The Best Cinéma Vérité Movies And Documentaries Ever Made
“What are the best Cinéma Vérité Movies?” We looked at 98 of the top Cinéma Vérité films, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 16 films, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Cinéma Vérité” movie lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 75+ movies, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Top 16 Best Cinéma Vérité Movies Ever Made
16 .) Faces (1968) directed by John Cassavetes
Lists It Appears On:
- MUBI
- Wikipedia
Middle-aged suburban husband Richard abruptly tells his wife, Maria, that he wants a divorce. As Richard takes up with a younger woman, Maria enjoys a night on the town with her friends and meets a younger man. As the couple and those around them confront a seemingly futile search for what they’ve lost – love, excitement, passion – this classic American independent film explores themes of aging and alienation.
15 .) High School (1968) directed by Frederick Wiseman
Lists It Appears On:
- MUBI
- Taste Of Cinema
Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside Northeast High School as a fly on the wall to observe the teachers and how they interact with the students.
14 .) In Vanda’s Room (2003) directed by Pedro Costa
Lists It Appears On:
- MUBI
- Wikipedia
With the intimate feel of a documentary and the texture of a Vermeer painting, In Vanda’s Room takes an unflinching, fragmentary look at a handful of self-destructive, marginalized people, but is centered around the heroin-addicted Vanda Duarte.
13 .) Shadows (1959) directed by John Cassavetes
Lists It Appears On:
- MUBI
- Wikipedia
John Cassavetes’s directorial debut revolves around a romance in New York City between Lelia, a light- skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man. The relationship is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz singer brother, Hugh, and discovers that her racial heritage is not what he thought it was. Shot on location in Manhattan with a mostly nonprofessional cast and crew, Shadows is a penetrating work that is widely considered the forerunner of the American independent film movement. ×
12 .) The Blair Witch Project (1999) directed by Daniel Myrick
Lists It Appears On:
- Master Class
- MUBI
In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.
11 .) Wanda (1971) directed by Barbara Loden
Lists It Appears On:
- MUBI
- Wikipedia
Wanda, after a string of abusive relationships, abandons her family and seeks solace in the company of a petty criminal.
10 .) Warrendale (1967) directed by Allan King
Lists It Appears On:
- MUBI
- Wikipedia
This ground-breaking cinema véritè classic documents five weeks in the lives of twelve children in a home for emotionally disturbed children. It is the first in the form that King later described as actuality drama. All the action is spontaneous and undi-rected, with neither interviews nor narration. The theme is the outrage of life. The children asked the filmmakers, Why is it that whenever pictures of us are put in the papers, our faces are blacked out. What is so awful about us that we cant be seen? They wanted to be filmed so that they could be seen. ×
9 .) Chronicle of a Summer (1961) directed by Edgar Morin
Lists It Appears On:
- Master Class
- MUBI
- PBS
The film begins with a discussion between Rouch and Morin on whether or not it is possible to act sincerely in front of a camera. A cast of real life individuals are then introduced and are led by the filmmakers to discuss topics on the themes of French society and happiness in the working class.
8 .) Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963) directed by Robert Drew
Lists It Appears On:
- MUBI
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
During a two-day period before and after the University of Alabama integration crisis, the film uses five camera crews to follow President John F. Kennedy, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, Alabama governor George Wallace, deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach and the students Vivian Malone and James Hood. As Wallace has promised to personally block the two black students from enrolling in the university, the JFK administration discusses the best way to react to it, without rousing the crowd or making Wallace a martyr for the segregationist cause. ×
7 .) The War Room (1993) directed by Peter Watkins
Lists It Appears On:
- PBS
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
The 1992 presidential election was a triumph not only for Bill Clinton but also for the new breed of strategists who guided him to the White House and changed the face of politics in the process. For this thrilling, behind-closed-doors account of that campaign, renowned cinema verité filmmakers D. A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop) and Chris Hegedus (Startup.com) closely followed the brainstorming and bull sessions of Clinton’s crack team of consultants—especially the folksy James Carville and the preppy George Stephanopoulos, who became media stars in their own right as they injected a youthful spirit and spontaneity into the process of campaigning.
6 .) Don’t Look Back (1967) directed by D.A. Pennebaker
Lists It Appears On:
- Master Class
- MUBI
- PBS
- Taste Of Cinema
In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.
5 .) Primary (1960) directed by Robert Drew
Lists It Appears On:
- Ideas Film
- MUBI
- PBS
- Taste Of Cinema
Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occuring.
4 .) Gimme Shelter (1970) directed by Albert Maysles
Lists It Appears On:
- Dostoevsky
- MUBI
- PBS
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
The landmark documentary about the tragically ill-fated Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont Speedway on December 6, 1969. Only four months earlier, Woodstock defined the Love Generation; now it lay in ruins on a desolate racetrack six miles outside of San Francisco.
3 .) Grey Gardens (1975) directed by Albert Maysles
Lists It Appears On:
- Master Class
- MUBI
- PBS
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.
2 .) Titicut Follies (1967) directed by Frederick Wiseman
Lists It Appears On:
- Master Class
- MUBI
- PBS
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
The film is a stark and graphic portrayal of the conditions that existed at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts. TITICUT FOLLIES documents the various ways the inmates are treated by the guards, social workers and psychiatrists.
