Best Irish documentary movies
Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch documentary films from Ireland, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!
Lord of the Dance (1997)
Lord of the Dance (1997)
Filmed at the Point Theatre in Dublin 'Lord of the Dance' takes Irish dancing to spectacular new heights. Orchestrated and conducted by Anne Dudley, inspiring original music by Ronan Hardiman and exhilarating dance starring the sensational Michael Flatley with supporting characters Bernadette Flynn, Daire Nolan, Gillian Norris, Helen Egan and Anne Buckley - Lord of the Dance is a rare and magical experience. Michael Flatley takes to the stage in a stunning Celtic dance spectacular which re-tells Irish folk legend in a dazzling and updated style. Join us when time stood still and Erin was goddess of all... The stories had all been written and everyone knew their parts. But the ancient clans, sitting in their stone circles, heard mumblings and the spirits dream was troubled. A new dark power had emerged to challenge the Lord of the Dance.
Conor McGregor: Notorious (2017)
Conor McGregor: Notorious (2017)
Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the history of Mixed Martial Arts. Filmed over the course of 4 years, Notorious is the exclusive, all-access account of Conor’s meteoric rise from claiming benefits and living in his parents' spare room in Dublin to claiming multiple championship UFC belts and seven figure pay-packets in Las Vegas.
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012)
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012)
A journey into the labyrinthine heart of ideology, which shapes and justifies both collective and personal beliefs and practices: with an infectious zeal and voracious appetite for popular culture, Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek analyzes several of the most important films in the history of cinema to explain how cinematic narrative helps to reinforce prevailing ethics and political ideas.
Nothing Compares (2022)
Nothing Compares (2022)
Since the beginning of her career, Sinéad O’Connor has used her powerful voice to challenge the narratives she was surrounded by while growing up in predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland. Despite her agency, depth and perspective, O’Connor’s unflinching refusal to conform means that she has often been patronized and unfairly dismissed as an attention-seeking pop star.
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)
As the front man of the Clash from 1977 onwards, Joe Strummer changed people's lives forever. Four years after his death, his influence reaches out around the world, more strongly now than ever before. In "The Future Is Unwritten", from British film director Julien Temple, Joe Strummer is revealed not just as a legend or musician, but as a true communicator of our times. Drawing on both a shared punk history and the close personal friendship which developed over the last years of Joe's life, Julien Temple's film is a celebration of Joe Strummer - before, during and after the Clash.
Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show (2014)
Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show (2014)
“Showrunners” is the first ever feature length documentary film to explore the fascinating world of US television showrunners and the creative forces aligned around them. These are the people responsible for creating, writing and overseeing every element of production on one of the United State’s biggest exports – television drama and comedy series. Often described as the most complex job in the entertainment business, a showrunner is the chief writer / producer on a TV series and, in most instances, the show’s creator. Battling daily between art and commerce, showrunners manage every aspect of a TV show’s development and production: creative, financial and logistical.
Captain Jack and the Furious Few (2018)
Captain Jack and the Furious Few (2018)
The remarkable story of a pioneering aviator from Ulster during World War I.
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (2017)
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003)
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003)
Hugo Chavez was a colourful, unpredictable folk hero who was beloved by his nation’s working class. He was elected president of Venezuela in 1998, and proved to be a tough, quixotic opponent to the power structure that wanted to depose him. When he was forcibly removed from office on 11 April 2002, two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace.
A Terrible Beauty (2013)
A Terrible Beauty (2013)
A Terrible Beauty is the story of the men and women of the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916, Irish and British, caught up in a conflict many did not understand and of the innocent men and boys, executed because of what transpired in The Battle of Mount Street Bridge. The British soldiers were the last of the Great War volunteers, who joined up together to fight the Germans. They knew that there was a strong chance they would die in France, but to die in Dublin would never have crossed their minds. The Irish Volunteers were weekend warriors many of whom had no idea they were about to take part in large scale battles on the streets of Dublin.
