13th (film)

2016 American documentary film

13th

Digital release poster

Directed by| Ava DuVernay
Written by|

* Ava DuVernay
* Spencer Averick

Produced by|

* Ava DuVernay
* Howard Barish
* Spencer Averick

Cinematography|

* Hans Charles
* Kira Kelly

Edited by| Spencer Averick
Music by| Jason Moran

Production
company

Kandoo Films

Distributed by| Netflix

Release dates

* September 30, 2016 (2016-09-30) (NYFF)
* October 7, 2016 (2016-10-07) (United States)

Running time

| 100 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $1 million[1]
Box office| $566 (UK only)[2]
Part of a series on

Forced labour and slavery

Contemporary

* Child Labour
* Child soldiers
* Conscription
* Debt
* Forced marriage
* Bride buying
* Child marriage
* Wife selling
* Forced prostitution
* Human trafficking
* Involuntary servitude
* Peonage
* Penal labour
* Contemporary Africa
* 21st-century jihadism
* Sexual slavery
* Wage slavery

Historical

Antiquity

* Egypt
* Babylonia
* Greece
* Rome

Medieval Europe

* Ancillae
* Black Sea slave trade
* Byzantine Empire
* Kholop
* Prague slave trade
* Serfs
* History
* In Russia
* Emancipation
* Thrall
* Genoese slave trade
* Venetian slave trade
* Balkan slave trade

Muslim world

* Slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate
* Slavery in al-Andalus ‎
* Baqt
* Contract of manumission
* Bukhara slave trade
* Crimean slave trade
* Khazar slave trade
* Khivan slave trade
* Ottoman Empire
* Avret Pazarları
* Barbary Coast
* slave trade
* pirates
* Sack of Baltimore
* Slave raid of Suðuroy
* Turkish Abductions
* Concubinage
* history
* Ma malakat aymanukum
* Avret Pazarları
* Harem
* Abbasid harem
* Ottoman Imperial Harem
* Safavid imperial harem
* Qajar harem
* Jarya/Cariye
* Odalisque
* Qiyan
* Umm al-walad
* Circassian slave trade
* Saqaliba
* Slavery in the Rashidun Caliphate
* Slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate
* Slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate
* Volga Bulgarian slave trade
* 21st century

Atlantic slave trade

* Bristol
* Brazil
* Database
* Dutch
* Middle Passage
* Nantes
* New France
* Panyarring
* Spanish Empire
* Slave Coast
* Thirteen colonies

Topics and practice

* Conscription
* Ghilman
* Mamluk
* Devshirme
* Blackbirding
* Coolie
* Corvée labour
* Field slaves in the United States
* Treatment
* House slaves
* Saqaliba
* Slave market
* Slave raiding
* Child soldiers
* White slavery

Naval

* Galley slave
* Impressment
* Pirates
* Shanghaiing
* Slave ship

By country or region

Sub-Saharan Africa

* Contemporary Africa
* Trans-Saharan slave trade
* Red Sea slave trade
* Indian Ocean slave trade
* Zanzibar slave trade
* Angola
* Chad
* Comoros
* Ethiopia
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Seychelles
* Somalia
* Somali slave trade
* South Africa
* Sudan
* Zanzibar

North and South America

* Pre-Columbian America
* Aztec
* Americas indigenous
* U.S. Natives
* United States
* Field slaves
* female
* Contemporary
* maps
* partus
* prison labour
* Slave codes
* Treatment
* interregional
* Human trafficking
* The Bahamas
* Canada
* Caribbean
* Barbados
* British Virgin Islands
* Trinidad
* Code Noir
* Latin America
* Brazil
* Lei Áurea
* Colombia
* Cuba
* Haiti
* revolt
* Restavek
* (Encomienda)
* Puerto Rico

East, Southeast, and South Asia

* Human trafficking in Southeast Asia
* Bhutan
* Brunei
* China
* Booi Aha
* Laogai
* penal system
* India
* Debt bondage
* Chukri System
* Indonesia
* Japan
* comfort women
* Korea
* Kwalliso
* Malaysia
* Maldives
* Slavery in the Mongol Empire
* Thailand
* Yankee princess
* Vietnam

