 top list Check
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Last updated on Mar 28, 2024 by Chilton; source