A Dog Called Money (2019)
Shooting the Mafia (2019)
Shooting the Mafia (2019)
Sicilian photojournalist Letizia Battaglia began a long battle against the ruthless Cosa Nostra when she first photographed the sinister scene of a brutal murder. Documenting the barbaric rule of the Italian Mafia, she was an unwavering witness to its crimes. Her art and courage helped end the horrific and bloody reign of the Corleonesi clan.
Bobby Sands: 66 Days (2016)
Bobby Sands: 66 Days (2016)
By the early 1980s, after two decades of violence and unrest, the situation in Northern Ireland took a sudden and profound turn inside the infamous Maze Prison. Seeking the right to be treated as political prisoners rather than common criminals, Irish Republicans led by Bobby Sands began a prison hunger strike that would draw international attention to the conflict. In the 66 days that he refused food, Sands would be elected to the British Parliament, put the Irish Republican struggle centre stage on the world news agenda, and pay the ultimate price for his political convictions. The film combines a powerful mosaic of archival materials, reconstructions and the illuminating accounts of former prisoners, commentators and key players in the drama. With Sands's evocative prison diary at its core, the film brings fresh insight to an iconic figure who single-handedly created a transformative moment in Ireland's history that had global aftershocks.
Amy Winehouse: At the BBC - Arena: The Day She Came to Dingle (2012)
Amy Winehouse: At the BBC - Arena: The Day She Came to Dingle (2012)
Back in 2006 on a stormy December night, Amy Winehouse flew to the remote, south western corner of Ireland to perform for Other Voices, an acclaimed Irish TV music series filmed in Dingle every winter. Amy took to the stage of Saint James's church, capacity 85, and wowed the small, packed crowd with a searing, acoustic set of songs from Back to Black. After leaving the stage, a relaxed and happy Amy spoke about her music and influences - Mahalia Jackson, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles and the Shangri-Las to name a few. Arena joined forces with Other Voices and went to Dingle to catch up with some of the people that Amy met on that day, including taxi driver Paddy Kennedy, her bass player Dale Davis and Rev Mairt Hanley of the Other Voices church. This film showcases not only Amy herself, but the musical geniuses that inspired her to forge her own jazz pop style.
Crash and Burn (2016)
Crash and Burn (2016)
Crash and Burn chronicles the thrilling and turbulent career of Irish racing driver Tommy Byrne, who rose from a rough, working-class background to the cusp of Formula 1 in the 1980s. Directed by Seán Ó Cualáin, the film explores Byrne's undeniable talent and rebellious personality, which set him apart on the track but also clashed with the conservative and elite world of Formula 1. Byrne’s story is filled with highs and lows, from his dominance in lower racing categories to his brief, rocky stint in Formula 1 and subsequent struggles. The documentary combines interviews, archival footage, and personal insights to portray the complexities of Byrne’s character and his “what could have been” legacy in motorsport.
Art Will Save the World (2012)
Art Will Save the World (2012)
Failed pop star. The soul of The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder reconstructs the purgatory of his career in a hilarious testimony that craps on every aspect of the pop music business. Those on the prowl for public relations and commercial potential have come to the wrong place. Haines is a notorious party-pooper, a wet blanket at awards ceremonies, and a sourpuss-that-sulks-in-the-corner. To relate his tragic-comic saga, director Niall McCann organizes a perfidious puzzle filled with talking heads: Jarvis Cocker, Stewart Home, David Peace… (or, as Haines puts it: “people who pretend they have met me”), unforgettable quips by the disgusted composer (“To hell with the common people”, “Britpop never existed”), and a script that resembles Winterbottom gone punk: actors that aspire to walk in Haines’ shoes, frozen images, surprising turns, and historical tiffs.
Forever Pure (2016)
Forever Pure (2016)
Beitar Jerusalem FC is the most popular team in Israel and the only club in the Premier League never to sign an Arab player. Midway through a season the club's owner, Russian-Israeli oligarch Arcadi Gaydamak, brought in two Muslim players from Chechnya in a secretive transfer deal that triggered the most racist campaign in Israeli sport and sent the club spiralling out of control.
