Documentary

Essential

Netflix 

From a Netflix series about the comfort of dogs to the new Attenborough documentary, there's plenty of real life drama on the telly this week. Here are our top picks

Essential

TV 

In the first episode of Louis Theroux’s Altered States, Love Without Limits explores the pleasures and pitfalls of polyamorous relationships

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Polka dots, mental health and Japan's greatest artist: the life and career of Yayoi Kusama come to life in new documentary Kusama - Infinity

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Following his documentary work on The Imposter, filmmaker Bart Layton returns with a heist no one needed but can still be enjoyed in American Animals.

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Rediscovering her African-American identity as well as uncovering her rocky childhood, Whitney is the latest, and hopefully last chapter on the phenomenal singer. Directed by Kevin McDonald.

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Dull, voyeuristic and fetishising: Touch Me Not’s success at the Berlinale 2018 is a devastating decision for the festival

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

In this epic biopic, filmmaker Sophie Fiennes weaves together archive footage and concert clips to create an illuminating portrait of the legendary singer and model

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

One of the winners at the Sundance Film Festival, Dina is an intimate documentary of a developmentally disabled couple which rings truer than most scripted romantic dramas

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

City of Ghosts is a brutal and fascinating documentary about the Syrian struggle

Preview

Cinema 

David Lynch: The Art Life takes a look at the creative process of cinema's most celebrated surrealist

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Risk is the precursor to Oscar-winning Snowden documentary Citizenfour, the director's muddled but fascinating take on Julian Assange

Preview

Exclusive 

Major international documentary festival returns to the ICA

Features

Here's our pick of the last few months' best documentaries – 2016's late surprises and 2017's early successes, from Life, Animated to The Eagle Huntress

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Who is Sergei Polunin? Dancer documentary shows him to be more of an unhappy adolescent than fast-living playboy

In the Know

TV 

A century of Windsor history unveiled in this new Channel 4 series exploring the intimate lives of the royal family

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Produced by Shia LaBeouf, documentary LoveTrue takes fragmented approach to its subject

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

New documentary Tower, about the 1966 University of Texas tower shootings, uses animation to impressive effect

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

With her scrapbook documentary Cameraperson, Kirsten Johnson has made a stirring montage of the 21st Century

In the Know

TV 

Celebrate the lives of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds and their mother-daughter relationship with the Sky Atlantic documentary Bright Lights

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Investigative with the feel of a cyber-thriller sends a clear-cut message, if a lengthy one

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

The Eagle Huntress documentary is a visually breathtaking and sociologically important bit of filmmaking

Interview

The documentary Life, Animated – 2016's most moving true story – is in cinema's now. We talk to director Roger Ross Williams and author Ron Suskind

Must See

For finale Episode 6, Planet Earth 2 explores the urban jungles that we call home – and reveals the other animals that make their home there

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Life, Animated is an autism documentary about how Owen Suskind learnt to relate to the world via Disney films

Features

Things to do 

With Planet Earth II, David Attenborough presented the flora and fauna of the natural world. Here are the ones worthy of shiny prizes

Must See

For Episode 5, Planet Earth 2 takes us to the wide open plains, where most of the animals are nomads

Must See

For Episode 4, Planet Earth 2 shows us around the world's most arid terrain – and reveals some of its scariest inhabitants

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Young female criminals tell their stories in the Starless Dreams documentary, a short powerful film by Iranian director Mehrdad Oskouei

Must See

With Episode 3, Planet Earth 2 gives us its most incredible moments yet

Interview

Planet Earth II is the most talked about television series on our screens this winter. We speak to the executive producer of the series, Michael Gunton.

Tried and Tested

Cinema 

Gimme Danger, the Iggy and the Stooges documentary, is one of two Jim Jarmusch films out this month, with Paterson being released next week

Features

With the second episode of Planet Earth II, David Attenborough takes us higher...