documentaries for reference
Music:
- Don't Look Back, by D.A. Pennebaker (about Bob Dylan)
- Buena Vista Social Club, by Wim Wenders (Cuban musicians)
- Gimme Shelter, by the Maysles Brothers (Rolling Stones)
- Dig!, by Ondi Timoner (Brian Jonestown Massacre & Dandy Warhols)
- The Last Waltz by Martin Scorsese (The Band)
- Hype! by Doug Pray (Seattle Grunge scene)
- Kurt & Courtney by Nick Broomfeld
- New York Doll by Seth Gordon (about The New York Dolls)
Politics:
- Outfoxed – Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
- The Fog of War (2003), Errol Morris
- Roger & Me (1989), Michael Moore
- Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), Michael Moore
- The Thin Blue Line (1988), Errol Morris
- The War Room, Pennebaker & Hegedus
- Sicko, Michael Moore
Social / Cultural Commentary:
- Food, Inc (2009),
- Hoop Dreams (1994), Steve James
- Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), Barbara Kopple (coal miners)
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006), Davis Guggenheim (global warming)
- Super Size Me (2004), Morgan Spurlock
- Salesman (1968), Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin
- Sherman's March (1986), Ross McElwee
- Grey Gardens (1976), Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer
- Capturing the Friedmans (2003), Andrew Jarecki (family)
- Born into Brothels, (2004), Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski (child prostitution)
- Titicut Follies (1967), Frederick Wiseman (mental institutions)
- Night and Fog (1955), Alain Resnais (The Holocaust)
- Dark Days, by Mark Singer (people living underground in NYC)
- Streetwise, by Martin Bell (1985)
Event-Based:
- Woodstock (1970), Michael Wadleigh
- Bowling for Columbine (2002), Michael Moore
- Spellbound (2002), Jeffrey Blitz
Nature & Man:
- Winged Migration (2002), Jacques Perrin
- Grizzly Man (2005), Werner Herzog
- Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1982), Godfrey Reggio
interactive: