Below are the submitted best-of lists that contributed to our 2020 end-of-year poll (* = still unreleased in the US; ** = released in the U.S. last year).
Christopher Campbell
@thefilmcynic
Founding Editor, Nonfics
President, Critics Choice Association – Documentary Branch
1. Athlete A
2. The Painter and Thief
3. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
4. Collective
5. Assassins
6. Feels Good Man
7. City Hall
8. The Infiltrators
9. Crip Camp
10. Mayor
11. The Fight
12. Some Kind of Heaven*
13. On the Record
14. Alabama Snake
15. Disclosure
16. Mr. Soul!
17. The Mystery of D.B. Cooper
18. Beastie Boys Story
19. Belushi
20. Time
21. Dick Johnson is Dead
22. Becoming
23. The Go-Go’s
24. I Am Greta
25. Rising Phoenix
26. Transhood
27. Slay the Dragon
28. The Rescue List
29. Other Music
30. Be Water
Valerie Ettenhofer
@aandeandval
Critic, Nonfics and Film School Rejects
1. Crip Camp
2. The Painter and the Thief
3. Disclosure
4. A Secret Love
5. Rewind
6. Miss Americana
7. Circus of Books
8. Dick Johnson is Dead
9. The Fight
10. The Social Dilemma
Edwin Arnaudin
@EdwinArnaudin
Critic, Asheville Movies
1. Coup 53
2. David Byrne’s American Utopia
3. All I Can Say
4. Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President
5. Feels Good Man
6. Dick Johnson is Dead
7. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
8. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
9. Desert One
10. The Fight
Colin Biggs
@wordsbycbiggs
Critic, ThatShelf
Member, Las Vegas Film Critics Society
1. The Last Dance
2. The Social Dilemma
3. American Utopia
4. Be Water
5. Beastie Boys Story
6. Cursed Films
7. Mayor
8. The History of the Seattle Mariners
9. Time
10. The Painter and the Thief
Joshua Brunsting
Critic, The CriterionCast
1. The History of the Seattle Mariners
2. The Giverny Documentary (Single Channel)*
3. The Last City*
4. David Byrne’s American Utopia
5. City Hall
6. Time
7. Expedition Content*
8. Her Socialist Smile*
9. Work (or to Whom Does the World Belong)*
10. The Lobby*
Mario Diaz
Director, Brothers in Exile (30 for 30), Kids Behind Bars, Death Row Chronicles
1. Collective
2. Truffle Hunters*
3. The Mexican Bretzel*
4. Assassins
5. Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself *
6. The Painter and the Thief
7. My Octopus Teacher
8. Welcome to Chechnya
9. Be Water
10. The Pharmacist
11. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
12. Beastie Boys Story
13. The Last Dance
14. Citizen Penn*
15. The Place That Makes Us*
16. Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds
17. The Weight of Gold
18. American Murder: The Family Next Door
19. Mucho Mucho Amor
20. Crip Camp
Not so guilty pleasure: the newly revamped Netflix series Unsolved Mysteries.
Edward Douglas
@EDouglasWW
Critic, The Weekend Warrior, Below the Line
Member of the Critics Choice Association and New York Film Critics Online
1. Beastie Boys Story
2. Mr. Soul!
3. Dear Santa
4. You Don’t Nomi
5. Zappa
6. The Way I See It
7. Totally Under Control
8. The Dissident
9. Assassins
10. John Lewis: Good Trouble
Read more at Below the Line: “Edward Douglas’ Top 10 Movies of 2020.”
John Lynn Fernandez
@juandlago
Critic, International Cinephile Society
1. Collective
2. Heimat is a Space in Time–
3. Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
4. Gunda
5. I Wish I Knew
6. Time
7. City Hall
8. The Cordillera of Dreams
9. Santiago, Italia
10. The Truffle Hunters*
Best Unreleased Documentaries
1. Notturno*
2. The Metamorphosis of Birds*
3. Swimming Till the Sea Turns Blue*
Cynthia Fuchs
Critic, PopMatters
Director, Film and Video Studies, George Mason University
Director, Visiting Filmmakers Series at Mason
1. Time
2. 76 Days
3. Our Time Machine
4. A Thousand Cuts
5. Through the Night
6. Dick Johnson is Dead
7. City So Real
8. Be Water
9. 143, rue du Désert (143 Sahara Street)*
10. The Truffle Hunters*
11. Collective
12. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
Kenji Fujishima
@kenjfuj
Critic, TheaterMania
In a year that most of us would like to forget, the first seven of the following ten nonfiction films on my list are also in my Top 10 of the year. Some people look to cinema for escape. Sure, I look for that, too…But also beauty, insight, and clarity into the world around me. It appears I found a lot more of that in cinematic nonfiction than I necessarily did in 2020’s cinematic fiction. Truth is even more important a value to uphold during a year when it seemed like even basic truths were under attack.