Australia and Oceania

* Australia
* Human trafficking
* Blackbirding
* Slave raiding in Easter Island
* Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea
* Blackbirding in Polynesia

Europe and North Asia

* Sex trafficking in Europe
* United Kingdom
* Penal Labour
* Slavery
* Denmark
* Dutch Republic
* Germany in World War II
* Malta
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* Spain
* Sweden

North Africa and West Asia

* Afghanistan
* Algeria
* Bahrain
* Egypt
* Human trafficking in the Middle East
* Iran
* Iraq
* Jordan
* Kuwait
* Lebanon
* Libya
* Morocco
* Oman
* Palestine
* Saudi Arabia
* Syria
* Tunisia
* Qatar
* Yemen
* United Arab Emirates

Religion

* Bible
* Christianity
* Catholicism
* Mormonism
* Islam
* Judaism
* Baháʼí Faith

Opposition and resistance

* Abolitionism
* U.K.
* U.S.
* Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference 1889–90
* Temporary Slavery Commission
* 1926 Slavery Convention
* Committee of Experts on Slavery
* Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery
* Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery
* Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery
* Abolitionists
* Anglo-Egyptian Slave Trade Convention
* Anti-Slavery International
* Blockade of Africa
* U.K.
* U.S.
* Colonization
* Liberia
* Sierra Leone
* Compensated emancipation
* Freedman
* Manumission
* Freedom suit
* Slave Power
* Underground Railroad
* songs
* Slave rebellion
* Slave Trade Acts
* International law
* Third Servile War
* 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution
* Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom
* Abolition of slave trade in Persian gulf [fa]

Related

* Common law
* Indentured servitude
* Forced labour
* Fugitive slaves
* laws
* convention
* Great Dismal Swamp maroons
* List of slaves
* owners
* last survivors of American slavery
* List of slavery-related memorials and museums
* Slave marriages in the United States
* Slave narrative
* films
* songs
* Slave name
* Slave catcher
* Slave patrol
* Slave Route Project
* breeding
* court cases
* Washington
* Jefferson
* J.Q. Adams
* Lincoln
* Emancipation Proclamation
* 40 acres
* Freedmen's Bureau
* Iron bit
* Emancipation Day

* v
* t
* e

13th is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Ava DuVernay. It explores the prison–industrial complex, and the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States".[3] The title refers to the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude, except as punishment for convicted criminals. The film argues that this exemption has been used to continue the practice of involuntary servitude in the form of penal labor.

DuVernay contends that slavery in the United States has been perpetuated since the end of the Civil War through criminalizing behavior and enabling police to arrest poor freedmen and force them to work for the state under convict leasing; suppression of African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynchings, and Jim Crow; politicians declaring a war on drugs that weighs more heavily on minority communities; and, by the late 20th century, mass incarceration affecting communities of color, especially American descendants of slavery. In addition to the prison-industrial complex, the film examines the emerging detention-industrial complex, discussing how much money is being made by corporations from such incarcerations.

The film garnered acclaim from a number of film critics. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards,[4] and it won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.[5]

## Synopsis

[edit]

The film begins with an audio clip of President Barack Obama stating that the US has 5 percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of the world's prisoners. There follow interviews with a number of activists, academics, political figures from both major U.S. political parties, and public figures, including Angela Davis, Bryan Stevenson, Michelle Alexander, Jelani Cobb, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich, Cory Booker, and Henry Louis Gates Jr..[6]

The economic history of slavery and the post-Civil War racist legislation and practices that replaced it are explored. Southern states criminalized minor offenses, arresting freedmen and forcing them to work when they could not pay fines, and this approach was institutionalized as convict leasing, which created an incentive to criminalize more behavior. DuVernay contends that most black people were disenfranchised across the South at the turn of the 20th century, being excluded from the political system (including juries) at the same time that lynching of black people by white mobs reached a peak. In addition, Jim Crow legislation was passed by Democrats to legalize segregation and suppress minorities, forcing them into second-class status. Following the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s that restored civil rights, the film notes the Republican Party's appeal to southern white conservatives, including the claim to be the party to fight the war on crime and war on drugs, which began to include mandatory, lengthy sentencing. A new wave of minority suppression began, reaching African Americans and others in the northern, mid-western, and western cities where many had migrated in earlier decades. After their presidential candidates lost to Republicans, Democratic politicians such as Bill Clinton joined the war on drugs.

