By exposing you to something fascinating/horrific/horrifically fascinating, by telling you a story so miraculously far-fetched it doesn’t even make sense as a fiction, by introducing you to someone incredible, either incredibly interesting or incredibly terrible, a great documentary has the ability to re-wire your brain and change the way you see the world.

I am grateful to every one of the below-listed documentaries for expanding my understanding of life and the human experience.

50. Remain Seated Please: The Untold Story of Two Daring Disney Fans (Matthew Serrano, 2019)

49. Air Guitar Nation (Alexandra Lipsitz, 2006)

48. The Umbrella Man (Errol Morris, 2011)

47. Long Shot (Jacob LaMendola, 2017)

46. Kedi (Ceyda Torun, 2017)

45. My Best Fiend (Werner Herzog, 1999)

44. Prodigal Sons (Kimberly Reed, 2008)

43. Man on Wire (James Marsh, 2008)

42. Three Identical Strangers (Tim Wardle, 2018)

41. 45365 (Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross, 2009)

40. Secret Mall Apartment (Jeremy Workman, 2025)

39. Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, 2012)

38. Free Solo (Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chal Vasarhelyl, 2018)

37. Honeyland (Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov, 2019)

36. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (Kurt Kuenne, 2008)

35. Class Action Park (Chris Charles Scott, Seth Porges, 2020)

34. The Cove (Louie Psihoyos, 2009)

33. The Painter and the Thief (Benjamin Ree, 2020)

32. Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr (Errol Morris, 2000)

31. The Five Obstructions (Lars von Trier, Jørgen Leth, 2003)

30. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2003)

29. Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog, 2007)

28. The Imposter (Bart Layton, 2012)

27. Baraka (Ron Fricke, 1992)

26. Exit Through the Giftshop (Banksy, 2010)

25. Crumb (Terry Zwigoff, 1994)

24. Memorandum (Donald Britain, John Spotton, 1965)

23. Up series (Michael Apted, Paul Almond, 1964-2019)

22. Burden of Dreams (Les Blank, 1982)

21. Collective (Alexander Nanau, 2020)

20. David Byrne’s American Utopia (Spike Lee, 2020)

19. O.J.: Made in America (Ezra Edelman, 2016)

18. Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul, 2012)

17. Harlan County, USA (Barbara Kopple, 1977)

16. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Spike Lee, 2006)

15. The World is Bright (Ying Wang, 2019)

14. Beyond the Mat (Barry W. Blaustein, 1999)

13. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles (Jon Foy, Colin Smith, 2011)

12. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog, 2005)

11. Paradise Lost trilogy (Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky, 1996, 2001, 2011)

10. Touching the Void (Kevin Macdonald, 2003)

9. The Gleanera and I (Agnes Varda, 2009)

8. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (Ed Cunningham, J. Clay Tweel, 2007)

7. Gimme Shelter (Albert Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, David Maysles, 1970)

6. American Movie (Chris Smith, 1999)

5. Project Grizzly (Peter Lynch, 1996)

4. Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994)

3. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 1988)

2. Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself (Frank Oz, 2020)

1. Anvil: The Story of Anvil (Sacha Gervasi, 2008)