Sociology Through Documentary Film

This list was originally created by Jessie Daniels, PhD (Hunter College and The Graduate Center-CUNY).  Now that the list is a wiki, everyone is encouraged  to create a login, update and add to the list.   (except evil spammers & vandals - boo!) This is meant to be helpful for anyone in any field that teaches with documentaries, or would like to begin. 

Here's how to add documentaries to this list:

• Create a PBWorks (wiki software) login and password
• Click the "Edit" button at the top left, edit as you any web page in the text window that appears;
• Be sure to click "Save"! (button at the bottom left). 

How things are organized here: 

• Only documentary films. The top-level of organization is that this list includes only documentary films,  not feature films (if you're not sure of the difference, read this).
• Category. The films are organized by categories, that roughly these categories correspond to some of the key concepts within the field of sociology. These are the most of the categories that typically get covered in an introductory sociology course (SOC101). If you don't see a category that you often teach, please add it.  
• Chronological. Within each category, the films are listed in chronological order, most recent to oldest. If you add a film, please be sure to follow the organizational schema.
• Date & Director.  Each film that's listed includes the following: 1) the year it was released, 2) a hyperlink to additional information about the film (ideally, a link to where the film can be ordered), 3) the director listed, and 4)the running time. If you add a film, please be sure to add this information.

The teaching part:

• If you're interested in using films in a sociology course, and want to do a deep dive on the pedagogy, be sure to check the pages here on: 
• Critical Media Literacy includes an introduction to research in the field. 
• Video Worksheets with questions that connect specific films to assigned readings, and a set of critical media literacy questions.
• Course Outlines with suggested documentaries listed for each unit. 

All the teaching materials posted here are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share-Alike (2.0). This means you may copy, reuse, remix, and reshare any of the material here as long as you give credit (attribution), you don't charge for it (non-commercial), and you share it with others under the same terms (share-alike).  

The Sociological Imagination

• “56 Up” (2013). Directed by Michael Apted (140 min).  
  
• The Up Series (1964-2005). Directed by Michael Apted (40-135 min per film).  A sociological cross-section of children in England are interviewed about their hopes for the future.  The children are revisited every 7 years as they progress into adulthood.  Each film in the series is emotional and moving.  Currently concludes with 56 Up.

Sociological Investigation / Research Methods / Research Ethics

• “The Human Behavior Experiments” (2006). Directed by Alex Gibney (43 min). Documentary about both Milgram, Zimbardo and more contemporary examples, such as Abu Gharib.
• "The True Meaning of Pictures" (2002). Directed by Jennifer Baichwal (71 min).  A documentary about Shelby Lee Adams' controversial photos of families in Appalachia.
• "La Sociologie est un Sport de Combat" ("Sociology is a Martial Art") (2001). Directed by Pierre Carles (140 min).  
• “The Deadly Deception” (1993). Directed by Denisce DiAnni (56 min).  
  
• “Quiet Rage” (1992). Produced and Directed by Ken Musen (50 min). A documentary about Zimbardo experiments. 
• "Stanley Milgram Obedience" (1965). Produced by Stanley Milgram (44 min). A documentary about Milgram experiments.

Culture

• "Tokyo Idols" (2017). Directed by Kyoko Miyake.    
  
• "India's Wandering Lions" (2016). Written and Directed by Martin Dohrn and Praveen Singh (53 min). 
• "Generation Like" (2014). Directed by Douglas Rushkoff (54 min) (follow-up to "The Merchants of Cool").
• "Exit Through the Gift Shop" (2010). Directed by Banksy (86 min). 
• "Good Hair" (2009). Directed by Jeff Stilson (95 min).
• "No Impact Man" (2009). Directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein (92 min).
• "Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis" (2009). Directed by M. Black (88 min).
• "We Live in Public" (2009). Directed by Ondi Timoner (91 min).
• "Beautiful Losers" (2008). Directed by Joshua Leonard and Aaron Rose (90 min).
• “Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Kids” (2008). Directed by Adriana Barbaro & Jeremy Earp (66 min).
• "Guns In America" (2008). Produced by National Geographic (50 min).
• "In The Footsteps of Marco Polo" (2008). Directed by Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell (87 min).
• “The Story of Stuff” (2007). Directed by Annie Leonard (21:00).
• "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" (2006). Directed by Kirby Dick (100 min).
• “I for India.” (2005). Directed by Sandhya Suri (70 min).
• “Do You Speak American?” (2004). Produced and Directed by William Cran. Set of 3 videos (57 min each)
• “The Persuaders” (2004). Directed by Douglas Rushkoff (55 min).
• “Daughter from Danang” (2002). Directed by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco (81 min). 
• "Spellbound" (2002). Directed by Jeffrey Blitz (97 min).
• “The Devil’s Playground” (2002). Directed by Lucy Walker (76 min).   
• “The Merchants of Cool” (2001). Directed by Douglas Rushkoff (58 min).
• “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” (2001). Directed by Taggart Siegel (59 min).
• “The Primal Mind” (1996). Directed by Jamake Highwater (57 min).
• “Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh” (1993). Produced/Directed by John Page, Chris Beeman, & Helena Norberg-Hodge (60 min).
• “American Tongues” (1987). Directed by Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker (57 min).
• “A Man Called Bee”: Studying the Yanomamo (1974). Directed by Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon (44 min) (but, not without controversy, see here, here, and here).
• "The Cry of Jazz" (1959). Directed by Edward Bland (34 min).
• "The Mad Masters" (Les maîtres fous) (1955). Directed by Jean Rouch (28 min).