Men at Lunch (2013)
Men at Lunch (2013)
This remarkable new documentary explores the story behind one of the most iconic images of the twentieth century: the 1932 photograph of workmen taking their lunch while perched on a girder high above New York City.
Homecoming: The Road to Mullingar (2022)
Homecoming: The Road to Mullingar (2022)
Niall Horan left his hometown of Mullingar at 16 to join one of the biggest boybands of all time. Now, 12 years later, Niall is coming home - and he's bringing his best friend Lewis Capaldi along for the ride. In this exclusive film, the two global superstars embark on an epic Irish road trip before they wrap up their travels with a once in a lifetime gig in Mullingar. Expect standout performances, laugh out loud moments and a whole lot of Irish charm. It's time to see two of the biggest singer songwriters on the planet like you've never seen them before.
The Cable That Changed the World (2024)
The Cable That Changed the World (2024)
The first transatlantic communications cable, traversing the ocean floor from Valentia Island, County Kerry, to Newfoundland, Canada, 165 years ago was an 8 year endeavor that helped lay the foundation of the modern technology industry and explains the fragility of undersea cables today.
I, Dolours (2018)
I, Dolours (2018)
Dolours Price, the infamous IRA radical convicted of bombing England's Old Bailey in 1973, granted a series of revealing interviews in 2010 on the strict condition of their posthumous release. The interviews, brought to life through vividly cinematic reenactments, uncover the birth of her fierce commitment to Irish Republicanism. Price revisits the bombing and the 200-day hunger strike that followed, and discusses her role in the disappearances of some suspected Republican informants. With 2018 marking the 20th anniversary since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and 50 years since the start of the Troubles, filmmaker Maurice Sweeney presents an eye-opening portrait of a once passionate, now disillusioned nationalist whose clarity of purpose both inspired allegiance and promised terror for so many.
Storm Front in Mayo (2019)
Storm Front in Mayo (2019)
Ireland, June 1944. The crucial decision about the right time to start Operation Overlord on D-Day comes to depend on the readings taken by Maureen Flavin, a young girl who works at a post office, used as a weather station, in Blacksod, in County Mayo, the westernmost promontory of Europe, far from the many lands devastated by the iron storms of World War II.
Phil Lynott: Songs for While I'm Away (2020)
Phil Lynott: Songs for While I'm Away (2020)
A feature documentary on the life and music of Phil Lynott, telling the story of how a young black boy from working class 1950s Dublin became Ireland’s greatest Rock Star. As lead singer of Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynott was a songwriter, a poet, a dreamer, a wild man. Told extensively through the words of Lynott himself and focusing on some of his iconic songs, the film gets to the heart of Philip, the father, the husband, the friend, the son, the rock icon, the poet and the dreamer.
Aerial Ireland (2017)
Aerial Ireland (2017)
Take a cross-country flight over Ireland's natural wonders and ancient ruins. In this spectacular overview of the historically significant Emerald Isle, we soar over Neolithic tombs of the Celtic era, medieval castles of the Vikings, and modern cities humming with life. From the tower that inspired a novelist to the ancestral home of a famous stout, we explore the sites, the people, and the milestones of this unique gem of Western Europe.
World's First Battlefield (2023)
World's First Battlefield (2023)
A team of experts unravels the secrets concealed within this historical battleground, shedding light on a narrative that predates any battlefield discovery made to date. The revelations unearthed in this episode are set to reshape our understanding of ancient conflicts and the evolution of warfare.
The Notorious (2014)
The Notorious (2014)
In the world's fastest growing sport, an Irishman from Crumlin stands on the threshold of becoming its next global superstar. This special documentary enters the high-stakes world of the UFC as it follows 'The Notorious' Conor McGregor over the most important six months of his fighting career.
Breaking Out (2021)
Breaking Out (2021)
Filmed over 10 years and covering a lifetime, Breaking Out is the story of singer and musician Fergus O’Farrell, an artist whose unique talent inspired a generation of songwriters and touched thousands of lives, even as his own was slipping away.