The Best Direct Cinema Movies And Documentaries Ever Made
“What are the best Direct Cinema Movies?” We looked at 81 of the top Direct Cinema films, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 12 films, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Direct Cinema” movie lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 50+ movies, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Top 12 Best Direct Cinema Movies Ever Made
12 .) Brothers’ Keeper directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Lists It Appears On:
- MUBI
- Wikipedia
This documentary by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky details the murder trial of Delbert Ward. Delbert was a member of a family of four elderly brothers, working as semi-literate farmers and living together in isolation from the rest of society until William’s death.
11 .) Chiefs directed by Richard Leacock
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- Wikipedia
Filmed at the October 1968 meeting in Hawaii of several hundred police chiefs of the International Association of Chiefs of Police as they watch demonstrations of gruesome anti-riot weapons, sing patriotic songs, and defend their policies in front of the camera. Although filmed with the permission of the chiefs, the view is not sympathetic, sometimes funny, and more often frightening.
10 .) Meet Marlon Brando directed by Albert and David Maysles
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- Wikipedia
Journalists from all over America meet Marlon Brando in a New York hotel room to interview him about his new film, Morituri. Seeing this as an opportunity to let the legendary actor promote the film, they find Brando unwilling to talk about it, instead he is more interested in larking about and turning on the charm when being interviewed by a former winner of the Miss USA competition.
9 .) On the Bowery directed by Lionel Rogosin
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- Wikipedia
A mix of documentary and scripted footage on the Bowery, New York City’s skid row. Against a backdrop of men (and a few women) drinking in bars, talking and arguing, and sleeping on sidewalks, we have the story of Ray.
8 .) Primary (1960) directed by Robert Drew
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- MUBI
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.
7 .) The Chair directed by Robert Drew
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- Wikipedia
Follows a crusading lawyer as he embarks on a campaign to save an African-American man, Paul Crump, from the electric chair.
6 .) The Mills of the Gods: Viet Nam directed by Beryl Fox
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- Wikipedia
A documentary on the war in South Vietnam shot entirely on location. There is no narration and no use of archive footage. The participants speak for themselves. The filmmakers spend time with units from many services: army, tanks, marines, ARVN, air cavalry. They accompany an air force napalm and strafing attack on a Viet Cong bunker complex. There are many scenes both of Saigon streets and of peasant village life. Soldiers speak of their experiences and their mission to fight Communism in Vietnam. One American informant says that the Vietnamese peasant is not interested in ideology, but in social justice, a piece of land, fair taxation, and to be left alone. Some interviews are used as voice-over. Participants, American and Vietnamese, are very natural, with little or no posturing for the camera. There are scenes of dead Viet Cong, and one showing a VC suspect being drowned to aid interrogation. ×
5 .) Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment directed by Robert Drew
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- MUBI
- 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. ×
4 .) Dont Look Back directed by D. A. Pennebaker
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- MUBI
- Wikipedia
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.
3 .) Grey Gardens directed by Albert and David Maysles
Lists It Appears On:
- Letterboxd
- MUBI
- 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 .) Gimme Shelter (1970) directed by Albert and David Maysles
Lists It Appears On:
- Dostoevsky
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- MUBI
- 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.
1 .) Salesman (1969) directed by Albert and David Maysles
Lists It Appears On:
- Dostoevsky
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
- MUBI
- 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 50+ Additional Best Direct Cinema Films
| # | Movies | Lists |
| 13 | A Face of War (1968) | IMDB |
| 14 | A Married Couple | MUBI |
| 15 | A People in the Shadows (2008) | IMDB |
| 16 | Adelheid, Kornelius & die Töde (2018) | IMDB |
| 17 | Animal Cinema (2017) | IMDB |
| 18 | Asylum (II) (1972) | IMDB |
| 19 | Bikini (2014) | IMDB |
| 20 | Break a Leg (2012) | IMDB |
| 21 | Breathless | MUBI |
| 22 | Campaign (2007) | IMDB |
| 23 | Chronicle of a Summer | MUBI |
| 24 | Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment (2000) | IMDB |
| 25 | Cléo from 5 to 7 | MUBI |
| 26 | Cocksucker Blues (1972) | IMDB |
| 27 | Colossal Youth | MUBI |
| 28 | Crazy Jeannot (2008) | IMDB |
| 29 | Domace je najbolje (2009) | IMDB |
| 30 | Dostoyevsky Reimagined: The Making of | Dostoevsky |
| 31 | Druga generacija (1983) | IMDB |
| 32 | Faces | MUBI |
| 33 | Faces of November | MUBI |
| 34 | From the Edge of the City (1998) | IMDB |
| 35 | Georg (1964) | IMDB |
| 36 | Gummo | MUBI |
| 37 | Harlan County USA | MUBI |
| 38 | High Risk Offender (1998) | IMDB |
| 39 | High School | MUBI |
| 40 | I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) | IMDB |
| 41 | In Transit (I) (2015) | IMDB |
| 42 | In Vanda’s Room | MUBI |
| 43 | Independent Lens (1999– ) Episode: The New Americans (2004) | IMDB |
| 44 | Jean Rouch: paroles données (2005) | IMDB |
| 45 | julien donkey-boy | MUBI |
| 46 | Kings of Pastry (2009) | IMDB |
| 47 | La bête lumineuse (1982) | IMDB |
| 48 | La lutte (1961) | IMDB |
| 49 | Le joli mai | MUBI |
| 50 | Le règne du jour (1967) | IMDB |
| 51 | Les raquetteurs (1958) | IMDB |
| 52 | Man Bites Dog (1992) | IMDB |
| 53 | Mental (2008) | IMDB |
| 54 | Monterey Pop | MUBI |
| 55 | Near Death (1989) | IMDB |
| 56 | Neukölln Unlimited | Wikipedia |
| 57 | Notes from the New World | Dostoevsky |
| 58 | Of Whales, the Moon and Men | MUBI |
| 59 | On Point (2008) | IMDB |
| 60 | Pour la suite du monde (1963) | IMDB |
| 61 | Pumping Iron | Dostoevsky |
| 62 | Punishment Park | MUBI |
| 63 | Real Life and Documented Truth | Dostoevsky |
| 64 | Rhythm Thief (1994) | IMDB |
| 65 | Shadows | MUBI |
| 66 | Sickfuckpeople – Short Version (2011) | IMDB |
| 67 | Sofia’s Last Ambulance | Wikipedia |
| 68 | Sweetheart Deal | IMDB |
| 69 | Tesis Laboral (2010) | IMDB |
| 70 | The Blair Witch Project | MUBI |
| 71 | The Exiles | MUBI |
| 72 | The Hellacopters: Goodnight Cleveland (2002 TV Movie) | IMDB |
| 73 | The Rolling Stones’ | Dostoevsky |
| 74 | The War Game | MUBI |
| 75 | The World According to David Liebe Hart (2010) | IMDB |
| 76 | Titicut Follies | MUBI |
| 77 | Tread | Wikipedia |
| 78 | Twenty-Seven Stories (2007) | IMDB |
| 79 | Wanda | MUBI |
| 80 | Warrendale | MUBI |
| 81 | Wow (1970) | IMDB |
5 Best Direct Cinema Film Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| Dostoevsky | The Observational Approach of Direct Cinema Documentaries |
| IMDB | Direct Cinema |
| Letterboxd | Direct Cinema – Documentaries |
| MUBI | Cinéma Vérité & Direct Cinema – Movies List on MUBI |
| Wikipedia | Direct Cinema |
