Awesome Documentaries

Muppets fans, get ready for the feels. Filmmaker Ron Howard created this documentary about Jim Henson’s life, artistic accomplishments, and humanity. He achieved amazing things during his way-too-short life, and his legacy lives on today. Coming to Disney+ on 5.31.24.

This documentary short film by Matthieu Livingston introduces us to Robert Pammen, who paints London’s famed red telephone boxes. But nobody pays Robert to do this – he volunteers his time to help keep a tradition alive. He talks with reverence for those who built the boxes and the purpose they once served and shares a glimpse into his life.

Steve Martin has been making people laugh since the 1970s. This two-part documentary from Academy Award winner Morgan Neville starts looking at Steve’s early struggles and rise to fame as a standup comedian and movie star, then shifts focus to his rich and satisfying later years as an actor, artist, musician, and writer. Coming to Apple TV+ 3.29.2024.

This documentary short film by Scott Krahn and Robb Fischer introduces us to three women who participate in a bowling league. While that may sound mundane, what makes their story compelling is that all of them live with visual impairments. It’s a charming tale of friendship and positivity in the face of obstacles.

We’ve all thought we saw faces in places they shouldn’t be, like buildings, outlets, and wood grain patterns. Duncan Clarke explores pareidolia, the tendency for humans to perceive faces and familiar forms where they don’t exist. Along the way, you’ll learn about other ways our brains really want us to see faces.

Like The Riddler, actor, comedian, and artist Jim Carrey is an enigma. He’s even said there is no real Jim Carrey and that he’s always playing a character. This excellent documentary from Daniel McMahon’s Dodford paints a fascinating portrait of the comedy icon and his public persona using Carrey’s own words and film footage.

After looking at the variety of fonts on his computer, vlogger and documentarian struthless wanted to know more about their origins. But as he started to pull at that thread, he learned so much more – about the history of written language, design, pop culture, and communication.

With over 1.4 billion people, China generates a lot of waste. In 2017, it created a new problem. After shared bicycle programs cluttered streets with more than 25 million bikes, the government enforced fleet size limits, and countless bikes ended up in massive graveyards. Guoyong Wu’s short film uses aerial photography to show just how big the problem got.

Back in the 1990s, Microsoft dropped its first virtual assistant onto PCs with Clippy, a talking paperclip designed to help guide us in the use of our computers. Instead, Clippy was annoying, and most of us looked for a quick way to disable the feature. Great Big Story sat down for a few minutes with illustrator Kevan Atteberry, the man who designed the character.

After building a scale model of the Solar System, filmmakers Alex Gorosh and Wylie Overstreet headed to the Mojave desert to create a physical model that illustrates time over 13.8 billion years. They dotted the dry lakebed with lights and combined those with video footage to show the passage of time. Download a printable version of their time scale here.

Steelpan drums are made from the bottom of an oil drum. Filmmaker Chas Sheppard met artist Jimi Phillip to see how they’re made. He starts by pounding a concave shape, then sketches each pan and hammers them before heating, tempering, and tuning by ear. This BTS footage from Sounds Like Steel stands on its own.

Filmmaker Jennie Williams takes us to the Northern reaches of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to look at a New Year tradition of the Nunatsiavut, the region’s Inuit people. During the festival, locals emerge from the sea in tattered clothes and scary masks to bring gifts to the good children and chase down the bad kids.

Getty Images makes money by licensing images and videos – including some in the public domain. Filmmaker Richard Misek created this impactful documentary using public domain footage in chronological order. He then explains the origins of some of the clips and how companies can charge what should be free footage.

Riding rocky mountain trails on a bicycle can be daunting enough, but Lutz Eichholz does it all the time – only on a single wheel. In this video from 60 Second Docs, we get a brief look at Lutz’s extreme unicycling skills and hear about what motivates him. More footage here.

It’s a story 13.8-billion years in the making, and there’s no better voice on Earth to tell it than Morgan Freeman. This epic, six-part documentary series explores the formation of our universe and the evolutionary events which created life as we know it. Drops 11.22.22 on Netflix.

Places… numbers… the future… all of these things seem limitless, but are they? This documentary explores the nature of infinity through interviews with prominent mathematicians, physicists, and cosmologists. Is the universe genuinely boundless, or is that just human wishful thinking? Drops 9.26.22 on Netflix.

Produced by Oprah Winfrey and directed by Reginald Hudlin, this documentary celebrates the life and legacy of Sidney Poitier through archival footage and interviews. Beyond his pioneering work as an actor, Poitier was a great filmmaker and driver of the Civil Rights Movement. On Apple TV+ and in theaters 9.23.2022.

Alex aka “The Danger Ranger” lives and works on-site at a park in the California desert. In this short POV video, he shows us what life is like in the park, his daily loadout, and some of the things he does on a regular basis. We hope that Alex eventually gets to see that mountain lion and not just hear it roar.

The 1 is a bespoke electric motorcycle. Built from the ground up – and looking like nothing that’s come before – the visionary design is a revolutionary direction for the legacy Curtiss Motorcycle Company. The short fil The Opposite of Death documents the $83,333+ dream machine’s birth, giving us lots to drool over.

This six-part documentary series tells the history of Industrial Light & Magic. It features interviews with famous filmmakers and the people behind George Lucas’ esteemed visual effects studio, and explores how they created some of the most memorable movie scenes of all time. Arrives on Disney+ 7.27.22.

With his tongue firmly in cheek, Kevin Baugh created his own sovereign nation – in the desert of Western Nevada. His self-proclaimed nation has its own flag, currency, national sport, and even a navy. The country isn’t officially recognized, but it seems like a nice place to live – as long as you’re a member of Kevin’s family.

This documentary takes us inside the world of one of the most outrageous acts ever, GWAR. Along with interviews with the band’s members, you’ll hear how the masters of trash metal have influenced everyone from Weird Al to Bam Margera, and the hard work that goes into their fluid-soaked stage shows. Coming to Shudder on 7.21.22.

Teton Gravity Research and HBO teamed up for this four-part documentary series that combines extreme sports, global adventuring, and nature show in one. Each episode, a group of skilled athletes take on daring missions to reach exotic and undiscovered locations. Premieres 7.12.2022 on HBO Max.