As a result, from the early 1970s to the present, the rate of incarceration and the number of people in prisons has climbed dramatically in the United States, while at the same time the rate of crime in the United States has continued to decline since the late 20th century. As late as the 2016 presidential election, the eventual winner Donald Trump worked to generate fear of crime, claiming high rates in New York City, for instance, which was not true, according to the film, which states that crime was lower overall than it had been in decade. Private prison contractors entered the market to satisfy demand as arrests and sentences increased, forming an independent group with its own economic incentives to criminalize minor activities and lengthen sentences in order to keep prisons full. Politicians and businessmen in rural areas encouraged construction of prisons to supply local jobs, and they also have had incentives to keep prisons full.

The federal Bureau of Prisons announced in 2016 its intention to stop contracting with private providers for prison services. According to the film, the over-incarceration of adults has severely damaged generations of black and minority families and their children.

The film explores the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), backed by corporations, that has provided Republican state- and federal-legislators with draft legislation to support the prison-industrial complex. It contends that only after some of the relationships were revealed did corporations like Walmart and others receive criticism and drop out of the organization.

The demonization of minority poor to serve political ends is examined, along with how this has contributed to fears of minorities by whites and to problems of police brutality against minority communities. In the 21st century, the regularity of fatal police shootings of unarmed minorities in apparently minor confrontations has been demonstrated by videos taken by bystanders and by the increasing use of cameras in police cars or worn by officers. DuVernay ends the film with graphic videos of fatal shootings of black people by police, which Manohla Dargis describes as, following the previous discussion, having the effect of "a piercing, keening cry."[3]

## Production

[edit]

The film was written by Ava DuVernay, the director of Selma (2014), and Spencer Averick, who also edited the film. Produced and filmed in secrecy, the existence of 13th was only revealed when it was announced as the opening film of the 2016 New York Film Festival. It was the first documentary ever to open the festival.[7][8]

## Release

[edit]

13th was released on Netflix on October 7, 2016.[7] A companion piece, 13th: A Conversation with Oprah Winfrey & Ava DuVernay, was released on the service on January 26, 2017, in the United States, and on January 31 worldwide.[9] On April 17, 2020, Netflix made the film available to stream for free on YouTube.[10]

## Reception and legacy

[edit]

### Critical response

[edit]

On the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 109 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 8.8/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "13th strikes at the heart of America's tangled racial history, offering observations as incendiary as they are calmly controlled."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[12]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film "powerful, infuriating, and at times overwhelming", and praised its meticulous marshaling of facts. Summarizing the film, Dargis wrote that "The United States did not just criminalize a select group of black people. It criminalized black people as a whole, a process that, in addition to destroying untold lives, effectively transferred the guilt for slavery from the people who perpetuated it to the very people who suffered through it."[3] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone awarded the film four stars out of four and named it one of the best films of 2016.[13]

### Criticism

[edit]

Dan Berger of Black Perspectives wrote that 13th was at its best when chronicling the lives of individuals in the American prison system, but said the film "makes several significant factual errors", such as using outdated statistical data and overstating the role of for-profit prisons.[14] John Anderson of America Magazine had similar criticisms of the film.[15]

### Viewership

[edit]

On a panel about the future of film published in The New York Times, DuVernay said:

> I'm told by the system that [a theatrical release] is what matters, but then people aren't seeing your movies. Take the number of people who saw Selma, a Christmas release with an Oscar campaign about Dr. Martin Luther King. Well, more than a quadruple amount of people saw 13th, about the prison-industrial complex. If I'm telling these stories to reach a mass audience, then really, nothing else matters.[16]

During the George Floyd protests in June 2020, the film experienced a 4,665% surge in viewership on Netflix.[17]

### Accolades

[edit]

The film was nominated for dozens of awards, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It was given a Peabody Award for excellence and won best documentary at the British Academy Film Awards and the Primetime Emmy Awards. DuVernay received a Primetime Emmy Award for her writing, and she was nominated for her directing. The song "Letter to the Free" was nominated for several awards, with Common, Robert Glasper, and Karriem Riggins winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.

