Paramount+
Documentary
Years

Popular Documentary Movies

Letter from Masanjia
Paramount+
Letter from Masanjia
Damascus, Oregon, United States. Julie Keith finds a baffling message hidden in a pack of decorative items, a desperate plea for help, written by someone imprisoned in a Chinese labor camp called Masanjia…
Letter from Masanjia 2019
Destination Paris
Paramount+
Destination Paris
In this new documentary, award-winning soccer journalist and CBS Sports analyst Guillem Balagué brings audiences into the action and biggest stories of the unforgettable 2021-22 UEFA Champions League. On the pitch this season, Barcelona began life without Lionel Messi. Balagué also delves into the responses within football to Russia's full-scale military invasion of neighboring Ukraine and sanctions at Chelsea, carefully bringing the audience into these turbulent stories with exclusive interviews.
Destination Paris 2022
Storefront Hitchcock
Paramount+
Storefront Hitchcock
Live performance by Robyn Hitchcock, in... well, a storefront.
Storefront Hitchcock 1998
Last Song from Kabul
Paramount+
Last Song from Kabul
Immerses us in the devastating reality of Afghanistan after the Taliban occupation: music has been banned. Forced into hiding, a group of young musicians attempt a harrowing escape to Portugal. Will they be able to find their voices again?
Last Song from Kabul 2023
Secrets of the Oligarch Wives
Paramount+
Secrets of the Oligarch Wives
Fresh insights and stunning details about the most dangerous man in the world from the women close to the ultra-wealthy oligarchs who put Vladimir Putin in power. Delivering a rare, female perspective on the oligarch world, this documentary meets the wives and girlfriends who have lived for years, some for decades, inside this inner circle. Putin's once closest allies are now taking a stand...and some are paying the ultimate price.
Secrets of the Oligarch Wives 2022
Top Spin
Paramount+
Top Spin
Three teenagers battle their way through the world of competitive ping pong with their hearts set on the Olympics.
Top Spin 2014
Hollywood My Home Town
Paramount+
Hollywood My Home Town
Ken Murray narrates his 16mm home movies shot over 35 years in Hollywood.
Hollywood My Home Town 1965
Explant
Paramount+
Explant
Over the past six decades, thousands of women across the globe have become sick with an amalgam of mysterious and severe autoimmune disease symptoms. The common denominator in many of their cases? Breast implants. One such woman is beloved singer and media personality, Michelle Visage (RuPaul’s Drag Race) who, here, allows the audience into her journey to find wellbeing via “explant” surgery to remove her implants. Along the way, she introduces us to other women, all experiencing similar but uniquely debilitating indicators that their implants are poisoning them.
Explant 2021
Breaking the Maya Code
Paramount+
Breaking the Maya Code
The complex and beautiful hieroglyphic script of the ancient Maya was until recently one of the last great undeciphered writing systems. Based on the best-selling book by Michael Coe, called by the New York Times "one of the great stories of 20th century scientific discovery", Breaking the Maya Code traces the epic quest to unlock the secrets of the script across 200 years, nine countries and three continents.
Breaking the Maya Code 2008
Beautiful Something Left Behind
Paramount+
Beautiful Something Left Behind
In New Jersey, the Good Grief community focuses on a holistic way of dealing with grief, where children can give in to rage in ‘the volcano room,' and say goodbye to a dying teddy bear patient in ‘the hospital room.' Over the course of a year, we follow the weekly meetings and get close to Kimmy, Nicky, Peter, Nora, Nolan, and Mikayla and their close companion: grief. It is sometimes heartbreaking, but also humorous, to experience the questions about life and death through their open and curious minds. Grief is high and heavy as a mountain, but it helps you understand what has happened, and that death is irreversible.
Beautiful Something Left Behind 2020
Bhutto
Paramount+
Bhutto
BHUTTO is the definitive documentary that chronicles the life of one of the most complex and fascinating characters of our time. Hers is an epic tale of Shakespearean dimension. It’s the story of the first woman in history to lead a Muslim nation: Pakistan. Newsweek called it the most dangerous place in the world, and the home of nuclear war heads and the Taliban.
