The Best Documentaries of 2011 (Updated)

POV Staff

12 years ago

Nerd out to our infographic of the top documentaries of 2011, based on lists from critics, documentary festivals, industry organizations and online voting!

With awards season wrapping up with an Academy Award win for Undefeated, we’re posting our final numerical (or call it numerological) tally of the “best” documentaries of 2011. This edition of the infographic also gives us a chance to expand the scope of honors, the 2011 Sundance Film Festival’s prizes for one (an omission from the original list).

Note: This list was created by a formula and doesn’t represent the favorite documentaries of POV staff. For that, go here!

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The “Best” Documentaries of 2011! Click to view larger.
Black boxes represent “winners.” Gray boxes represent nominations or list appearances.

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<a href=”http://http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/2012/02/the-best-documentaries-of-2011/”><img src=”http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/best-documentaries-of-2011-top40-feb2012-pov.jpg” width=”500″ width=”367″ alt=”Click to view larger graphic” title=”Click to view larger graphic” /></a><p><p><a href=”http://http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/2012/02/best-documentaries-of-2011/”>The Best Documentaries of 2011 </a> from <a href=”http://www.pbs.org/pov/”>POV</a>.</p>

With wins at Film Independent’s Spirit Awards and Cinema Eye Honors since we first published the list at the end of 2011, Steve James’ The Interrupters asserted its place at the top of the list. Here are the Top 10 films from this list of lists:

Steve James’ The Interrupters topped this
year-end survey of 2011’s top documentaries.

The Interrupters
Senna
Project Nim
Hell and Back Again
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Nostalgia de la Luz (Nostalgia for the Light)
Buck
Position Among the Stars
The Arbor
Bill Cunningham New York

Here’s the full list for easy scanning:

1. The Interrupters Steve James	29. Born to be Wild David Lickley	57. TT3D: Closer to the Edge Richard De Aragues
2. Senna Asif Kapadia	30. Bombay Beach Alma Har’el	58. Zeitgeist: Moving Forward Peter Joseph
3. Project Nim James Marsh	31. Thunder Soul Mark Landsman	59. The Woodmans Scott Willis
4. Hell and Back Again Danfung Dennis	32. An African Election Jarreth J. Merz, Kevin Merz	60. Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune Kenneth Bowser
5. Cave of Forgotten Dreams Werner Herzog	33. You’ve Been Trumped Anthony Baxter	61. Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness Joseph Dorman
6. Nostalgia de la Luz (Nostalgia for the Light) Patricio Guzmán	34. Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone Lev Anderson, Chris Metzler	62. Granito: How To Nail A Dictator Pamela Yates
7. Buck Cindy Meehl	35. Our School Mona Nicoara, Miruna Coca-Cozma	63. John Muir In The New World Catherine Tatge
8. Position Among the Stars Leonard Retel Helmrich	36. Family Instinct Andris Gauja	64. Where Soldiers Come From Heather Courtney
9. The Arbor Clio Barnard	37. Scenes of a Crime Grover Babcock, Blue Hadaegh	65. Semper Fi: Always Faithful Tony Hardmon, Rachel Libert
10. Bill Cunningham New York Richard Press	38. El lugar mas pequeño (The Tiniest Place) Tatiana Huezo	66. The Bully Project Lee Hirsch
11. The Redemption of General Butt Naked Eric Strauss, Daniele Anastasion	39. Life in a Day Kevin Macdonald and others	67. When the Drum is Beating Whitney Dow
12. If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front Marshall Curry, Sam Cullman	40. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu Andrei Ujica	68. Dreams of a Life Carol Morley
13. George Harrison: Living in the Material World Martin Scorsese	41. Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest Michael Rapaport	69. Phunny Business John Davies
14. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey Constance Marks, Philip Shane	42. Marathon Boy Gemma Atwal	70. One Lucky Elephant Lisa Leeman
15. Pina Wim Wenders	43. Restrepo Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger	71. Make Believe J. Clay Tweel
16. How to Die in Oregon Peter Richardson	44. At Night I Fly Steve Gomer	72. Waste Land Lucy Walker
17. Dragonslayer Tristan Patterson	45. Calvet Dominic Allan	73. The Last Mountain Bill Haney
18. Undefeated Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin	46. Gun Fight Barbara Kopple	74. Strongman Zachary Levy
19. Into the Abyss Werner Herzog	47. The Ambassador Mads Brügger	75. The Real Rocky Jeff Feuerzeig
20. Tabloid Errol Morris	48. Bad Weather Giovanni Giommi	76. The Harvest U. Roberto Romano
21. Better This World Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega	49. The Castle Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti	77. Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure Matthew Bate
22. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles Jon Foy	50. I Am Tom Shadyac	78. Fake It So Real Robert Greene
23. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky	51. African Cats Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey	79. Convento Jarred Alterman
24. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 Göran Olsson	52. Louder Than A Bomb Greg Jacobs, Jon Siskel	80. Abendland Nikolaus Geyrhalter
25. Planet of Snail Seung-Jun Yi	53. Garbo: The Spy Edmon Roch	81. Cuchillo de Palo / 108 Renate Costa
26. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never Jon M. Chu	54. Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop Rodman Flender	82. El Ambulante (The Peddler) Eduardo de la Serna, Lucas Marcheggiano
27. Page One: Inside the New York Times Andrew Rossi	55. The Art of Flight Curt Morgan	83. El Velador (The Night Watchman) Natalia Almada
28. We Were Here David Weissman, Bill Weber	56. Foo Fighters: Back and Forth James Moll

