some of the most groundbreaking and
enlightened films of all time have been
documentaries and these are the minds
behind them welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top 10 documentary filmmakers as for
the former inhabitants they’d all died
or moved on long ago well almost all of
them for this list we’ll be looking at
the most revolutionary and innovative
directors of nonfiction motion pictures
and some of their best work number 10
Michael Apted I think that there’s gonna
come a time when I on that has to be
told in addition to fiction films this
former president of the Directors Guild
of America has dabbled in the art of
making documentaries to commercial and
critical success the shootout at jumping
bull the killing of these two FBI agents
was the part of the total pattern of
violence that was occurring on the
reservation bring on the night a concert
film based on sting as well as incident
at Iguala a look at the murder of two
FBI agents or to such successes shortly
I have to heed half Oglala housing two
cars entered highway 18 behind him his
greatest work however has been the up
series a documentary series that has
followed the lives of 14 British
children from the age of seven up to
present with a new episode about their
lives every seven years a lot of the
enjoyment of life has been taken out of
it is the natural enjoyment hasn’t been
taken out of it it’s just people it’s
still there every look for it number
nine Morgan Spurlock patient is
embarking on a one-month McDonald’s
binge
although active in the field of the
performing arts as a playwright this
moustached
director and humorists first massive
success was with the film supersize meet
a chronicle of his own attempts to
nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days my
advice to you as a physician is that you
got to stop there pickling your liver
the second film where in the world is
Osama bin Laden premiered at Sundance
and was also a critical success as he
takes a first-person look at the fight
on terrorism while going on a search for
bin Laden himself and I’m gonna find out
once and for all where in the world
is Osama bin Laden with a nomination for
the coveted Academy Award in his pocket
we can’t wait to see what he does next
Osama bin Laden’s all the other day I
wonder Stan I don’t know what he’s in
there’s also question what he’s alive or
dead okay number eight Kevin McDonald
while this award-winning Scottish
director is known for his fiction motion
pictures we’ve reported that you cried
you saw the lost King of Scotland his
efforts in the field of documentaries
are certainly renowned as well although
he won an Oscar for his 1999 film one
day in September recounting the murder
of a group of Israeli athletes at the
1972 Olympics in Germany perhaps his
most popular documentary his 2003 s
touching the void and I had this bizarre
idea that if they’d fallen off the
mountain they would have just landed to
the bottom of it a harrowing tale of two
Mountaineers attempt to climb a peak in
the Andes mountain it has been called
Britain’s most successful documentary
and is on PBS’s list of the 100 greatest
documentaries of all time and when I
shouted they were there
I sort of knew I was dead then number
seven James Cameron unbelievable this is
the most insane of biomass I ever saw in
my life
nominated for six Academy Awards and
having directed films that have grossed
approximately six billion worldwide
James Cameron just seems to have the
magic touch
whether he’s directing blue aliens or
creating a documentary it is history
right there we are touching the legend
six years after releasing the box-office
smash Titanic the fascinating ghosts of
the abyss was released where Cameron
revisits the wreckage of the legendary
ship and many times when I close my eyes
I’m suddenly back there floating over
the wreck two years later he teamed up
with NASA scientists to explore chains
of mountains deep under the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans an expedition that was
captured in aliens of the deep the
science community was stunned how could
these animals be living in these toxic
chemicals number six Martin Scorsese now
the first Italian films that I remember
seeing we’re on this little screen my
family around me in pretty much a room
like this the most nominated living
director and certainly one of the most
influential this 8-time Oscar nominated
filmmaker has drawn us to many fictional
worlds I’m funny how I me funny like I’m
a clown I am you you I make you laugh
but has also created some underrated
documentary classics so as a filmmaker
I’m kind of caught I’ve never really
felt like a Hollywood director or at
least what my idea of a Hollywood
directors supposed to be and obviously
I’m not an Italian filmmaker reader my
voyage to Italy is perhaps the most
award-winning effort documenting a
journey through the history of Italian
cinema and particular movies that
influenced the director himself they
needed to dissolve the barrier between
documentary and fiction and in the
process they permanently changed the
rules of moviemaking he has also been
praised for his treatment of legendary
musical artists including his 2011
documentary based on the life of former
Beatles member George Harrison the event
is so momentous that historians may one
day view it as a landmark in the decline
of the British Empire the Beatles are
breaking up number five Alex Gibney and
that is the main entrance to camp x-ray
would be extremely difficult for anybody
to make an escape out of here praised
for his emotionally compelling subject
matter and style Alex Gibney has shown
numerous times that he isn’t afraid to
deal with topics that others would be
afraid to take on a lot of what needs to
