The Best Places to Watch Documentary Movies Online
I really love watching documentary movies. Whether it’s a new Michael Moore movie, some 9/11 conspiracy, arrest of legendary drug cartel, life of Che Guevara, Iraq war, origins of Palestine/Israel conflict …. , most of the professionally made documentaries are quite interesting and educational. If you share this passion, here are some resources to watch documentary movies online.
1. PBS Frontline
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) Frontline known for producing in-depth lengthy documentaries on various popular issues, leading to numerous awards (see more in Wikipedia). There are over 60 high quality documentaires on their website, with each documnetary available in different formats.
2. Surfthechannel
Other than a documentary source, Surfethechannel is more known as a TVShow and movie streaming website. Possibly the only website that was able to cope with the Stage6 shut down. The website has an impressive Documentary section. There are almost 1800 documentaries there. For avid documentary fans there is also a latest additions feed that lets you stay on top of all recent additions from the feedreader. The only drawback, there is no other way to navigate/sort documentary videos but alphabetically. The other similar but slightly smaller services are QuickSilverScreen (QSS) and Alluc.
3. Free Documentaries / Bodocus / Docuworld
These 3 websites aggregate documentary videos from Google Video and nicely organize them into categories i.e. politics, health, history, religion, business etc. FreeDocumentaries also sorts videos by region (Africa, Middle East, Russia, Europe etc.). Check out websites @ FreeDocumentaries, Bodocus and Docuworld.
4. Miro
[Update] Sorry folks, I completely forgot to include Miro in the original list.
Miro (formerly Democray Player) is an all-in-one video player where you can navigate though and subscribe to over 1500 web shows, documentary channels and podacsts. Channels include TED Talks, Frontline/World, NOVA etc. mostly in HD content. Simply choose the channels you like, hit suscribe button and Miro will download new episodes as soon as they are out. You can also browse and watch existing content as well.
5. Joost
I am not really a fan of Joost and never use it to watch documentaries, but what it has is the quality. Most of the videos you get here are in fairly good quality. At the moment there are 27 channels in documentary section (this may vary depending on your location).
6. OneBigTorrent
OneBigTorrent is the first place for quality documentary torrents. In their own words: “OneBigTorrent.org is a new place for sharing material that deals with or is relevant to issues of social justice, progressive and radical politics, independent media, ecology“.
Another good source for documentary movie torrents is MVGroup. The site is a forum and thus a bit hard to navigate, though it still has an active userbase.
It is an issue though, that so much fictitious garbage is packaged in a documentary format and made to look legit to the unsuspecting average Joe. Obviously, Moore is the all time king at implying things while still leaving a loophole to back out -”Well I never actually SAID Bush conspired with the Saudis…” sort of stuff. The power of editing is a real thing. The facts get lost -deliberately or not- in the middle sometimes.
I made a short doc about about Miss Iran of 1976 you might like. Check it out-
http://www.revver.com/video/303030/jelveh/
If you like Ancient History/Anthropology, check out Aracheology TV -it’s got a whole bunch of documentaries.
http://freetube.110mb.com/index.php?f=1&view=3YXJjaA
You can check out the rest of the site for more, look under education for more.
Keith, you got an excellent point here. I agree, “the power of editing is the real thing”. Once in a while I come across different documentaries (advocating opposite issues) and yet both sound very legitimate.
Great comment. I think this is something ALL of use should be aware and thus use
caution when we see a doc or any media for the first time.
You might also want to try JohnLocker.com for documentaries and educational videos. It’s updated daily with some of the best documentaries I’ve seen in a while.
You should add The Internet Archive to this list. http://www.archive.org
There is a HUGE collection of media archived in this online library, that plays host to a lot of great internet features, including the Wayback Machine…..
Check it out
You should have pointed out in this article which ones of these services are free and which ain’t? I guess Joost is pay-TV?
Thanks!
ALL FREE, including Joost
I can’t believe you left out Thoughtware.TV. If you want only the best Science and Technology videos from all over the Web, that’s the first place to start:
http://www.Thoughtware.TV
Thanks for heads up, it seems like a good source.