miami seo

Class Inequality / Corporations

• "The Divide" (2015). Directed by Katharine Round (81 min).  
• "Forward 13: Waking Up the American Dream" (2014). Directed by Patrick Lovell (120 min).  
• "Poverty, Inc." (2014). Directed by Michael Matheson Miller (94 min). 
• "Masters of Money - Marx" (2012). Produced by the BBC in association with The Open University (59 min).  
  
• "Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream" (2012). Directed by Alex Gibney (54 min). 
• "Queen of Versailles" (2012). by Lauren Greenfield (100 min). 
• "War by Other Means" (2011). Directed by John Pilger and David Munro (52 min). 
• "Capitalism: A Love Story" (2009). Directed by Michael Moore (127 min).  
• "Garbage Dreams" (2009). Directed by Mai Iskander (83 min).
• "The End of Poverty?" (2008). Directed by  Phillipe Diaz (105 min).  
• "The Big Sellout" (2007). Directed by Florian Optiz (95 min).  
• “Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class” (2005). Directed by Sut Jhally (65 min).  
• “The Boys of Baraka” (2005). Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (84 min).  
• “Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids” (2004). Directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kaufman (85 min).  
• “The Corporation” (2004). Directed by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott & Joel Bakhan (165 min).  
• "The Diamond Empire" (2004). Directed by Janine Roberts (Two part documentary. Part i is 56 min and part 2 is 46 min). 
  
• “The Overspent American” (2004). Directed by Sut Jhally, Loretta Alper & Kelly Garner (33 min).  
• "Born Rich" (2003). Directed by Jamie Johnson (75 min).  
• “Life and Debt” (2001). Directed by Stephanie Black (86 min).  
• “People Like Us: Social Class in America” (2001). Directed by Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker (125 min).  
  
• "The New Rulers of the World" (2001). Directed by John Pilger (54 min). 
• "Taken for a Ride: How the American Auto Industry Engineered the Demise of City Public-transit Systems." (1996). Directed by Jim Klein (56 min).  
  
• "The Diamond Empire" (1994). Produced by PBS Frontline (90 min). 
  

Crime/Criminal Justice System

• "13th."(2016). Directed by Ava Duvernay (100 min).
• "Supermarket Slave Trail" (2014). Directed by Chris Kelly (23 min).
• "The Central Park Five" (2012). Directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon (120 min). 
• "The House I Live In" (2012). Directed by Eugene Jarecki (108 min).
• "Crips & Bloods: Made in America" (2009). Directed by Stacy Peralta (93 min). 
• “Tulia, Texas”(2008). Directed by Cassandra Herrman and Kelly Whalen (54 min).
• “Race to Execution”(2007). Directed by Rachel Lyon (58 min). (More information at PBS.)
• "Very Young Girls" (2007). Directed by David Schisgall, Nina Alvarez (82 min).
• “American Gangster: Seasons 1-3″ (BET series, 2006-2008) Executive produced by Nelson George. 
• “The Trials of Darryl Hunt” (2006). Directed by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg (106 min).
• "Bastards of the Party" (2005). Directed by Cle Sloan (95 min). 
• “Every Mother’s Son” (2004). Directed by Tami Gold and Kelly Anderson (54 min).
• “Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer” (2003). Directed by Nick Broomfield (90 min).
• "Capturing the Friedmans" (2003) Produced/Directed by Andrew Jarecki (107 min). 
• "Girlhood" (2003). Directed by Liz Garbus (82 min).
• "The Execution of Wanda Jean" (2002). Directed by Liz Garbus (88 min).
• “Murder on a Sunday Morning” (2001). Directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Academy Award for Best Documentary (2001). (111 min).
• "The Farm: Angola, USA" (1998). Directed by Liz Garbus, Wilbert Redeau, and Jonathan Stack (88 min).
• "Taken for a Ride: How the American Auto Industry Engineered the Demise of City Public-transit Systems." (1996). Directed by Jim Klein (56 min). 
• “Thin Blue Line” (1988). Directed by Errol Morris (103 min).
• Nice list here of crime-related documentaries from sociologist Bradley Wright. 

