Biography
This documentary sub-heading is one of the most popular forms of non-fiction film. The biography details the lives - usually the achievements and faults of - noted or notorious public figures. Also included, alongside other movie types, are profiles of everyday people and their human interest stories.
Biggie and Tupac (2002)
6.8/10
Director: Nick Broomfield
Starring: The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Nick Broomfield
The hit of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, "Biggie & Tupac" investigates the still unsolved murders of rap superstars Christopher Wallace (a.k.a. Big... Read more
Grey Gardens (1976)
7.7/10
Director: Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer
A unique film portrait of Edith and Edie Bouvier Beale, a mother/daughter duo of former socialites, relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, who lived a r... Read more
No Ordinary Sheila (2017)
8.7/10
Director: Hugh Macdonald
Documentary on writer and illustrator Sheila Natusch, retracing a long life dedicated to sharing her love of New Zealands nature and history. Read more
Little Dieter Needs To Fly (1998)
8.1/10
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Werner Herzog, Dieter Dengler
A fascinating documentary about Dieter Dengler, born in the Black Forest of Germany. As a child, he watched his village destroyed by American warplane... Read more
Amy (2015)
7.8/10
Director: Asif Kapadia
Starring: Amy Winehouse
To hear Amy Winehouse sing numbers like 'Back to Black' and 'Love Is a Losing Game' in Asif Kapadia's sensitive and extraordinary documentary Amy is t... Read more
El Che: Investigating a Legend (1997)
8.4/10
Director: Maurice Dugowson
Ernesto 'Che' Guevara de la Serna represents one of the most enduring images of a political leader. His legendary character has been an inspiration fo... Read more
In Search of Shakespeare (2004)
8.2/10
Director: David Wallace
Starring: Michael Wood
He is the most famous of Englishmen, and yet our biographical knowledge of William Shakespeare has always been scant. Now Michael Wood - with the help... Read more
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993)
8/10
Director: Ray Muller
Starring: Leni Riefenstahl
Despite her fame as an actress and director in the '20s and '30s, German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl will best be remembered as the creator of the mode... Read more
The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (2013)
6.8/10
Director: Dayna Goldfine, Daniel Geller
Darwin meets Hitchcock in this true-crime tale of paradise found and lost, a fascinating documentary portrait of a 1930s murder mystery as strange and... Read more
Stories We Tell (2012)
7.6/10
Director: Sarah Polley
In this inspired, genre-twisting documentary, writer/director Sarah Polley ("Away From Her") discovers that the truth depends on who's telling it. Pol... Read more