be done
we’ll have to be done quietly without
any discussion using sources and methods
that are available to our intelligence
agencies for instance taxi to the dark
side his chronicle of a taxi driver who
was tortured and killed for no reason on
an Afghan Air Base in 2002 won the 2007
Oscar for the Best Documentary Feature
it certainly makes you wonder about
whether they just sent these guys on to
cover their butts he was also nominated
for Enron the smartest guys in the room
a film that took an in-depth look into
the fall of the Enron Corporation one of
the biggest scandals in the history of
the United States this is a case of
America’s largest corporate bankruptcy
the question here is what happened who
was responsible for it happening and
what can we do to prevent this sort of
thing from happening again number four
Ken Burns Lincoln’s been so smothered
with stories of his compassion that
people forget what a highly intelligent
man he was with a unique style that
includes simple musical sound tracks and
the captivating use of archival footage
and images Ken Burns has won numerous
Emmy Awards for his vivid all-american
documentaries work began on a statue
unlike any ever built before it would be
a gift from the people of France to the
people of the United States he has been
nominated twice for an academy award
once for 1981’s Brooklyn Bridge and
another time for 1985’s
the Statue of Liberty liberty is the
absence of constraints and bury an
impediment perhaps his greatest
achievement however is the film that
garnered more than 40 major film and
television awards namely 1990s the Civil
War it was the establishment of the
United States in independence from Great
Britain with slavery still a part of its
heritage number three Michael war when
the second plane hit the tower his chief
of staff entered the classroom and told
mr. Bush the nation is under attack
although he had humble beginnings as a
magazine writer he has since established
himself as a filmmaking force to be
reckoned with I’d spotted an ad in the
local Michigan paper that said if you
opened an account at North
country bank the bank would give you a
gun known for his sharp criticism and
wit Michael Moore’s 2004 hit Fahrenheit
9/11 an examination of terrorism and the
American presidency at the time is the
highest-grossing documentary of all time
there they’re not happy they’re occupied
I wouldn’t be happy if I were occupied
either everybody here we go several of
his other documentaries can also be
found on top grossing documentaries
lists including Bowling for Columbine
which won an Oscar for Best Documentary
Feature yes it was a glorious time to be
an American
number two Errol Boris any prosecutor
can convict a guilty man
it takes a great prosecutor to convict
an innocent man it’s not for no reason
that the Guardian put him in the top 10
ranking of the world’s 40 best active
directors have you insane they’re at the
hotel that night this would never happen
not dress perfect not restaurant known
for his direct and natural style of
documentary making Errol Morris has
tried his hand in several life stories
and was successful each time he’s killed
people unnecessarily his own troops our
other troops through mistakes who errors
a judgement most notably cell with his
oscar-winning film the fog of war 11
lessons from the life of Robert S
McNamara with the fog of war remains is
war is so complex it’s beyond the
ability of the human mind to comprehend
all the variables his critically
acclaimed film the thin blue line the
story of a man sentenced to a life term
for a murder he was probably wrongly
accused of was also so powerful that the
man in question was released a year
after the film’s debut oh I don’t wanna
know
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions this stands your
are fun which is good
crying like a fire in the Sun
four years ago that’s all i used to
dream about was playing in NBA i don’t
really dream about it like that anymore
everybody stand together amy and
everybody goes together everybody go out
on the picket line and we’ll win her
contract FL i understand it he was only
32 the person lending you the money
expected you to pay him or her back you
got a loan from a lender who wanted you
to pay him back we’ve since developed
securitization whereby the people who
make the loan are no longer at risk of
there’s a failure to repay by show
weakness if I retreat I may be hurt I
may be killed I must hold my own if I’m
gonna stay within this land number 1
Verner Hertzog he has been called the
most influential film director alive and
American critic Roger Ebert once wrote
that even his failures are spectacular I
don’t know what the variables are but
we’ve gotta have some goddamn rain so if
there’s a god don’t in a sting a
director that has narrowly escaped death
many times and will go to any extreme to
carry through with his creative vision
Hertzog has certainly created his share
of cinematic masterpieces when I’m
driving my car I often hear the voices
of my dead friends sometimes my friend
Duane Martin calls me and tells me that
his feet are cold whether he’s following
the deaf and blind in the land of
silence and darkness a former prisoner
of war in little dieter needs to fly but
I knew from that moment on that I want
to be a pilot I want to be a flier or a
grizzly bear enthusiast in grizzly man
his films are captivating and always
remarkable I would never ever kill a
bear in the defense of my own life would
not go into a bear’s home and kill a
bear do you agree with our list
do you think are the greatest
documentary filmmakers who only once
shame on shame on you for more in-depth
top 10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
