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Letterboxd Top 250 Documentaries: The Full List

Letterboxd's Top 250 Documentaries ranks the best documentaries on Letterboxd — the highest-rated non-fiction films on the site, from concert films and true crime to first-person essay films. The list below is pulled straight from Letterboxd and refreshed regularly, so it stays in sync with the current ranking.

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The full Top 250 Documentaries list

  1. 1.Stop Making Sense (1984)
  2. 2.No Other Land (2024)
  3. 3.Paris Is Burning (1990)
  4. 4.Shoah (1985)
  5. 5.As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (2000)
  6. 6.O.J.: Made in America (2016)
  7. 7.Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1972)
  8. 8.Hoop Dreams (1994)
  9. 9.The Act of Killing (2012)
  10. 10.Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
  11. 11.Streetwise (1984)
  12. 12.For Sama (2019)
  13. 13.Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
  14. 14.20 Days in Mariupol (2023)
  15. 15.Twenty Years Later (1984)
  16. 16.The Look of Silence (2014)
  17. 17.It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley (2025)
  18. 18.Baraka (1992)
  19. 19.The Beaches of Agnès (2008)
  20. 20.Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
  21. 21.The Battle of Chile: Part II (1976)
  22. 22.The Battle of Chile: Part I (1975)
  23. 23.The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)
  24. 24.13th (2016)
  25. 25.Ocean with David Attenborough (2025)
  26. 26.2000 Meters to Andriivka (2025)
  27. 27.Minding the Gap (2018)
  28. 28.Master, a Building in Copacabana (2002)
  29. 29.Life of Crime: 1984-2020 (2021)
  30. 30.Playing (2007)
  31. 31.Noah Kahan: Out of Body (2026)
  32. 32.David Byrne's American Utopia (2020)
  33. 33.Dominion (2018)
  34. 34.Senna (2010)
  35. 35.Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
  36. 36.The Gleaners and I (2000)
  37. 37.The Last Waltz (1978)
  38. 38.Tongues Untied (1989)
  39. 39.Five Broken Cameras (2011)
  40. 40.The Salt of the Earth (2014)
  41. 41.The Encampments (2025)
  42. 42.Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron (2024)
  43. 43.Samsara (2011)
  44. 44.Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus (2023)
  45. 45.All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022)
  46. 46.Flee (2021)
  47. 47.Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
  48. 48.Louis Theroux: The Settlers (2025)
  49. 49.Prince: Sign 'o' the Times (1987)
  50. 50.F for Fake (1973)
  51. 51.Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
  52. 52.Human (2015)
  53. 53.Daughters (2024)
  54. 54.David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)
  55. 55.American Movie (1999)
  56. 56.I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
  57. 57.Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
  58. 58.Tokyo Olympiad (1965)
  59. 59.Sans Soleil (1983)
  60. 60.The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (2022)
  61. 61.Woodstock (1970)
  62. 62.9/11 (2002)
  63. 63.The Metamorphosis of Birds (2020)
  64. 64.Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
  65. 65.LA 92 (2017)
  66. 66.Crumb (1994)
  67. 67.No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)
  68. 68.Hearts and Minds (1974)
  69. 69.HyperNormalisation (2016)
  70. 70.Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1979)
  71. 71.Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: One More Time with Feeling (2016)
  72. 72.The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo (2020)
  73. 73.Lessons of Darkness (1992)
  74. 74.Blue (1993)
  75. 75.The Alabama Solution (2025)
  76. 76.Riverboom (2023)
  77. 77.Fire of Love (2022)
  78. 78.Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024)
  79. 79.Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
  80. 80.Love, Deutschmarks and Death (2022)
  81. 81.Faces Places (2017)
  82. 82.Grizzly Man (2005)
  83. 83.Shinjuku Boys (1995)
  84. 84.The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
  85. 85.Dont Look Back (1967)
  86. 86.They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
  87. 87.Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996)
  88. 88.Cameraperson (2016)
  89. 89.The Rescue (2021)
  90. 90.When We Were Kings (1996)
  91. 91.Microcosmos (1996)
  92. 92.The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024)
  93. 93.The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005)
  94. 94.Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA (2017)
  95. 95.Monterey Pop (1968)
  96. 96.The Golden Spurtle (2025)
  97. 97.For All Mankind (1989)
  98. 98.Ennio (2021)
  99. 99.A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough (2026)
  100. 100.The Velvet Queen (2021)
  101. 101.Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959)
  102. 102.Instrument (1999)
  103. 103.Earthlings (2005)
  104. 104.The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (2013)
  105. 105.News from Home (1976)
  106. 106.Apollo 11 (2019)
  107. 107.Disclosure (2020)
  108. 108.Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972)
  109. 109.Burden of Dreams (1982)
  110. 110.Bitter Lake (2015)
  111. 111.Love, Antosha (2019)
  112. 112.Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
  113. 113.Bye Bye Tiberias (2023)
  114. 114.Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
  115. 115.Cuba and the Cameraman (2017)
  116. 116.Grey Gardens (1975)
  117. 117.Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
  118. 118.Dream of Light (1992)
  119. 119.The Dawn Wall (2017)
  120. 120.Kedi (2016)
  121. 121.Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)
  122. 122.Free Solo (2018)
  123. 123.I'm Not Everything I Want to Be (2024)
  124. 124.The Thin Blue Line (1988)
  125. 125.Varda by Agnès (2019)
  126. 126.Dark Days (2000)
  127. 127.Homework (1989)
