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Whether you love underdog stories, historic championships, or personal triumphs, ESPN+ has it all.

A great sports documentary does more than show highlights - it tells the human story behind the unforgettable moments in sports history. They let you experience the intensity of a close game, the pressure of extreme expectations, and get you closer to understanding how the best athletes in the world achieve what us mere mortals only dream of. If you’re into comeback stories, intense rivalries, or a closer look at sports icons, there’s one streaming platform that consistently delivers: ESPN+. Here’s why I think it’s the best streamer for sports documentaries.

Everything you need to know about the best streamer for sports documentaries:

What popular sports docs can you stream on ESPN+?

What other streaming platforms carry sports documentaries?

What popular sports docs can you stream on ESPN+?

In my mind, ESPN...

What’s the deal with the film Academy’s documentary branch? This season’s shortlist for the best documentary feature Oscar, released Dec. 17, was missing one of the year’s most acclaimed crowd-pleasers, Warner Bros.’ Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story — which is at 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, won the top Critics Choice documentary award and is nominated for the Producers Guild’s top doc award — and also impressive documentaries about Martha Stewart (Martha), Celine Dion (I Am: Celine Dion), James Carville (Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid) and John Williams (Music by John Williams), among others.

This isn’t to say that the 15 docs that were shortlisted are lacking — to the contrary, most are excellent. But it does reconfirm the doc branch’s weird aversion, over roughly the past decade, to populist titles.

During that period, the branch declined to shortlist Good Night Oppy, a charmer about a Wall-e-like Mars...

If you were to walk up to somebody 20 years ago and ask them about a film's length, a common consensus was likely to emerge: the longer the runtime, the less appealing it is to watch. In 2024, however, the response might be different. In 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported a study that concluded less than half of moviegoers are dissuaded by lengthy runtimes. In 2023, Slate reported that the average runtime of the 10 highest-grossing movies in the United States was 2 hours and 23 minutes -- over 20 minutes longer than 20 years ago. With rising trends in long-form content engagement across film, television, and online video, it has become clear that people are ready for longer viewing experiences, TikTok attention spans be damned.

Most people look at beefy, historical epics like "The Ten Commandments" and "Lawrence of Arabia" as the be-all and end-all of long-form cinema, but those are just the tip of the iceberg.

Today, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced the 2025 Documentary Motion Picture nominees that will advance to the final round of voting for the 36th Annual PGA Awards. Winners will be announced on Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

Below are the nominees for Best Documentary:

“Gaucho Gaucho”

“Mediha”

“Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa”

“Porcelain War”

“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story”

“We Will Dance Again”

Last year, producers Lauren Domino, Matthew Heineman, and Joedan Okun were honored with the award for for “American Symphony,” defeating eventual Oscar champ “20 Days in Mariupol.” The movie intimately followed award-winning musician Jon Batiste’s journey in composing a symphony while his wife underwent cancer treatment.

The winner of the PGA Award for Best Documentary has matched up with the eventual Oscar winner five of the past 10 years: “Amy” (2015), “O.J.: Made in America” (2016), “My Octopus Teacher” (2020), “Summer of Soul...

Cinema Eye Honors, an organization that celebrates the artistic achievements of nonfiction and documentary filmmakers, has unveiled the feature film nominees for its 18th annual award ceremony, which takes place Jan. 9 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem, N.Y.

“Sugarcane,” from co-directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, led the pack with six nods, including nominations for outstanding nonfiction feature and direction. The film investigates abuses and forced separations of families within a Canadian Indigenous community.

“Dahomey,” from Mati Diop, and “No Other Land,” from Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor, also landed nods for outstanding nonfiction feature and direction. Both films pulled in five nominations each.

Nominees for the outstanding production category include Paula DuPre’ Pesman’s “Porcelain War.” Pesman previously won in the category at the 3rd Cinema Eye Honors in 2010 for “The Cove.” Shane Boris and Odessa Rae, who took...

Great Oscar-contending documentaries and the Scad Savannah Film Festival: for more than a decade now, the two have been virtually synonymous thanks to the ‘Docs to Watch’ panel, which is presented by The Hollywood Reporter, moderated by yours truly and brings to the nation’s largest university-run film festival the directors of 10 of the year’s finest nonfiction features.

Indeed, over the 10 years that the panel was held prior to this year, 21 of the 97 docs that were featured went on to nominations for the best documentary feature Oscar, and eight of those ultimately won that award: 2015’s Amy, 2016’s O.J.: Made in America, 2017’s Icarus, 2018’s Free Solo, 2019’s American Factory, 2021’s Summer of Soul, 2022’s Navalny and 2023’s 20 Days in Mariupol.

