Shadowing Practice: Ranked: top 100 documentaries of all time - Learn English Speaking with Video

Just two years ago marked the 100th anniversary of the first documentary ever made, The Nook of the North.

The craft and medium of documentary filmmaking is still very young.

But over the past 100 years, we have seen some incredible films made.

So we put together a list of the top 100 documentaries of all time, and even ranked them in order.

So this list is opinion based and I would love to hear your opinion below.

And if you want to just skip all this, we do have a link below where you can get a PDF sent to you of all these documentaries

and we'll tell you why they are so good.

At the end of this video I will reveal the top 10 films.

But in the meantime, let's talk about why we chose these films and go over a couple of the highlighted ones.

Each one of these films had a significant amount of sacrifice and we celebrate this.

In AOD, we believe that films take effort, take time, and absolutely take sacrifice from the filmmaker to make them good.

You'll see the number one film on our list actually took over 10 years to make

and had hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage at a time when shooting cost a lot of money.

Number two, one of the reasons we chose them is watchability.

What I mean by this is, did it engage us?

Did we want to watch it again?

Now, not all the films are films you want to watch again.

Certainly, The Act of Killing is one of those films that I think you only wanna watch once.

But did these films engage us?

I think of a film like Grizzly Man.

I still remember the first time I watched that film and the feelings I had and how engaging it was.

Or something as wildly entertainment as King of Kong.

These are all classic documentaries where every second on screen has been meticulously considered by the filmmaker.

And the next category is style.

Not just did it have a cool style, but did the style of filmmaking serve a purpose for the story?

You think of a film, My Name is Salt.

This documentary heavily relied on sound design

and a lack of interviews to show the prolonged and grueling effort of being a salt harvester.

When style serves a purpose, it creates good art.

And the last category we used was the compelling reason.

Did this film need to be made?

You'll see our list.

A lot of the films come kind of between 1995 and 2016.

This was a golden era for documentary filmmaking, where now a lot of documentaries are just being made because they have a celebrity name being attached.

It's less compelling.

It's just there to get views where a lot of the documentaries we chose, we felt like they had to be made.

They've enlightened us into other ways of life, other lived experiences, and various stories where, all politics aside, we think it's important to expose ourselves to.

I'll say this too, not a lot of the films in this list align with the politics in them, but that's not the point.

The point of these films is that they were made with honesty.

Now I'll say this, the film Jesus Camp, it did make our list.

I think some of the editing in that film is a bit dishonest, but regardless, it was a well-made film

and did take an intimate look into a community that not a lot of people understand.

As mentioned, I will reveal the top 10 films, but right now I just want to highlight a couple films and also mention a few films that didn't make the list.

First film I want to mention that's on this is Senna.

This film is entirely constructed of archival footage, including the race footage, interviews, and home videos.

There's actually no talking head interviews or retrospective interviews.

This is very typical of documentaries in this category where you have people recalling what happened.

Instead, the filmmakers meticulously went through the archival footage to build the entire story.

This is easier when you have someone like Senna, where there was so much content and footage around him.

The other film I want to highlight is Three Identical Strangers.

This film was actually shortlisted for the best documentary feature at the Academy Awards, and why I bring this one up was this was one of those documentaries that was so enjoyable to watch,

but also took you on a journey where the first act is so fun.

You're getting to see these three brothers meet again.

But then it slowly begins to unravel

and it reveals the dark side of child adoption and brings you on quite an emotional roller coaster.

The filmmakers did their research and did an incredible job with the interviews and pieced this together immaculately in the edit.

Highly recommend it.

A couple honorable mentions that didn't make the list.

American Animals, that came out in 2018.

This is an incredible crime drama that blurs the line between documentary and narrative filmmaking.

I promise you, you haven't seen a documentary like this.

They even and blend the interviews into the scripted part of the film, which is then part of the real time.

The director, Bart Layton, took some huge creative risks and it certainly paid off.

Another film I got to see actually in London at the Raindance Film Festival is Dog Watch.

This is about the security militia that are on those big shipping boats

that have to go through the Horn of Africa to protect them from pirates.

Why I brought this film up was there isn't actually a lot of action in it.

It's a film that you think you might get to see some action, but they push into the monotony of these people's jobs

and it's done in a way that you actually stay engaged for the entire length of the film.

And lastly, I wanna mention Boy State, done by one of my favorite directors, Jesse Moss, and he co-directed that with Amanda McBain.

This is a compelling film that looks into the week-long program called the Texas Boy State, where thousands of young teens come together in Texas to build a mock state government.

It was a fun watch

and is a strange microcosm of what seems to be going

on in the grander scheme of politics in the U.S right now.

Now, for the last few mentions of films, I'm going to hand it over to Michael Del Monte, who is a significant contributor to this list.

He's the co-founder of Art of Documentary.

That's our course and academy.

I'm always talking about that on this channel.

You've probably heard me bring it up before.

We have over 6,500 filmmakers in this around the world, and it's the best place for you to learn how to make documentary films, learn how to make more money as a filmmaker,

and to grow your business and community.

We'll be reopening the doors for that very soon again, but I'll hand it over to Mike right now to mention the films that he likes.

So if you're tight on time and can only watch a few documentaries, I wanna share my all-time favorites.

First is Hoop Dreams.

I would put this up as maybe the greatest documentary of all time

and possibly one of the best films of all time.

You need to give it your two and a half hours of attention, but the reward at the end is phenomenal.