Drugs: Addiction, Alcohol, Tobacco 

• "I'm Dangerous With Love" (2009). Directed by Michel Negroponte (84 min).
• "Addiction" (2007). HBO/NIH. A series of nine separate films on the topic of drug addiction. 
• “Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease, Pushing Drugs” (2006). Produced & Edited by Ronit Ridberg (46 min). 
• "The Meth Epidemic" (2006) Written and Proudced by Carl Byker (54 min). 
• "Spin the Bottle: Sex, Lies & Alcohol" (2004). Produced & Edited by Ronit Ridberg (45 min).
• "Making a Killing: Philip Morris, Kraft, and Global Tobacco" (2000). Directed by Kelly Anderson & Tami Gold (30 min).

Drugs: Drug War

• "The House I Live In" (2012). Directed by Eugene Jarecki (108 min).
• "Crips & Bloods: Made in America" (2009). Directed by Stacy Peralta (93 min).
• “American Drug War: The Last White Hope” (2007). Directed by Kevin Booth (118 min).
• "The Union: The Business Behind Getting High" (2007). Directed by Brett Harvey (107 min).
• “Cocaine Cowboys” (2006). Directed by Billy Corben (152 min).
• “Plan Columbia: Cashing in on the Drug-War Failure” (2002). Directed by Gerard Ungeman (58 min).
• “Grass” (1999). Directed by Ron Mann (79 min). 

Ethnicity / Race

• "13th" (2016). Directed by Ava DuVernay (100 min).
• "I Am Not Your Negro" (2016). Directed by Raoul Peck (94 min).   
  
• "Jihad: A Story of the Others" (2016). Directed by Deeyah Khan (49 min).
• "Separate and Unequal" (2014). Produced by Mary Robertson (57 min). 
  
• "White Like Me" (2013). Directed by Scott Morris (69 min).  
• "Vincent Who" (2009). Directed by Tony Lam (41 min).
• "Moving Midway" (2008). Directed by Godfrey Cheshire (99 min).
• "Grace Lee Project" (2005). Directed by Grace Lee (68 min).
• "Race: The Power of an Illusion" (2003). Directed by Larry Adelman (172 min).
• Episode 1: "The Difference Between Us" - about science, genetics. 
• Episode 2:  "The Story We Tell" - recent invention of race.
• Episode 3: "The House We Live In - about housing. 
• “True Colors.” (1991). (ABC, PrimeTime Live). Diane Sawyer and news crew stage what is basically a “matched study” experiment by pairing John, who is white, and Glen, who is black, and follow them with a series of hidden cameras with as they expose racism in a variety of settings.  Although old (early 1990s) and very short (just 19 minutes), if I could only show one film to a class about race in the U.S., I would choose this one. Available for purchase here.

Education

• "The Revisionaries" (2012). Directed by Scott Thurman (84 min).
• "The Lottery" (2010). Directed by Madeleine Sackler (81 min).
• “Brick by Brick: A Civil Rights Story” (2008). Directed by Bill Kavanah (54 min).
• “Resolved” (2007). Directed by Greg Whiteley (91 min).
• "The Hollywood Librarian" (2007). Directed by Ann Seidl (96 min).
• “Corridor of Shame”(2006). Directed by Bud Ferillo (58 min).
• “The Heart of the Game” (2005). Directed by Ward Serrill (103 min).
• "Hell's Highway: The Story of Highway Safety Films" (2003). Directed by Bret Wood (91 min).

Environment: Food, Water & Energy Industry

• "Fed Up" (2014). Directed by Stephen Soechtig (92 min).
• "Damn The Dams"  (2012). Directed by: Özlem Sarıyıldız, Osman Şişman (47 min).
• "Forks Over Knives" (2011). Directed by Lee Fulkerson (96 min).
  
• "Shelter in Place" (2010). Directed by Zed Nelson (48 min).
• "A River of Waste" (2009) Directed by Don McCorkell (92 min).  
  
• "Crude: The Real Price of Oil" (2009). Directed by Joe Berlinger (105 min).
• "Food, Inc." (2009). Directed by Robert Kenner (94 min).  
  