This year’s gathering took place on Oct. 30 at Scad’s Lucas Theatre as part of the fest’s 27th edition, and, as you can see for...

Fifteen-year-old Doc NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, has revealed its influential 15-film Short List. The festival will run its main lineup of 111 features, 32 world premieres, 24 U.S. premieres, and 129 short films in-person November 13-21 in New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theatre, and Village East by Angelika and continue online until December 1 with films available to viewers across the U.S. All the films will have theatrical screenings at the festival, often with the directors in person.

Historically, most of the Doc NYC shortlist titles overlap with the Academy’s official 15-film Oscar shortlist. With the notable exception of Netflix’s Oscar-winning “My Octopus Teacher,” for 12 years, the festival has screened the documentary that went on to win the Academy Award, including “20 Days in Mariupol,” “Navalny,” “Summer of Soul,” “American Factory,” “Free Solo,” “Icarus,” “O.J.: Made in America,” “Amy,” “Citizenfour,” “20 Feet From Stardom,” “Searching for Sugar Man,...

The Critics Choice Association unveiled the nominees for its 9th annual documentary awards on Oct. 14. “Sugarcane” leads with eight bids including Best Documentary Feature, Best Director for Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, Cinematography, and Editing. This film about child abuse at an Indian residential school also contends in the historical, political, and true crime categories while the helmers are up for the newcomers prize.

Three films netted a half dozen nominations each: “Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story,” “Daughters,” and “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.” All three contend for Best Documentary Feature. That race is rounded out by “The Greatest Night in Pop,” “Jim Henson Idea Man,” “Music by John Williams,” “Piece by Piece,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,” and “Will & Harper.”

Last year, “American Symphony” earned a leading six nominations from the Ccda but was then snubbed by the documentary branch of the academy. The big...

“Sugarcane” led all films with eight nominations for the 2024 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which announced its nominees on Monday morning.

The documentary by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie explores the network of boarding schools that existed for indigenous peoples in Canada and the abuse therein; it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically by National Geographic Documentary Films.

The films “Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story,” “Daughters” and “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” received six nominations each.

Other nominees in the Best Documentary Feature category are “The Greatest Night in Pop,” “Jim Henson Idea Man,” “Music by John Williams,” “Piece by Piece,” “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” and “Will and Harper.”

Nominees in the Best Director category are NoiseCat and Kassie for “Sugarcane,” Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui for “Super/Man,” Josh Greenbaum for “Will & Harper,” Ron Howard for “Jim Henson Idea Man,” Natalie Rae...

ESPN has aired over 150 films in its sports doc strand 30 for 30 including The Two Escobars, Four Falls of Buffalo and Lance as well as Ezra Edelman’s O.J: Made In America.

To celebrate its 15th anniversary, the Disney-owned sports broadcaster is airing a one-hour special.

Hosted by Roy Wood Jr., the former Daily Show correspondent who now hosts CNN’s Have I Got News For You reboot, the special will feature a countdown of the top films that have defined the series since its inception in 2009.

It will air on October 6 on ESPN2 and will then be available on ESPN+.

The special will revisit some of the most impactful and beloved films from the series and will feature interviews with co-creators and original executive producers Bill Simmons, Connor Schell, and John Dahl, along with directors and contributors including Michael Bonfiglio, Nanette Burstein, Billy Corben, Marcus Dupree, Jason Hehir, Jonathan Hock,...

The Scad Savannah Film Festival, which takes place each year shortly before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences votes to determine its Oscar shortlists, has revealed the names of the 10 documentary features that it will highlight on this year’s edition of its Docs to Watch panel, a 90-minute discussion about the challenges and rewards of documentary filmmaking.

The films that will be represented on this year’s panel — which will take place at the Lucas Theatre on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 30, and will be moderated by yours truly for the 11th year in a row — and will also screen during the fest, followed by a Q&a with their director(s), will be:

Black Box Diaries (MTV Documentary Films), represented on the panel by director Shiori Ito — the filmmaker documents the investigation into her sexual assault by a powerful man in Japan Carville: Winning Is Everything,...

Primary Wave Music and Prince Legacy, two companies with ties to Prince’s assets, released a statement Monday afternoon in response to reports of an unreleased documentary accusing the late musician of physical and emotional abuse.

“Those with the responsibility of carrying out Prince’s wishes shall honor his creativity and genius,” the statement reads. “We are working to resolve matters concerning the documentary so that his story may be told in a way that is factually correct and does not mischaracterize or sensationalize his life. We look forward to continuing to share Prince’s gifts and celebrate his profound and lasting impact on the world.”

