Meta tags:
description=What the Field HoldsThe documentary field is more capacious than any poll can hold—how Documentary’s two lists of the greatest docs of the 21st century try to account for the distance ;

Headings (most frequently used words):

the, links, secondary, menu, social, media, field, documentary, of, footer, main, navigation, what, holds, is, more, capacious, than, any, poll, can, hold, how, two, lists, greatest, docs, 21st, century, try, to, account, for, distance, about, zine, pitch, guidelines, related, articles,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (69), and (27), documentary (21), ida (16), that (16), about (13), all (12), our (11), from (11), this (11), films (9), for (8), what (8), top (8), list (8), docs (8), #greatest (8), 2025 (7), awards (7), film (7), more (7), lists (7), ballots (6), international (5), latest (5), history (5), their (5), projects (5), century (5), poll (5), was (5), field (5), guidelines (4), past (4), 2022 (4), 2024 (4), fund (4), social (4), documentaries (4), members (4), you (4), both (4), 21st (4), they (4), who (4), its (4), most (4), donate (4), association (3), pitch (3), articles (3), magazine (3), getting (3), real (3), screenings (3), grants (3), funding (3), links (3), advertise (3), with (3), writer (3), how (3), 2007 (3), results (3), vote (3), curated (3), singular (3), picks (3), across (3), three (3), 2026 (3), two (3), voter (3), institutional (3), them (3), are (3), community (3), become (3), critics (3), voted (3), member (3), directors (3), your (3), public (3), overview (3), sponsored (3), join (3), policy (2), purchase (2), issues (2), issue (2), winners (2), call (2), 2023 (2), 2020 (2), springdocs (2), falldocs (2), directory (2), grantees (2), pare (2), lorentz (2), fiscal (2), sponsorship (2), footer (2), media (2), contact (2), support (2), blog (2), secondary (2), menu (2), festivals (2), one (2), commercial (2), critical (2), tell (2), through (2), first (2), 25th (2), anniversary (2), time (2), learn (2), editorial (2), released (2), asked (2), pick (2), 2000 (2), optionally (2), choices (2), each (2), blurb (2), self (2), account (2), where (2), practice (2), full (2), many (2), agreed (2), published (2), alongside (2), but (2), still (2), seen (2), release (2), selection (2), consensus (2), hold (2), visible (2), work (2), votes (2), polled (2), appearing (2), were (2), not (2), just (2), editors (2), culture (2), sight (2), sound (2), which (2), ranked (2), objects (2), taste (2), way (2), class (2), can (2), toward (2), american (2), when (2), sales (2), hit (2), parade (2), had (2), access (2), individual (2), board (2), memberships (2), supporters (2), volunteer (2), application (2), journalism (2), resources (2), events (2), main (2), search (2), privacy, rights, reserved, entries, other, doc, rss, email, sign, oscars, traces, changes, topicality, success, acclaim, lead, noel, ransome, appreciate, value, short, does, makeup, awarded, dan, schindel, things, change, years, commemoration, appealed, weigh, tom, white, related, vision, rates, would, like, write, available, now, zine, tabulated, compiled, made, garnered, single, contributors, encouraged, participants, think, expansively, everyone, allowed, after, january, offer, explanations, december, abby, sun, gap, between, itself, description, argument, evidence, vitality, carries, described, epithet, position, thus, sits, industry, need, trace, affiliations, read, set, blurbs, writers, designation, much, state, discourse, fuse, personal, formal, political, chooses, say, discards, revealing, share, online, voters, 200, million, people, viewership, surely, dwarfs, anything, else, credited, environmental, reform, despite, ban, censored, mainland, chinese, web, within, days, under, dome, chai, jing, last, unjust, 290, received, exactly, team, attempt, map, contains, cannot, range, art, world, phenomena, precious, shorts, claude, lanzmann, why, publishing, already, rest, recede, worth, noting, expanding, canon, outward, highlighting, exist, outside, channels, looked, embraced, enthusiastically, programmers, have, contributed, matthew, effect, nearly, fifth, may, deems, necessary, teach, cite, argue, necessity, inseparable, circulation, moved, major, theatrical, streaming, availability, recognition, accessible, dominate, researchers, ranking, dynamics, act, killing, rose, led, joshua, oppenheimer, practitioners, doesn, escape, logic, concentrates, 302, submitted, 877, eligible, 434, unique, titles, select, explain, should, interpreted, verdict, quality, pool, included, cinematographers, producers, peers, 100, rank, viewing, against, others, participate, ongoing, competitive, consumption, prove, belong, said, 