• "The Cove" (2009). Directed by Louie Psihoyos (92min).
• "Food Fight" (2008). Directed by Christopher Taylor (83 min).
• "Flow: For the Love of Water" (2008). Directed by Irena Salina (93 min).
• "The Garden" (2008) Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy (80 min).
• "Garbage Warrior" (2007). Directed by Oliver Hodge (86 min).
• "King Corn" (2007). Directed by Aaron Woolf (90 min).
• "Sweet Remedy:The World Reacts to an Adulterated Food Supply" (2006). Directed by Cori Barkett, JT Waldon (134 min).
• "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (2006). Directed by Chris Paine (92 min). 
• "Genetically Modified Food: Panacea or Poison" (2005). Directed by Josh Sore Servidor Dedicado (51 min).
• "Our Daily Bread" (2005). Directed by Nikolaus Geyrhalter (92 min).
• "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World" (2004). Directed by Cori Barkett, JT Waldon (90 min).
• "The Future of Food" (2004). Directed by Deborah Koons (90 min).
• "The Meatrix," and "Meatrix II" (2003, 2006). Produced by Sustainable Table (4 min each).
• "Modern Meat" (2002). Directed by Doug Hamilton (56 min).
• "The Global Banquet" (2001). Directed by Zoe Young (57 min).
  
• "Taken for a Ride: How the American Auto Industry Engineered the Demise of City Public-transit Systems." (1996). Directed by Jim Klein (56 min).

Family

• "Nana" (2015). Directed by Tatiana Fernandez Geara (71 min).
• "Babies" (2010). Directed by Thomas Balmès (79 min).
• "Made in India" (2010). Directed by Vaishali Sinha and Rebecca Haimowitz (97 min).
• "Wo Ai Ni Mommy (I love you mommy)" (2010). Directed by Stephanie Wang-Breal (77 min).
• "Off and Running" (2010). Directed by Nicole Opper (75 min).  
• "Treeless Mountain" (2008). Directed So Yong Kim (90 min).
• “For the Bible Tells Me So” (2007). Directed by Daniel Karslake (99 min).
• "Maybe Baby" (2007). Directed by Shannon O'Rourke (61 min).
• "The Motherhood Manifesto" (2006). Directed by Laura Pacheco (45 min).
• "Maid in America" (2005). Directed by Anayansi Prado (57 min).
• "Capturing the Friedmans" (2003). Produced/Directed by Andrew Jarecki (107 min). 
• “People Like Us: Social Class in America” (2001). Directed by Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker (125 min).
• "Big Mama" (2000). Produced and Directed by Tracy Seretean (40 min).
• "The Child the Stork Brought Home" (2000). Directed by Gillian Goslinga (60 min).
  
• "The Pill" (1999). Directed by Erna Buffie and Elise Swerhone.
  
• “Defending Our Lives” (1993). Directed by Margaret Lazarus and Renner Wunderlich, Academy Award for Best Documentary (1994), (42 min). 

Gender

• "My Whole Self: Microaggressions and Gender" (2017). Directed by Barbara J. Diamond (27 min). 
• "A Chance to Dress" (2015). Directed by Alice Bouvrie (40 min).
  
• "Growing-up Trans" (2015). Written, Produced and Directed by Miri Navasky and Karen O'Connor (84 min).
• "The Mask You Live In" (2015). Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom (97 min).
• "Spitting Game" (2009). Directed by Denice Ann Evans (65 min).

Genocide, Conflict, Human Rights 

• "Canada's Dark Secret" (2017). Directed by Rania El Rafael (47 min).
• "Congo, My Precious" (2017). Directed by Anastasia Trofimova (52 min).  
• "Banana Land: Blood, Bullets and Poison" (2014). Produced by Jason Glaser et al. (71 min).  
• "Supermarket Slave Trail" (2014). Directed by Chris Kelly (23 min).
• "#chicagogirl: The Social Network Takes on a Dictator" (2013). Directed by Joe Piscatella (74 min).
• "Red Reign: The Harvesting of China's Organs" (2013). Directed by Masha Savitz (62 min). 
• "Waste Land" (2010). Directed by Lucy Walker (100 min).
• "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" (2009). Directed by Gini Reticker (72 min). 
• “Standard Operating Procedure” (2008). Directed by Errol Morris (118 min).
• "Buying the War" (2007). PBS Frontline with Bill Moyers (83 min).  
• "Darfur Now" (2007). Directed by Ted Braun (98 min).
• "Ghosts of Abu Gharib" (2007). Directed by Rory Kennedy (82 min).
• "In Whose Interest?" (2003). Written, Produced and Directed by David Kaplowitz (27 min). 
  
• "Stealing a Nation" (2004) Directed by John Pilger (56 min).
• "Akuntsu" (2004) Directed by Luis Miguel Dominguez (57 min). 
  
