13 Best Documentaries to Watch in 2026

Truth is stranger than fiction and the best documentaries of all time are here to prove it. Our ongoing fascination with life’s strangest or most compelling stories has put us smack bang in the middle of a golden age. What’s more, streaming services such as Netflix and Prime Video consistently bring the goods by way of crime documentaries, food documentaries, in-depth celebrity profiles, and gripping exposés. To engage as a viewer is to peel back the curtain on unique people, places, events, and industries and maybe even learn something in the process. Moving on, here is a list of the best documentaries of all time.

Best Documentaries at a Glance

• Best for Social Commentary: American Factory
• Best for Deep Investigation: Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief
• Best for Foodies: Jiro Dreams of Sushi
• Best for Cults: Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown
• Best for True Crime: The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

With that out of the way, here’s the full list.

1. American Factory

• Where to Watch: Netflix
• IMDb Rating: 7.4
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%
• Year of Release: 2019
• Director: Steven Bognar, Julie Reichert

An on-the-ground look at the ever-changing nature of work, American Factory highlights what happens when two international work cultures clash. A Chinese billionaire opens a new factory on American soil in an abandoned plant, both breathing new life into the region and providing employment for locals. However, workers and factory management clash over what is considered reasonable and acceptable performance, while wary employees slowly warm to their new foreign co-workers. It’s a fascinating watch, and highlights how people from different cultures can come together and learn to co-exist, even when tensions get high.

2. An Inconvenient Truth

• Where to Watch: Prime Video
• IMDb Rating: 7.4
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
• Year of Release: 2006
• Director: Davis Guggenheim

An Inconvenient Truth is an infamous documentary following the former U.S. Vice President Al Gore as he campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of climate change. Filmed 20-years-ago, Gore’s calls for immediate action feel a bit frustrating in hindsight, knowing how little action has been taken to curb the use of dangerous fossil fuels, but the film itself is fantastic and does a good job of detailing the risks we face without necessarily making you succumb to a deep, existential depression.

3. Apollo 11 

• Where to Watch: Prime Video
• IMDb Rating: 8.1
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 99%
• Year of Release: 2019
• Director: Todd Douglas Miller

We all know the basic story of how mankind took a giant leap and put boots on the Moon’s surface, but Apollo 11 details the events through exclusive archival footage and audio recordings, putting you in the room with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins as they prepare for the once-in-a-lifetime mission. Created after the discovery of a previously hidden cache of recordings, Apollo 11 is a look into one of humanity’s greatest deeds. 

4. Blackfish

• Where to Watch: Prime Video
• IMDb Rating: 8.1
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 98%
• Year of Release: 2013
• Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite

A powerful documentary detailing the consequences of keeping intelligent animals, in this case Orca, in zoos. Blackfish doesn’t shy away from showing the immense psychological toll forced onto animals when they’re kept in captivity for extended periods of time, as well as the potential human cost. While there are certainly ‘good’ zoos out there, there are still plenty that mistreat animals, and Blackfish is a sobering reminder of the impact we’re having on the world around us.

5. Chimp Crazy

• Where to Watch: Binge
• IMDb Rating: 7.3
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 86%
• Year of Release: 2024
• Director: Eric Goode

Another one detailing the impact mistreating animals can have on not only the animal themselves, but the people around them, Chimp Crazy takes it a step further to detail an exotic-animal broker, Tonia Haddix, as authorities try desperately to retrieve a missing chimp, Tonka. Made by the same team as 2020’s Tiger King, Chimp Crazy follows Tonia as well as representatives of PETA, while diving into the sometimes seedy world of animal brokering. It’s not an easy watch, but it is bananas. 

6. Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown

• Where to Watch: Disney+, SBS
• IMDb Rating: 7.5
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 100%
• Year of Release: 2024
• Director: Marian Mohamed

A critical re-evaluation of what was once termed the largest mass suicide in U.S. history, Cult Massacre takes you deep into the Jonestown cult to understand what happened on that fateful day—and it wasn’t as straightforward as we were all told. Amazingly, the documentarians secured interviews with survivors of the mass murder, as well as with cult leader Jim Jones’ son, Stephen, who opens up candidly about his time in the cult and the impact it had on the world around him. A must watch for any true crime junkie, but be prepared to face some pretty heinous stuff.

