Browse documentary movie and series in New Zealand
Dive into the world of documentary movie and series in New Zealand. From timeless classics to trending hits, explore an exciting collection of titles that define the documentary genre.
Explore critically acclaimed blockbusters, hidden gems, and trending new releases that showcase the diversity and creativity of documentary storytelling. Use our filters to find top-rated titles, recent hits, or beloved classics tailored to your taste.
With Popcorn Time, uncover your next favorite movie or TV show and enjoy the best of documentary entertainment. Start browsing now and bring documentary into your watchlist today!
Movie
The film explores the “acute suffering” and transcendent glory experienced by current and former members of King Crimson, allowing the audience an intimate and sometimes uncomfortable insight into the musicians’ experience as they confront life and death head on in the world’s most demanding rock band.
In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 (2022 )
Movie
Trailblazing, hell-raising country music legend Tanya Tucker defied the standards of how a woman in country music was supposed to behave. Decades after Tanya slipped from the spotlight, rising Americana music star Brandi Carlile takes it upon herself to write an entire album for her hero based on Tanya’s extraordinary life, spurring the greatest comeback in country music history. Taking stock of the past while remaining vitally alive in the present and keeping an eye on the future, The Return of Tanya Tucker is a rousing exploration of an unexpected friendship built on the joy of a perfectly timed creative collaboration.
The Return of Tanya Tucker Featuring Brandi Carlile (2022 )
Movie
The fall of 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, the film Pauline Kael (The New Yorker) called "the most powerful movie musical ever made." Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, FIDDLER'S JOURNEY TO THE BIG SCREEN captures the humor and drama of director Norman Jewison's quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in Tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Daniel Raim puts us in the director's chair and in Jewison's heart and mind, drawing on behind-the-scenes footage and never-before-seen stills as well as original interviews with Jewison, Topol (Tevye), composer John Williams, production designer Robert F. Boyle, film critic Kenneth Turan, lyricist Sheldon Harnick, and actresses Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, and Neva Small (Tevye’s daughters). The film explores how the experience of making Fiddler deepened Jewison as an artist and revived his soul.
Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen (2022 )
Movie
This documentary weaves together live performances and interviews from the 50th anniversary of the iconic festival, featuring some of the biggest names in the music industry, along with a wealth of archival documentary footage from the past half century. This film not only captures the music fest in all of its beauty, madness, and glory, but also delves deep into the rich culture of The Big Easy.
Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story (2022 )
Movie
One of the most recognizable voices in all of modern day music, Dua Lipa quickly rose to fame. Her catchy tunes and sultry vocals make her music appeal to a global audience.
Dua Lipa: Elevating (2022 )
Movie
A recap of the Foo Fighters story, from the early days of Nirvana to Taylor Hawkins' passing.
Foo Fighters: One Less Hero (2022 )
Movie
Documentary about Don Letts who played a leading role in pop history. Letts injected Afro-Caribbean music into the early punk scene and shot over 300 music videos including for Public Image Ltd. and Bob Marley, but also for teen sensations Musical Youth's reggae smash 'Pass The Dutchie'. Besides his enduring relationship with The Clash, the constant factor in Letts' eventful career as a DJ, manager, film director, musician and radio maker is that, from the 1970s on, he continued to draw attention to cultural issues, as he does today with his radio programme for BBC 6, Culture Clash Radio.
Rebel Dread (2022 )
Movie
A look at the Black revolution in 1970s cinema, from genre films to social realism, from the making of new superstars to the craft of rising auteurs.
Is That Black Enough for You?!? (2022 )
Movie
Seeking to uncover the origins of the rabid homophobia of the conservative church, a gay seminary scholar and a straight activist make a shocking discovery: In 1946 an erroneous translation of the term homosexual in the Bible that has been weaponized against the LGBTQIA+ community ever since.
1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture (2022 )
Movie
In 1969, bankrupt pizzeria owner Richard Davis invented the modern-day bulletproof vest. To prove that it worked, he shot himself — point-blank — 192 times.
2nd Chance (2022 )
Movie
The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022 )
Movie
History exists beyond what is written. The Africatown residents in Mobile, Alabama, have shared stories about their origins for generations. Their community was founded by enslaved ancestors who were transported in 1860 aboard the last known and illegal slave ship, Clotilda. Though the ship was intentionally destroyed upon arrival, its memory and legacy weren’t. Now, the long-awaited discovery of the Clotilda’s remains offers this community a tangible link to their ancestors and validation of a history so many tried to bury.
Descendant (2022 )
Movie
Physicist Ted Hall is recruited to join the Manhattan Project as a teenager and goes to Los Alamos with no idea what he'll be working on. When he learns the true nature of the weapon being designed, he fears the post-war risk of a nuclear holocaust and begins to pass significant information to the Soviet Union.