• "The Invisible Nation" (2007) Directed by Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie (93 min).
• "Night and Fog" (1955) Directed by Alain Resnais. 
• "Well-Founded Fear" (2000) Directed by Michael Camerini and Shari Robertson.
• "Srebrenica: Triumph of Evil"  (2001). Produced by SENSE Agency.
• "Ghosts of Rwanda" (2004), Directed by Greg Barker. 
• "Control Room" (2004) Directed by Jehane Noujaim 
• "Paper Clips" (2004) Directed by Elliot Berlin and Joe Fab.
• "Gunner Palace" (2004) Directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker. 
• "Why We fight" (2005) Directed by Eugene Jarecki  
• "The War Tapes" (2006) Directed by Deborah Scranton. 
• "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo" (2006) Directed by Lisa Jackson.
• "Darwin’s Nightmare" (2006) Directed by Hubert Sauper.
• "Shadow Company" (2006) Directed by Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque. Narrated by Gerard Butler.
• "Taxi to the Dark Side" (2007) Directed by Alex Gibney.
• "The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair" (2007) Directed by Michael Tucker.
• "War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death" (2007) Directed by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp.  
• "Nanking
• Lawyers Richmond" (2007) Directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman.
• "No End In Sight" (2007) Directed by Charles Ferguson.
•  "Inheritance" (2006). Directed by James Moll (75 min). 
• "Radio Bikini" (1988). Directed by Robert Stone (56 min).
  

Globalization

• "Life and Debt" (2001) Directed by Stephanie Black.  
• "Control Room" (2004) Directed by Jehane Noujaim.
• "Manufactured Landscapes" (2006) Directed by Jennifer Baichwal.
• "Maquilapolis: City of Factories" (2006) Directed by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre. 
• "The Divide" (2015) Directed by Katharine Round. 

Groups and Organizations

• "Taken for a Ride: How the American Auto Industry Engineered the Demise of City Public-transit Systems." (1996) Directed by Jim Klein. 
• “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” (2005) Directed by Alex Gibney.
• "The Hollywood Librarian" (2007) Directed by Ann Seidl.
• “Crips and Bloods: Made in America” (2008) Directed by Stacy Peralta. 
• “Standard Operating Procedure” (2008) Directed by Errol Morris.

Health, Illness, Medicalization & the Business of Health Care

• “Titicut Follies” (1967) Classic, and controversial film, by Frederick Wiseman.
• "The Fire Within: HIV/AIDS" (1995) Produced and directed by Leanne Whitney.
• "The Pill" (1999) Directed by Erna Buffie and Elise Swerhone.
• "Sound and Fury" (2000) Directed by Josh Aronson. (Also available: "Sound and Fury: Six Years Later," 2006).
• “Cracking the Code of Life” (2001) Directed by Betsey Arledge and Elizabeth Arledge.
• “Medicating Kids” (2001) Directed by Marcela Gaviria.
• “Pills, Profits, Protest: Chronicle of the Global AIDS Movement” (2003) Directed by Anne-Christine d’Adesky, Shanti Avirgan, & Ann T. Rossetti.
• "Pandemic: Facing Aids" (2003) Directed by Rory Kennedy.
• "The Origin Of AIDS" (2003) Produced by Peter Chappell and Catherine Peix.
• "The Gift" (2003) Directed by Louise Hargarth.
• “Super Size Me” (2004) Directed by Morgan Spurlock.
• “Selling Sickness” (2004) Directed by Catherine Scott.
• "Global Dimming" (2005) Producer David Sington, Horizon (BBC).
• “The Education of Shelby Knox” (2005) Directed by Marion Lipschutz & Rose Rosenblatt.
• "The Meth Epidemic" (2006) Directed by Carl Byker.
• "McLibel" (2006) Directed by Franny Armstrong.
• "Andrew Jenks, Room 335"  (2006) Directed by Andrew Jenks.
• "The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's Stories of Love, Courage and Hope" (2006) Produced by Kaiser Permamente Foundation.
• “Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease, Pushing Drugs” (2007) Produced and directed by Ronit Ridberg.
• “Sicko” (2007) Directed by Michael Moore.
• "Addiction" (HBO/NIH series) (2007) Various directors. 
• “Unnatural Causes” (2008) Executive Producer, Larry Adelman.
•  "All of Us" (2008) Directed by Emily Apt.
• “Bigger, Stronger, Faster” (2008) Directed by Chris Bell.

• “Generation Rx” (2008) Directed by Kevin Miller.

• "Depression Out of the Shadows" (2008) Directed by Larkin McPhee.