And that is due to the foresight of the filmmakers to adjust what they were initially making.

They started by making a short to explore basketball in the inner city, but saw that the dreams that these young men had, A lot of the tension that was going on in the families and the schools,

it needed time for the conflict to unravel.

They couldn't just manipulate that in a short.

They had the foresight, and this is what filmmaking is all about.

It's seeing what a lot of other people might not see, and they ended up with a masterpiece.

The second film that you need to watch, because again, I think this is up there, not just as one of the best documentaries, but maybe one of the best films of all time,

is The Act of Killing.

This by Joshua Oppenheimer and his team.

What's phenomenal about this film is they are trying to show these assassins, these men and women who were engaged in killing during the Indonesian genocide.

How do you approach that topic with the actual killers?

So they came up with a clever process where they were loose about and said, hey, let's just have you reenact how you did these murders.

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And they approached this awful, the darkest parts, the most cruel parts of humanity in almost a playful way.

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Again, kudos to the filmmakers for figuring out how to tell

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this story with the people who did it in a way where they were able to actually execute the film.

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And finally, American Movie by Chris Smith.

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I love character studies.

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Taxi Driver is one of my favorite movies of all time.

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Most of my documentaries are character studies

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and I consider American Movie to be one of the best

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character studies where it focuses on this indie filmmaker Mark who's trying to make the next great American movie

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and he has financial constraints, no one believes in him.

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It's this fun story but it shows you how if you find the right character, you will have an engaging film.

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Thank you for watching, this reminder you can click link below to get this list we'll send a couple follow-up emails

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that talk about why these films are

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so good some of the specs of those films how they were distributed documentary is unique

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and there's not one way to make a documentary film

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and this channel and our course aod we're here to help you journey

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and create those documentary films as we mentioned there are films

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that need to be told there's stories that need to be heard

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and there's filmmakers like yourself who have a unique perspective a unique lived experience

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that needs to be injected into their filmmaking and needs to be seen by many people.

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So we're here to help.

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I'm always down to answer your questions.

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Let me know any films that you think I missed below.

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Let me know films that I put on the list that you think shouldn't have been there.

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I bet you bullying for Columbine is gonna be one of those.

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People hate Michael Moore.

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And yeah, I think some of the stuff he does is inaccurate, but they're also a style of film that had Michael Moore not made those.

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I don't know if you'd see a lot of the YouTube style videos that we see today.

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I hate goodbyes.

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A few moments later.

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Hey, oh my gosh.

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I totally forgot to mention the top 10 list.

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Here they are.

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There's the films.

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Hoop Dreams, by far, as a team, unequivocally, our favorite documentary of all time.

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But if you wanna see the full list, little write-ups about each one of those, and start working through this list, because this is the top 100 films you should watch, probably before you die.

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You know, you could watch two of these a year if you've got 50 years left, or maybe your biohack and you're gonna live another 100 years, so watch one a year.

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You could get hit by a bus tomorrow.

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I could.

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I could walk out right now.

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It could happen.

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That's morbid, but you never know.

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Thank you for watching this video.

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I hate goodbyes, but I love gaff tape.

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It's literally holding my watch together right now.

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The watch is dead.

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I really just wear a whoop these days, but it can't tell time.

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So I feel like I should have a watch, but then this doesn't tell time and this piece of tape is coming off right now.

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Anyways, download that list below.

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Reach out if you have any questions.

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We're always here to help.

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And get watching those films.

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I know I need to get back watching this.

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There's actually a few on there that I just had to trust our team with.

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I had actually not seen them.

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Like Paradise Lost, number 12 on the list.

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I need to see that film.

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I've only heard good things and see you on the next one.

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Learn English with YouTube: Dive into Documentaries & Boost Your Skills

Want to improve English pronunciation and practice speaking while exploring fascinating stories? The video "Ranked: top 100 documentaries of all time" is a goldmine for English learners. It blends engaging content with natural, conversational speech—perfect for english speaking practice and IELTS speaking practice. Let’s break down how to use it effectively!

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

"meticulously considered" – Use this to describe careful planning (e.g., "Her presentation was meticulously considered").
"prolonged and grueling effort" – Talk about tough, long tasks (e.g., "Finishing the project took prolonged and grueling effort").
"intimate look into" – Describe deep insights (e.g., "The book gives an intimate look into city life").
"retrospective interviews" – Refer to interviews looking back (e.g., "The documentary uses retrospective interviews with survivors").
"compelling reason" – Explain a strong purpose (e.g., "She had a compelling reason to move abroad").

Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide: Master the Dialogue

Shadowing (or "shadowspeak") is a powerful way to mimic pronunciation and rhythm. Here’s how to tackle this video:

Listen once – Focus on the main ideas (documentary rankings, key criteria like "watchability").
Pick short clips – Choose 30-second segments (e.g., the part about "Senna" or "style serving a purpose").
Repeat immediately – Pause and copy the speaker’s tone, stress, and pauses. Notice how "sacrifice" is emphasized or how "meticulously" is pronounced.
Record yourself – Compare with the video. Did you capture the natural flow? Adjust for clarity.
Practice daily – Even 10 minutes a day will boost your confidence for IELTS speaking practice and real conversations.

This video isn’t just about documentaries—it’s a tool to make your English sound more natural. So press play, start shadowing, and watch your skills grow!

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	be made · being made · were made
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have seen · has been · They've enlightened
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	film, which is · women who were · people who did

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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What is the Shadowing Technique?