From Apollo 11 to The Lost Children, these documentaries on Netflix explore survival, identity, history, loss, and human resilience through stories that stay with you.
Netflix’s documentary library continues to bring compelling nonfiction stories to the screen, offering everything from intimate human experiences to broader social portraits. This month’s selection moves across subjects and perspectives, with stories that explore ambition, housing, creativity, and the realities shaping modern society. The Queen of Versailles (2012) follows a billionaire family building what was intended to become America’s largest home, only to confront the impact of the housing crash. Meanwhile, Secret Mall Apartment (2024) takes a more unconventional route, documenting eight artists who secretly lived inside a Providence shopping center for four years. Ava DuVernay’s 13th also deserves another look as it approaches its tenth anniversary.
So, here are the 13 best documentaries you would find on Netflix
1. 13th (2016)
Ava DuVernay’s 13th takes a powerful look at the legacy of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude while leaving room for systems of oppression to evolve. The documentary traces the treatment of Black Americans from the end of slavery in 1865 through segregation, the war on drugs, and the growth of the prison-industrial complex. Drawing connections between these different periods, DuVernay examines how policies and institutions have contributed to the disproportionate incarceration of minorities and explores the financial interests connected to the prison system. Through archival footage, interviews, and historical context, 13th presents a compelling examination of America’s complicated racial history.
2. All the Empty Rooms (2025)
All the Empty Rooms takes a deeply personal look at the lives left behind after school shootings, following journalist Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they travel across the United States to document the bedrooms of children and teenagers who were killed. Rather than focusing only on statistics surrounding gun violence, the documentary brings attention to the ordinary spaces these young lives once called their own. Beds, belongings, and personal details become reminders of children who lived, dreamed, and imagined their futures in these rooms. With a compassionate approach, Hartman and Bopp show how preserving these spaces can help families grieve while keeping memories alive, making the film an affecting portrait of loss.
3. American Factory (2019)
American Factory offers an engaging look at the people and tensions surrounding a Chinese-owned windshield factory in Dayton, Ohio. The documentary, the first film from Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground, follows the factory’s reopening and the cultural differences that emerge between its Chinese management and American workforce. As local employees adjust to demanding working conditions and concerns over wages, their employers face their own challenges while adapting to American workplace culture and expectations. Rather than turning the story into a simple argument about industry or politics, the film focuses on the people caught within these changing circumstances. Its observational approach gives American Factory an honest and revealing portrait of work, identity, and cultural adjustment.
4. André Is an Idiot (2025)
André Is an Idiot takes an unexpectedly warm and darkly funny look at what it means to live while facing death. The documentary follows advertising creative André Ricciardi after he is diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, turning his experience into a candid reflection on mortality, friendship and the strange moments of humour that can emerge during difficult times. Ricciardi conceived the project himself, hoping to share his story while encouraging people to take their health seriously, but he died in December 2023 before the film was completed. His vision continued through the finished documentary, which went on to win two awards at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
5. Apollo 11 (2019)
Apollo 11 revisits one of the most remarkable moments in human history. It takes viewers back to the summer of 1969, when NASA sent astronauts to the moon. Rather than retelling the mission through familiar commentary, the documentary creates an immersive experience using an extraordinary collection of archival material, including 65mm footage and thousands of hours of audio recordings. The results are an intimate look at the people, preparation, and ambition behind a mission that once seemed almost impossible. With its detailed visual storytelling and carefully preserved historical material, Apollo 11 brings a legendary moment closer to the present. It captures the scale of human curiosity and determination as well as our achievement.
6. Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025)
Becoming Led Zeppelin takes viewers back to the late 1960s, when one of rock music’s most influential bands was beginning to take shape. After missing the first wave of the British Invasion, Led Zeppelin quickly found a devoted audience in America and went on to become one of the best-selling acts in music history. As the band’s first authorized documentary, the film explores its formation, early years and the creative force behind its rise. Three surviving members, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, contribute to the story, while John Bonham’s journey is represented through archival interviews following his death in 1980. For rock fans, it offers a personal look at a defining chapter in music history.