Bhutto 2010
The Last Buffalo
Paramount+
The Last Buffalo
For thousands of years, the Great Plains were home to countless numbers of American bison, but in the late 1800s, the number of bison dropped from nearly 30 million to just a few hundred in less than 100 years. What happened to place this national icon on the brink of extinction? Join us as we detail the events that led to this mass extermination. Then follow the story of William Temple Hornaday, a chief taxidermist at the Smithsonian Institution who headed west to hunt bison for the museum, but ended up saving the species instead.
The Last Buffalo 2017
Yukon's Wild Grizzlies
Paramount+
Yukon's Wild Grizzlies
Deep in Canada's remote Yukon, a dramatic coming of age story unfolds involving an adolescent grizzly named Sophie. Wildlife filmmaker Phil Timpany has chronicled her all her life. Now he's capturing her first steps into adulthood--and motherhood--and the many challenges threatening both her and her rambunctious cubs. Witness Sophie's journey as she learns the ropes, trying to balance her own needs with feeding and protecting her young. More than half of all grizzly cubs die in their first year, so Sophie has little room for error.
Yukon's Wild Grizzlies 2021
Carrier at War: The USS Enterprise
Paramount+
Carrier at War: The USS Enterprise
Going from 0 to 150 mph in three seconds, withstanding three Gs of force, and taking off from what's often called "the most dangerous place on the planet" are just parts of everyday life for an aircraft carrier pilot-and it's no different for the crew aboard the USS Enterprise. After being stationed in the Middle East for a year, these pilots have seen heavy action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, finally, they're returning home. With amazing personal stories and real-time footage from missions, this is an exciting insider's peek at life onboard a wartime aircraft carrier.
Carrier at War: The USS Enterprise 2007
Bring Your Own Brigade
Paramount+
Bring Your Own Brigade
An investigation into our landscape's hidden fire stories and on-the-ground experiences of firefighters and residents struggling through deadly fires.
Bring Your Own Brigade 2021
Survival Of The Snow Leopard
Paramount+
Survival Of The Snow Leopard
Spend three years in China's remote and inhospitable Tibetan Plateau, home to nearly all the world's snow leopards.
Survival Of The Snow Leopard 2020
America's National Parks at 100
Paramount+
America's National Parks at 100
The National Park Service has been active for over a century preserving and protecting over 400 units across America, from the wild and natural to the man-made and historic. Take a tour through iconic Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon and discover smaller, hidden treasures throughout the country as we explore the agency's evolution over the last century. Through rarely seen footage and stunning aerial views, we celebrate the sites and stories of the national landmarks that reflect our country's past, present, and future.
America's National Parks at 100 2016
Diary of a Sergeant
Paramount+
Diary of a Sergeant
Harold Russell, an American soldier who lost his hands in a training accident, tells the story of his medical rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, how he and his fellow amputees at the hospital at first despaired and then found new hope in the prostheses and training available to amputees through the Army's medical corps. Russell learns to wear and to operate the hooks which replace his hands and becomes competent to perform many tasks he had once thought no longer possible. Discharged from the Army, he is welcomed into Boston College by college president William J. Murphy, S.J.
Diary of a Sergeant 1945
Madagascar: Africa's Galapagos
Paramount+
Madagascar: Africa's Galapagos
This film reveals some of Madagascar's secretive and rarely filmed inhabitants, from the apex predator, the fossa, to the aye aye – possibly the weirdest creature on earth.
Madagascar: Africa's Galapagos 2019
Love, Tom
Paramount+
Love, Tom
Over the course of a single night in Nashville, Oscar, Golden Globe and GRAMMY nominated songwriter Tom Douglas narrates a letter of hope to a desperate world.
Love, Tom 2022
Queen of the Pythons
Paramount+
Queen of the Pythons
She is a 13-foot, 70-pound snake that combines size and strength with a strike faster than the blink of an eye. Meet Squeeze, an eight-year-old African rock python who's capable of hunting in any terrain at any time of day for virtually any prey. As a new mother, her single goal is to incubate her young and keep them from becoming someone else's dinner. Follow her as she discovers that motherhood in the cold-blooded world of the South African savannah is no walk in the park.