Award  | Category  | Recipients  | Result

|
|
|

Academy Awards | Best Documentary Feature | Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick & Howard Barish | Nominated
ACE Eddie Awards | Best Edited Documentary Feature  | Spencer Averick  | Nominated
African-American Film Critics Association Awards | Best Documentary  | 13th | Won
Alliance of Women Film Journalists' EDA Awards | Best Documentary  | 13th | Won
Best Woman Director  | Ava DuVernay  | Won
Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry  | Ava DuVernay  | Won
Austin Film Critics Association Awards | Best Documentary  | 13th | Nominated
Black Reel Awards | Best Film | 13th | Nominated
Best Feature Documentary  | 13th | Won
Best Original or Adapted Song | "Letter to the Free" – Common | Nominated
British Academy Film Awards | Best Documentary | Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick & Howard Barish  | Won
Cinema Audio Society | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Motion Picture – Documentary | Jeffrey Perkins | Nominated
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards  | Best Documentary Feature  | 13th | Nominated
Best Documentary (TV/Streaming)  | 13th | Won
Best Director (TV/Streaming)  | Ava DuVernay  | Won
Best Political Documentary  | 13th | Won
Best Song in a Documentary  | "Letter to the Free"  | Nominated
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Documentary  | 13th | Runner-up
Detroit Film Critics Society Awards | Best Documentary  | 13th | Nominated
Hollywood Music in Media Awards | Best Original Song – Documentary  | "Letter to the Free"  | Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society Awards | Best Documentary Feature  | 13th | Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards | Best Documentary Feature | 13th | Nominated
MTV Movie & TV Awards | Best Documentary  | 13th | Won
NAACP Image Awards | Outstanding Documentary (Film) | 13th | Won
National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Non-Fiction Film | 13th | 3rd Place
New York Film Critics Online Awards | Best Documentary  | 13th | Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Documentary Film | 13th | Nominated
Peabody Awards | Excellence  | Forward Movement LLC and Kandoo Films  | Won
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards  | Best Documentary  | 13th | Nominated
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special | 13th | Won
Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming | Ava DuVernay  | Nominated
Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming | Ava DuVernay and Spencer Averick  | Won
Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program | Hans Charles and Kira Kelly  | Nominated
Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics | Common, Robert Glasper and Karriem Riggins for "Letter to the Free"  | Won
Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program | Spencer Averick  | Nominated
Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming (Single or Multi-Camera) | Tim Boggs, Alex Lee, Julie Pierce and Lise Richardson  | Nominated
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera) | Jeffrey Perkins  | Nominated
Satellite Awards | Best Documentary Film | 13th | Won
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Documentary Film | 13th | Nominated
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Documentary  | 13th | Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | Best Documentary | 13th | Won
Women Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Movie by a Woman  | 13th | Won
Best Woman Storyteller (Screenwriting Award)  | Ava DuVernay  | Won
Best Documentary By or About Women  | 13th | Won
Courage in Filmmaking  | Ava DuVernay  | Won

## See also

[edit]

* Repeal of exceptions to slavery and involuntary servitude
* The House I Live In – a 2012 documentary film
* Slavery in the United States
* Jim Crow laws – State and local laws to enforce racial segregation in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
* Southern strategy – a 20th century Republican electoral strategy for the Southern United States