enlightened films of all time have been
documentaries and these are the minds
behind them welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top 10 documentary filmmakers as for
the former inhabitants they’d all died
or moved on long ago well almost all of
them for this list we’ll be looking at
the most revolutionary and innovative
directors of nonfiction motion pictures
and some of their best work number 10
Michael Apted I think that there’s gonna
come a time when I on that has to be
told in addition to fiction films this
former president of the Directors Guild
of America has dabbled in the art of
making documentaries to commercial and
critical success the shootout at jumping
bull the killing of these two FBI agents
was the part of the total pattern of
violence that was occurring on the
reservation bring on the night a concert
film based on sting as well as incident
at Iguala a look at the murder of two
FBI agents or to such successes shortly
I have to heed half Oglala housing two
cars entered highway 18 behind him his
greatest work however has been the up
series a documentary series that has
followed the lives of 14 British
children from the age of seven up to
present with a new episode about their
lives every seven years a lot of the
enjoyment of life has been taken out of
it is the natural enjoyment hasn’t been
taken out of it it’s just people it’s
still there every look for it number
nine Morgan Spurlock patient is
embarking on a one-month McDonald’s
binge
although active in the field of the
performing arts as a playwright this
moustached
director and humorists first massive
success was with the film supersize meet
a chronicle of his own attempts to
nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days my
advice to you as a physician is that you
got to stop there pickling your liver
the second film where in the world is
Osama bin Laden premiered at Sundance
and was also a critical success as he
takes a first-person look at the fight
on terrorism while going on a search for
bin Laden himself and I’m gonna find out
once and for all where in the world
is Osama bin Laden with a nomination for
the coveted Academy Award in his pocket
we can’t wait to see what he does next
Osama bin Laden’s all the other day I
wonder Stan I don’t know what he’s in
there’s also question what he’s alive or
dead okay number eight Kevin McDonald
while this award-winning Scottish
director is known for his fiction motion
pictures we’ve reported that you cried
you saw the lost King of Scotland his
efforts in the field of documentaries
are certainly renowned as well although
he won an Oscar for his 1999 film one
day in September recounting the murder
of a group of Israeli athletes at the
1972 Olympics in Germany perhaps his
most popular documentary his 2003 s
touching the void and I had this bizarre
idea that if they’d fallen off the
mountain they would have just landed to
the bottom of it a harrowing tale of two
Mountaineers attempt to climb a peak in
the Andes mountain it has been called
Britain’s most successful documentary
and is on PBS’s list of the 100 greatest
documentaries of all time and when I
shouted they were there
I sort of knew I was dead then number
seven James Cameron unbelievable this is
the most insane of biomass I ever saw in
my life
nominated for six Academy Awards and
having directed films that have grossed
approximately six billion worldwide
James Cameron just seems to have the
magic touch
whether he’s directing blue aliens or
creating a documentary it is history
right there we are touching the legend
six years after releasing the box-office
smash Titanic the fascinating ghosts of
the abyss was released where Cameron
revisits the wreckage of the legendary
ship and many times when I close my eyes
I’m suddenly back there floating over
the wreck two years later he teamed up
with NASA scientists to explore chains
of mountains deep under the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans an expedition that was
captured in aliens of the deep the
science community was stunned how could
these animals be living in these toxic
chemicals number six Martin Scorsese now
the first Italian films that I remember
seeing we’re on this little screen my
family around me in pretty much a room
like this the most nominated living
director and certainly one of the most
influential this 8-time Oscar nominated
filmmaker has drawn us to many fictional
worlds I’m funny how I me funny like I’m
a clown I am you you I make you laugh
but has also created some underrated
documentary classics so as a filmmaker
I’m kind of caught I’ve never really
felt like a Hollywood director or at
least what my idea of a Hollywood
directors supposed to be and obviously
I’m not an Italian filmmaker reader my
voyage to Italy is perhaps the most
award-winning effort documenting a
journey through the history of Italian
cinema and particular movies that
influenced the director himself they
needed to dissolve the barrier between
documentary and fiction and in the
process they permanently changed the
rules of moviemaking he has also been
praised for his treatment of legendary
musical artists including his 2011
documentary based on the life of former
Beatles member George Harrison the event
is so momentous that historians may one
day view it as a landmark in the decline
of the British Empire the Beatles are
breaking up number five Alex Gibney and
that is the main entrance to camp x-ray
would be extremely difficult for anybody
to make an escape out of here praised
for his emotionally compelling subject
matter and style Alex Gibney has shown
numerous times that he isn’t afraid to
deal with topics that others would be
afraid to take on a lot of what needs to
be done
we’ll have to be done quietly without
