Best German documentary movies
Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch documentary films from Germany, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!
Lewis Capaldi: How I'm Feeling Now (2023)
Lewis Capaldi: How I'm Feeling Now (2023)
An intimate, all-access documentary that will chronicle Lewis Capaldi's journey from a scrappy teen with a viral performance to a Grammy-nominated pop star.
Rammstein in Amerika (2015)
Rammstein in Amerika (2015)
The concert film celebrates the band’s legendary show in New York’s Madison Square Garden – Rammstein’s return to the US after a ten-year absence. In HD and 5.1 surround sound. For the documentary, Rammstein provided extensive, previously unreleased footage and photos from the band archive. In numerous interviews from various periods in the band’s history, the band members speak about their experiences across the Atlantic.
Collective (2019)
Collective (2019)
In the aftermath of a tragic fire in a Romanian club, burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life threatening. A team of investigative journalists move into action uncovering the mass corruption of the health system and of the state institutions. Collective follows journalists, whistle blowers, and authorities alike. An immersive and uncompromising look into a dysfunctional system, exposing corruption, propaganda, and manipulation that nowadays affect not only Romania, but societies around the world.
Triumph of the Will (1935)
Triumph of the Will (1935)
A showcase of German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.
Rammstein: Paris (2017)
Rammstein: Paris (2017)
During the “Made in Germany” tour, Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund filmed two acclaimed Rammstein concerts in March 2012 – each for an audience of 17,000 at the Bercy Arena in Paris. In the resulting film (with 16 songs from the entire repertoire),
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020)
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020)
This remarkable journey across our planet and universe explores how meteorites, shooting stars, and deep impacts have awoken our wonder about other realms—and make us rethink our destinies.
Pina (2011)
Pina (2011)
Pina is a feature-length dance film in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, featuring the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer, who died in the summer of 2009.
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010)
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010)
In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions.
Under the Sun (2015)
Under the Sun (2015)
Over the course of one year, this film follows the life of an ordinary Pyongyang family whose daughter was chosen to take part in Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong-il's birthday) celebration. While North Korean government wanted a propaganda film, the director kept on filming between the scripted scenes. The ritualized explosions of color and joy contrast sharply with pale everyday reality, which is not particularly terrible, but rather quite surreal.
Cyberbunker: The Criminal Underworld (2023)
Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis (2022)
Lessons of Darkness (1992)
Lessons of Darkness (1992)
Shortly after the Gulf War, oil fires were raging all through Kuwait. In the week before this sea of fire would be extinguished, Werner Herzog filmed this apocalyptic landscape with its murky skies, scorched earth and capricious flames.
My Best Fiend (1999)
My Best Fiend (1999)
A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.
B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 (2015)
B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 (2015)
The wild West Berlin of the 1980s became the creative melting pot of pop subcultures: music, art and chaos. Before the Iron Curtain fell, anything and everything seemed possible.
Democracy - Im Rausch der Daten (2015)
Democracy - Im Rausch der Daten (2015)
Digitalization has changed society. While data is becoming the "new oil", data protection is becoming the new "pollution control". This creative documentary opens an astonishing inside view into the lawmaking milieu on EU level. A compelling story of how a group of politicians try to protect todays society against the impact of Big Data and mass surveillance.
Four Daughters (2023)
Four Daughters (2023)
Between light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. To fill in their absence, the filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses and invents a unique cinema experience that will lift the veil on Olfa and her daughters' life stories. An intimate journey of hope, rebellion, violence, transmission and sisterhood that will question the very foundations of our societies.
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (2005)
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (2005)
German musician Alexander Hacke explores Istanbul's rich music culture and attempts to create a portrait of Turkey through music genres. On this journey, he encounters a mosaic that covers countless genres from rock to arabesque, electronic to hip-hop.
Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (2018)
Olympia: Part One – Festival of the Nations (1938)
Olympia: Part One – Festival of the Nations (1938)
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.
The Sorrow and the Pity (1971)
The Sorrow and the Pity (1971)
An investigation into the nature, details and reasons for the collaboration between France’s Vichy government and Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1944.
Rammstein - Live aus Berlin (1999)
Rammstein - Live aus Berlin (1999)
The Rammstein - Live aus Berlin DVD is a compilation of two live concerts filmed at Berlin's open-air Parkbühne ("park stage") Wuhlheide in August 1998. The DVD offers 17 of the band's songs, most of which are found on the two CD albums "Sehnsucht" and "Herzeleid." The show itself is a very entertaining performance with plenty of the usual stunts, pyrotechnics, and lighting effects you'd expect from an industrial metal band.
Dream Boat (2017)
Dream Boat (2017)
A cruise ship and 3,000 men – it is a universe without heteros and women that usually remains a mystery to the outside world. Once a year the Dream Boat sets sail for a cruise exclusively for gay men where most passengers are united by the wish to live life authentically as themselves in a protected place.
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
Deep Blue (2003)
Deep Blue (2003)
Deep Blue is a major documentary feature film shot by the BBC Natural History Unit. An epic cinematic rollercoaster ride for all ages, Deep Blue uses amazing footage to tell us the story of our oceans and the life they support.
Klitschko (2011)
Klitschko (2011)
Klitschko tells the captivating story of the boxing worlds most famous brothers: Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. From the socialist drill of their childhood in the Ukraine, and their first successes as amateurs, to their move to Germany and subsequent rise as international stars on the verge of holding the championship titles of all five boxing federations (Wladimir secured this with his unanimous World Boxing Association win against David Haye on July 2nd, 2011). Along the way they experience defeats and setbacks, low points and triumphant comebacks as well as conflicts with each other. Exciting conversations with companions and opponents, including the very first with the Klitschkos parents, give insight into their personal lives, plus never-before-seen footage of the draining preparations for a fight, and the spectacular boxing matches. Director Sebastian Dehnhardt composes an intimate and fascinating portrait of two exceptional athletes who are, before all else, brothers.
Nowitzki: The Perfect Shot (2014)
Hitler's Children (2011)
Hitler's Children (2011)
Their family name alone evokes horror: Himmler, Frank, Goering, Hoess. This film looks at the descendants of the most powerful figures in the Nazi regime: men and women who were left a legacy that indelibly associates them with one of the greatest abominations in history. What is it like to have grown up with a name that immediately raises images of genocide? How do they live with the weight of their ancestors' crimes? Is it possible to move on from the crimes of their ancestors?
Lindenberg! Mach dein Ding (2020)
Lindenberg! Mach dein Ding (2020)
Long before his big stage breakthrough in 1973 in Hamburg, and 4.4 million records sold, the rock musician Udo Lindenberg from the Westphalian province, the man with the long hair and the hat, had many adventures. Before it all started, he moved from the remoteness of Gronau to Hamburg, where he met Paula, who was not his great love, but was quite a hottie. When the team of three was complete with Steffi Stephan, the idea of founding a band developed. But the road to get there was a long one: he drummed as a jazz drummer in bands, had a highly dangerous performance in a US military base in the middle of the Libyan desert and always believed in making it to the very top.