• "Killer at Large" (2008)  Directed by Steven Greenstreet.
• "Fat: What No One is Telling You"  (2008) PBS Special. 
• "Sick Around the World" (2008) Directed by Jon Pelfreman.
• “The Business of Being Born” (2008), Directed by Abby Epstein, Executive Produced by Ricki Lake.
• "Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors without Borders" (2008) Directed by Mark N. Hopkins.
• "Including Samuel" (2009) Directed by Dan Habib and Edited by Rikk Desgres.
• "No Family History" (2009) Directed by Sabrina McCormick.
• "The Released" (2009) Produced by Karen O'Connor and Miri Navasky. 
• "The Alzheimer's Project: Caregivers" (2009) Directed by Bill Couturie.
• "Why Us? Left Behind and Dying" (2009) Directed by Claudia Pryor. 
• "65_RedRoses" (2009) Directed by Philip Lyall and Nimisha Mukerji  
• "Forks Over Knives" (2011) Directed by Lee Fulkerson.
• "The Waiting Room" (2012) Directed by Peter Nicks. 
• "Sugar Coated" (2015) Directed by Michèle Hozer. 

Immigration

• "Dead in the Desert" (2012) Directed by Austin Counts (57 min). 
  
• "Harvest of the Empire" (2012) Directed by Eduardo Lopez and Peter Getzels (90 min). 
  
• "Immigrants for Sale" (2015) Produced by Brave New Films (33 min). 
  
• “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” (2001) Directed by Taggart Siegel.
• “Daughter from Danang” (2002) Directed by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco.
• “Farmingville” (2004) Directed by Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini.
• “I for India.” (2005) Directed by Sandhya Suri.  
•  "No le Digas a Nadie / Don't Tell Anyone."  (2015)  Dir. Mikaela Schwer
  
• "Which Way Home" (2009) Directed by Rebecca Cammisa.
• "The Other Side of Immigration" (2009) Directed by Roy Germano.
• C.N. Le maintains a separate and extensive list of documentaries about immigration, organized by topic, at Asian-Nation.org. 

Law & Society

• "Race to Execution" (2007) Directed by Rachel Lyon and Jim Lopes.
• "Tulia, Texas" (2008) Produced and directed by Cassandra Herman and Kelly Whalen.
• "William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe" (2009) Directed by Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler.

Media & Internet

• "The Century of the Self" (2002) Written and Produced by Adam Curtis (240 min). 
  
• "Manufacturing Consent" (1992) Directed by Mark Achbar and Wintonick. 
• "Control Room" (2004) Directed by Jehane Noujaim. 
• "The Persuaders" (2004) PBS Frontline Directed by Rachel Dretzin, Barak Goodman (Douglas Rushkoff, appears and has writing credit).
• “Blog Wars” (2006) Directed by James Rogan.
• "Buying the War" (2007) PBS Frontline with Bill Moyers.  
• "War Made Easy: How Presidents & Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death" (2007) Directed by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp.  
• "We Live in Public" (2009) Directed by Ondi Timoner.
• "The Yes Men Fix the World" (2009) Directed by Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno.
• "Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier" (2010)  PBS Frontline Directed and Produced by Rachel Dretzin
• "Catfish" (2010) Created by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. (NB: may or may not be a documentary)

• "The Status Films" (2011) Directed by Andrew Filippone Jr. A 4-part documentary culled from public Facebook updates.

• "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" (2011) Directed by Morgan Spurlock.
• "Terms and Conditions May Apply" (2013) Directed by Cullen Hoback. 
• "#chicagogirl: The Social Network Takes on a Dictator" (2013) Directed by Joe Piscatella. 

Politics

• "Taken for a Ride: How the American Auto Industry Engineered the Demise of City Public-Transit Systems." (1996) Directed by Jim Klein. 
• “Chisolm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed” (2004) Directed by Shola Lynch.
• “The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear” (2004) Directed by Adam Curtis.
• “Blog Wars” (2006) Directed by James Rogan.
• "Al Franken: God Spoke" (2006) Directed by Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus. Executive Produced by D.A. Pennebaker.
• "Hacking Democracy" (2006) Directed by Simon Adrizzone and Russell Michaels.
• “Fourteen Women” (2007) Directed by Mary Lambert.
• “Please Vote for Me” (2008) Directed by Weijun Chen.
• "The Yes Men Fix the World" (2009) Directed by Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno.
• "#chicagogirl: The Social Network Takes on a Dictator" (2013) Directed by Joe Piscatella. 