any discussion using sources and methods
that are available to our intelligence
agencies for instance taxi to the dark
side his chronicle of a taxi driver who
was tortured and killed for no reason on
an Afghan Air Base in 2002 won the 2007
Oscar for the Best Documentary Feature
it certainly makes you wonder about
whether they just sent these guys on to
cover their butts he was also nominated
for Enron the smartest guys in the room
a film that took an in-depth look into
the fall of the Enron Corporation one of
the biggest scandals in the history of
the United States this is a case of
America’s largest corporate bankruptcy
the question here is what happened who
was responsible for it happening and
what can we do to prevent this sort of
thing from happening again number four
Ken Burns Lincoln’s been so smothered
with stories of his compassion that
people forget what a highly intelligent
man he was with a unique style that
includes simple musical sound tracks and
the captivating use of archival footage
and images Ken Burns has won numerous
Emmy Awards for his vivid all-american
documentaries work began on a statue
unlike any ever built before it would be
a gift from the people of France to the
people of the United States he has been
nominated twice for an academy award
once for 1981’s Brooklyn Bridge and
another time for 1985’s
the Statue of Liberty liberty is the
absence of constraints and bury an
impediment perhaps his greatest
achievement however is the film that
garnered more than 40 major film and
television awards namely 1990s the Civil
War it was the establishment of the
United States in independence from Great
Britain with slavery still a part of its
heritage number three Michael war when
the second plane hit the tower his chief
of staff entered the classroom and told
mr. Bush the nation is under attack
although he had humble beginnings as a
magazine writer he has since established
himself as a filmmaking force to be
reckoned with I’d spotted an ad in the
local Michigan paper that said if you
opened an account at North
country bank the bank would give you a
gun known for his sharp criticism and
wit Michael Moore’s 2004 hit Fahrenheit
9/11 an examination of terrorism and the
American presidency at the time is the
highest-grossing documentary of all time
there they’re not happy they’re occupied
I wouldn’t be happy if I were occupied
either everybody here we go several of
his other documentaries can also be
found on top grossing documentaries
lists including Bowling for Columbine
which won an Oscar for Best Documentary
Feature yes it was a glorious time to be
an American
number two Errol Boris any prosecutor
can convict a guilty man
it takes a great prosecutor to convict
an innocent man it’s not for no reason
that the Guardian put him in the top 10
ranking of the world’s 40 best active
directors have you insane they’re at the
hotel that night this would never happen
not dress perfect not restaurant known
for his direct and natural style of
documentary making Errol Morris has
tried his hand in several life stories
and was successful each time he’s killed
people unnecessarily his own troops our
other troops through mistakes who errors
a judgement most notably cell with his
oscar-winning film the fog of war 11
lessons from the life of Robert S
McNamara with the fog of war remains is
war is so complex it’s beyond the
ability of the human mind to comprehend
all the variables his critically
acclaimed film the thin blue line the
story of a man sentenced to a life term
for a murder he was probably wrongly
accused of was also so powerful that the
man in question was released a year
after the film’s debut oh I don’t wanna
know
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions this stands your
are fun which is good
crying like a fire in the Sun
four years ago that’s all i used to
dream about was playing in NBA i don’t
really dream about it like that anymore
everybody stand together amy and
everybody goes together everybody go out
on the picket line and we’ll win her
contract FL i understand it he was only
32 the person lending you the money
expected you to pay him or her back you
got a loan from a lender who wanted you
to pay him back we’ve since developed
securitization whereby the people who
make the loan are no longer at risk of
there’s a failure to repay by show
weakness if I retreat I may be hurt I
may be killed I must hold my own if I’m
gonna stay within this land number 1
Verner Hertzog he has been called the
most influential film director alive and
American critic Roger Ebert once wrote
that even his failures are spectacular I
don’t know what the variables are but
we’ve gotta have some goddamn rain so if
there’s a god don’t in a sting a
director that has narrowly escaped death
many times and will go to any extreme to
carry through with his creative vision
Hertzog has certainly created his share
of cinematic masterpieces when I’m
driving my car I often hear the voices
of my dead friends sometimes my friend
Duane Martin calls me and tells me that
his feet are cold whether he’s following
the deaf and blind in the land of
silence and darkness a former prisoner
of war in little dieter needs to fly but
I knew from that moment on that I want
to be a pilot I want to be a flier or a
grizzly bear enthusiast in grizzly man
his films are captivating and always
remarkable I would never ever kill a
bear in the defense of my own life would
not go into a bear’s home and kill a
bear do you agree with our list
do you think are the greatest
documentary filmmakers who only once
shame on shame on you for more in-depth
top 10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
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