IDA Lists Its Top 25 Documentaries
Posted by Jay C on October 5th, 2007
Filed under: News
Everybody loves lists, and documentary film lovers are no different. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the International Documentary Association has just released a list of the 25 best documentaries of all time, and although I agree with most of it, there are a few omissions that surprised me. First off, here’s the list in its entirety:
1. Hoop Dreams
2. The Thin Blue Line
3. Bowling for Columbine
4. Spellbound
5. Harlan County USA
6. An Inconvenient Truth
7. Crumb
8. Gimme Shelter
9. The Fog of War
10. Roger and Me
11. Super Size Me
12. Don’t Look Back
13. Salesman
14. Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance
15. Sherman’s March
16. Grey Gardens
17. Capturing the Friedmans
18. Born into Brothels
19. Titticut Follies
20. Buena Vista Social Club
21. Fahrenheit 9/11
22. Winged Migration
23. Grizzly Man
24. Night and Fog
25. Woodstock
So up front, here’s the films I haven’t seen: Woodstock (ya ya, i’m workin’ on it), Titticut Follies, and Sherman’s March. I was happy to see The Thin Blue Line and Hoop Dreams in the top two, but Bowling For Columbine at #3?? Above Gimme Shelter? Salesman? Hmmm, not impressed there. Even worse is ‘Supersize Me’ at #11. TOTALLY disagree there. Also, I would liked to have seen Vernon, Florida or Gates of Heaven up there. I’m also not thrilled with An Inconvenient Truth’s #6 spot. One glaring omission in my opinion is the lack of love for Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger. Paradise Lost 1 or 2 (I liked 2 better) or Brother’s Keeper would’ve made my list. And as much as some may say it’s fluff, I would’ve liked to have seen American Movie up there. Speaking of my own list, maybe I’ll try and put together the ‘Documentary Blog’s Top 25 Documentary Film List’ over the long weekend. Either way, what do you guys think of the IDA’s list? Any recommendations, omissions, disagreements?
Source: indieWIRE (via Film Junk)
Jay C on 
October 5th, 2007 14:20
“Bowling for Columbine, An Inconvenient Truth and Roger and Me in the top 10 proves the idiocy of these people.
We have watched some awesome documentaries in the past few weeks at school. Chronicles of a summer and We Are The Lambeth Boys are fantastic documentaries that are fucking way better than *Fahrenheit 9/11*.
Seriously… Bowling for Columbine 3rd best ever made? What’s wrong with these dickheads. ”
Pasted from FilmJunk. I can’t believe I overlooked something as preposterous as SuperSize Me on the list of the 25 best documentaries ever made. The fact that these people are seen as any form of authority brings my piss to a boil.
October 5th, 2007 15:41
Making lists like this is tough. Even though they are all docs, there is so much disparity between subject and style, it’s hard to quantify who’s better or worse. That said, let me just say that I like all these movies, except for Titticut Follies which I haven’t seen (despite numerous efforts). So here’s my take:
-Hoop Dreams is a good #1
-Thin Blue Line is great, but not my #2. I like a lot of Morris’ other films better.
-Spellbound seems high at #3
-Although I like Michael Moore’s politics in general, as far as docs go, I’d give Roger & Me a slot, but that’s it.
-An Inconvenient Truth seems high and might not make my top 25.
-I might replace Koyannisqatsi with Baraka, but they’re essentially the same film.
-I think the Seven Up series deserved a slot, but maybe they don’t consider that a feature.
-You and I have a lot of the same films we would’ve added.
Everyone has their own tastes, but for what it’s worth, here’s mine. I didn’t spend a lot of time on the order after the first ten. Just know that if it made the list, I like it a lot:
1- Grey Gardens
2- Hoop Dreams
3- Gates Of Heaven
4- Baraka
5- Gimme Shelter
6- Sherman’s March
7- Saleman (Can you tell I like the Maysles?)
8- Harlan County USA
9- Crumb
10- American Movie
11- Stevie
12- Capturing The Friedmans
13- Don’t Look Back
14- Primary
15- Control Room
16- Paradise Lost (1&2)
17- The Seven-Up Series
18- Fog Of War
19- Chain Camera (For being innovative. I know a lot of people don’t like it.)
20- The Christo & Jeanne Claude films
21- Hearts & Minds
22- Fast, Cheap, & Out Of Control
23- The Corporation
24- Burden Of Dreams
25- Okie Noodling
October 5th, 2007 15:49
I’m already editing! I forgot about Bus 174, a really great doc. Making lists like this is too damn hard!
October 5th, 2007 16:58
I’m surprised at the list mostly because I’ve seen a bunch of the films on the list and I don’t watch a lot of documentaries. I do agree that Paradise Lost 1 (which I saw because of your recommendation) is much better than either Bowling for Columbine or Supersize Me. Would something like the 7 Up serious be considered for this as well because that’s an excellent collection.
