Note: This chart was updated in February 2012. View the updated post »
What was the best documentary of 2011? That depends on who you ask, of course. If you go by the top documentary festivals, critics’ circles, vote aggregators and other awards-giving organizations, you could have named any one of 68 67 documentaries — from An African Election to Zeitgeist: Moving Forward — and still had at least some support for your decision.
The chart below aggregates these lists of top docs, and sorts them based on the number of wins, nominations and list appearances, with the better known awards and festivals getting more weight.
The Best Documentaries of 2011. Click to view larger.
Black represent “winners.” Gray represent nominations or list appearances.
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Assign as much meaning as you’d like to this list, but here are the documentaries that rose to the top of our list of lists (links will take you to interviews we’ve done here at POV’s blog):
Steve James’ The Interrupters topped this
year-end survey of 2011’s top documentaries.
- The Interrupters
- Nostalgia de la Luz (Nostalgia for the Light)
- Project Nim
- Cave of Forgotten Dreams
- The Arbor
- Bill Cunningham New York
- Dragonslayer
- Senna
- Buck
- Hell and Back Again
You can dig into the graphic to see more trends:
- Project Nim had the most appearances in the lists (10), with The Interrupters close behind (9), followed by Nostalgia for the Light (8) and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (7).
- Festivals tended away from the mainstream (see the picks from Hot Docs, Full Frame or SXSW), while the grouping of indieWIRE’s contributors showed more of a populist take on the year’s best docs.
- A number of winners appear on the chart only once (Planet of Snail, Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, Scenes of a Crime, Our School, Family Instinct). Boost your indie cred by seeking them out!
Here’s the full list for easy scanning (with the number of list appearances in brackets):
1. The Interrupters (9) | 24. Semper Fi: Always Faithful (2) | 47. Gun Fight (1) |
2. Nostalgia de la luz (Nostalgia for the Light) (8) | 25. Undefeated (2) | 48. The Ambassador (1) |
3. Project Nim (10) | 26. An African Election (2) | 49. Bad Weather (1) |
4. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (7) | 27. Bombay Beach (2) | 50. Garbo: The Spy (1) |
5. The Arbor (4) | 28. Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone (1) | 51. Granito: How To Nail A Dictator (1) |
6. Bill Cunningham New York (6) | 29. Scenes of a Crime (1) | 52. John Muir in the New World (1) |
7. Dragonslayer (2) | 30. You’ve Been Trumped (1) | 53. Where Soldiers Come From (1) |
8. Senna (6) | 31. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey (2) | 54. Louder Than A Bomb (1) |
9. Buck (4) | 32. Our School (1) | 55. Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune (1) |
10. Hell and Back Again (4) | 33. Family Instinct (1) | 56. Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness (1) |
11. We Were Here (4) | 34. El lugar mas pequeño (The Tiniest Place) (2) | 57. The Art of Flight (1) |
12. Planet of Snail (1) | 35. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu (2) | 58. Foo Fighters: Back and Forth (1) |
13. George Harrison: Living in the Material World (5) | 36. Born to be Wild (2) | 59. TT3D: Closer to the Edge (1) |
14. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2) | 37. Page One: Inside the New York Times (2) | 60. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (1) |
15. Tabloid (3) | 38. Battle for Brooklyn (1) | 61. The Woodmans (1) |
16. Pina (3) | 39. Jane’s Journey (1) | 62. The Bully Project (1) |
17. Position Among the Stars (3) | 40. Long Way Home: The Loving Story (1) | 63. When the Drum is Beating (1) |
18. The Redemption of General Butt Naked (2) | 41. Sing Your Song (1) | 64. Cuchillo de Palo / 108 (1) |
19. Into the Abyss (4) | 42. Under Fire: Journalists in Combat (1) | 65. El Ambulante (The Peddler) (1) |
20. Thunder Soul (3) | 43. Marathon Boy (1) | 66. El Velador (The Night Watchman) (1) |
21. How to Die in Oregon (2) | 44. Restrepo (1) | 67. Dreams of a Life (1) |
22. Better This World (2) | 45. At Night I Fly (1) | |
23. If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (2) | 46. Calvet (1) |
What was your favorite documentary of 2011? Let us know in the comments…
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UPDATE: Thunder Soul found its way on to two slots in our list. The graphic has been updated to correct the placement of the film and the total number in the list has dropped to 67 from 68.
