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Oscar's Top Documentaries

Sparks Fly Over 'Gasland' Drilling Documentary

After being asked to lease his land for drilling by the booming natural gas industry, filmmaker Josh Fox took a cross-country road trip to document the environmental impact of gas drilling on local communities.

Sparks Fly Over 'Gasland' Drilling Documentary

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Why 'Waiting For Superman' Didn't Get An Oscar Nod

Francisco, seen here with his mother, Maria, is one of the students Davis Guggenheim follows in Waiting for Superman. Paramount Vantage hide caption

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Paramount Vantage

Opinion

Why 'Waiting For Superman' Didn't Get An Oscar Nod

Restrepo, Inside Job, Waste Land, Exit Through the Gift Shop and Gasland are up for Oscars. But some early favorites, like Davis Guggenheim's Waiting for Superman, were left off the list. Bob Mondello, NPR's arts critic, talks about what academy members look for in the nominees for Best Documentary.

Why 'Waiting For Superman' Didn't Get An Oscar Nod

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Oscars 2011: The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

Banksy's 'Exit' Reveals Street Art Secrets ... Sort Of

In Exit Through the Gift Shop, reclusive street artist Banksy tells the story of Thierry Guetta, a videographer who sets out to capture the world of street art. Through a series of unlikely events, Guetta becomes the subject — and a street artist, himself.

Banksy's 'Exit' Reveals Street Art Secrets ... Sort Of

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Recyclers Turn Rio 'Waste Land' Into High Art

Waste Land tells the story of workers at Brazil's largest garbage dump, who wade through tons of garbage daily looking for recyclable scraps to sell. Director Lucy Walker documented the pickers and artist Vik Muniz, who turned the landfill into the canvas for beautiful art projects made of trash.

Recyclers Turn Rio 'Waste Land' Into High Art

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Filmmaker Sees 'Inside Job' In Wall Street Crash

Filmmaker Charles Ferguson places the blame for the 2008 financial crisis on the American financial industry. Representational Pictures/Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Representational Pictures/Sony Pictures Classics

Filmmaker Sees 'Inside Job' In Wall Street Crash

The 2008 financial meltdown cost millions of Americans their jobs and their homes, and left many looking for someone to blame. In his documentary Inside Job, filmmaker Charles Ferguson points the finger squarely at a financial industry that he says corrupted government and academia to rake in enormous profits.

Filmmaker Sees 'Inside Job' In Wall Street Crash

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'Restrepo': A Soldier's-Eye View From Afghanistan

Restrepo chronicles the deployment of 15 soldiers into Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, considered one of the military's most dangerous postings. Co-directors Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington made the film to capture the lives of the men and women fighting America's wars.

'Restrepo': A Soldier's-Eye View From Afghanistan

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'Burma VJ': Documenting The Saffron Revolution

Central character Josh, a young documentarian, and his friends, primarily filmed with cameras concealed in bags. Click the photo to watch the trailer for Burma VJ. Oscilloscope Laboratories hide caption

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Oscilloscope Laboratories

'Burma VJ': Documenting The Saffron Revolution

An anonymous group risked imprisonment and possible torture to smuggle footage out of Myanmar for the world to see. Director Anders Ostergaard pieced the footage together to create his Oscar-nominated documentary, Burma VJ.

'Burma VJ': Documenting The Saffron Revolution

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Kids Hop Trains To Border In 'Which Way Home'

Kevin, 13, and Fito, 14, are both from Honduras. They hope to find work in the U.S. Click the image to watch the trailer for Which Way Home. Rebecca Cammisa hide caption

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Rebecca Cammisa

Kids Hop Trains To Border In 'Which Way Home'

Rebecca Cammisa has been nominated for an Academy Award for her film, Which Way Home The documentary follows Central American migrants on a dangerous journey, on the top of a freight train, through Mexico to the U.S. border.

Kids Hop Trains To Border In 'Which Way Home'

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Dolphins Clandestinely Killed In 'The Cove'

Every year, thousands of dolphins are secretly killed in the Japanese fishing town of Taiji. National Geographic photographer-turned-filmmaker Louie Psihoyos and a covert team documented the slaughter for the film, The Cove.

Dolphins Clandestinely Killed In 'The Cove'

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'Food, Inc.' Director Robert Kenner

Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin is an organic farmer and an agribusiness critic featured in Food, Inc. Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures

'Food, Inc.' Director Robert Kenner

How much do we really know about the food we buy at the grocery store? Filmmaker Robert Kenner talks about his documentary, Food, Inc., which is up for an Oscar. The film raises questions about the safety of our food.

'Food, Inc.' Director Robert Kenner

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'Dangerous Man' Daniel Ellsberg Reflects
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'Dangerous Man' Daniel Ellsberg Reflects

The Pentagon Papers provoked public debate about the Vietnam War. Daniel Ellsberg, the man who stole them from the U.S. government, is the subject of the documentary, The Most Dangerous Man in America. Ellsberg talks about what it's like to blow the whistle on the government.

'Dangerous Man' Daniel Ellsberg Reflects

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