1979, argued, cultural, function, inventories, legitimate, knowing, know, becomes, signal, membership, has, matter, useful, describe, codify, values, today, letterboxd, turns, performance, track, distinction, critique, judgement, french, sociologist, pierre, bourdieu, named, dynamic, mark, organization, emerged, own, admission, skewed, young, recently, active, filmmakers, veteran, voices, largely, weren, previous, reflected, different, structure, candid, subjective, limits, divorced, approval, noted, unanimous, finding, question, unfair, answered, anyway, belgian, festival, survey, launched, 1952, response, data, mirror, vaunted, formalizing, chart, july, 1940, billboard, debuted, april, 1935, aggregating, sheet, music, radio, requests, jukebox, plays, into, weekly, countdown, popular, songs, didn, measure, popularity, recorded, specific, been, given, reason, want, try, distance, capacious, than, any, holds, portrait, new, forms, making, image, home, insurance, program, job, visa, letters, pricing, impact, circle, subscribe, newsletters, engage, advocacy, building, nonfiction, initiative, logan, elevate, grant, enterprise, core, cycle, faq, technical, creative, business, accessibility, emergency, assistance, creators, 2016, 2018, conference, master, conversation, series, panels, workshops, summit, seminars, code, conduct, calendar, sponsor, videos, press, center, watch, jobs, partners, staff, mission, navigation, login, skip, content,

Text of the page (random words):
greatest docs of the 21st century overview international documentary association skip to main content international documentary association secondary menu login support ida search social media links search main navigation about ida about mission history staff board of directors partners our supporters jobs contact latest blog greatest docs docs to watch press center videos join ida become a member join our list donate to ida sponsored projects volunteer sponsor advertise events calendar all events code of conduct seminars documentary journalism summit panels workshops conversation series master class screenings springdocs falldocs conference about getting real 2026 2024 2022 2020 2018 2016 awards about 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 past winners for creators resources ida emergency assistance grants directory accessibility ai resources business funding creative technical journalism fiscal sponsorship about application guidelines faq sponsored projects funding 2025 grants cycle core application pare lorentz documentary fund enterprise documentary fund logan elevate grant nonfiction access initiative ida field building fund grantees advocacy documentary magazine all articles latest issue all issues join ida engage subscribe to newsletters advertise volunteer donate donate to ida donate to sponsored projects our supporters become a member individual memberships impact circle institutional memberships international pricing visa letters job board insurance program home greatest docs of the 21st century overview image overview top 25 singular picks individual ballots toward new forms of list making portrait of a practice what the field holds the documentary field is more capacious than any poll can hold how documentary s two lists of the greatest docs of the 21st century try to account for the distance when your hit parade debuted on april 20 1935 aggregating american sheet music sales radio requests and jukebox plays into a weekly countdown of popular songs it didn t just measure popularity it recorded what a specific public had access to and what that public had been given reason to want billboard published its first chart on july 27 1940 formalizing your hit parade s sales data as a mirror the vaunted sight and sound critics poll of the greatest films launched in 1952 as a response to a belgian film festival s directors survey was no different in ranked structure if more candid about its subjective limits and divorced from commercial approval the editors noted that most critics were unanimous in finding the question unfair and answered it anyway when documentary polled ida members in 2007 on the greatest documentaries of all time to mark this organization s 25th anniversary the list that emerged was by our own admission skewed toward young recently active american filmmakers veteran international voices largely weren t members that previous list reflected who voted and so do the results of our latest poll the french sociologist pierre bourdieu named this dynamic in distinction a social critique of the judgement of taste 1979 in which he argued that ranked lists of cultural objects function as public inventories of legitimate taste knowing them or appearing to know them becomes a way to signal membership in the class that has agreed on which objects matter a list is most useful as a way to describe and codify the values of a community today letterboxd turns