On Sunday, a lengthy report from The New York Times Magazine revealed that an unreleased nine-hour documentary from O.J.: Made in America filmmaker Ezra Edelman featured interviews with dozens of Prince’s former business partners, lovers, friends and associates, which included multiple allegations of physical and emotional abuse.

ESPN Films has greenlit a “30 for 30” documentary about Billie Jean King, which is now in production with Ridley Scott Associates and Story Syndicate, in association with Elton John’s Rocket Sports.

The docu is being touted as “the unfiltered, untold story of how King broke the rules and proved her critics wrong.” The film is told in King’s own voice and centers around one year that brings her life and career into focus: 1973.

Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff (“I’ll Be Gone in the Dark”) the doc promises to shed new light on King’s life and her transformative impact on sports and society.

“The legacy of Billie Jean King is like none other,” says Garbus. “She is a generational athletic talent, a pioneer in women’s sports, and a leader in the fight for equal pay and against discrimination in sports and society.

Here’s a first look at the emotional trailer for Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. The film is a moving and vivid cinematic telling of Reeve’s remarkable story.

Only in Theaters September 21 and September 25. Tickets are available:

https://www.fathomevents.com/events/super-man-the-christopher-reeve-story

The story of Christopher Reeve is an astonishing rise from unknown actor to iconic movie star, and his definitive portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman set the benchmark for the superhero cinematic universes that dominate cinema today. Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor, before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate...

Warner Bros. Pictures has shared the official trailer for Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. The film will be presented by Warner Bros. Pictures and Fathom Events in select theaters on September 21, followed by an encore presentation on September 25, Christopher Reeve’s birthday.

The story of Christopher Reeve is an astonishing rise from an unknown actor to an iconic movie star. His definitive portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman set the benchmark for the superhero cinematic universes that dominate cinema today.

Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for...

Nine years after “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” won the Emmy for Best Documentary Series, its previously unplanned second season is up for the same award. Unlike last time when it stood out as the only crime series in its lineup, it is now joined in that regard by both “Telemarketers” and “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.”

Unlike most Primetime Emmys, Best Documentary Series is a non-competitive area award that is bestowed upon any nominee that earns the approval of 90% of the members of the TV academy’s documentary peer group. This means that the five programs in the 2024 lineup are not vying for a single trophy and could all potentially prevail. However, if no nominees hit said 90% threshold, only the highest-rated one will win.

In order to determine which of this year’s nominees has the best shot at being approved for victory,...

Wanting to even deeper into sports stories than TV broadcasts are able? The best sports documentaries have you covered, giving cinematic sweep and depth to athletes and their stories (both in the arena and out). Whether it’s football movies or movies about combat sports or sports movies for those who don’t like sports there’s some inherent alignment between athletic competition and film and TV storytelling. Documentary filmmakers have been able to look beyond the kineticism (or capture it even more dynamically) to present stories that look at the psychology and the struggles of athletes, and the cultural significance of their careers. Here are the 17 best sports documentaries ever made.

With editorial contributions from Brandon Latham.

Ken Burns’ “Baseball” (1994) Ken Burns with Ted Williams when producing ‘Baseball’Courtesy Everett Collection

Ken Burns has a weird tendency to turn over his entire documentary to one particular talking head, whose...

It’s really starting to sound like that secret, nine-hour, six-part documentary on Prince isn’t happening after all.

Wait, since when is there a secret, nine-hour, six-part documentary on Prince and why am I just hearing about this only to be immensely disappointed? Why the fuck would you show me something if I couldn’t have it? Our questions exactly.

As it turns out, Ezra Edelman, the director of the Oscar-winning “O.J.: Made in America,” has been quietly working on an epic documentary project about Prince for the last four years for Netflix. The project has never been formally announced, but Variety way back in 2018 reported something was happening on the late music icon. Ava DuVernay was even originally attached to direct.

But now it seems to be falling apart at the one-yard line, even after some insiders have already screened the film. As Puck first reported earlier this week,...

Friday, June 17, 1994 was a monumental day for professional sports in America. For the most part, fans and media knew this when they woke up. The highlights:

Arnold Palmer — the most beloved golfer on the planet; a charismatic force of nature who commanded "Arnie's Army" and popularized the sport amongst working class people — was, barring a furious comeback from a 64-year-old man, set to close out his final round at the U.S. Open in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. In Chicago, the 1994 FIFA World Cup commencement ceremony was taking place, and was doubly significant for marking the first time the prestigious soccer tournament would be held in the United States. 500 miles southwest of the Windy City, baseball fans were keeping an eye on the Seattle Mariners tilt with the Kansas City Royals, wherein phenom Ken Griffey Jr. could potentially tie Babe Ruth's MLB record for most home runs before June 30 (of note...

