A box-office flop is treated like its the end of the world, and massive mergers threaten opportunity and creativity for filmmakers in the years ahead. I don’t mean to sound all doom and gloom—there are still plenty of amazing films that came out this year so far—but it seems exceptionally hard to get a documentary made nowadays, let alone drum up excitement for something that doesn’t feature Spider-Man or the Minions. But if you’re in for something real, we have the list for you.
The documentaries on the list range from insightful stories about life on Earth (Once Upon a Time in Harlem, The History of Concrete), to portraits of our favorite celebrities (Man on the Run, Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger). There are also, as in often in documentary work, deeply unsettling truths about the world (You Can See Everything, The Alabama Solution) and depictions of the horrors of war that still have much to teach us (NAZA, American Doctor). So, if you’re tired of scrolling through AI videos on Instagram and want to experience watching something about the real world, take your pick from the excellent choices below.
These are the best documentaries of 2026 so far. Questlove made the best music documentary of 2021 when he took on the Oscar-winning Summer of Soul, about the “Black Woodstock” that occurred in Harlem in 1969. Now, he’s back with a documentary about Earth, Wind & Fire leader Maurice White—a complicated figure who, despite writing “Boogie Wonderland” and “Shining Star,” didn’t always have it so groovy.
American Doctor follows three physicians as they travel to Gaza to provide medical aid to those affected by the conflict before and after the 2025 ceasefire. One of the doctors is Jewish, one is Palestinian, and the third is Pakistani. The documentary by Poh Si Teng shows how each of them are affected differently by the violence abroad, as well as how people can come together and put their differences aside to help save lives.
Nathan Fielder shocked the film world when he announced his latest project—a documentary about Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes in the days leading up to her prison sentence, in which he personally lived with her family in their home for a time. The comedian behind The Rehearsal is known for hiding the truth behind his own schemes, making You Can See Everything a challenge between two professional liars. This National Geographic film, directed by Werner Herzog, follows a South African natural scientist as they search for an undiscovered species of elephant in the highlands of Angola.
You can see what drew the Fitzcarraldo director to the project from its description alone. Ghost Elephants is about more than just elephants; it’s a film about man’s relentless search for the unknown. If you enjoyed How To with John Wilson on HBO, then you’ll be happy to hear that the documentarian’s next project is basically just the next season of How To.
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