7. Fire of Love

• Where to Watch: Disney+
• IMDb Rating: 7.6
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 98%
• Year of Release: 2022
• Director: Sara Dosa

While you may not have heard of them, Katia and Maurice Krafft were pioneering volcanologists whose daredevil filming of eruptions and lava flow paved the way for much of what we understand about the geological phenomenon today. The pair were obsessed with volcanoes—an obsession that brought them together, but ultimately led to their untimely deaths. In Fire of Love, you’ll come to understand why the couple came to be drawn to something as dangerous as volcanic eruptions, as well as the events that led to their final day.

8. Grizzly Man

• Where to Watch: Prime Video
• IMDb Rating: 7.7
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
• Year of Release: 2005
• Director: Werner Herzog

Another example of someone obsessed with the natural world putting themselves deep in harm’s way, Grizzly Man tells the story of Timothy Treadwell—a man who, against all better judgement, decided to live among a tribe of grizzly bears. While Treadwell was a conservationist, he believed he had connected with the wild world and was safe among the wild beasts, up until he wasn’t. Narrated by Werner Herzog, and using footage shot by Treadwell himself, Grizzly Man doesn’t hold back.

9. Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief

• Where to Watch: Prime Video
• IMDb Rating: 8.0
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%
• Year of Release: 2015
• Director: Alex Gibney

The first of two Church of Scientology-focused documentaries on this list, Going Clear is a deep dive into the church and its strange structure, practices, and rituals, as well as the way it intimidates and follows former members. Filmmaker Alex Gibney does a great job at making a secretive and eclectic organisation very understandable while putting its missteps into harsh light, all the while ensuring victims and former members get an opportunity to share their stories. A must watch.

10. Inside the Manosphere

• Where to Watch: Netflix
• IMDb Rating: 7.0
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 72%
• Year of Release: 2026
• Director: Adrian Choa

Louis Theroux is nothing if not a modern master of documentaries. Here, he turns his gaze on to the wild and worrying world of the Manosphere—a group of right-wing influencers obsessed with helping men “be men again”, all while taking a hefty financial cut from their audiences’ efforts. While it’s not Theroux’s most blistering work, watching infamous manosphere influencers dig their own graves while he silently waits for them to stop talking will never get old. 

11. Jiro Dreams of Sushi

• Where to Watch: Prime Video
• IMDb Rating: 7.8
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 99%
• Year of Release: 2011
• Director: David Gelb

Easily one of the best documentaries for foodies, Jiro Dreams of Sushi is all about one man’s obsession with his craft: Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old master sushi-maker helming a tiny restaurant with three Michelin stars in Tokyo. While it was originally going to be about a collection of sushi chefs, filmmaker David Gelb was shocked at how superior Jiro’s work was to every other sushi restaurant he tested, and decided to focus exclusively on Jiro’s quest for perfection. It’s a fantastic and fascinating portrait of a man, while also detailing the life of his family and the impact he has on those around him.

12. My Scientology Movie

• Where to Watch: Prime Video
• IMDb Rating: 6.6
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%
• Year of Release: 2017
• Director: John Dower

Another Louis Theroux effort, My Scientology Movie is arguably Theroux in his prime. After being denied entry into the Church of Scientology to film, Theroux decides to find his own way to cover the mysterious and secretive organisation: using actors to create reconstructions of events seen by various former members. What follows is sometimes funny, and sometimes confronting, and leads the film crew to be stalked, filmed, and surveilled by the Church—which typically means you’ve done something they don’t like. 

13. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst

• Where to Watch: HBO Max
• IMDb Rating: 8.6
• Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
• Year of Release: 2015
• Director: Andrew Jarecki

When The Jinx dropped in 2015, it was truly shocking. The day before the series launched, its subject, Robert Durst, was arrested on first-degree murder charges as a result of the work of the documentarians, and the episodes that aired a day later detailed an investigation into a series of events that led to Durst’s friend Susan Berman’s death, ending with one of the most shocking admissions in television history. In 2024, a second season dropped, detailing Durst’s efforts to clear his name, as well as the legal battle that followed. If you’re a true crime buff you’ve probably seen the original series, but make sure to see Part Two: it’s just as good.