In the upcoming Lifetime docuseries “The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson,” audiences will get to hear from O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole, who was found murdered alongside Ronald Goldman in 1994 outside her Brentwood condominium, in ways most viewers have not before. Most of the nation associates her voice with the 911 call she made in October of 1993 to tell a dispatcher that Simpson had broken into her home. In “The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson,” however, audiences will hear Nicole speaking to her children Sydney and Justin, her father, Lou Brown, as well as friends including Kris Jenner.

The two-part series, which begins airing on June 1, comes just months after O.J. Simpson’s death due to metastatic prostate cancer and 30 years after Nicole and Ron Goldman’s murder on June 12, 1994.

The docu features 50 participants, including Nicole’s three sisters — Denise, Dominique and Tanya Brown — as well...

Exclusive: ESPN Films has acquired the documentary Motorcycle Mary ahead of its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 7.

The 22-minute film by Haley Watson – her directorial debut – tells the story of Mary McGee, known as Motorcycle Mary, a legend in the world of motorsports who became the first woman to compete in road races and motocross competitions in the U.S. The documentary is executive produced by Formula One great Lewis Hamilton and two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot. Rachel Greenwald produced the film. Watch the trailer below.

Motorcycle Mary will feature “stunning never-before-seen archival footage and photographs from McGee’s life,” according to a release. McGee first hopped aboard a 200 cc Triumph Tiger Cub in the 1950s, later trading that in for a Honda C110. She was off and gunning from there.

“Born...

The North Road Company has hired Netflix and HBO vet Rochelle Gerson as head of business affairs.

She will oversee the strategy and execution of all content deals across North Road’s portfolio of production companies. She will also provide counsel to North Road’s executive team, including Amy Israel, Jenno Topping, Jan Frouman, Chris Coelen, Connor Schell, and Darian Singer, and report to CEO David Nevins.

Gerson spent nearly five years with Netflix, where she led a team of more than 40 staffers as VP of Original Series, overseeing business and legal services for more than $1 billion worth of programming. Previously, Gerson spent more than a decade with HBO, rising to SVP of Business Affairs and overseeing a broad range of licensing, acquisition, co-production, and talent deals. Previous posts included EVP of Business Affairs for the Carsey Werner Company and roles with the Walt Disney Co. and NBC.

Launched by...

One of America's strangest celebrity sagas came to an abrupt, anticlimactic close when O.J. Simpson died at the age of 76 on April 10, 2024. The Heisman Trophy-winning running back from the University of Southern California became a professional football phenomenon during his 11-season tenure with the Buffalo Bills. He was blindingly handsome and charismatic, as comfortable in front of a camera as he was breaking tackles on the gridiron. Unlike Jim Brown, Simpson chose to keep playing football when he embarked on his acting career; and though Simpson was typically cast in supporting roles, they were often high-profile productions (namely the Best Picture-nominated "The Towering Inferno" and the Emmy-winning miniseries "Roots").

When Simpson retired, he continued to act while staying close to football as an on-field reporter for NBC. You never knew where The Juice was going to turn up, but you were never unhappy to see him. This was especially true...

As you've likely heard by now, O.J. Simpson has passed away at the age of 76.

One of the most famous -- and infamous -- Americans of the modern era, Simpson was known for many things:

He was, of course, a world-class athlete, a standout at running back for the NFL's Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers.

Later in life, he would become the center of the most high-profile murder trial of the 20th century,

And though he beat the charges under dubious circumstances, the lingering suspicion that Simpson murdered his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, would make him a pariah in the upper-crust social circles that had served as his comfortable domain for so many years.

But before O.J. ever earned a dime from professional football -- before he was arrested for murder and before he served nine years in prison on unrelated robbery and...

O.J. Simpson died April 10. But the media age ushered in by his presence, his saga and his white Bronco, remains very much with us.

An all-time great NFL running back-turned-actor, Simpson was a minor celebrity and part of a circle of fame-adjacent Los Angeles hangers-on in the 1990s. The killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, on June 12, 1994, converted Simpson instantly into an object of national obsession; five days later, Simpson failed to turn himself in after the Los Angeles Police Department ordered him to surrender on charges of first-degree murder, and engaged the LAPD in a low-speed car chase.

The details of this have been chewed over, including by the recent double dose of O.J. stories — FX’s series “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story” and Ezra Edelman’s documentary “O.J.: Made in America,” both released in 2016 — and yet they still boggle the mind.

If you were alive in the 1990s, you couldn’t escape the vortex of attention around the Oj Simpson murder trial. In a mostly pre-internet age, the case received wall-to-wall attention on television. In the decades that followed, media companies revisited the case with some phenomenal results.

