What is/are your favorite documentary/ies?

[Sadness]

I really enjoy documentaries, and have been looking around for some new ones to watch.

One of my top favorite historical documentaries is How Yukong Moved the Mountains, about an experimental socialist society that at one time existed in China. I also enjoyed Cuba and the Cameraman, a look at the lives of 3 families over the course of 45 years in Cuba.

As for less-serious documentaries, I enjoyed watching Life 2.0, a documentary about the game Second Life that looks into the lives of a few different people who spend a lot of time in that game. I never played Second Life so I found it a neat little glimpse into that game. Along the same vein, The Dungeon Masters is an interesting look Dungeons and Dragons, or more specifically, a glimpse into the lives of a few people who play.

What are some of your favorites that you've seen or are looking forward to watching?

[vincent]

One of my favourites has always been "Casting JonBenet."

It's about the JonBenet Ramsey case, but only in the loosest sense - it's really about the aftermath of the case and how people perceive it, especially in the aftermath of it being such a pop cultural moment. The title refers to the fact that they're interviewing people who are there to play the real people in re-enactments, so you're just hearing the weird stories of these people and their connections with the case.

I found it a very interesting 'true crime' documentary because it is focused on everything but the facts but rather the mythos that a case like that can take on even years after it happens.

[mini-grammer]

I highly recommend a BBC-produced series by documentarian Adam Curtis called Can't Get You Out Of My Head

It's a documentary about the modern world and how we got there. I'm being intentionally vague because it's really really good. I think most people interested the Yesterweb principles would enjoy this documentary. Although it is pretty graphic and raunchy at times.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p093wp6h

I've seen Cuba and a Cameraman and it's a great one. +1 on that rec for anyone considering that one.

[jshtab]

I shared this in the Discord a while ago, but here it is again: The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, the person who co-founded Reddit, was a drafter of RSS, and more.

[GaryStu]

BBS: The Documentary is an easy answer and a classic. http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/

I have a playlist of YouTube videos about extremely specific videogame documentaries, trivia, and video essays. These are absolutely not what this thread is about. Anyway its here

Might add more later

[Arevakhach]

I'm a big fan of a couple of YouTube video essayists (I think that's what they're called).

1. Atrocity Guide
You guys might enjoy: The Story of Ulillillia (~20min)

2. bernievidz
You guys might enjoy: LOWTAX: Empire of Dirt (The Something Awful Documentary) (~40min)

3. Cybershell maybe not so much of an essayist, but kinda, and I think he's a treasure
You guys might enjoy: Operation Soda Steal (~15min)

[littlebeggar]

There is a google-cardboard style stereogram VR/3d app called Within

for those not in the know - you have a thing that holds your phone up in front of your face and two lenses focus on each eye and as you move your head around the video renders whatever its pointed at, kind of like an old fashioned quicktime 3d image, but video. I am very motion-sickness susceptable and it didn't give me motionsickness, if that is something you were wondering.

I am not a 3d/vr enjoyer yet so it was new to me!

But Within had a documentary about tourist cities in China that recreated famous European landmarks, and it was my first 3d film and it was cool. I found a google-cardboard type headset on the curb so I went looking for 3d/vr apps. A lot of them are 3d still images of famous sites around south asia, which were also enjoyable

https://www.youtube.com/@WithinVR/videos here is their catalog outside the app, I recommend for pure visual spectacle, but I don't see the specific one I watched on there any more. You can watch without the stereogram headset just by holding your phone up and moving it around as if it were a little window to the 3d world

[Starfia]

The original BBC Planet Earth series is still one of my favourite TV shows, period.

More recently, I've watched and listened through General Magic more times than I'd probably guess, for reasons I doubt would baffle anyone who reads this.

[amethyst]

This post made me realise I haven't been watching too many documentaries as of late, so on a recent trip I watched Writing with Fire, a 2021 film about Khabar Lahariya, the only newspaper in India run entirely by women. It documents their coverage of Indian elections, as well as their shift to digital media after 10+ years in print.

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is a fantastic doc about a 1970s summer camp for disabled teenagers, We Live in Public profiles internet pioneer Josh Harris and all of his wild digital antics in the 90s and early 2000s, and Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda highlights the life of an incredible composer I'd never encountered before.

I'll be adding people's recommendations to my list of movies to watch!

Ooh, and I can't forget to give an honourable mention to McLibel! It's about infamous court case that two activists brought against McDonalds in the late 90s and early 2000s. The production company has published the full McLibel documentary on YouTube if you wanna give it a watch.

[Vencake]

One of my favourites has always been "Casting JonBenet."

It's about the JonBenet Ramsey case, but only in the loosest sense - it's really about the aftermath of the case and how people perceive it, especially in the aftermath of it being such a pop cultural moment. The title refers to the fact that they're interviewing people who are there to play the real people in re-enactments, so you're just hearing the weird stories of these people and their connections with the case.

I found it a very interesting 'true crime' documentary because it is focused on everything but the facts but rather the mythos that a case like that can take on even years after it happens.

I remember watching/reading that case when I used to watch crime documentaries all the time. Horrible, and with no clear resolution. I've never come across one that explores like that, so I'll have to add it to the growing list.

Been watching Our Planet and I forgot how good animal docs are.

[RogerMexico]

Probably, like, Ride the Divide, The Barkley Marathons, Darkon.

[ch1rx30]

I'm not sure it could be called a favorite since I don't watch many documentaries but this one about origami was really fun:

https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/doc ... the-folds/

lots of different approaches to being excited about something. I liked the guy who just put one fold in the sheets so they stood up and then let the corners flop.

[AstroWildcat]

2. bernievidz
You guys might enjoy: LOWTAX: Empire of Dirt (The Something Awful Documentary) (~40min)

Seconding this video. It was insanely good.

Also, I will always recommend BobbyBroccoli's science history video essays. The Ninovium and the Jan Hendrik Schon ones? Top notch! I like how he breaks down the dense material and makes it accessible for the everyman.