BAFTA Award for Best Documentary

The BAFTA Award for Best Documentary is a film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at the British Academy Film Awards. It was formerly known as the Robert Flaherty Documentary Award.

BAFTA Award for Best Documentary
Awarded for	In recognition of the number of high-quality theatrical documentaries released in cinemas
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
First award	1948
Currently held by	Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)
Website	BAFTA Website

In the following lists, the titles and names in bold with a gold background are the winners and recipients respectively; those not in bold are the nominees. The years given are those in which the films under consideration were released, not the year of the ceremony, which always takes place the following year.

History

is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, and video games (and formerly also for children's film and television). A theatrical documentary award was presented by the Academy between 1948 and 1990. Documentaries have continued to be honoured with British Academy Television Awards since then and have been eligible in all relevant categories at the Film Awards. In 2012, the Academy re-introduced this category in recognition of the number of high-quality theatrical documentaries released in cinemas in the UK each year.^[1]

Winners and nominees

  indicates the winner

1940s

Year	Film	Director
1948 (2nd)	Louisiana Story	Robert J. Flaherty
	Farrebique	Georges Rouquier
	Is Everybody Listening?	Jackson Beck
	Shadow of the Ruhr	Sergei Nolbandov
	Those Blasted Kids	Astrid Henning-Jensen and Bjarne Henning-Jensen
	Three Dawns to Sydney	John Eldridge
1949 (3rd)	Daybreak in Udi	Terry Bishop
	Circulation
	The Cornish Engine	Bill Mason and Philip Armitage
	Drug Addict	Robert Anderson
	Island of the Lagoon (Isole Nella Laguna)	Luciano Emmer and Enrico Gras
	The Liver Fluke in Great Britain	John Shearman
	Report on the Refugee Problem

1950s

Year	Film	Director
1950 (4th)	The Undefeated	Paul Dickson
	Inland Waterways	R.K. Neilson-Baxter
	Kon-Tiki	Thor Heyerdahl
	Green is the Mountain (La Montagne est Verte)	Jean Lehérissey
	Seal Island	James Algar
	The Vatican	Hans M. Nieter
	Life Begins Tomorrow (La Vie Commence Demain)	Nicole Védrès
1951 (5th)	Beaver Valley	James Algar
	Visit to Picasso (Bezoek aan Picasso)	Paul Haesaerts
	David	Paul Dickson
	A Family Affair	Margaret Thomson
	Family Portrait	Humphrey Jennings
	Oil for the Twentieth Century	Peter Bradford
	Out of True	Philip Leacock
1952 (6th)	Royal Journey	David Bairstow, Gudrun Parker and Roger Blais
	Fishermen of Negombo
	Highlights of Farnborough 1952	Peter De Normanville
	Journey into History	John Taylor
	Le Mans 1952	Bill Mason
	Nature's Half Acre	James Algar
	Ocean Terminal	J.B. Holmes
	The Open Window	Henri Storck
	Opera School	Gudrun Parker
	Rig 20	David Villiers and Ronald H. Riley
	The Streamlined Pig	Jørgen Roos
1953 (7th)	The Conquest of Everest	George Lowe
	White Mane (Crin Blanc)	Albert Lamorisse
	Elizabeth is Queen	Terry Ashwood
	Pictures of the Middle Ages (Images Medievales)	William Novik
	Kumak, The Sleepy Hunter	Alma Duncan
	Mille Miglia	Bill Mason
	Operation Hurricane	Ronald Stark
	A Queen Is Crowned	Christopher Fry
	Teeth of the Wind	Michael Hankinson
	Life in the Arctic (Vo l'dakh Okeana)	Aleksandr Zguridi
	Water Birds	Ben Sharpsteen
	World Without End	Basil Wright and Paul Rotha
1954 (8th)	The Great Adventure (Det Stora Äventyret)	Arne Sucksdorff
	Back of Beyond	John Heyer
	Lekko!	Herman van der Horst
	3-2-1-Zero
	Thursday's Children	Guy Brenton and Lindsay Anderson
1955 (9th)	The Vanishing Prairie	James Algar
	Gold	Colin Low
	Miner's Window	John Ferno
	The Rival World	Bert Haanstra
1956 (10th)	On the Bowery	Lionel Rogosin
	Foothold in Antarctica	Derek Williams
	Generator 4	F. R. Crawley
	The Silent World (Le Monde Du Silence)	Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle
	Under the Same Sky	Kurt Weber
1957 (11th)	Journey into Spring	Ralph Keene
	City of Gold	Colin Low and Wolf Koenig
	Every Day Except Christmas	Lindsay Anderson
	Holiday
	The USA in the Thirties
1958 (12th)	Glass (Glas)	Bert Haanstra
	The Forerunner	John Heyer
	Jabulani Afrika	Jamie Uys
	LS Lowry	John Read
	Secrets of the Reef	Murray Lerner, Lloyd Ritter and Robert M. Young
	Wonders of Chicago	Harry Foster
1959 (13th)	The Savage Eye	Joseph Strick, Sidney Meyers and Ben Maddow
	This is the BBC	Richard Cawston
	We Are the Lambeth Boys	Karel Reisz
	White Wilderness	James Algar

