DOCUMENTARIES

A scene from 'Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King' (2022).

The 20 Best Documentaries on Netflix Right Now

The best documentaries prove that truth is not only stranger than fiction—it's frequently more entertaining.

15 Killer True Crime Documentaries to Stream on Netflix Right Now

Terrorist attacks, serial killers, unsolved murders—Netflix has everything to feed your true crime obsession.

How Joyce Chopra Filmed the First Live Birth on Television — Hers

In 1972, filmmaker Joyce Chopra welcomed her daughter into the world—and invited all the world to see in her groundbreaking documentary, 'Joyce at 34.'

John Leonard in 'Pepsi, Where's My Jet?' (2022).

'I Just Want a Plane': When a College Student Demanded Pepsi Hand Over a Harrier Jet

John Leonard’s demand was simple. All he wanted was for Pepsi to deliver the Harriet jet he believed they had promised. In 1996, Leonard, then a 21-year-old col

8 Fascinating Facts About New York City's Hotel Chelsea

Since its original opening in 1884, the Hotel Chelsea has made headlines for its celebrity residents, bizarre deaths, purported paranormal activity, and beyond.

Colin Firth and Toni Collette star in The Staircase (2022).

Sneak Peek: Colin Firth and Toni Collette In HBO Max’s The Staircase

The chilling true-crime story behind 'The Staircase' is making the leap from docuseries to miniseries on HBO Max.

Watch Paul McCartney Write "Get Back" While Waiting for John Lennon

The new Beatles documentary 'Get Back' shows Paul McCartney writing one of the band's greatest hits on a day when John Lennon was running late.

Scientists from the expedition tagging whales in the Santa Barbara Channel.

The Loneliest Whale: Documentary Chronicles a Search for the 52 Hertz Whale

Fifty-two Hertz, dubbed 'the loneliest whale in the world,' has roamed the Pacific for decades, singing at a much higher frequency than other whale species.

Jackie Collins at her home in Beverly Hills, California in 1995.

Lady Boss: 10 Facts About Jackie Collins

Before there was 'Sex and the City' or 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' Jackie Collins was delivering unapologetically raunchy tales of glamour and seduction with a treasure trove of erotic novels.

The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images

Watch Titanic Survivors Tell Their Stories in This Rare Video

In this rare clip from 1970, three Titanic survivors tell their stories from that fateful night in April 1912.

Brothers Russell and Ron Mael in Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers (2021).

10 Surprising Facts About Sparks

Over the past 50 years, brothers Ron and Russell Mael—a.k.a. musical duo Sparks—have been on the forefront of popular music trends, from glam rock to power pop to electronic music to new wave and beyond. Now they're the subject of Edgar Wright's first doc

Sir David Attenborough attends the launch of the London Wildlife Trust's new flagship nature reserve Woodberry Wetlands on April 30, 2016 in London.

11 Amazing Facts About Sir David Attenborough

As if he wasn't already revered for being the world's best-known naturalist, Sir David Attenborough also gave us Monty Python.

A photo of magician James Randi, the subject of the documentary An Honest Liar.

From Extreme Catfishing to Wine Fraud, Here Are 6 Documentaries About Con Artists

If you've already blown through HBO Max's scammer series 'Generation Hustle,' these documentaries are for you.

Busting 10 Sleep Myths With Netflix's Headspace Guide to Sleep

Do you really need eight hours of sleep? Should you ban all technology from your bedroom? Eve Lewis Prieto, director of meditation for the Headspace app and narrator of Netflix's 'Headspace Guide to Sleep,' helps us separate fact from fiction.

An FBI photograph of the crime scene after the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery, as seen in This is a Robbery: The World's Biggest Art Heist (2021).

12 Facts About the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Robbery—the World's Biggest Art Heist

On March 18, 1990, two men—dressed as police officers—talked their way into the side door of Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Less than 90 minutes later, they had pulled off the largest art heist in history—which remains unsolved to this day.

Sir David Attenborough pictured in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, in David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020).

The 15 Best Nature Documentaries, According to Fans and Critics

Netflix's 'Seaspiracy' and the BBC's 'Blue Planet II' make the list of the top-rated nature documentaries.

Onion Ring Scandals to Deadly Water Parks: Watch These 5 Docs When You Need a Break From True Crime

As we're more hopeful about the state of the world, here are some documentary viewing choices that are a little less grim.

Beulah Mae Donald in The People v. The Klan (2021).

10 Facts About Beulah Mae Donald, the Woman Who Took Down the KKK

'The People V. The Klan'  is a four-part CNN Original Series about the courageous story of Beulah Mae Donald, a Black mother in Alabama who brought down the Ku Klux Klan for the brutal murder of her son.

Sit back and relax while other people track down the murderer.

MagellanTV Will Pay You $2400 to Binge-Watch 24 Hours’ Worth of True Crime Documentaries

You’ll probably binge-watch a bunch of true crime documentaries on some rainy weekend anyway. Why not get paid for it?

A still from Rodney Ascher's A Glitch in the Matrix (2021).

What Is Reality? A Glitch in the Matrix Explores the Concept of Simulation Theory

'A Glitch in the Matrix,' the new documentary from Rodney Ascher ('Room 237') takes its cue from Philip K. Dick to explore just how real the "reality" we live in is.

10 Facts About MTV's 'The Real World'

MTV's 'The Real World,' which premiered in 1992, set the template for several successful reality TV franchises that followed, from 'Survivor' to 'The Bachelor.'

The exterior of Los Angeles's Cecil Hotel, as seen in Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (2021).

7 Facts About Los Angeles's Notorious Cecil Hotel

The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles is one of those iconic landmarks that is as famous for what goes on behind closed doors as it is for its once-regal architecture and Art Deco interior.

See the World From Home With the CuriosityStream Documentary Streaming Service

A lifetime subscription to the award-winning CuriosityStream documentary platform is 40 percent off today.

The Watts family is featured in American Murder: The Family Next Door (2020).

American Murder: The Family Next Door: 6 Facts About Chris Watts and the Psychology of Family Killers

'American Murder: The Family Next Door,' Netflix’s true crime documentary, tells the tragic story of Chris Watts, a Colorado man who murdered his then-pregnant wife and their two young girls.