Thank you so much for this. Been looking for documentaries to watch. I waste a lot of time searching on Digg, google videos, etc. I’ll just start here.
Here is my favorite documentary TV channel:
http://www.myeasytv.com/show_channel.php?id=276&name=Earth_Channel
doesn’t work and worse it launched a barrage of popups. you own the site?
Sorry, but that site sucks.
Another good source is the CBC documentary archives
http://archives.cbc.ca/index.asp?IDLan=1
http://www.cbc.ca
The absolute best place to watch documentaries, bar none, has been Google Video. I don’t know that they are legal versions; but I have seen Helvetica, Taxi to the Darkside, Titicut Follies, Supersize Me, and other extremely prominent documentaries there. I have no idea why they were there; but they were up in high resolution. Both Taxi to the darkside and helvetica were up BEFORE they played in my town (Seattle).
Thanks for the excellent list, these sites and over 419 other free movie site links alternatives appear on NSR http://www.nosubscriptionrequired.net/
happy viewing at the best price in town, all for free !!!!!!!!!!!
VBS has some massively overlooked stuff.
There’s a fantastic rundown of specific online films that are worth watching from around the web here, and aside from Frontline it doesn’t cover the same ground as this:
http://xcity-magazine.com/?p=125
DOCUMANTIS is the best site for watching documentaries!
http://www.chooseandwatch.com/ is far better
you own chooseandwatch? pitiful site
Thank you for the links. I love Frontline, but did not realize that the documentaries are available online.
Perfect for Documentary Lovers like me, thank you. Ill add a link for thin on mi site
Glad that you liked it
Check out http://www.joiningthedots.tv., loads of great documentary at really high quality.
The BEST one is http://tvshack.net/documentaries/ (made by the tv-links guys)
http://www.documentary365.com – sorted by categories, in different languages, and including descriptions.
Here you can find documentaries from many sources on the web.
Página en Español con Documentales online muy INTERESANTES!
os la recomiendo…
Un saludo, learn Spanish with DocuTUBE.es
Yet another great site with more than 1000 documentaries is http://www.factualTV.com – all free and superb quality.
“The other similar but slightly smaller services are QuickSilverScreen (QSS)” – yeah, with almost 3000 documentaries that makes so much sense… O_o
All of this sites had interesting stuff on them, but I think you should complement the list by adding factualtv.
I found http://www.factualtv.com while surfing the other day and really liked it, it’s yet sort of a beta but they seem to make improvements everyday. I’ts a place to watch documentareis online and on-demand free of charge. If you’re in to documentaries like I am you might want to check it out. Hope you all like it and that it makes the list!
Love the list either way!
I’ve been checking out TidalTV lately — not so much for Documentary movies, but they do have some cool tv shows (National Geographic, Discovery, that sort of thing). If you’re interested (and, really, why would you be on this page if you weren’t), I’d check ‘em out.
Free documentaries at http://www.snagfilms.com While I’m not a big fan of the ads, they’ve got some interesting films, esp. the environment and animal docs. Some of the ones on your list above are good, but their pointing to google or youtube. At least lets try and respect the filmmaker.
Check my site…only top quality, new and varied documentaries…
Online Documentaries 4 U – http://www.onlinedocumentaries4u.com/
This site is only a few months old and already more than 100 of the best documentaries to watch for free!
Online Documentaries 4 U
My site Free Online Documentary dot com has only been online for a few weeks but hopefully it’ll be one of the best places to watch documentaries soon.
I use No Subscription Required for all the latest free movies
http://www.nosubscriptionrequired.net/
Here is the free documentaries site I like the best -in design.
I may have a little bias though, since I was the one who designed it
Also check this one out: The Documentary Log
There is one more great site for watching and previewing documentaries, and that is Top Documentary Films
You can watch Documentary in http://www.BbPcTv.com/Category-Documentary.aspx in high definition online. You can also find all your favorites TV shows online on demand anytime directly from the producers… and it is free!
