You can learn a lot about the world by watching a great documentary film. Interested in learning more about this fascinating film genre? Here are five skilled practitioners of the art of documentary filmmaking whose work you should know.

 

Ken Burns

Ken Burns is a filmmaker with a range of interests, having produced engaging films on topics ranging from the Civil War, the history of baseball, jazz, and America's national parks. Burns uses photographs and other archival footage to bring the past to life. His work has won multiple Emmy awards and garnered two Oscar nominations.

 

Steve James

Steve James is known best for his ambitious and important documentary Hoop Dreams. That film chronicles the lives of two Chicago-area high school students with basketball ambitions. James followed that award-winning film with several other projects, including documentaries like Stevie and The Interrupters.

 

Michael Apted

An acclaimed filmmaker, Michael Apted has created a variety of award-winning documentary work. Most impressive is his Up Series, a project following the lives of several British children from different backgrounds. The first installment of the series was made when the children were seven years old; Apted has revisited them every seven years since, producing in the process a catalogue of films that chronicle how people change — or don't — across the years.

 

Kavery Kaul

Born in India, Kavery Kaul is a documentary filmmaker who has received a variety of honors, including fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Kaul's best known films include Long Way From Home, One Hand Don't Clap, Back Walking Forward, and Wild at Art.

 

Errol Morris

Best known for his ambitious engagements with difficult subjects, Errol Morris is a documentary filmmaker who also occasionally writes for the New York Times. Morris's best-known works are The Fog of War, a sustained interview with former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, and The Thin Blue Line.