Queen of the Pythons 2019
The Crown's Ancient Forest
Paramount+
The Crown's Ancient Forest
In the heart of Southern England lies a royal forest; a wild and magical place of ancient beauty that’s hardly changed since King William the Conqueror proclaimed it as his hunting grounds some 900 years ago. Stretching down from the famous Salisbury Plains to the rocky shores of the English Channel, the New Forest National Park is the largest and richest lowland wilderness in Britain, home to more ancient woods, mossy mires and rich heathlands than any other landscape in Europe.
The Crown's Ancient Forest 2021
Bletchley Park: Code-breaking's Forgotten Genius
Paramount+
Bletchley Park: Code-breaking's Forgotten Genius
Gordon Welchman was one of the original elite codebreakers crucial to the allies defeating the Nazis in World War II. He is the forgotten genius of Bletchley Park.
Bletchley Park: Code-breaking's Forgotten Genius 2015
Shark Girl
Paramount+
Shark Girl
For 20-year-old Madison Stewart, nothing feels safer or more natural than diving straight into shark-infested waters. Since childhood, growing up by the Great Barrier Reef, she's treated these predators as family. But they're vanishing from existence, and because of their bad reputation, few people seem to care. Follow Madison on her mission to protect our sharks, a battle that began when she put her studies on hold, grabbed a camera, and set out to save these incredible, misunderstood creatures.
Shark Girl 2014
The Spy in the Hanoi Hilton
Paramount+
The Spy in the Hanoi Hilton
In 1973, 591 American POWs returned home from the Vietnam War, bringing with them harrowing tales of survival. But there was an even more remarkable -- and secret -- story to tell: a feat of incredible spycraft that remained classified for decades...until now. This is the unbelievable story of James Stockdale and his fellow prisoners at the notorious "Hanoi Hilton." Their clandestine communications with U.S. intelligence alerted the CIA and Pentagon to the horrors of the Vietnamese POW camps and prompted a daring, top-secret rescue mission.
The Spy in the Hanoi Hilton 2015
Art & Krimes by Krimes
Paramount+
Art & Krimes by Krimes
While locked-up for six years in federal prison, artist Jesse Krimes secretly creates monumental works of art—including an astonishing 40-foot mural made with prison bed sheets, hair gel, and newspaper. He smuggles out each panel piece-by-piece with the help of fellow artists, only seeing the mural in totality upon coming home. As Jesse's work captures the art world's attention, he struggles to adjust to life outside, living with the threat that any misstep will trigger a life sentence.
Art & Krimes by Krimes 2022
The Color of Care
Paramount+
The Color of Care
The Color of Care chronicles how people of color suffer from systemically substandard healthcare in the United States, with a pressing focus on how the Covid-19 pandemic shed light on the tragic consequences of that inequity. Oprah’s Harpo Productions and the Smithsonian Channel are teaming up on the timely project, which traces the origins of this systemic inequity to practices that first emerged during slavery in the United States.
The Color of Care 2022
MLK: The Assassination Tapes
Paramount+
MLK: The Assassination Tapes
Relive an unspeakable tragedy detailed with unforgettable images, videos, and recordings only recently rediscovered.
MLK: The Assassination Tapes 2012
Anita
Paramount+
Anita
The story of young, brilliant African-American Anita Hill who accuses the Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of unwanted sexual advances during explosive Senate Hearings in 1991 and ignites a political firestorm about sexual harassment, race, power and politics that resonates today.
Anita 2013
The Funniest Man in the World
Paramount+
The Funniest Man in the World
Documentary about the early career of Charlie Chaplin.
The Funniest Man in the World 1967
War Comes to America
Paramount+
War Comes to America
The seventh and final film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight World War II propaganda film series. This entry attempts to describe the factors leading up to America's entry into the Second World War.
War Comes to America 1945
Battle of Midway: The True Story
Paramount+
Battle of Midway: The True Story
It's June 1942 and the world's fate is about to be decided by a handful of pilots and their untested aircraft. Experience an inside look at the Battle of Midway, captured through rarely seen battle footage and firsthand accounts from its hero dive-bombing pilot, "Dusty" Kleiss. This is an hour-by-hour recount of one of the most pivotal conflicts of the 20th century. Take a closer look at how this desperately needed victory came about through the design of U.S. airplanes, the skill of the pilots, the element of surprise, and a stroke of luck.