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "13th (2016)". The Wrap. January 23, 2013. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
2. ^ "13th". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
3. ^ a b c Manohla Dargis, "Review: '13TH,' the Journey From Shackles to Prison Bars", The New York Times, September 29, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2017
4. ^ "O.J.: Made in America" wins Best Documentary Feature-Oscars on YouTube
5. ^ "Oscar Nominations". The Oscars. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 10, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
6. ^ Smith, Nigel M. (September 26, 2016). "The 13th: inside Ava DuVernay's Netflix prison documentary on racial inequality". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
7. ^ a b Lockett, Dee (July 19, 2016). "Ava DuVernay's The 13th Will Be the First Documentary to Ever Open the New York Film Festival". Vulture.
8. ^ Cox, Gordon (July 19, 2016). "2016 New York Film Festival to Open With Ava DuVernay Documentary 'The 13th'". Variety.
9. ^ Calvario, Liz (January 25, 2017). "13TH: A Conversation with Oprah Winfrey & Ava DuVernay Clip". IndieWire. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
10. ^ "13TH | FULL FEATURE | Netflix". YouTube. April 17, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
11. ^ "13th (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 8, 2024.
12. ^ "13th reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
13. ^ "20 Best Movies of 2016". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
14. ^ Dan Berger (October 22, 2016). Mass Incarceration and Its Mystification: A Review of The 13th. African American Intellectual History Society accessed 22 May 2021
15. ^ Anderson, John. "Do Social Justice Documentaries Just Preach to the Choir?" America. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
16. ^ Buchanan, Kyle (June 20, 2019). "How Will the Movies (As We Know Them) Survive the Next 10 Years?". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
17. ^ Nolan, Emma (June 17, 2020). "'13th' Netflix Documentary Viewers Surge by 4,665 Percent in Three Weeks". Newsweek.

## External links

[edit]

* 13th on Netflix
* 13th at IMDb
* 13th at Rotten Tomatoes
* 13th at Metacritic
* 13th on Facebook

* v
* t
* e

Works by Ava DuVernay

Films directed|

* I Will Follow (2010)
* Middle of Nowhere (2012)
* Selma (2014)
* A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
* Origin (2023)

Documentaries|

* This Is the Life (2008)
* 13th (2016)

Television series created|

* Queen Sugar (2016–2022)
* When They See Us (2019)
* Cherish the Day (2020–present)
* Home Sweet Home (2021)
* Colin in Black & White (2021)
* Naomi (2022)

Awards for 13th

* v
* t
* e

BAFTA Award for Best Documentary

1948–1989|

* Louisiana Story (1948)
* Daybreak in Udi (1949)
* The Undefeated (1950)
* Beaver Valley (1951)
* Royal Journey (1952)
* The Conquest of Everest (1953)
* The Great Adventure (Det Stora äventyret) (1954)
* The Vanishing Prairie (1955)
* On the Bowery (1956)
* Journey into Spring (1957)
* Glass (Glas) (1958)
* The Savage Eye (1959)
* Dispute (1960)
* Volcano (Le Rendezvous du diable) (1961)
* Four Line Conics (1962)
* Individual Honour (1963)
* Nobody Waved Good-bye (1964)
* Tokyo Olympiad (1965)
* Goal! The World Cup (1966)
* To Die in Madrid (1967)
* In Need of Special Care (1968)
* Prologue (1969)
* Sad Song of Yellow Skin (1970)
* The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971)
* Cutting Oils and Fluids (1972)
* Grierson (1973)
* Cree Hunters of Mistassini (1974)
* The Early Americans (1975)
* The Canadians (Los Canadienses) (1976)
* No Award (1977)
* The Silent Witness (1978)
* The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1979)
* No Award (1980)
* Soldier Girls (1981)
* Burden of Dreams (1982)
* Schindler (1983)
* 28 Up (1984)
* Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1985)
* Shoah (1986)
* Baka – People of the Rainforest (1987)
* Death on the Rock (1988)
* Four Hours in My Lai (1989)

2005|

* The Orphans of Nkandla (2005)

2011–present|

* Senna (2011)
* Searching for Sugar Man (2012)
* The Act of Killing (2013)
* Citizenfour (2014)
* Amy (2015)
* 13th (2016)
* I Am Not Your Negro (2017)
* Free Solo (2018)
* For Sama (2019)
* My Octopus Teacher (2020)
* Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
* Navalny (2022)
* 20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

* Between 1990–2012, the documentaries continued to be honoured at the British Academy Television Awards.