A Compassionate Spy (2022 )
Movie
The tape-recorded words “erase it” take on new weight in the context of history and war. When the state of Israel was established in 1948, war broke out and hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in its aftermath. Israelis know this as the War of Independence. Palestinians call it “Nakba” (the Catastrophe). In the late 1990s, graduate student Teddy Katz conducted research into a large-scale massacre that had allegedly occurred in the village of Tantura in 1948. His work later came under attack and his reputation was ruined, but 140 hours of audio testimonies remain.
Tantura (2022 )
Movie
This new documentary special is about the most intact slave shipwreck found to date and the only one for which we know the full story of the voyage, the passengers and their descendants.
Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship (2022 )
Movie
Decades after her untimely death, Princess Diana continues to evoke mystery, glamour, and the quintessential modern fairy tale gone wrong. As a symbol of both the widening fissures weakening the British monarchy and the destructive machinery of the press, the Princess of Wales navigated an unparalleled rise to fame and the corrosive challenges that came alongside it. Crafted entirely from immersive archival footage and free from the distraction of retrospective voices, this hypnotic and audaciously revealing documentary takes a distinctive formal approach, allowing the story of the People’s Princess to unfold before us like never before.
The Princess (2022 )
Movie
The one-night-only celebration honoring the life and legacy of the famed producer features intimate conversations, special performances and surprise reunions that pay homage to the man behind some of television’s greatest stories in celebration of his 100th birthday.
Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter (2022 )
Movie
On September 19, 2017, at 1:14 p.m., an earthquake devastated Mexico City and its environs. Immediately, citizens mobilized to help, including the actor and youtuber Juanpa Zurita who quickly organized a group of friends that included singers, actors, content creators and other celebrities from the world of entertainment who helped him raise funds for the reconstruction of the city.
13:14: The Challenge of Helping (2022 )
Movie
Acclaimed actors draw from five of Douglass’ legendary speeches, to represent a different moment in the tumultuous history of 19th century America as well as a different stage of Douglass’ long and celebrated life, while famed scholars provide context for the speeches, and remind us that Frederick Douglass’ words about racial injustice still resonate deeply today.
Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (2022 )
Movie
The story of the life, loves and work of US writer Patricia Highsmith (1921-95), told through her unpublished diaries, her own voice and that of those who knew her, both family and close friends.
Loving Highsmith (2022 )
Movie
Poet Layli Long Soldier crafts a searing portrait of her Oyate’s connection to the Black Hills, through first contact and broken treaties to the promise of the Land Back movement, in this lyrical testament to resilience of a nation.
Lakota Nation vs. United States (2022 )
Movie
Eighth-generation Tasmanian and environmentalist Oliver Cassidy embarks on a life-changing solo rafting trip down the beautiful yet remote Franklin River. His goal is to retrace his late father’s 14-day expedition to attend the blockade that helped save the World-Heritage listed national park from being destroyed by a huge hydroelectric dam project in the early 1980s.
Franklin (2022 )
Movie
Patton riffs on the hazards of aging, his failed shutdown plans, and the day his wife turned into a Valkyrie in this stand-up special he also directed.
Patton Oswalt: We All Scream (2022 )
Movie
Top stand-ups and rising stars sound off on sex, parenting, politics, pettiness and more in these highlights from the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival.
The Best of Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival (2022 )
Movie
With his signature pitch-black sense of humor, Ricky Gervais takes the stage at the London Palladium in this provocative stand-up comedy special.
Ricky Gervais: SuperNature (2022 )
Movie
Bob Saget’s friends and family honor the late comedian during a night of laughter and music with Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, Jeff Ross, John Stamos and more.
Dirty Daddy: The Bob Saget Tribute (2022 )
Movie
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin host an iconic celebration of women in comedy with stand-up sets from Cristela Alonzo, Margaret Cho, Michelle Buteau and more.
Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin: Ladies Night Live (2022 )
Movie
Katt Williams riffs on truth, lies, chicken wing shortages and the war on drugs in this electrifying stand-up special filmed in Las Vegas.
Katt Williams: World War III (2022 )
Movie
This film is for those who really miss Paulo Gustavo! 'SON OF A MOTHER' shows the delightful complicity between the actor and Dona Déa, his inspiration to create Dona Hermínia. With never-before-seen footage, the film follows the funny and exciting backstage of the artist's last tour. Get ready to laugh, cry and remember why Paulo Gustavo is unforgettable.
Son of a Mother (2022 )
Movie
In this comedy special, Jon Stewart, John Mulaney, Chelsea Handler and Dave Chappelle honor George Carlin, Joan Rivers, Robin Williams and Richard Pryor.
The Hall: Honoring the Greats of Stand-Up (2022 )
Movie
A group of LGBTQ+ comedians get together to celebrate a brand of queer comedy. Legends, headliners, and emerging talent all perform at The Greek Theatre for an unforgettable queer stand-up event.
Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration (2022 )
Movie
In his final comedy special, Norm Macdonald ponders casinos, cannibalism, living wills and why you have to be ready for whatever life throws your way, all done in front of a camera, without an audience, and in one take. After his set, Norm's friends and fellow comics gather to salute him.
Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special (2022 )