1960s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
1960 (14th)	Not awarded
1961 (15th)	Le Rendezvous du diable	Haroun Tazieff
1962 (16th)	Not awarded
1963 (17th)
1964 (18th)	Nobody Waved Good-bye	Don Owen
	The Human Dutch	Bert Haanstra
	The Life of Billy Walker
	Portrait of Queenie	Michael Orrom
1965 (19th)	Tokyo Olympiad	Kon Ichikawa
	Brute Force and Finesse	Max Morgan-Witts
	Deckie Learner	Michael Grigsby
	Stravinsky	Roman Kroitor and Wolf Koenig
1966 (20th)	Goal! The World Cup	Abidine Dino and Ross Devenish
	Buster Keaton Rides Again	John Spotton
	I'm Going to Ask You to Get Up Out of Your Seat	Richard Cawston
	Matador	Kevin Billington
1967 (21st)	To Die in Madrid	Frédéric Rossif
	Famine	Jack Gold
	The Things I Cannot Change	Tanya Ballantyne
1968 (22nd)	In Need of Special Care	Jonathan Stedall
	Inside North Vietnam	Felix Greene
	Music!	Michael Tuchner
	A Plague On Your Children	Adrian Malone
1969 (23rd)	Prologue	Robin Spry

1970s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
1970 (24th)	Sad Song of Yellow Skin	Michael Rubbo
1971 (25th)	The Hellstrom Chronicle	Walon Green
	Death of a Legend	Bill Mason
1972 (26th)	Not awarded
1973 (27th)	Grierson	Roger Blais
1974 (28th)	Cree Hunters of Mistassini	Boyce Richardson and Tony Ianzelo
	Compañero: Victor Jara of Chile	Stanley Forman and Martin Smith
	Leprosy
1975 (29th)	The Early Americans	Alan Pendry
	Seven Green Bottles	Eric Marquis
1976 (30th)	Los Canadienses	Albert Kish
	White Rock	Tony Maylam
1977 (31st)	Not awarded
1978 (32nd)	The Silent Witness	David Rolfe
1979 (33rd)	The Tree of Wooden Clogs	Ermanno Olmi

1980s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
1980 (34th)	Not awarded
1981 (35th)	Soldier Girls	Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill
	Best Boy	Ira Wohl
	The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter	Connie Field
	Return Journey	Ian Potts
1982 (36th)	Burden of Dreams	Les Blank
	The Atomic Café	Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader and Pierce Rafferty
	Not a Love Story	Bonnie Sherr Klein
	The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time!	Jim Brown
1983 (37th)	Schindler	Jon Blair
	Forty Minutes: Female Circumcision	Louise Panton
	The Visit: Part 3 - The Boy David	Alex McCall
	Wildlife on One: Night Life	Dilys Breese
1984 (38th)	28 Up	Michael Apted
	GI Brides	Lavinia Warner
	South Bank Show: Alan Bennett	David Hinton
	Afghanistan Reports: Allah Against The Gunships	Sandy Gall
1985 (39th)	Omnibus: Leonard Berstein's West Side Story	Christopher Swann
	Marilyn Monroe: Say Goodbye to the President	Christopher Olgiati
	David Lean: A Life in Film	Nigel Wattis
	The Frozen Ocean: Part 1 - Kingdom of the Ice Bear	Mike Salisbury and Hugh Miles
1986 (40th)	Shoah	Claude Lanzmann
	Viewpoint '86: Afghanistan: The Agony of a Nation	Sandy Gall
	Omnibus: The Mission	Robin Lough
	Forty Minutes: The Fishing Party	Paul Watson
	Equinox: Prisoner of Consciousness	John Dollar
	British Cinema: Personal View - A Turnip Head's Guide to the British Cinema	Alan Parker
1987 (41st)	Baka: The People of the Rainforest	Phil Agland
	Man-Eating Tigers/Saving the Tiger	Naresh Bedi
	Fourteen Days in May	Paul Hamann
	Forty Minutes: Home from the Hill	Molly Dineen
1988 (42nd)	This Week: Death on the Rock	Chris Oxley
	The Duty Men: East Enders	Paul Hamann
	In from the Cold: A Portrait of Richard Burton	Tony Palmer
	Viewpoint Special: The Men Who Killed Kennedy	Nigel Turner
1989 (43rd)	First Tuesday: Four Hours in My Lai	Kevin Sim
	Viewpoint '89: Cambodia - Year 10: A Special Report by John Pilger	David Munro
	Lost Children of the Empire	Joanna Mack and Mike Fox
	Everyman: Romania - State of Fear	John Blake