American Crime Story February 2, 2016

The first season of this anthology series dramatizes the trial with an all-star cast: Cuba Gooding Jr., Sterling K. Brown, Nathan Lane, Sarah Paulson, David Schwimmer, John Travolta, and Courtney B. Vance. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series, and Vance, Paulson, and Brown won Emmys for acting in the series.

Live 6 FX directv.com/stream 5-Day Trial Directv Stream Entertainment $79.99 / month sling.com Get 50% Off Sling TV Sling Blue $40 / month Show More hulu.com Sign Up Hulu Live TV $76.99 / month fubo.tv 7-Day Trial Fubo Pro $91.99 / month xfinity.com 30-Day Trial Xfinity Instant TV $33 / month tv.youtube.com...

O.J. Simpson, one of the most controversial figures of our time, is dead. His family broke the news on X, writing, “On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace.”

If you grew up in the 1990s, you likely remember where you were on June 17th during the infamous Bronco Chase, where Simpson became the subject of perhaps the lowest-speed police chase of all time. I was twelve years old and riveted. Even now, twenty years after the fact, the O.J. Simpson trial, which was dubbed by media as the “Trial of the Century,” is infamous, as in the belief of many, O.J. Simpson, a former football legend turned movie star, got away with murder.

The trial was a hotbed of controversy,...

Lakeith Stanfield, the Oscar-nominated star of “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Atlanta,” has joined Raoul Peck’s “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found.” The upcoming documentary chronicles the life and work of Ernest Cole, one of the first Black freelance photographers in South Africa, whose early pictures showed Black life under apartheid. They were images that shocked the world.

Stanfield will be the voice of Cole, helping to bring his words to life on screen. Magnolia acquired North American rights from Mk2 Films and is planning a theatrical release for later this year. Peck is an acclaimed filmmaker. His credits include “I Am Not Your Negro,” an Oscar-nominated look at writer and activist James Baldwin, and the HBO documentary miniseries, “Exterminate All the Brutes,” which received a Peabody Award. Magnolia released “I Am Not Your Negro.” Stanfield’s other credits include “Get Out,” “Knives Out” and “Haunted Mansion.”

Cole fled...

The 1997 race for the Heisman Trophy will be explored in an installment of the 14th season of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series.

Titled “The Great Heisman Race of 1997,” the ESPN Films docu will debut on Dec. 9 on ESPN immediately following the broadcast of the Heisman Trophy Ceremony, which will air on the network.

The doc will focus on the race between Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson. Manning stunned the sports world in 1997 by deciding to return for his senior season at the University of Tennessee and spurning the NFL, making him the Heisman front-runner as he set his sights on an SEC Championship. But while Manning was the preseason favorite, other candidates arrived during the season including Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf, Marshall University’s wide receiver Randy Moss and Woodson (University of Michigan). The docu, directed by Gentry Kirby, will use archival footage to examine and unpack the race for the hallowed honor.

Former O.J. prosecutor Christopher Darden has received the backing of retired Judge Lance Ito in his run for a seat on the L.A. County Superior Court, Darden’s campaign announced today.

Darden and Ito are well known for their roles in the televised 1994 O.J. Simpson murder trial, but they have a longer history. Previously, Darden and Ito worked together as prosecutors in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in what was then known as the Hardcore Gang Division.

Darden, 67, has been an attorney for more than 40 years, and worked as a county prosecutor for 15 years. He is best known for serving as a lead prosecutor in the Simpson case, which was presided over by Ito.

That case was not only a mainstay of ’90s news programming, it was also fodder for a pair of award-winning 2016 screen projects: the Oscar-winning documentary O.J.: Made In America, in which Darden declined to participate,...

It’s a sweep! The Critics Choice Association revealed the winners for its 8th annual documentary awards on Sunday, November 12, 2023, and one film claimed all five of the awards it was nominated for. Though it trailed “American Symphony” in bids going into the night, “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” prevailed as the night’s biggest winner, taking home prizes in all five of its categories, including Best Documentary. The film’s other wins went to Davis Guggenheim in Best Director, Michael Harte in Best Editing, and in Best Narration and Best Biographical Documentary.

“American Symphony,” the nomination leader with six, took home two prizes: Jon Batiste won Best Score and the film was named Best Music Documentary. The other two-time winners were “20 Days in Mariupol,” Best First Documentary Feature and Best Political Documentary, and “The Deepest Breath,” Best Cinematography and Best Sports Documentary.

If, like us, you’re...

Davis Guggenheim’s “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” which chronicled the actor’s life, career and battle with Parkinson’s disease, was named the best nonfiction film of 2023 at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, which took place on Sunday night in New York City.

The Apple TV+ film won five awards overall, also including best director for Guggenheim, best narration for Fox, best biographical documentary and best editing.

