Ten Favorite Documentary Films
(in order of preference)
The Act of Killing (directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012) *
The Up Series (directed by Paul Almond and Michael Apted, 1964 and every seven years thereafter)
Dick Johnson Is Dead (directed by Kirsten Johnson, 2020)
I Think We’re Alone Now (directed by Sean Donnelly, 2008)
Sans Soleil (directed by Chris Marker, 1983)
Microcosmos (directed by Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou, 1996)
Gates of Heaven (directed by Errol Morris, 1978)
Crumb (directed by Terry Zwigoff, 1995)
Free Solo (directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, 2018)
Stay More: The World of Donald Harington (directed by Brian Walter, 2013) *
* Both of these documentaries have sequels by the same directors that are also well worth viewing: The Look of Silence (2014) and Farther Along: The World of Donald Harington, Part 2 (2015).
— September 1, 2021