We’ve already discussed the best documentaries of 2014 in our survey, but here we present individual critics’ lists, which bring a few new names and titles to the forefront.
[Note: Titles in bold on first mention only.]
Michael Atkinson
1. Maidan (Sergei Loznitsa)
2. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
3. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
4. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
5. Fifi Howls from Happiness (Mitri Farahani)
6. A Spell to Ward off the Darkness (Ben Rivers and Ben Russell)
7. The Great Flood (Bill Morrison)
8. The Last of the Unjust (Claude Lanzmann)
9. The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh)
10. The Green Prince (Nadav Schirman)
Brian Darr
1. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
2. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
3. Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton (Eric Slade, Stephen Silha & Dawn Logsdon)
4. A Spell to Ward off the Darkness (Ben Rivers and Ben Russell)
5. The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh)
6. Actress (Robert Greene)
7. Double Play: James Benning and Richard Linklater (Gabe Klinger)
8. Watermark (Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky)
9. Jodoroswky’s Dune (Frank Pavich)
10. The Great Flood (Bill Morrison)
Steven Erickson
1. What Now? Remind Me (Joaquim Pinto)
2. Actress (Robert Greene)
3. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
4. The Dog (Allison Berg and Frank Kerarden)
5. The Naked Room (Nuria Ibañez)
6. The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne (Matthew Pond and Kirk Marcolina)
7. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
8. Maidentrip (Jillian Schlesinger)
9. Jodorowsky’s Dune (Frank Pavich)
10. The Overnighters (Jesse Moss)
Jaime Grijalba
1. Life Itself (Steve James)
2. What Now? Remind Me (Joaquim Pinto)
3. Waiting for August (Teodora Mihai)
4. A World Not Ours (Mahdi Fleifel)
5. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez)
Tomas Hachard
1. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
2. A Spell to Ward off the Darkness (Ben Rivers and Ben Russell)
3. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
4. 12 O’Clock Boys (Lofty Nathan)
5. What Now? Remind Me (Joaquim Pinto)
Dennis Harvey
1. The Dog (Allison Berg and Frank Kerarden)
2. Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All (Matt Riggle, Deedle LaCour)
3. Finding Vivian Meier (Charles Siskel, John Maloof, Charlie Siskel)
4. Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (Nicholas D. Wrathall)
5. Happy Valley (Amir Bar-Lev)
6. Jodorowsky’s Dune (Frank Pavich)
7. The Overnighters (Jesse Moss)
8. Regarding Susan Sontag (Nancy Kates)
9. Rich Hill (Tracy Droz Tragos, Andrew Droz Palermo)
10. To Be Takei (Bill Weber, Jennifer M. Kroot)
Eugene Hernandez
1. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
2. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez)
3. 20,000 Days on Earth (Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard)
4. Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets (Florian Habicht)
5. Tales of the Grim Sleeper (Nick Broomfield)
Steven Jenkins
1. Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets (Florian Habicht)
2. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
3. Mistaken for Strangers (Tom Berninger)
4. Mr. X: A Vision of Leos Carax (Tessa Louise-Salomé)
Jay Kuehner
1. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
2. What Now? Remind Me (Joaquim Pinto)
3. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
4. Papirosen (Gaston Solnicki)
5. The Naked Room (Nuria Ibanez)
6. The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh)
7. Watermark (Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky)
8. Stop the Pounding Heart (Roberto Minervini)
9. Actress (Robert Greene)
10. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
Kevin B. Lee
What Now? Remind Me (Joaquim Pinto)
The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh)
Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
A Spell to Ward off the Darkness (Ben Rivers and Ben Russell)
Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
Actress (Robert Greene)
Double Play: James Benning / Richard Linklater (Gabe Klinger)
Jodorowsky’s Dune (Frank Pavich)
The Overnighters (Jesse Moss)
12 O’Clock Boys (Lofty Nathan)
Michael Pattison
1. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
2. Kalavryta: People and Shadows (Elias Yannakakis)
3. Before You Know It (J.P. Raval)
4. FAROCKI (James Benning)
5. The Last of the Unjust (Claude Lanzmann)
6. Iranian (Mehran Tamadon)
7. ReMine, the Last Working Class Movement (Marcos M. Merino)
8. Bx46 (Jeremie Brugidou / Fabien Clouette)
9. Beltracchi: The Art of Forgery (Arne Birkenstock)
10. The Big Melt (Martin Wallace / Jarvis Cocker)
Nick Schager
1. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
2. Actress (Robert Greene)
3. Life Itself (Steve James)
Adam Schartoff
1. Evolution of a Criminal (Darius Monroe)
2. Little White Lie (Lacey Schwartz)
3. Last Days of Vietnam (Rory Kennedy)
4. Happy Valley (Amir Bar-Lev)
5. Citizenfour (Laura Poitros)
6. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
7. Concerning Violence (Gören Olsson)
8. 20,000 Days on Earth (Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard)
9. 112 Weddings (Doug Block)
10. Citizen Koch (Carl Deal and Tia Lessin)
Anna Tatarska
1. National Gallery (Frederick Wiseman)
2. The Case Against 8 (Ben Cotner and Ryan White)
3. Double Play: James Benning | Richard Linklater (Gabe Klinger)
4. Last Hijack (Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting)
5. Breaking the Frame (Marielle Nitoslawska)
6. Life Itself (Steve James)
7. Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia (Nicholas D. Wrathall)
8. Tales of the Grim Sleeper (Nick Broomfield)
9. 20,000 Days on Earth (Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard)
Ella Taylor
1. The Overnighters (Jesse Moss)
2. Happy Valley (Amir Bar-Lev)
3. The Salt of the Earth (Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado)
4. The Last of the The Unjust (Claude Lanzmann)
5. Virunga (Orlando von Einsedel)
6. The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh)
7. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
Michael Tully
1. Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez)
2. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
3. Actress (Robert Greene)
4. The Overnighters (Jesse Moss)
5. Northern Light (Nick Bentgen)
6. The Great Invisible (Margaret Brown)
7. Expedition to the End of the World (Daniel Dencik)
8. Remote Area Medical (Farihah Zaman and Jeff Reichert)
9. 12 O’Clock Boys (Lotfy Nathan)
10. Life Itself (Steve James)