Journalist Mstyslav Chernov Chernov won the award for Best First Documentary for “20 Days in Mariupol.”

Other winners included “Being Mary Tyler Moore” (Best Archival Documentary), “The Deepest Breath” (Best Sports Documentary), “20 Days in Mariupol” (Best Political Documentary), “American Symphony” (Best Music Documentary), “Secrets of the Elephants” (Best Science/Nature Documentary) and “JFK: One Day in America” (Best Historical Documentary).

Jon Batiste won for the music in “American Symphony,” and Tim Cragg won for the cinematography of “The Deepest Breath.

Netflix will release a docuseries about the U.S. Women’s World Cup team, titled “Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team,” in December.

The four-episode series lands on Netflix Dec. 12 and showcases the U.S. Women’s National Team’s 2023 World Cup journey. The series is a co-production with Time Studios, Words + Pictures, and Togethxr in association with FIFA.

According to the series logline “The all-access sports series will allow audiences to intimately follow the US Women’s National Team’s players and coaches and reveal an inside look at the most decorated team in soccer history. Viewers will get a first-hand look at the pressure, the euphoria, the joy, and the hardships that these world-class athletes experience as they strive to capture their third World Cup title in a row. Issues ranging from injury, criticism and doubt, equal pay, and upholding legacies are all...

For the 10th year in a row, the Scad Savannah Film Festival, the 26th edition of which ran from Oct. 21 through Oct. 28, was the place to be for documentary filmmakers and documentary lovers — specifically on Oct. 25, when The Hollywood Reporter presented and your humble correspondent hosted the fest’s Docs to Watch panel that brings together the directors of up to 10 of the year’s finest documentary features.

Over the past nine years, 45 films were nominated for the best documentary feature Oscar, 19 of which were first highlighted as Docs to Watch. And in seven of those nine years, one of the Docs to Watch went on to win the best documentary feature Oscar: 2015’s Amy, 2016’s O.J.: Made in America, 2017’s Icarus, 2018’s Free Solo, 2019’s American Factory, 2021’s Summer of Soul and 2022’s Navalny. (The other two eventual winners — 2014’s Citizenfour and 2020’s My Octopus Teacher — were not screened...

The Critics Choice Association just unveiled the nominees for its 8th annual documentary awards. Topping the list is “American Symphony” with six bids, including Best Documentary, Best Director for Matthew Heineman, and notices in Cinematography, Editing, and Music Documentary. Heineman is the Oscar nominated director of “Cartel Land” from 2015. The sixth nomination for “American Symphony” is for Best Score thanks to 2022’s Grammy Award recipient for Album of the Year, Jon Batiste. You may recognize another Aoty winner in the Ccda’s lineup — Taylor Swift‘s record breaking concert movie “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is also nominated for Music Documentary.

Just behind “American Symphony” are three films that received five nominations each: “20 Days in Mariupol” from Mstyslav Chernov, “Kokomo City” from D. Smith, and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” from Davis Guggenheim, who is also nominated for Director. The other directors that were heralded for their films...

Thirteen-year-old Doc NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, has revealed its influential 15-film Short List. The festival will run its main lineup of 114 features and 129 short films in-person November 8-16 in New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theatre and Village East by Angelika and continue online until November 26 with films available to viewers across the U.S. All the films will have theatrical screenings at the festival, often with the directors in person.

Historically, most of the Doc NYC shortlist titles overlap with the Academy’s official 15-film Oscar Shortlist. With the notable exception of Netflix’s Oscar-winning “My Octopus Teacher,” for 11 years the festival has screened the documentary that went on to win the Academy Award, including “Navalny,” “Summer of Soul,” “American Factory,” “Free Solo,” “Icarus,” “O.J.: Made in America,” “Amy,” “Citizenfour,” “20 Feet From Stardom,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” and “Undefeated.” The festival has also screened 49 of the last 55 Oscar-nominated documentary features.

Netflix’s “American Symphony,” which follows Grammy and Oscar winner Jon Batiste as he prepares for his performance at Carnegie Hall, leads the 2023 Critics Choice Documentary Award nominations with six, including best documentary feature and directing for Matthew Heineman. PBS’ “20 Days in Mariupol,” Magnolia Pictures’ “Kokomo City” and Apple Original Films’ “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” are tied for second with five nominations apiece. Each were also were nominated in the top category.

Other nominees for documentary feature include Roadside Attraction’s “Beyond Utopia,” MTV Documentary Films’ “The Eternal Memory,” Amazon’s “Judy Blume Forever,” National Geographic’s “The Mission” and Netflix’s “The Deepest Breath” and “Stamped from the Beginning.”

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.