A new great way to watch free documentaries online without downloading is http://www.documentary24.com
You also can check great doc movies here: esoterictube.com and http://www.documentary-film.net/
For all of your Movie needs http://www.Jisu-movies.net
Im having an extremely difficult time finding old documentaries which i need to study. Films by Fredrick Wiseman and the doco Nanook of The North. :S Any idea which would be useful for finding these?
I would love to help but I really have no idea where you could find old documentaries. There is a site called BMovies, but it’s mostly for old movies.
http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/movies-watch-movies-online/
I love to watch documentaries so these are some of the best sites that I have come across. I know there are more places out there but these are some that I have never heard of and will be checking them out so that I can see what they have to offer.
if your looking for movies you just have to look around now i found a site that was very good and i go there most often now because i was tired of the pop ups and internet explorer been taken over by other sites http://stage66movies.blogspot.com http://onlineguidetomovies.blogspot.com http://www.jisu-movies.net http://qp-movies.blogspot.com there are more but these are the ones i use the most
No VBS.TV, reallly? They have some amazing stuff.
VBS.TV
Also have a look at Free Documentaries Online.
Another great source, and it streams to iPhones seamlessly
NonFictionVideos.com
Watch movies on iPhone
There’s a fantastic rundown of specific online films that are worth watching from around the web here, and aside from Front line it doesn’t cover the same ground as this:
I really don’t see why DVD s would die anytime soon; short of creating some sort of virtual reality disc that allows you to actually be in the movie.
thanks for this post
RE Documentary “fictitious garbage”: Now that I’m older (I’m in my fifties), something my father always told me makes more and more sense with each passing year (not that I didn’t believe him when I was younger, but I didn’t understand the full import of what he was saying): “You can NEVER really know ANYTHING.” I now understand that you can try and try to suss out the “truth”, but you’re never going to REALLY know it, not for sure. Well, that should keep us all humble, huh?
The majority of the docs found above can be found in one place, use the links below.
Most of the docs found on the sites above can be found on my site.
Heyas!
Just suggesting one of my favourite documentary websites
My favorite as it seems to have most of what the others do but is constantly updated.
Just go to the top option on the menu or try the search.
I have to second the Internet Archive site: http://www.archive.org
Its amazing, even got hi quality full downloads of certain films (inc Manufacturing Consent), and all totally legit too, fantastic resource
we got a site ourselves with dozens of docs, available to watch in full for free, and reviewed. Political, Civil Rights, Conflicts, Science & more. If ur intested>
http://www.blatantnews.com/documentaries.html
A very good documentary site i came accross was:
http://www.documentaryheaven.com
Im always on it although a fairly new site its packed with documentaries to watch.
Thanks for the useful list. Another good one with online movies also: http://www.zenetworks.co.uk
Enjoy!
CtrlAltShift is a documentary exploring the underground technological art form of Vjing, AVing and Live performance cinema. The documentary explores aspects of VJ culture and its convergent relationship with contemporary music composition and performance through interviews with pioneering artists. The artists we have interviewed express their opinions about this cutting edge underground phenomenon, and its impact on art, society and culture. The project allowed us to create an audio-visually dynamic project that both implements and showcases core techniques of VJ culture.
I usually watch videos over here http://www.docu-view.com/
Try Documentube.info
Wow…I am surprised to find so many places to watch documentaries.I have never seen so many documentary sites before.The most frequently site I used to watch documentaries is only:documentaries.bz
I think it is the best,but now, I think I have to change my mind.:D
I am sorry I tell the wrong site.The right one is:http://www.documentaries.bz You can also watch documentaries there.
I found this site with FREE MP3, clips and movies:
free-media.ucoz.co.uk
Hey! My website has some very reasonably priced documentaries; check it out if you’re interested.
Noticed you didn’t rank Films For Action in your list. Thought you might be interested in checking it out to review: http://www.filmsforaction.org The site has over 450 films (consisting of documentaries as well as short films, presentations, and PSAs – all activist-issue related). Cheers.
We are making a documentary that can be followed in real time, check it out at…
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2009/10/22/introducing-routes-music-an-in-progress-documentary-about-music-that-travels-across-america-and-back/#more-41889