1 .) Salesman (1968) directed by Albert Maysles
Lists It Appears On:
- Dostoevsky
- Ideas Film
- MUBI
- PBS
- Taste Of Cinema
- Wikipedia
This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul “The Badger” Brennan, Charles “The Gipper” McDevitt, James “The Rabbit” Baker and Raymond “The Bull” Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples. ×
The 75+ Additional Best Cinéma Vérité Films
| # | Movies | Lists |
| 17 | À Hauteur d’homme (2003) | Wikipedia |
| 18 | A Married Couple | MUBI |
| 19 | A Young Patriot | CMS Impact |
| 20 | After Life (1999) | Wikipedia |
| 21 | Bad Boys (1961) | Wikipedia |
| 22 | Breathless | MUBI |
| 23 | Brother’s Keeper | MUBI |
| 24 | C’était un rendez-vous (1976) | Wikipedia |
| 25 | Checks and Balances | CMS Impact |
| 26 | Children of Hiroshima (1952) | Wikipedia |
| 27 | Chronique d’un été (1961) | Wikipedia |
| 28 | Chronique d’un Été | Ideas Film |
| 29 | Citizenfour (2014) | Wikipedia |
| 30 | Cléo from 5 to 7 | MUBI |
| 31 | Cocksucker Blues (1972) | Wikipedia |
| 32 | Colossal Youth | MUBI |
| 33 | Dancer in the Dark (2000) | Wikipedia |
| 34 | Democracy, | CMS Impact |
| 35 | Distance (2001) | Wikipedia |
| 36 | Dostoyevsky Reimagined: The Making of | Dostoevsky |
| 37 | Down for Life (2009) | Wikipedia |
| 38 | Eat the Document (1969) | Wikipedia |
| 39 | F for Fake (1974) | Wikipedia |
| 40 | Faces of November | MUBI |
| 41 | Flag Wars (2003) | Wikipedia |
| 42 | Free Solo (2018) | Wikipedia |
| 43 | Gummo | MUBI |
| 44 | Happy Mother’s Day (1964) [13] | Wikipedia |
| 45 | Harlan County USA | MUBI |
| 46 | Hoop Dreams (1994) | Wikipedia |
| 47 | Hospital (1970) | Wikipedia |
| 48 | Import/Export (2007) | Wikipedia |
| 49 | Iraq in Fragments (2007) | Wikipedia |
| 50 | Jesus Camp (2006) | Wikipedia |
| 51 | Jordon Saffron Taste This! (2009) | Wikipedia |
| 52 | julien donkey-boy | MUBI |
| 53 | Jungle Sisters, | CMS Impact |
| 54 | La Jetée (1962) | Master Class |
| 55 | Le joli mai | MUBI |
| 56 | Les Raquetteurs (1958) (French article) | Wikipedia |
| 57 | Lonely Boy (1962) | Wikipedia |
| 58 | Look Love | CMS Impact |
| 59 | Love & Pop (1998) | Wikipedia |
| 60 | Manic (2001) | Wikipedia |
| 61 | Medium Cool (1968) | Wikipedia |
| 62 | Moi, un noir (1958) | Wikipedia |
| 63 | Monterey Pop | MUBI |
| 64 | Mysterious Object at Noon (2000) | Wikipedia |
| 65 | Nanook of the North (1922) | Taste Of Cinema |
| 66 | Near Death (1989) | Wikipedia |
| 67 | Next Stop: Utopia | CMS Impact |
| 68 | Notes from the New World | Dostoevsky |
| 69 | Of Whales, the Moon and Men | MUBI |
| 70 | Orderers (1974) | Wikipedia |
| 71 | Paris of the Moment | PBS |
| 72 | Patience, Patience, You’ll Go to Paradise | CMS Impact |
| 73 | Phantom India (1969) | Wikipedia |
| 74 | Photographic Memory (2011) | Wikipedia |
| 75 | Portrait of Jason (1968) | PBS |
| 76 | Project X (2012) | Wikipedia |
| 77 | Pumping Iron | Dostoevsky |
| 78 | Punishment Park | MUBI |
| 79 | Ram ke Naam (1992) | Wikipedia |
| 80 | Real Life and Documented Truth | Dostoevsky |
| 81 | Salaam Bombay! (1988) | Master Class |
| 82 | Seventeen (1983) | Wikipedia |
| 83 | Sleep (1963) | Wikipedia |
| 84 | Sonita | CMS Impact |
| 85 | Spark: A Burning Man Story (2014) | Wikipedia |
| 86 | The Act of Killing (2012) | Wikipedia |
| 87 | The Carter (2009) | Wikipedia |
| 88 | The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987) | Wikipedia |
| 89 | The Exiles | MUBI |
| 90 | The Leader, His Driver and the Driver’s Wife (1991) | Wikipedia |
| 91 | The Office (2005) | Master Class |
| 92 | The Plaint of Steve Kreines as recorded by his younger brother Jeff (1974)[14] | Wikipedia |
| 93 | The Road | CMS Impact |
| 94 | The Rolling Stones’ | Dostoevsky |
| 95 | The War Game | MUBI |
| 96 | Ukrainian Sheriffs | CMS Impact |
| 97 | West 47th Street (2003) | Wikipedia |
| 98 | Woodstock (1970) | Wikipedia |
8 Best Cinéma Vérité Film Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| CMS Impact | IDFA films: Why Cinéma Vérité Is Still So Powerful |
| Dostoevsky | The Observational Approach of Direct Cinema Documentaries |
| Ideas Film | CINÉMA VÉRITÉ & DIRECT CINEMA |
| Master Class | What Is Cinéma Vérité in Filmmaking? |
| MUBI | Cinéma Vérité & Direct Cinema |
| PBS | Cinema Verite: The Movement of Truth |
| Taste Of Cinema | 10 Essential Cinéma Vérité Films Every Documentary Fan Should See |
| Wikipedia | Cinéma vérité |