October 5th, 2007 17:44
I have only one main concern here: if International Documentary Association is really international body there should be a global perspective in their list. Well, there isn’t. It’s just all European-American sales list, although one can’t deny it’s a very good sales list indeed.
Just in order to create at least some balance here I’ll propose my own great favorite:
Satoyama: Japan’s Secret Water Garden
Masumi Mizunuma, Japan, 2004
Only problem is: it’s not available anywhere but in Japan. That would be exactly the purpose of any international committee - to broaden the scope for global public and to give communicative impulse in order to experience new and reach out beyond familiar boundaries.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0483154
October 6th, 2007 20:39
I’m fairly new to documentaries, I’ve only seen 11 on the list, ‘Super Size Me’ is the worst of the films I’ve seen and I could probably pretty easily cull a large stack of films to replace it - really, this one sticks out like a sore thumb and is a mind bomb at #11. I also take issue with ‘Born Into Brothels’ on the list - it is nothing more than a calling card for the “generosity” of Zana. It seems like these two were included only because they won awards and did well at the Box Office.
A few replacement suggestions:
Varda’s ‘The Gleaners and I’;
Haro’s ‘Sayonara CP’ or ‘The Emporer’s Naked Army Marches On’;
the already mentioned ‘Up Series’;
Morrison’s ‘Decasia’;
Wulf’s ‘James Benning: Circling the Image’;
as well as something by Benning;
something by Daniel Gordon, ‘A State of Mind’;
Caouette’s ‘Tarnation’;
Seth Gordon’s ‘The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters’;
Klusák and Remunda’s ‘Czech Dream’
and a few possible outliers:
Clarke’s ‘Potrait of Jason’;
Warhol’s ‘Beauty #2′;
Greaves’ ‘Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One’; Kubelka’s ‘Arnulf Rainer’
At least the list does inspire me to visit a handful I’ve not yet seen and revisit a few I have.
October 8th, 2007 12:15
The problem with lists is they tend to weigh heavily in favor of the most current crop of films and also the host nation.
Missing are (although I’m sure there are tons more brilliant foreign docs out there which I just haven’t heard about or had the opportunity to see:
Nanook of the North
Brothers’ Keeper (already mentioned)
War Photographer
Rivers & Tides
Hearts & Minds (already mentioned)
The Sorrow & the Pity (although at 4 hours this may be too long to be considered here but it’s brilliant)
October 25th, 2007 00:06
Titticut Follies is an excellent documentary, as is Sherman’s March, but TF is (last I checked) extremely difficult to find, and is quite long. The latter is a good doc, for those that love docs and if you enjoy watching someone search for love in the South from behind his camera. An interesting concept if nothing else.
You may have to be affiliated with a university to see Titticut - as it was tied up in litigation for years and years (he captured the forced feeding and subsequent death of an inmate - the state wasn’t too happy with his portrayal of their institution for the criminally insane).
Surprised Atomic Cafe was snubbed. Having seen all the films on that list with the exception of Grizzly Man, I’ll agree that they all have their place on a top 100, maybe even a top 50, but several should not have made the top 10.
January 17th, 2008 19:36
King of Kong : Fist full of quarters, has got to be my favorite Docu ever. It is a glorious battle between the forces of good and evil, set in the bizarre world of competitive classic video games. How something that messed up became so overwhelmingly entertaining boggles the mind.
February 13th, 2008 17:00
I’m totally with Hoop Dreams being at number one. And the music in Buena Vista Social Club is mesmerizing. Paradise Lost and Don’t Look Back are a couple of my favorites as well. Some of the films on this list are a little iffy… and it could use some updating.
Like colleeny said, where is King of Kong?
And where is Darius Goes West? It is the most moving film I have ever seen (documentary or not) and last I heard, it had won 26 awards at film festivals this past year, more than any film ever has. It’s a rare watch, an insightful watch, and for such a young crew, a mightily impressive watch.
February 15th, 2008 04:47
AMERICAN MOVIE AND DARIUS GOES WEST!! 2 BEST MOVIES EVER!!!!!
February 21st, 2008 17:00
darius goes west is out on dvd now. id been keeping track of it since i saw it at the Santa Barbara ff last year (and took home its first award). it is amazing. please, do yourself a favor and check it out. you WON’T regret it. dariusgoeswest.com
April 11th, 2008 11:05
[…] is definitely lacking.) the International Documentary Association released it’s list of ‘Top 25 Documentaries of All Time’, and although their list did cover some essential territory, there were a few surprises that I felt […]
May 12th, 2008 05:48
All of these are fairly good, please search brainman
June 25th, 2008 01:32
2. The Thin Blue Line
3. Bowling for Columbine
6. An Inconvenient Truth
9. The Fog of War
10. Roger and Me
14. Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance
17. Capturing the Friedmans
23. Grizzly Man
24. Night and Fog
The above are the ones from the IDA list that I’ve seen AND approve of being on such a prestigious list. Personally, I would also add Children Underground, Triumph of the Will, Scratch, and 51 Birch Street.