Religion

• "Missionaries of Hate" (2010) Produced by Darren Foster, Alex Simmons and Mariana Van Zeller (45 min).
• “A Life Apart: Hasidim in America” (1997) Directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky.
• “Trembling Before G-d” (2001) Directed by Sandi Simcha Dubowski.
• “The Devil’s Playground” (2002) Directed by Lucy Walker.
• "Wheel of Time" (2003) Directed by Werner Herzog.
• “With God on Our Side” (2004) Directed by Calvin Skaggs, David Van Taylor, and Ali Pomeroy.
• “Jesus Camp” (2006) Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.
• "Deliver Us From Evil" (2006) Directed by Amy Berg.
• "Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple" (2006) Directed by Stanley Nelson.
• “For the Bible Tells Me So” (2007) Directed by Daniel Karslake.
• "A Jihad for Love"(2007) Directed by Parvez Sharma. 
• “Constantine’s Sword” (2008) Directed by Oren Jacoby.
• "Hineini: Coming Out in a Jewish High School" (2008) Produced by Keshet.
• "Religulous" (2008) Directed by Larry Charles. Written by and Starring Bill Maher.
• "New Muslim Cool" (2009) Produced/Directed by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor.

Social Movements / Community Organizing

• "I Am Somebody" (1970) Directed by Madeline Anderson.
• "Harlan County USA" (1976) Directed by Barbara Kopple. 
•  “Berkeley in the Sixties” (1990) Directed by Mark Kitchell.
• "Taken for a Ride: How the American Auto Industry Engineered the Demise of City Public-transit Systems." (1996) Directed by Jim Klein. 
• “Soldiers in the Army of God” (2000) Directed by Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson.
• “The Weather Underground” (2002) Directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel.
• "V-Day: Until the Violence Stops" (2003) Directed by Abby Epstein.
• "This Black Soil" (2004) Directed by Teresa Konechne.
• “Sir, No Sir!” (2005) Directed by David Zeiger.
• “Sisters of ‘77″ (2005) Directed by Cynthia Salzman Mondell and Allen Mondell.
• “Favela Rising” (2006) Directed by Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary.
• “Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit of So Much Truth)” (2006) Directed by Jill Irene Freidberg.
• "The Shape of Water" (2006) Directed by Kum-Kum Bhavnani.
• "The Garden" (2008) Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy.
• "Made in L.A." (2009) Directed by Almudena Caarracedo and Robert Bahar.
• "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" (2009) Directed by Gini Reticker.
• "A Village Called Versailles" (2009) Directed by S. Leo Chiang. 
• "The Yes Men Fix the World" (2009) Directed by Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno.
• "Waste Land" (2010) Directed by Lucy Walker.
• "The Interrupters" (2011) Directed by Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz.  
• "Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975" (2011) Directed by Göran Olsson. 
• "Water Salt Flour"  (2011) Directed by: Özlem Sarıyıldız, Bettina Frese.
• "Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution" (2015) Directed by Stanley Nelson. 
• "Dolores" (2017) Directed by Peter Bratt (Carlos Santana, Executive Producer). 

Sexuality / Gender

• “Defending Our Lives” (1994) Directed by Margaret Lazarus and Renner Wunderlich.  
• "Slim Hopes: Advertising & the Obsession with Thinness" (1995) Directed by Jean Kilbourne. 
• "You Don't Know Dick: Courageous Hearts of Transexual Men" (1996) Directed by Bestor Cram.
• "The Pill" (1999) Directed by Erna Buffie and Elise Swerhone.
• "Sex: The Annabel Chong Story" (2000) Directed by Gough Lewis.
• “Live Nude Girls Unite!” (2000) Directed by Julia Query.
• “Southern Comfort” (2001) Directed by Kate Davis. 
• "The Right to Feminity" (2004) Directed by Marion Mayer-Hohdahl.
• "I Was A Teenage Feminist" (2005) Directed by Therese Shechter. More info available here.
• “Transgeneration” (2005) Directed by Jeremy Simmons.
• "The Education of Shelby Knox" (2005) Directed by Marion Lipshultz and Rose Rosenblatt. 
• “Gender Rebel” (2006) Directed by Norman Green.
• “Queer Streets” (2006) Directed by Brooke Sopelsa, Sarah Freightner, & Alex Waterfield.
• "HIP-HOP:Beyond Beats & Rhymes" (2006) Directed by Byron Hurt.  More info available here.
• "No! The Rape Documentary" (2006) Directed by Aishah Shahidah Simmons. 
• "Very Young Girls" (2007) Directed by David Schisgall, Nina Alvarez.
• “Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video” (2007) Directed by Sut Jhally. Streaming here.
• "Very Young Girls" (2007) Directed by David Schisgall.
• “Juggling Gender / Still Juggling” (1992/2008) Directed by Tami Gold.
• “Passion & Power: Technology of Orgasm” (2008) Directed by Emiko Omori and Wendy Slick.
• "Taboo Yardies" (2008) Directed by Selena Blake.
• "Finding Face" (2009) Directed by Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan.
• "Killing Us Softly 4" (2010) Directed by Jean Kilbourne. 
• "The Bro Code" (2011) Directed by Dr. Thomas Keith.
• "The Purity Myth" (2011) Directed by Jeremy Earp.
• "Miss Representation" (2011) Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsome.
• "Tough Guise 2" (2013) Directed by Jackson Katz.
• "There and Back" ( 2013) Directed by: Özlem Sarıyıldız; Bige Demirtaş
• "Love Between the Covers" (2015) Directed by Laurie Kahn 
• "Tokyo Idols" (2017) Directed by Kyoko Miyake.  