Battle of Midway: The True Story 2019
Aerial New Zealand
Paramount+
Aerial New Zealand
Take an epic voyage over the remote island nation of New Zealand, the last habitable landmass to be discovered on the planet. No bigger than the state of Colorado, this small country offers an incredibly diverse landscape view that changes dramatically with each mile. From snow-capped mountains to sandy beaches, and from the glacier-carved Fiordland National Park to the crater lake of Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand is a land of extremes. It's a place where fire clashes with ice and people are always pushing the limits.
Aerial New Zealand 2017
Why We Fight: The Battle of China
Paramount+
Why We Fight: The Battle of China
The sixth film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series illustrates Japan's occupation of China, including Madame Chiang Kai-Shek's stirring address before congress, the rape of Nanking, the great 2,000 mile migration, and Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers.
Why We Fight: The Battle of China 1944
The Hunt for Escobar's Hippos
Paramount+
The Hunt for Escobar's Hippos
Notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s brutal regime ended in a hail of bullets. In Escobar’s infamous reign of terror, he smuggled four hippos into Colombia to join his growing collection of exotic animals at his $63 million estate outside Medellin. Left to fend for themselves in the wake of his death, these extremely dangerous beasts – responsible for more deaths in Africa than lions or crocodiles – broke out. Today, breeding at twice their typical rate and with no natural predators keeping them in check, more than 60 roam the Colombian wilds, wreaking havoc in villages at night and threatening the ecosystem that feeds into the Magdalena River, Colombia’s main watershed.
The Hunt for Escobar's Hippos 2020
Wolverine: One Tough Mother
Paramount+
Wolverine: One Tough Mother
An immersive look into the life of one of the world’s most fabled and iconic species. Set in the wild forests of ‘No-man’s-land.’ Glamorised by Hollywood and villainised by ancestral folklore, the wolverine is both a fabled icon of the Northern Hemisphere and a modern-day superhero. Our heroine of this story, Freya, is a 3-year-old female wolverine – shy and elusive and rarely caught on camera, she inhabits a mysterious and unforgiving world – deep in the rugged wilderness between Russia and Finland. Freya thrives in ‘No-man’s land’ – so named for good reason; it’s a remote and remorseless habitat; no man could survive here
Wolverine: One Tough Mother 2021
Shuttle Discovery's Last Mission
Paramount+
Shuttle Discovery's Last Mission
With more than 27 years of service, the space shuttle Discovery has clocked more time in space than any other shuttle. She has flown more than 148 million miles, and has become one of the most storied spacecraft in American history. Join us as we celebrate her remarkable past and follow her final flight: to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It's an emotionally charged mission full of logistical challenges. Discovery is a robust, but very fragile aircraft, and getting her to D.C. in one piece will require some innovative engineering.
Shuttle Discovery's Last Mission 2013
R.I.P. T-Shirts
Paramount+
R.I.P. T-Shirts
A small custom T-shirt shop in Washington, DC, sees a generation of Black youth experience gun violence.
R.I.P. T-Shirts 2021
A Life Too Short
Paramount+
A Life Too Short
Social media superstar Qandeel Baloch pushed boundaries in conservative Pakistan like no other. In 2016, high on her newfound celebrity, Qandeel exposes a well-known Muslim cleric – with tragic results.
A Life Too Short 2021
Mixtape
Paramount+
Mixtape
Mixtapes have an out-sized role in the emergence of hip hop around the world. Before radio play, the internet, and social media, there were mixtapes. No matter where you lived, you could pop a cassette into a tape deck, and be transported to a party halfway around the world. DJs were taste makers, trendsetters and creators of the sound that became the biggest musical genre on the planet. A meteoric rise for an art form not yet 50 years old. The importance of mixtapes goes well beyond the tapes themselves. Mixtapes were a form of currency. A signifier that you were In-The-Know and had your ear to the streets. A skeleton key to the underground. The culture was too strong to be stopped, and the artists were too talented to be ignored - so they turned the sub-culture into the mainstream, and made hip hop what it is today.
Mixtape 2022