I do enjoy a good documentary. I do not see enough of them during a year, but I do try to see the major ones- or, at least, ones that I have an interest in.

The Documentary Award is given to either a movie or a TV documentary. It has gone to single film docs and docuseries. Last year was an example as Tiger King was the winner. Interestingly enough, the second season of Tiger King came out on Netflix this year an I have not watched it and I think most of the world, which was desperately obsessed with it last year, did not watch it either.

Previous Documentary winners:

Best Documentary

Previous Winners:  Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, My Scientology Movie, Tickled, Finding Neverland, Tiger King

Runners-Up: The doc that nearly took the prize was the film on Disney + called The Rescue which was about the rescue of the Thai soccer team that had been trapped below ground in a cave that was filling with water . It was extremely gripping and was an awesome viewing experience and I wanted to make sure I called it out because I knew it would not be winning this year, but it was so good it really deserved it. In many other years, The Rescue would have gotten this award. Another really good doc was Val, which is about Val Kilmer and his life using footage he filmed throughout his life. Another one I loved watching was Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11 which was powerful and talked with people involved in 9/11 just after it happened and then twenty years later. The Reason I Jump was another brilliant doc this year which I loved even more because I use the book it is based on in my class to teach about Autism. There were a couple of decent docs focused on individuals : Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed and Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road.

Best Documentary Winner: The Beatles: Get Back

Three episode documentary released on Disney + over three consecutive days during Thanksgiving on the Beatles? Yes, please? Organized and produced by Peter Jackson? You had me already, but go on…

This was a phenomenal documentary about the last days of the Beatles, but putting a different face on it. This doc showed how much the Beatles loved each other even if they struggled at times to work with each other. It also is an amazing record of how genius works. Watching Paul McCartney pull Get Back out of the air is one of the greatest moments ever.

Over eight hours of documentary presented on Disney + as an event series, The Beatles: Get Back is wonderful.