* v
* t
* e

Black Reel Award for Outstanding Documentary

* Good Hair (2010)
* Waiting for "Superman" (2011)
* Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest (2012)
* The Central Park Five (2013)
* 20 Feet from Stardom (2014)
* Anita: Speaking Truth to the Power (2015)
* What Happened, Miss Simone? (2016)
* 13th (2017)
* Step (2018)
* Quincy (2019)
* The Black Godfather (2020)
* Time (2021)
* Summer of Soul (2022)
* Sidney (2023)
* Little Richard: I Am Everything (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Critics' Choice Documentary Award for Best Political Documentary

* 13th (2016)
* Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)
* RBG (2018)
* American Factory (2019)
* Boys State (2020)
* The Crime of the Century (2021)
* Navalny (2022)
* 20 Days in Mariupol (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special

1990s|

* Vietnam POWs: A Story of Survival (1998)
* Thug Life in D.C. (1999)

2000s|

* Children in War (2000)
* Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (American Experience) (2001)
* 9/11 (2002)
* Benjamin Franklin (2003)
* The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's (2004)
* Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2005)
* Rome: Engineering an Empire (2006)
* Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (2007)
* Autism: The Musical (2008)
* 102 Minutes That Changed America (2009)

2010s|

* Teddy: In His Own Words (2010)
* Gettysburg (2011)
* George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2012)
* Manhunt: The Inside Story of the Hunt for Bin Laden (2013)
* JFK (American Experience) (2014)
* Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
* What Happened, Miss Simone? (2016)
* 13th (2017)
* The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling (2018)
* Leaving Neverland (2019)

2020s|

* The Apollo (2020)
* Boys State (2021)
* George Carlin's American Dream (2022)
* Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023)
* Jim Henson Idea Man (2024)

* v
* t
* e

NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary

Film
(2008–2009,
2017–present)|

* Darfur Now (2007)
* Good Hair (2008)
* 13th (2016)
* Step (2017)
* Amazing Grace (2018)
* Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)
* John Lewis: Good Trouble (2020)
* Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power (2021)
* Civil (2022)
* Invisible Beauty (2023)

Television
(2017–present)|

* Roots: A New Vision (2016)
* The 44th President: In His Own Words (2017)
* Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland (2018)
* Hitsville: The Making of Motown (2019)
* The Last Dance (2020)
* High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America (2021)
* Everything's Gonna Be All White (2022)
* High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Satellite Award for Best Documentary Film

* 4 Little Girls (1997)
* Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (1998)
* Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
* Reckless Indifference (2000)
* In Cane for Life (A Vida em Cana) (2001)
* The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)
* Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony (2003)
* Super Size Me (2004)
* Mad Hot Ballroom (2005)
* Deliver Us from Evil (2006)
* Sicko (2007)
* Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer / Man on Wire (2008)
* Every Little Step (2009)
* Restrepo (2010)
* Senna (2011)
* Chasing Ice (2012)
* Blackfish (2013)
* Citizenfour (2014)
* Amy / The Look of Silence (2015)
* 13th (2016)
* Chasing Coral (2017)
* Minding the Gap (2018)
* 63 Up (2019)
* Collective (2020)
* Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
* Fire of Love (2022)
* Bad Press (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary Film

* The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)
* The Fog of War (2003)
* Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
* Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
* An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
* Sicko (2007)
* Man on Wire (2008)
* Food, Inc. (2009)
* Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
* Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011)
* Bully (2012)
* Blackfish (2013)
* Life Itself (2014)
* Amy (2015)
* 13th (2016)
* Jane (2017)
* Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
* Apollo 11 (2019)
* Boys State (2020)
* Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
* Good Night Oppy (2022)
* American Symphony (2023)

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