National Board of Review

2013 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries Winner20 Feet from StardomBackup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.AmazonAfter TillerAfter the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas in 2009, there are a limited number of doctors left in the country who provide third-trimester abortions for women. AFTER TILLER moves...AmazonCasting ByThe surprising, never-before-told tale of the indispensable yet unsung Casting Director - Iconoclasts whose keen eye, exquisite taste and gut instincts redefined Hollywood.AmazonStories We TellA film that excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a f...

2012 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries WinnerAi Weiwei: Never SorryA documentary that chronicles artist and activist Ai Weiwei as he prepares for a series of exhibitions and gets into an increasing number of clashes with the Chinese government.AmazonDetropiaA documentary on the city of Detroit and its woes, which are emblematic of the collapse of the U.S. manufacturing base.AmazonOnly the YoungA documentary on three teenagers living in a small desert town in Southern California.AmazonSearching for Sugar ManMalik BendjelloulTwo South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock n roller, Rodriguez.AmazonThe GatekeepersA documentary featuring interviews with all surviving former heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency ...

2011 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries WinnerBorn to Be WildThis heartwarming film documents orphaned orangutans and elephants and the extraordinary people who rescue and raise them-saving endangered species one life at a time.AmazonBuckAn examination of the life of acclaimed 'horse whisperer' Buck Brannaman, who recovered from years of child abuse to become a well-known expert in the interactions between horses and people.AmazonGeorge Harrison: Living in the Material WorldFilmmaker Martin Scorsese examines the life of musician George Harrison, weaving together interviews, concert footage, home movies and photographs.AmazonParadise Lost 3: PurgatoryJoe BerlingerA further followup of the case of the West Memphis Three and the decades long fight to exonerate them that finally gain...

2009 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries WinnerBurma VJ: Reporting from a Closed CountryUsing smuggled footage, this documentary tells the story of the 2007 protests in Burma by thousands of monks.AmazonCrudeJoe BerlingerThe story of lawsuit by tens of thousands of Ecuadorans against Chevron over contamination of the Ecuadorean Amazon.AmazonFood, Inc.An unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.AmazonGood HairChris Rock explores the wonders of African-American hairstyles.AmazonThe CoveUsing state-of-the-art equipment, a group of activists, led by renowned dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, infiltrate a cove near Taijii, Japan to expose both a shocking instance of animal abuse and a serious threat to human health.AmazonThe Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel...

2008 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries WinnerAmerican TeenA documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.AmazonDear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His FatherA filmmaker decides to memorialize a murdered friend when his friend's ex-girlfriend announces she is expecting his son.AmazonEncounters at the End of the WorldFilm-maker Werner Herzog travels to the McMurdo Station in Antarctica, looking to capture the continent's beauty and investigate the characters living there.AmazonMan on WireA look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century".AmazonRoman Polanski: Wanted and Des...

2007 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries WinnerBody of WarThe story of an injured American veteran returning home from the war Iraq is set against the backdrop of a critical indictment of the government's handling of the U.S.-led invasion.AmazonDarfur NowAn examination of the genocide in Sudan's western region of Darfur.AmazonIn the Shadow of the MoonThe crew members of NASA's Apollo missions tell their story in their own words.AmazonNankingThrough readings of historical account by actors and the testimony of survivors, the events of the Nanjing Massacre are recounted.AmazonTaxi to the Dark SideAlex Gibney exposes the haunting details of the USA's torture and interrogation practices during the War in Afghanistan.AmazonTootsThe '40s and '50s were a classic period in New York City n...

2006 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries Winner51 Birch StreetDocumentary filmmaker Doug Block had every reason to believe his parents' 54-year marriage was a good one. But when his mother dies unexpectedly and his father swiftly marries his former ...AmazonAn Inconvenient TruthFilmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.AmazonAn Inconvenient TruthFilmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive ef...

2005 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries WinnerBallets RussesBallets Russes is an intimate portrait of a group of pioneering artists -- now in their 70s, 80s and 90s -- who gave birth to modern ballet.AmazonGrizzly ManA devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.AmazonMad Hot BallroomThe students of several New York City elementary schools learn ballroom dancing and compete in a city wide dance competition.AmazonMarch of the PenguinsIn the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family.AmazonMarch of the PenguinsIn the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begi...

2004 National Board of Review - Top Documentaries WinnerBorn Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light KidsTwo documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district.AmazonBorn Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light KidsTwo documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district.AmazonPaper ClipsJoe FabAs a part of their study of the Holocaust, the children of the Whitwell, TN Middle School try to collect 6 million paper clips representing the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, and grows to include millions of others killed.AmazonSuper Size MeWhile ex...