My best documentaries of 2020

2020 was a great year for documentary films. Here is a list of some I’ve enjoyed making and watching (I’m sure I’ve missed some and some may actually be from 2019 but never mind that)

It started well with my Goldmark Film Alphabets, Bandits & Collaborations being shortlisted for a Royal Television Society best documentary award.

Alphabets, Bandits & Collaborations | Goldmark Films

2020 Royal Television Society Award nominated Best Factual.

Goldmark TV | Goldmark.TV

This year Goldmark also launched a new TV channel Goldmark.TV and we produced over 80 episodes. Watch a review of the year’s Goldmark TV shows below.

Rugby Wrap Up | Rugby Wrap Up

I’ve also enjoyed work on the post-production of America’s leading Rugby TV show from New York, Rugby Wrap Up. Check out the end of year show below. Rugby Wrap Up is now also a part of Rugby Pass TV around the world.

Here are a few of my favorite documentaries I watched during 2020 and where you can stream them.

The Hijacker Who Vanished: The Mystery of DB Cooper | BBC iPlayer

A Storyville documentary. A mysterious fugitive, a hijacked airplane and a daring mid-air escape. The real-life tale of one of America's most extraordinary unsolved crimes. Just who is DB Cooper?

One Man and His Shoes | BBC iPlayer

The story of the phenomenon of Air Jordan sneakers, showing their social, cultural and racial significance and how groundbreaking marketing strategies created a multi-billion-dollar business.

United Skates of America | BBC iPlayer

When America's last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battles in a racially charged environment to save an underground subculture - one that has remained undiscovered by the mainstream for generations, yet has given rise to some of the world's greatest musical talent

Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War | iPlayer

In 1928 and at the age of eleven, Harry Birrell was given his first cine camera. ‘The greatest toy a child could ever receive,’ he would say. His obsession with making movies would span the rest of his life, despite the onset of blindness. 

In love, war and other adventures, Harry recorded everything with a wonderfully cinematic eye on thousands of feet of high-quality 16mm film. From commanding a battalion of Gurkhas in the Indian army at the start of WWII to dangerous sorties deep behind enemy lines in Burma at its end, and from the ballroom dances of his youth in the 30s to teaching his children how to dance the twist in the 60s, Harry’s entertaining and errant adventures are filmed with the intimacy of home movies but on the scale of Lawrence of Arabia. 

Today, his granddaughter Carina uncovers a lifetime of memories all spliced together in over 400 films, personal diaries (narrated by Richard Madden) and countless photographs that have previously lain unseen.

The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea | iPlayer

In 2010, Danish director Mads Brügger received an email from a stranger who had seen a documentary he had made about North Korea. He asked if Mads would be interested in making a new film about his quest to become a member of his local North Korean ‘friendship’ association in Denmark to enable him to travel to Pyongyang undercover. There are Korean Friendship Associations (KFA) in countries around the world, and their members, bizarrely, are devoted to the glorification of the world’s last totalitarian communist dictatorship. 

In this first of two extraordinary episodes, the stranger becomes a mole and rises through the ranks of the KFA, tunnelling his way ‘undercover’ to North Korea. On this mission, he befriends and wins the trust of the president of the KFA, Alejandro Cao de Benos, a Spaniard with a North Korean passport, who eventually asks him to help source wealthy investors interested in business deals with North Korea. The Mole reports back to Mads Brügger and they begin secretly recording meetings, bringing in an actor and ex-criminal called ‘Mr James’ to play the role of a Scandinavian billionaire to see what business deals North Korea will bring them.  

Boys State | Apple TV+

The sensational winner of the Grand Jury Prize for documentary at this year's Sundance Film Festival, “Boys State” is a wildly entertaining and continually revealing immersion into a week-long annual program in which a thousand Texas high school seniors gather for an elaborate mock exercise: building their own state government.

Becoming You | Apple TV+

2,000 days. 100 children. The story of us. Peek into the first days of life in Becoming You, a globe-crossing, six-part docuseries narrated by Academy Award winner Olivia Colman

Tiny world | Apple TV+

Meet nature’s littlest heroes and see the extraordinary things they do to survive in the new Apple Original docuseries, narrated by Paul Rudd.

Home | Apple TV+

Home, a new original docuseries, offers viewers a never-before-seen look inside the world’s most innovative homes. All nine episodes are available to watch now, exclusively on the Apple TV app with an Apple TV+

The Social Dilemma | Netflix

We tweet, we like, and we share— but what are the consequences of our growing dependence on social media? As digital platforms increasingly become a lifeline to stay connected, Silicon Valley insiders reveal how social media is reprogramming civilization by exposing what’s hiding on the other side of your screen.

The Last Dance | Netflix

In the fall of 1997, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls began their quest to win a sixth NBA title in eight years. But despite all Jordan had achieved since his sensational debut 13 years earlier, “The Last Dance,” as coach Phil Jackson called it, would be shadowed by tension with the club’s front office and the overwhelming sense that this was the last time the world would ever see the greatest player of all time, and his extraordinary teammates, in full flight

My Octopus Teacher | Netflix

A filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.

So that was 2020. I’m sure I’ve missed a few from this list, but if you get a chance, check out these fantastic documentaries. I can’t wait to see what 2021 has to offer.