Following the approach and the formula of my 1001 Greatest Films list, I've compiled and ranked the 100 greatest documentaries. I've decided to separate the documentaries from the narrative feature films because of their obvious differences and the different experiences that each provides.
As stated earlier, this list follows the same formula and approach used in my other list. The base data again was TSPDT, along with some trusted high quality lists specialized in documentaries. Letterboxd was used to weight them aswell.
As with my other list, I have to say here that I'm not claiming that this is the definitive authority on documentaries, or that these are objectively THE greatest 100 documentaries of all time. This is just an…
Following the approach and the formula of my 1001 Greatest Films list, I've compiled and ranked the 100 greatest documentaries. I've decided to separate the documentaries from the narrative feature films because of their obvious differences and the different experiences that each provides.
As stated earlier, this list follows the same formula and approach used in my other list. The base data again was TSPDT, along with some trusted high quality lists specialized in documentaries. Letterboxd was used to weight them aswell.
As with my other list, I have to say here that I'm not claiming that this is the definitive authority on documentaries, or that these are objectively THE greatest 100 documentaries of all time. This is just an attempt to draw a consensus on which are the most acclaimed works of the genre, while having as little bias as possible. What I call "as objectively as possible" is simply a mathematical and statistical formula to minimize my own biases as much as I can.
Thank you for the understanding, and I hope you enjoy the list.
List stats:
Movies by decade:
1920's: 4
1930's: 5
1940's: 4
1950's: 5
1960's: 12
1970's: 17
1980's: 15
1990's: 12
2000's: 15
2010's: 11
Movies by director:
3 - Chris Marker; Eduardo Coutinho; Errol Morris; Humphrey Jennings; Werner Herzog.
2 - Agnès Varda; Albert Maysles & David Maysles; Chantal Akerman; Frederick Wiseman; Jean Rouch; Jonas Mekas; Leni Riefenstahl; Marcel Ophüls; Robert Flaherty; Stan Brakhage;