  128. 128.Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (2020)
  129. 129.STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023)
  130. 130.Dancing with the Birds (2019)
  131. 131.The Last Days (1998)
  132. 132.Here and Elsewhere (1976)
  133. 133.Miss Americana (2020)
  134. 134.Moonage Daydream (2022)
  135. 135.Little Girl (2020)
  136. 136.My Mom Jayne (2025)
  137. 137.Style Wars (1983)
  138. 138.Gimme Shelter (1970)
  139. 139.Amy (2015)
  140. 140.Häxan (1922)
  141. 141.How to Survive a Plague (2012)
  142. 142.The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
  143. 143.The Silence of Others (2018)
  144. 144.To Be and to Have (2002)
  145. 145.The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)
  146. 146.Blackfish (2013)
  147. 147.Eno (2024)
  148. 148.Music by John Williams (2024)
  149. 149.Tower (2016)
  150. 150.Black Box Diaries (2024)
  151. 151.Shirkers (2018)
  152. 152.Honeyland (2019)
  153. 153.Nostalgia for the Light (2010)
  154. 154.The Cove (2009)
  155. 155.Jane (2017)
  156. 156.Menus-Plaisirs, les Troisgros (2023)
  157. 157.Daguerréotypes (1975)
  158. 158.Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
  159. 159.Titicut Follies (1967)
  160. 160.Collective (2019)
  161. 161.Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (2025)
  162. 162.Pearl Jam Twenty (2011)
  163. 163.Apolonia, Apolonia (2022)
  164. 164.4 Little Girls (1997)
  165. 165.Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2015)
  166. 166.Jane B. by Agnès V. (1988)
  167. 167.Jane Fonda in Five Acts (2018)
  168. 168.Selena y Los Dinos (2025)
  169. 169.Beyond Utopia (2023)
  170. 170.Waiting for the Carnival (2019)
  171. 171.Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (2010)
  172. 172.Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary (1997)
  173. 173.Fiume o Morte! (2025)
  174. 174.Dig! (2004)
  175. 175.Welcome to Chechnya (2020)
  176. 176.Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)
  177. 177.Sally (2025)
  178. 178.Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk (2025)
  179. 179.Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)
  180. 180.Waltz with Bashir (2008)
  181. 181.Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
  182. 182.Yung Lean: In My Head (2020)
  183. 183.Love Meetings (1964)
  184. 184.Babilônia 2000 (2001)
  185. 185.Mur Murs (1981)
  186. 186.Citizenfour (2014)
  187. 187.Tempestad (2016)
  188. 188.Sherman's March (1985)
  189. 189.Italianamerican (1974)
  190. 190.The Fog of War (2003)
  191. 191.Salaam Cinema (1995)
  192. 192.Four Daughters (2023)
  193. 193.Let's Get Lost (1988)
  194. 194.Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021)
  195. 195.EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2025)
  196. 196.Amazing Grace (2018)
  197. 197.Virunga (2014)
  198. 198.John Candy: I Like Me (2025)
  199. 199.The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014)
  200. 200.Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
  201. 201.Icarus (2017)
  202. 202.Marty, Life Is Short (2026)
  203. 203.Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle (2017)
  204. 204.Witches (2024)
  205. 205.Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
  206. 206.Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024)
  207. 207.A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021)
  208. 208.Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
  209. 209.Diego Maradona (2019)
  210. 210.Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
  211. 211.Shakedown (2018)
  212. 212.Supersonic (2016)
  213. 213.Elena (2012)
  214. 214.Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
  215. 215.My Winnipeg (2007)
  216. 216.Diana: In Her Own Words (2017)
  217. 217.Listen to Me Marlon (2015)
  218. 218.Bowling for Columbine (2002)
  219. 219.Brazilian Holocaust (2016)
  220. 220.Foo Fighters: Back and Forth (2011)
  221. 221.Man on the Run (2025)
  222. 222.Depeche Mode: M (2025)
  223. 223.Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)
  224. 224.Pina (2011)
  225. 225.Will & Harper (2024)
  226. 226.This Much I Know to Be True (2022)
  227. 227.The Punk Singer (2013)
  228. 228.The White Diamond (2004)
  229. 229.Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. (2018)
  230. 230.Come See Me in the Good Light (2025)
  231. 231.Ritas (2025)
  232. 232.The Velvet Underground (2021)
  233. 233.The Square (2013)
  234. 234.From the East (1993)
  235. 235.Boys State (2020)
  236. 236.Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (2024)
  237. 237.My Best Fiend (1999)
  238. 238.Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In (2021)
  239. 239.Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)
  240. 240.The Alpinist (2021)
  241. 241.The Celluloid Closet (1995)
  242. 242.Sleep Has Her House (2017)
  243. 243.I Am Heath Ledger (2017)
  244. 244.Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019)
  245. 245.Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011)
  246. 246.Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (2021)
  247. 247.Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019)
  248. 248.The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)
  249. 249.Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)
  250. 250.The Central Park Five (2012)

About the Top 250 Documentaries

What is the Letterboxd Top 250 Documentaries?

Letterboxd's official ranked list of the 250 highest-rated documentary features on the site, by average member rating with a 5,000-rating minimum.

Why a separate list for documentaries?

Documentaries are excluded from the main Top 500, which covers narrative features only, so they get their own ranking. The bar to qualify is lower too — 5,000 ratings instead of 25,000.

How often does the Top 250 Documentaries list update?

Letterboxd reorders the official list every few weeks as ratings change, and this page re-pulls it regularly.