Find out more about the sources that went into the creation of this chart:

IDA: IDA 2011 Documentary Awards: Best Feature winner and nominees More info »
Sundance: Winners from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival: Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary, Audience Award: Documentary, World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary, Directing Award: Documentary, World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary, Documentary Editing Award, World Cinema Documentary Editing Award, Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary, World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary, World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary, Special Jury Prize: Documentary. More info »
Oscars: 2011 Academy Awards: Best Documentary Feature winner and nominees More info »
Griersons: Grierson 2011 British Documentary Awards: DocHouse & The Bertha Foundation Best Cinema Documentary winner and nominees More info »
Spirit Awards: 2012 Independent Spirit Awards: Best Documentary winner and nominees More info »
Sheffield: Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011: Special Jury Award winner and nominees More info »
IDFA: International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2011: VPRO IDFA Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary winner and nominees More info »
BAFTA: BAFTA Orange British Academy Film Awards: Documentary award winner and nominees More info »
IndieWIRE: IndieWIRE: Critics’ Poll Top 10 More info »
Hot Docs: Hot Docs 2011: Best International Feature winner and Special Jury Prize – International Feature More info »
Box Office: Box Office Mojo: Top 10 documentaries (2011 Domestic Grosses) More info »
IMDb: Internet Movie Database: Highest-rated documentaries released in 2011 with more than 100 votes More info »
duPonts: 2012 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards: Gold Baton and Silver Baton winners (limited to theatrically-released documentaries) More info »
Gotham Awards: Gotham Independent Film Awards 2011: Best Documentary More info »
Cinema Eye Honors: Cinema Eye Honors: Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking winner and nominees More info »
Rotten Tomatoes: Rotten Tomatoes: Best Reviewed Documentaries of 2011 More info »
About.com: About.com Documentaries: Best Documentaries of 2011 More info »
Nat’l Board of Rev: National Board of Review: Best Documentary and Top 5 Documentaries More info »
Nat’l Soc Film Critics: National Society of Film Critics 2011: Best Nonfiction and runners up More info »
Critics Choice: Critics’ Choice Movie Awards: Best Documentary Feature winner and nominees More info »
Online Film Critics: 15th Annual Online Film Critic’s Society Awards: Best Documentary winner and nominees More info »
Paste Magazine: Paste Magazine: The 20 Best Documentaries of 2011 More info »
Silverdocs: Silverdocs 2011: Sterling Award for Best U.S. Feature and Best World Feature and Special Jury Mentions More info »
Full Frame: 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival: The Anne Dellinger Grand Jury Award winner More info »
SXSW: SXSW 2011 Film Awards: Best Documentary Feature More info »
LA Critics : 37th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Best Documentary/Nonfiction Film winner and runner up More info »
NY Critics: 2011 New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary) winner More info »
Toronto Critics: The Toronto Film Critics Association: 2011 Allan King Documentary Award and runners up More info »
Boston Critics: Boston Society of Film Critics: Best Documentary More info »
SF Critics: 2011 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Documentary More info »
DC Critics: The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association: 2011 winner, Best Documentary More info »
New York Times: The New York Times: Documentaries on the list of “Film Favorites of A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis in 2011” More info »
Washington Post: Washington Post: Documentaries on Ann Hornaday’s best films of 2011 list More info »
Black Critics: Black Films Critics Circle: 2011 BFCC winner for Best Documentary More info »
London Critics: London Critics Circle: Documentary of the Year More info »
Roger Ebert: Roger Ebert’s Journal: The Best Documentaries of 2011 More info »
NPR: NPR: Five Breakthrough Documentaries from 2011 More info »
Women Film Journs.: Alliance of Women Film Journalists: 2011 EDA Award for Best Documentary and nominees More info »
Documentary Blog: The Documentary Blog: Top 20 films of 2011 More info »
Cinema Tropical: Cinema Tropical Awards 2011: Best Documentary Film and nominees More info »
WGA: Writers Guild Awards: 2012 Awards Winner for Documentary Screenplay More info »
DGA: The 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary More info »

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