20 Best Documentaries To Watch On Hulu Right Now (October 2021)

Year: 2021

Director: Ahmir "Questlove" Thompsom

Genre: Music/Social History

One of the best films of 2021, Summer of Soul is part concert film, part social documentary. Using incredible, newly-discovered footage of 1969's Harlem Cultural Festival, director Questlove uncovers a part of Black musical history that had been largely forgotten, and shows how thousands of Harlem residents came together peacefully that summer to celebrate their community.

Year: 2018

Director: Bing Liu

Genre: Human Interest

Minding the Gap, by director Bing Liu, tells the story of how skateboarding shaped his and his friends' lives. It's not going to reveal any horrible truths about life, but it will let you into an intimate world of young kids growing up quickly.

Year: 2019

Director: Todd Douglas Miller

Genre: History

The Apollo 11 moon landing is one of the most thoroughly documented events in American history, so it's hard to bring something new, but this documentary eschews talking heads for a more experiential look at the moment. Apollo 11 tells the story in the present tense with archival footage from NASA, and even the score uses instruments available at the time, in 1969, to complete the experience.

Year: 2019

Diriector: Penny Lane

Genre: Government/Activism

The Satanic Temple is the kind of thing you usually expect to hear about in frightened tones from pearl clutchers. This documentary looks at what the Satanic Temple--different from the Church of Satan--really gets up to, like fighting for social progress, the separation of church of state, and defense of human rights. Scary stuff.

Year: 2018

Directors: Betsy West, Julie Cohen

Genre: History/Government

This documentary covers the life of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, from the workouts she did to keep herself fit into her eighties to her many accomplishments to, of course, her detractors. This is a necessary documentary about the most well-known and influential modern Supreme Court Justice.

Year: 2019

Director: Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason

Genre: Music/True Crime

The collapse of the Fyre music festival in April 2017 was such a compelling event that it inspired two separate documentaries--Hulu’s Fyre Fraud and Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. While both docs cover the same amazing series of events, the Hulu doc is the only one to feature an interview with Billy McFarland, the man behind the entire debacle. Additionally, the festival's social media company, F***Jerry, were involved with production of the Netflix film, making Fyre Fraud far more independent.

Year: 2020

Director: Nathan Grossman

Genre: Environmentalism

Can you imagine being a world-famous figure, getting attention from celebrities, politicians, and the public before you're even 18? Environmental activist Greta Thunberg is no stranger to the attention at this point. Director Nathan Grossman began following Thunberg even before her weekly strikes helped propel her onto the world stage, and this documentary takes viewers behind the scenes to see Greta in the moments before her famous speeches.

Year: 2016

Director: Raoul Peck

Genre: Race/History

I am Not Your Negro, narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, tells the story of race in America through the writings of author James Baldon and the lives of him and other figures of the civil rights movement, and then connects that era to modern civil rights movements like Black Lives Matter.

Year: 2020

Director: Samuel D. Pollard

Genre: Race/History

From 1963 until his assassination on April 4, 1968, the FBI extensively surveilled Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the orders of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover. This documentary reminds us of how Americans perceived the civil rights leader at the time and goes into detail about all the ways the United States government and FBI in particular worked to discredit him.

Year: 2017

Director: Josh Greenbaum

Genre: Pop culture/comedy

Remember that time Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Dana Carvey, and Robert Smiegel had their own show written by people like Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show), Robert Carlock (30 Rock), and Dino Stamatopoulos (Community)? Probably not--the Dana Carvey show, which ran for only 8 episodes, was guaranteed to succeed thanks to its legendary cast but failed when the network gave them too much freedom and ended up with Bill Clinton breastfeeding babies during a White House address.

Year: 2020

Director: Scott Barber

Genre: Pop culture

Some of the documentaries in this list are hard-hitting, but The Orange Years is a love letter to the heyday of Nickelodeon in the late '80s and early '90s. The documentary goes all-in on nostalgia, covering everything from classic slime shows like You Can't Do That On Television and Double Dare to shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark, All That and, of course, Doug. You won't get any juicy gossip, but there's tons of love to be had.

Year: 2017

Director: Christopher Quinn

Genre: Food

If you've ever even considered whether or not the meat you're eating is ethical, you might want to check out Eating Animals. This documentary explores factory farming both in how it mistreats animals and the people working in the industry.

Year: 2019

Director: John Chester

Genre: Food/Human interest

Biggest Little Farm tells the story of two Los Angelinos who decide to leave their city life behind to make a life farming. The documentary covers triumphs and farm-destroying disasters like snails and coyotes. Rural nostalgia meets real world farming.

Year: 2013

Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Genre: Animal rights

Killer whales are apex predators, the top of the food chain, and that makes them fascinating to watch, but dangerous to keep in captivity. Blackfish follows the story of captive orca Tilikum, involved in the deaths of three people.

Year: 2020

Director: Kief Davidson

Genre: True Crime

Based on the book of the same name, this docuseries looks at the Zodiac Killer, from a different point of view. Gary Stewart, adopted as a child, seeks out his birth family. A sketch of the Zodiac Killer looks disconcertingly like his biological father, and things spiral from there as Stewart seeks the truth about his father--and maybe about the Zodiac Killer.

Year: 2021

Director: Joshua Rofé

Genre: True Crime

Ostensibly about the legendary forest creature, this limited docuseries is really about the forests of northern California and the illegal cannabis farms that were squirreled away deep within. It starts light and gets dark quickly as investigator David Holthouse puts himself in more and more danger.

Year: 2019

Directors: Sheena M. Joyce, Don Argott

Genre: Celebrities/True Crime

The DMC DeLorean is one of the most iconic cars in the world thanks to its unique look and prominent place in 1985's Back to the Future, but the story behind its creator is just as interesting. Alec Baldwin plays John DeLorean in this pseudo-documentary, which combines reenactments and behind-the-scenes footage to tell the story of a singular auto maker caught up in cocaine trafficking.

Year: 2021

Director: Jed Rothstein

Genre: Business

WeWork made its name providing rentable workspaces for people without offices, but the company quickly expanded far beyond its value and crashed as a result. This documentary looks at founder Adam Neumann, the company's fast ascent, and his ousting following the scandal around the company's IPO.

Year: 2018

Director: Andrea Blaugrund Nevins

Genre: Toys/Gender

The billion-selling doll known as Barbie lets its fans, young and old, pretend to be just about anything they want, but promotes an unhealthy body image. Tiny Shoulders dives deep into the history and cultural impact of Barbie.

Year: 2018

Director: Tim Wardle

Genre: Human interest

Actually being separated at birth is incredibly rare, but it's a huge cultural trope. When it actually happens, as with triplets Bobby, Eddie and David, it makes news. This documentary follows the triplets from their initial meeting and into the investigation of just how they became separated. A seemingly whimsical story becomes sad and at times disturbing upon further investigation.

Year: 2019

Director: Michael Beach Nichols

Genre: Pop Culture

The legend of the terrifying Florida clown Wrinkles--who can supposedly be hired by parents to scare their kids into behaving--is explored in this strange and compelling film. The movie dives into the story of Wrinkles, but also explores the power of myth and the ease with which anyone can spread disinformation in the social media age.