Now in its eighth year, the Critics Choice Documentary Awards have previously given the top prize to Oscar winners “O.J.: Made in America” (2016) and...

A multi-episode docuseries following the United States Women’s National Team’s World Cup journey will premiere globally on Netflix this fall.

The series will highlight players and coaches of the Uswnt, giving an inside look at the most-decorated team in soccer history. Themes include the pressure athletes face, the euphoria of success, the joy, hardships and more of the sport. The doc will also cover issues like equal pay, motherhood, LGBTQ+ rights, racial diversity and family.

The narrative will trace the preparation — both individual and group — for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, paying homage to the players that came before those currently on the roster.

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Veteran champions like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapino, who recently announced her retirement from the sport at the end of the year, as well as rising stars like 18-year-old...

The U.S. Women’s Soccer team’s journey to a possible third World Cup title will be documented in a multi-episode docuseries set to launch globally on the streaming network this fall. The series is currently in production in New Zealand and Australia following the team as they compete for the 2023 World Cup.

A co-production with Time Studios, Words + Pictures and Togethxr, “the sports series will allow audiences to intimately follow the US Women’s National Team’s players and coaches and reveal an inside look at the most decorated team in soccer history. Viewers will get a first-hand look at the pressure, the euphoria, the joy, and the hardships that these world-class athletes experience as they strive to capture their third World Cup title in a row. Issues ranging from racial diversity, LGBTQ+ rights, equal pay, family, and motherhood are all brought to light as the narrative unfolds,...

Six months after stepping down as chairman and CEO of Paramount Premium Group and chief creative officer of Paramount+ Scripted Series at the end of last year, David Nevins has been named CEO of The North Road Company.

Peter Chernin, who launched the global content studio in July 2022, announced on Thursday that Nevins will, effective immediately, oversee the studio’s expanding portfolio as Chernin continues in his role as executive chairman. Nevins will work closely with North Road’s executive team including Jenno Topping, Jan Frouman, Chris Coelen, Connor Schell and Darian Singer.

“Under any measurement as a creative company, with multiple genres and multiple territories with multiple partners, David is one of the highest-quality executives,” Chernin told TheWrap of the hire. “I’m thrilled that he decided to leave Showtime and Paramount and join up with North Road.”

Since launching just under a year ago, North Road has purchased Karga Seven Pictures,...

Exclusive: HBO and Words + Pictures have launched production on a documentary about Barry Bonds, one of baseball’s greatest players – and one of the most polarizing figures in all professional sport.

The untitled Bonds film is being directed by Keith McQuirter (By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem) and executive produced by Oscar winner Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made in America) and Connor Schell and Libby Geist, creators of the Emmy-winning series 30 for 30 and EPs of the megahit docuseries The Last Dance.

“The untitled HBO Sports Documentary will tell the story of Barry Bonds, baseball’s single-season and all-time home run king, from his beginnings as the son of All-Star Bobby Bonds, and godson of the iconic Willie Mays, all the way up to his meteoric rise in the 1990s and 2000s,” notes a release about the project. “Using archival footage and original interviews, the film will...

Film is currently in production, with first-ever access to the Reeve Estate’s archives.

Searching For Sugarman producers Passion Pictures are in production on a feature documentary about Superman star Christopher Reeve, directed by McQueen filmmakers Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui.

The film will chart Reeve’s rise to becoming a film star, including his portrayal of Superman; and his life following his near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Following the accident, Reeve became an activist for spinal cord injury treatments and disability rights.

Passion Pictures and Misfits Entertainment, producers of McQueen, are producing the title.

The North Road Company, the content studio founded by Peter Chernin, has acquired an unspecified minority stake in Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. The deal includes a multi-year agreement for development, production, and sale of unscripted and scripted content.

The Chernin Group investment firm, co-founded by Chernin, will become Omaha Productions strategic partner to expand into media-adjacent consumer businesses.

The first project under the new partnership is The King of Collectibles, a multi-part documentary series that premiered on Netflix in April and became a top-10 rated show on the platform. It follows memorabilia dealer Ken Goldin and his team at Goldin Auctions. Executive producers include Omaha Productions and North Road’s Words + Pictures. Chernin Group is also an investor in Goldin Auctions.

Omaha Productions and North Road’s Words + Pictures are currently developing a full-length documentary with Amazon Prime Video about Eric Reed, the trainer of the horse Rich Strike,...

Magnolia Pictures and MK2 Films have acquired rights to Raoul Peck’s documentary about renowned photographer Ernest Cole.

The untitled documentary chronicles the life and work of Cole, the first Black freelance photographer in South Africa, whose early work revealed to the world the shocking, brutal realities of Black life under apartheid. Magnolia will release the film in North American theaters, while MK2 will handle the rollout internationally.