this performance social you can track how many films from the latest sight and sound top 100 you ve seen rank your viewing history against others and participate in the ongoing competitive consumption of film culture and prove that you belong to said culture this practitioners poll doesn t escape this logic it concentrates on it 302 submitted ballots 877 eligible votes 434 unique titles each voter was asked to select three films from 2000 to 2025 and optionally explain their choices the results should not be interpreted as a verdict on quality the ida member voter pool included not just directors but editors cinematographers and producers who voted for the work of their peers the top 25 films that rose to consensus led by joshua oppenheimer s the act of killing appearing on nearly a fifth of ballots may be the films this community deems necessary to teach to cite to argue from that necessity is still inseparable from circulation films that moved through major festivals theatrical release streaming availability and awards recognition were accessible to be voted on and dominate the list researchers of ranking dynamics call this the matthew effect the already visible become more visible and the rest recede it is worth noting that the work of expanding the canon outward highlighting docs that exist outside the institutional channels where most of our votes looked was embraced most enthusiastically by the polled film critics and programmers who have all contributed to documentary this century this is why we are publishing two lists alongside the top 25 are the singular picks a curated selection of 25 of the 290 films that received exactly one vote across all ballots the editorial team curated this selection as an attempt to map what this community contains that consensus cannot hold they range from art world phenomena to precious shorts from claude lanzmann s the last of the unjust to chai jing s under the dome censored from the mainland chinese web within three days of its release but still seen by 200 million people a viewership that surely dwarfs anything else on both lists and credited for real environmental policy reform despite its ban the full ballots of voters who agreed to share them are published alongside both lists online from both lists each blurb carries a self described epithet on the voter s position in our field thus the blurb is an account of where the writer sits in the industry what they need from documentary practice and a trace of their institutional affiliations read across the full set the blurbs and the writers self designation tell us as much about the state of documentary discourse as they do about the films many fuse the personal with the formal and the political what a writer chooses to say about a film or discards is as revealing as what they do the gap between the two lists is itself description argument and evidence of our field s vitality abby sun 6 10 2026 about in december 2025 documentary asked ida members and past contributors to the magazine to pick the greatest docs of the 21st century we encouraged participants in the poll to think of greatest expansively everyone was allowed to pick three projects released after january 1 2000 and optionally offer explanations for their choices documentary tabulated the results and released both a top 25 list compiled of all the top vote getting docs and a curated singular picks list made up of projects that garnered a single vote across all ballots zine available for purchase now pitch guidelines would you like to write for documentary learn more about our editorial vision pitch guidelines rates and more learn more related articles ida s top 25 documentaries by tom white 12 31 2007 in commemoration of ida s 25th anniversary in 2007 we appealed to our members to weigh in with their top 25 documentaries of all time the more things change a history of documentary film through the first 40 years of ida s documentary awards by dan schindel 1 30 2025 what does the makeup of films awarded at ida s documentary awards tell us about the history of documentaries appreciate in value a short critical history of documentary film awards by noel ransome 1 29 2025 from film festivals to the oscars one writer traces changes in how topicality commercial success and critical acclaim lead to documentary awards secondary footer menu the ida blog about us support us email sign up advertise with us rss contact social media links footer links funding fiscal sponsorship pare lorentz doc fund our grantees other grants directory screenings falldocs springdocs past screenings getting real 2024 2022 2020 awards 2024 2023 2022 call for entries past winners magazine latest issue all articles all issues pitch guidelines purchase 2025 international documentary association all rights reserved privacy policy