7. Cover – Up (2025)
Cover-Up offers a compelling journey through some of the most controversial chapters in modern political and military history, following the work of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. Over his career, Hersh reported on events including the My Lai massacre, the secret bombing of Cambodia, Watergate, CIA domestic surveillance, and the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. His investigations often challenged powerful institutions and made him a divisive figure in political journalism. For the first time, Hersh opens his personal archives and shares insight into the methods, sources, and experiences behind his reporting. Through interviews, historical material, and his own recollections, the documentary creates a fascinating portrait of journalism under pressure while exploring the lasting importance of investigative reporting and a free press.
8. Crip Camp (2020)
Crip Camp tells the inspiring story of Camp Jened, a New York summer camp that became a welcoming space for people with disabilities and later helped shape the disability rights movement. Following the experiences of co-director James LeBrecht, who attended the camp in the early 1970s, the documentary shows how friendships and shared experiences at Jened encouraged many campers to become advocates for greater equality and accessibility. With a warm yet purposeful approach, the film connects personal stories with the wider fight for disability rights, giving its subjects space to speak about their experiences and determination. The result is a moving documentary that shows how community, solidarity and personal courage can create meaningful change.
9. Dick Johnson Is Dead (2020)
Kirsten Johnson’s Dick Johnson Is Dead takes an unconventional and deeply personal approach to the subjects of ageing, dementia and death. As Johnson’s father lives with dementia, she creates a series of fictional scenes imagining different ways he might die, from falling down the stairs to being struck by a falling air conditioner, with her father happily playing along. While the premise may sound dark, the documentary turns these imagined moments into an intimate exploration of family, humour and the fear of losing someone you love. Johnson uses the filmmaking process to spend meaningful time with her father, creating memories while confronting an inevitable future. The result is a tender and bittersweet portrait of a father-daughter relationship shaped by love.
10. Disclosure (2020)
Disclosure examines the long and complicated history of transgender representation in Hollywood, exploring how movies and television have influenced the way trans people are understood both on screen and in everyday life. Drawing a connection to The Celluloid Closet, the documentary moves through decades of portrayals, from films such as The Crying Game and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective to more significant representation in shows including Orange Is the New Black and Pose. Through interviews with transgender actors, artists and creators, Disclosure looks beyond individual characters to consider the wider impact of these images. Their experiences reveal how entertainment can reinforce stereotypes, shape public attitudes and influence personal identity, while also highlighting the progress still needed for more authentic representation.
11. Found (2021)
Found explores the lasting effects of China’s one-child policy through the deeply personal stories of three American teenagers who were adopted from China and later discover that they are cousins. Their unexpected connection leads them on a journey to understand their shared ancestry while reflecting on what identity and belonging mean to each of them. The documentary allows their perspectives to remain distinct, showing how one cousin feels deeply connected to her life in America while another hopes that discovering her Chinese roots might answer questions from her past. Alongside their experiences, the film acknowledges the caretakers who looked after orphaned children and the complexities surrounding adoption, creating an emotional portrait of family, identity and discovery.
12. The Lost Children (2024)
The Lost Children recounts an extraordinary survival story following a 2023 plane crash in the Colombian Amazon that left four children missing in one of the world’s most challenging environments. The small aircraft carried seven people, including the children, who were all under 13. When rescuers discovered the wreckage two weeks later, the three adult passengers had died, but the children were nowhere to be found. The documentary follows the extensive search while showing how the children’s Indigenous upbringing helped them navigate the dangers of the jungle. It also captures an unusual moment of cooperation between the Colombian military and local Indigenous communities, whose combined efforts became central to the search. The result is a remarkable story of survival, resilience and hope.
Have you watched any of these?