“Ernest Cole’s long and, at times, painful and tedious journey in America brings me back to a period of my life when my political commitment and artistic stamina were forged,” Peck said in a statement. “I profoundly feel, cherish and treasure his human eye on the facts of life and his piercing acuity over our terrible contradictions.”

The sale marks a reunion for Magnolia and Peck after 2016’s James Baldwin documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” which became a modest box office hit with $8 million globally.

How long does a documentary need to be? Frederick Wiseman frequently goes long, and Oscar-winning “Oj: Made in America” ran nearly eight hours. Lately, with “Bill Russell: Legend” and “Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker,” streamers have embraced the “two-part documentary” — a fancy term for what used to be called a miniseries. So, while there are no limits on how much longer docs can get, it’s refreshing to see a compelling subject covered in 40 minutes or less, and doubly rewarding to realize that four of the five packaged in ShortsTV’s “2023 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary” found audiences on their own merits, even without theatrical distribution.

The only one you can’t see for free is Jay Rosenblatt’s charming “How Do You Measure a Year?,” a 29-minute assembly of home-movie footage. Every year, Rosenblatt sat his daughter Ella down on her birthday and peppered her with questions,...

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” seemed like a lock to win Best Documentary. The political exposé on artist Nan Goldin and the fall of a pharmaceutical empire was cleaning up among critics’ groups throughout awards season – including New York, Los Angeles, and Florida – as well as being named one of the top-five docs of the year by the National Board of Review.

But as we head toward the Oscars ceremony on March 12, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” feels more vulnerable than ever despite a comfortable lead in the Gold Derby combined odds. After missing a nomination at the Producers Guild Awards, director Laura Poitras lost to “Fire of Love” filmmaker Sara Dosa at the Directors Guild Awards. Then on Sunday at the BAFTA Awards, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” lost Best Documentary to “Navalny.”

Let’s start with the PGA Awards, which take place this weekend. The...

“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” has coasted through the season as the Oscar front-runner for Best Documentary Feature, so it makes sense that it’s also out front in our forecasts for the Directors Guild Award. But the guild doesn’t always agree with the Oscars when it comes to documentaries, and the Expert journalists we’ve surveyed from major media outlets are split between all five of the nominees.

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Laura Poitras is the director of “Bloodshed,” which explores the life and career of Nan Goldin, a photographer and activist who fought to hold Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family responsible for the opioid crisis across the United States. Poitras won the last time she was nominated at the DGA Awards, for “Citizenfour” (2014), and by winning again she would join a...

The Qatar Investment Authority has joined Providence Equity Partners and Apollo as a major investor in The North Road Company, the global, multi-genre studio launched last year by Peter Chernin.

The $150 million from Qia will support the firm’s ongoing expansion, building on launch funds that included up to $500 million from Providence and $300 million in debt financing from Apollo to grow North Road, whose companies include Chernin Entertainment; Words + Pictures, founded by the creators of 30 for 30, The Last Dance, and O.J.: Made in America; Kinetic Content; Left Right Productions; and 44 Blue.

A London-based international division focuses on global acquisitions and co-productions.

“Qia’s investment enables North Road to capitalize even further on the growing demand for premium, independent content. Building on the support from Providence Equity,...

The North Road Co., the global production studio roll-up formed by Peter Chernin last year, has received an 150 million investment from Qatar Investment Authority (Qia), the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

The funding builds on the capital North Road secured at launch, which includes up to 500 million from longtime Chernin partner Providence Equity Partners and 300 million in debt financing from Apollo.

“Qia’s investment enables North Road to capitalize even further on the growing demand for premium, independent content,” Chernin, who serves as North Road’s CEO, said in a statement. Mohammed Al-Sowaidi, Qia’s chief investment officer of Americas, commented, “This investment underpins our strategy to invest in innovative media and technology companies around the world and advances our long-term partnership with the Chernin Group.”

North Road consolidated Chernin Entertainment, the film and TV studio whose credits include the “Planet of the Apes” trilogy, “Ford v Ferrari,” “Hidden Figures” and “New Girl,...

The Sundance Film Festival has rich history when it comes to documentary — and sports documentaries, in particular. Hoop Dreams, one of the greatest documentaries ever, made its premiere at Sundance ’94, while When We Were Kings (’96), Murderball (’05), O.J.: Made in America (’16) and Icarus (’17) all debuted at the fest.

One of the splashy late additions to the Sundance 2023 was Stephen Curry: Underrated, a documentary from director Peter Nicks (The Waiting Room) and producers Ryan Coogler (Black Panther) and Erick Peyton billing itself as “an intimate look at NBA superstar Stephen Curry’s...