Socialization

• “Secret of the Wild Child” (1994) Directed by Linda Garmon.
• “Jesus Camp” (2006) Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.
• "Wo Ai Ni (I Love You) Mommy" (2010) Directed by Stephanie Wang-Breal.

Social Networks

• "Six Degrees of Separation" (2009) Directed by Annamaria Talas. 

Self & Society

• “The Century of the Self” (2002) Directed by Adam Curtis.
• “The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom” (2007) Directed by Adam Curtis.
• "The Declaration of Human Rights" (2008) Directed by Seth Brau.
• "We Live in Public" (2009) Directed by Ondi Timoner.

Technology

• "Digital Amnesia" (2014) Directed by Bregtje van der Haak (49 min). 
• "Panopticon" (2012) Produced, Written and Directed by Peter Vlemmix (57 min).
  

Urban/Suburban

• “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” (1988) Directed by Wm. H. Whyte.
• "Taken for a Ride: How the American Auto Industry Engineered the Demise of City Public-transit Systems." (1996) Directed by Jim Klein. 
• "Dark Days" (2000) Directed by Marc Singer.
• “The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream” (2004) Directed by Gregory Greene.
• "Symbols in Transition" (2006) Directed by Antonis Pitsios and Christos Varvantakis 
• "Subdivided:Isolation and Community in America" (2007) Directed by Dean Terry.
• "Bomb It: Graffiti Documentary" (2007)  Produced and directed by Jon Reiss.
• "Brick City" (2009-10) Produced and directed by Mark Benjamin and Mark Levin.
• "Waste Land" (2010) Directed by Lucy Walker.
• "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth" (2012) Directed by Chad Freidrichs. 

Visual Sociology

• “True Meaning of Pictures” (2002) Directed by Jennifer Baichwal.
• "Manufactured Landscapes" (2006) Directed by Jennifer Baichwal.
• “Standard Operating Procedure” (2008) Directed by Errol Morris.
• "We Live in Public" (2009) Directed by Ondi Timoner.

Work / Occupations

• "Harvest of Shame" (1960) Directed by Fred Friendly. Produced by Fred Friendly, David Lowe, Edward R. Murrow.
• “Harlan County USA” (1976) Directed by Barbara Kopple.
• "The Wobblies" (1979) Directed by Steward Bird & Deborah Shaffer
• “The Life & Times of Rosie the Riveter” (1980) Directed by Sue Davenport.
• “Clockwork” (1981) Directed by Eric Breitbart.
• “Fast Food Women” (1992) Directed Anne Lewis Johnson.
• “Fast Cheap & Out of Control” (1997) Directed by Errol Morris.
• “Life and Debt” (2001) Directed by Stephanie Black.
• “The Overspent American” (2004) Directed by Sut Jhally, Loretta Alper & Kelly Garner.
• “Farmingville” (2004) Directed by Carlos Sandoval and Catherine Tambini.
• "A Decent Factory" (2004) Directed by Thomas Balmes.
• "Wetback" (2005) Directed by Arturo Torres.
• “Taking the Heat” (2006) Directed by Bann Roy.
• “Maquilapolis: City of Factories” (2006) Directed by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre.
• “Mardi Gras: Made in China” (2006) Directed by David Redmon.
• “En El Hoyo (In the Pit)” (2006) Directed by Juan Carlos Rulfo.
• "China Blue" (2006) Directed by Mica X. Peled. 
• "Made in L.A." (2009) Directed by Almudena Caarracedo and Robert Bahar.
• "The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant" (2009) Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert 
• "Triangle: Remembering the Fire" (2011) Dephane Pinkerson  
• "Love Between the Covers" (2015) Directed by Laurie Kahn 

Youth / Deviance

• "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" (1996) Directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.
• "Paradise Lost 2: Revelations" (2001) Directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.
• “The Devil’s Playground” (2002) Directed by Lucy Walker.
• "Girlhood" (2003) Directed by Liz Garbus
• "Bomb It: Graffiti Documentary" (2007)  Produced and Directed by Jon Reiss.

Help Getting Started Teaching with Documentaries

• Critical Media Literacy
• Video Worksheets
• Course Outlines