1. City Hall
2. The Grand Bizarre
3. David Byrne’s American Utopia
4. Free Time
5. Collective
6. Time
7. The History of the Seattle Mariners
8. Inventing the Future*
9. Dick Johnson Is Dead
10. Sunless Shadows
Arlin Golden
@cerealburrito
Critic, Film Inquiry
Director, Back Yard
1. My First Film
2. Some Kind of Heaven*
3. City So Real
4. T*
5. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
6. Welcome to Chechnya
7. All Cats are Grey in the Dark*
8. Jasper Mall
9. The Truffle Hunters*
10. Collective
11. Time
12. The Mole Agent
13. Huntsville Station
Tim Grierson
@TimGrierson
Critic, Screen International
1. David Byrne’s American Utopia
2. Collective
3. City Hall
4. Boys State
5. Father Soldier Son
6. Dick Johnson is Dead
7. Time
8. You Don’t Nomi
9. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
10. Gunda
Susan Kamyab
@thischixflix
Critic, ICTN Television
Member: Critics Choice Association and Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association
1. Athlete A
2. A Secret Love
3. The Social Dilemma
4. Dick Johnson is Dead
5. The Way I See It
6. Class Action Park
7. My Octopus Teacher
8. The Go-Go’s
9. Time
10. Mr. Soul
Noel Manning II
@noeltmanning
Critic, Meet Me at the Movies, Cinemascene, and Elements of Madness
Member, Critics Choice Association
1. All In: The Fight for Democracy
2. Time
3. The Way I See It
4. Gunda
5. The Last Ice
6. Dick Johnson is Dead
7. Boys State
8. John Lewis: Good Trouble
9. I Am Greta
10. The Go-Go’s
Mike McGranaghan
@AisleSeat
Critic, The Aisle Seat
1. Totally Under Control
2. Belushi
3. Boys State
4. Assassins
5. The Go-Go’s
6. Spaceship Earth
7. The Fight
8. All In: The Fight for Democracy
9. Feels Good Man
10. The Painter and the Thief
Milan Paurich
@milanpaurich
Critic, WMXY-FM (Mix 98.9)
Member, Critics Choice Association
1. City Hall
2. Crip Camp
3. Boys State
4. Dick Johnson is Dead
5. Beastie Boys Story
6. Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band
7. Totally Under Control
8. A Secret Love
9. Father, Soldier, Son
10. American Murder: The Family Next Door
Daniel Schindel
@DanSchindel
Associate Editor, Hyperallergic
1. Dick Johnson is Dead
2. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
3. The Grand Bizarre
4. The History of the Seattle Mariners
5. Time
6. Still Processing*
7. Donald Trump Is President and You’re Not
8. I’ve Been Afraid
9. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
10. City Hall
11. Shakedown
12. David Byrne’s American Utopia
13. Midnight in Paris
14. Forensickness
15. The Cordillera of Dreams
Marshall Shaffer
@media_marshall
Critic, Marshall and the Movies, The Playlist, Slashfilm
1. Boys State
2. Dick Johnson is Dead
3. Time
4. City Hall
5. Gunda
6. Collective
7. Totally Under Control
8. Through the Night
9. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
10. The Mole Agent
Read more at Slashfilm: “2020 is the Year to Finally Nominate a Documentary for Best Picture.”
Stephen Silver
@StephenSilver
Critic, Splice Today
Co-founder, Philadelphia Film Critics Circle
1. Time
2. Dick Johnson is Dead
3. 40 Years a Prisoner
4. Collective
5. Circus of Books
6. The Way I See It
7. Father Soldier Son
8. White Noise
9. Totally Under Control
10. Rebuilding Paradise
Read more at Tilt magazine: “The Ten Best Documentaries of 2020.”
Robert Sims
Host/producer, Lights Camera Austin, KOOP Radio 91.7 FM
Member, Austin Fim Critics Association
1. Boys State
2. Collective
3. The Last Dance
4. Outcry
5. Slay the Dragon
6. The Donut King
7. The Infiltrators
8. Finding Yingying
9. Building the American Dream
10. The Pushback
Shane Slater
@filmactually
Critic, Awards Radar
1. Collective
2. Time
3. Dick Johnson is Dead
4. 40 Years a Prisoner
5. Athlete A
6. Boys State
7. The Way I See It
8. On the Record
9. Crip Camp
10. Red Heaven*
Basil Tsiokos
@1basil1
Director of Programming, DOC NYC and Nantucket Film Festival
Programming Associate, Sundance Film Festival
1. Boys State
2. Collective
3. Gunda
4. The Mole Agent
5. The Truffle Hunters*
6. Mayor
7. Through the Night
8. Welcome to Chechnya
9. 76 Days
10. The Painter and the Thief
11. Crip Camp
12. Time
13. Dick Johnson is Dead
14. Assassins
15. The Dissident
16. Mr. Soul!
Sammi Turano
@TVG_Sammi
Critic, TV Grapevine
Member, Critics Choice Association
1. Athlete A
2. The Claudia Kishi Club
3. Spaceship Earth
4. Dick Johnson is Dead
5. The Go-Go’s
6. I Am Greta
7. A Most Beautiful Thing
8. Howard
9. The Social Dilemma
10. This is Paris
Aaron White
@FeelinFilm
Critic, Feelin’ Film
Member and Trustee, Seattle Film Critics Society
1. The History of the Seattle Mariners
2. The Last Dance
3. Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions
4. Boys State
5. Miss Americana
6. Dick Johnson is Dead
7. Console Wars
8. Time
9. The Dissident
10. The Social Dilemma