2010s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
2011 (65th) [2]	Senna	Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, James Gay-Rees, Asif Kapadia and Manish Pandey
	George Harrison: Living in the Material World	Olivia Harrison, Martin Scorsese and Nigel Sinclair
	Project Nim	Simon Chinn and James Marsh
2012 (66th) [3][4]	Searching for Sugar Man	Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn
	The Imposter	Bart Layton and Dimitri Doganis
	McCullin	David Morris and Jacqui Morris
	Marley	Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing and Charles Steel
	West of Memphis	Amy J. Berg
2013 (67th) [5]	The Act of Killing	Joshua Oppenheimer
	The Armstrong Lie	Alex Gibney
	Blackfish	Gabriela Cowperthwaite
	Tim's Vermeer	Teller, Penn Jillette and Farley Ziegler
	We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks	Alex Gibney
2014 (68th) [6]	Citizenfour	Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
	20 Feet from Stardom	Morgan Neville, Caitrin Rogers and Gil Friesen
	20,000 Days on Earth	Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard
	Finding Vivian Maier	John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
	Virunga	Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
2015 (69th) [7][8]	Amy	James Gay-Rees and Asif Kapadia
	Cartel Land	Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin
	He Named Me Malala	Davis Guggenheim, Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes
	Listen to Me Marlon	John Battsek, George Chignell, R. J. Cutler and Stevan Riley
	Sherpa	Bridget Ikin, Jennifer Peedom and John Smithson
2016 (70th) [9][10]	13th	Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick, Howard Barish
	The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years	Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Scott Pascucci and Nigel Sinclair
	The Eagle Huntress	Otto Bell and Stacey Reiss
	Notes on Blindness	Peter Middleton and James Spinney
	Weiner	Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg
2017 (71st) [11]	I Am Not Your Negro	Raoul Peck
	City of Ghosts	Matthew Heineman
	Icarus	Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan
	An Inconvenient Sequel	Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk
	Jane	Brett Morgen and Bryan Burk
2018 (72nd) [12][13]	Free Solo	Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Shannon Dill and Evan Hayes
	McQueen	Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui
	RBG	Julie Cohen and Betsy West
	They Shall Not Grow Old	Peter Jackson and Clare Olssen
	Three Identical Strangers	Tim Wardle, Grace Hughes-Hallett and Becky Read
2019 (73rd) [14][15]	For Sama	Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
	American Factory	Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
	Apollo 11	Todd Douglas Miller
	Diego Maradona	Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees and Paul Martin
	The Great Hack	Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim

2020s

Year	Film	Recipient(s)
2020 (74th) [16][17]	My Octopus Teacher	Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster
	David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet	Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes and Keith Scholey
	Collective	Alexander Nanau
	The Dissident	Bryan Fogel, Thor Halvorssen, Mark Monroe and Jake Swantko
	The Social Dilemma	Jeff Orlowski and Larissa Rhodes
2021 (75th) [18]	Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)	Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent and Joseph Patel
	Becoming Cousteau	Liz Garbus and Dan Cogan
	Cow	Andrea Arnold and Kat Mansoor
	Flee	Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Monica Hellström
	The Rescue	Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, John Battsek and P. J. van Sandwijk
2022 (76th) [19][20]	Navalny	Daniel Roher, Diane Becker, Shane Boris, Melanie Miller and Odessa Rae
	All That Breathes	Shaunak Sen, Teddy Leifer and Aman Mann
	All the Beauty and the Bloodshed	Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov and John Lyons
	Fire of Love	Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
	Moonage Daydream	Brett Morgen
2023 (77th) [21]	20 Days in Mariupol	Mstyslav Chernov and Raney Aronson-Rath
	American Symphony	Matthew Heineman, Lauren Domino and Joedan Okun
	Beyond Utopia	Madeleine Gavin, Rachel Cohen and Jana Edelbaum
	Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie	Davis Guggenheim, Jonathan King and Annetta Marion
	Wham!	Chris Smith
2024 (78th) [22][23]	Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story	Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui, Lizzie Gillett, and Robert Ford
	Black Box Diaries	Shiori Itō, Eric Nyari, and Hanna Aqvilin
	Daughters	Natalie Rae, Angela Patton, Lisa Mazzotta, Justin Benoliel, James Cunningham, Sam Bisbee, Kathryn Everett, and Laura Choi Raycroft
	No Other Land	Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor
	Will & Harper	Josh Greenbaum, Rafael Marmor, Christopher Leggett, Will Ferrell, and Jessica Elbaum

See also

• Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
• Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film
• Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film
• British Academy Television Award for Best Single Documentary