Documentary Archive

Original content sites

• Center for Independent Documentaries - Collaborates with independent producers to create films and videos on issues of contemporary social and cultural concern.
• Documentary Lens – More than 40 documentaries from Canada's National Film Board.
• Documentary Post - A community of enthusiasts that post links to documentaries of at least 30 minutes in length. Go to last page to see most recent posts.
• HBO Documentary Films - Clips from current and upcoming HBO documentaries. App available for iPad, IPhone & iPod Touch.
• Library of Congress - An important collection of older historical documentaries called the "American Memory Collection."
• One World TV - One World TV members' videos.
• PBS Frontline - More than 140 high quality documentaires, available in different formats, dating back to 2001.
• POV - Documentaries with a point of view." PBS Independent Documentary Film Series. "
• VBS - An online broadcast network that streams free original content 24 hours a day. Not all "documentary" related.

Content aggregate sites

• Best Free Documentaries - Thousands of free online documentaries in HD quality including full length documentary films, news on upcoming documentaries and documentary films in production, trailers, reviews and interviews.
• Best Online Documentaries (aka bodocus) - Aggregates hundreds of documentary videos from Google Video and nicely organizes them into categories. Last updated 2008.
• DocsOnline - Building a prestigious interactive documentary-on-demand collection.
• Documentary.net - Selected high quality documentaries to stream and download for free. Includes reviews, ratings, and search by duration.
• Documentary Buff - Showcases documentaries available online including reviews on some.
• Documentary-Film Network - 175 documentaries, some free, some pay-per view.
• DocumentaryStorm - Several hundred free, streaming documentaires, well organized, nicely presented, with user ratings. XviD browser plugin required.
• Documentary Tube - Watch full-length documentaries for free. Also includes articles on documentaries and related film festivals.
• Educated Earth - Documentaries that focus on the issues facing the planet and its inhabitants.
• FactualTV - Focuses on TV-based "factual entertainment." Stream films online, download or buy the documentaries on DVD.
• Free Documentaries Online (the original) - The goal of Documentary24.com is to collect the best documentary films available on the internet and to present them for free.
• Free Documentaries Online (the newcomer) - Documentary-log.com offers a selection of more than 250 documentaries. Ratings and comments on each movie are also available.
• Freedocumentaries.org - More than 225 politically oriented documentary videos or movie trailers.
• Free Movies & Documentaries - Documentaries selected from either Google Video, YouTube or the like, organized by topic.
• Google Video Search for Documentary - A few hundred selections
• Hulu Documentaries - A good start, including PBS, Sundance, and others. App available for iPad, IPhone & iPod Touch.
• Internet Archive Documentary Search - More than 100 matches on related keyword.
• Joiningthedots.tv - Brings together a selection of thought provoking documentary films delivered on-demand.
• Joost - Good quality videos with more than 25 channels in documentary section. App available for iPad, IPhone & iPod Touch.
• Media That Matters Film Festival Shorts - Ten years of 16 inspiring shorts by filmmakers committed to changing the world.
• Miro Video Player - Use this video player to subscribe to over 1500 web shows, documentary channels and podcasts (mostly in HD), including channels shuch as TED Talks, Frontline/World, NOVA etc.
• MUBI - Approx 85 documentaries available. Account required.
• Netflix Documentaries - Account required. Growing selection of instant streaming offerings. View "Netflix top-10 documentaries" article.
• One Big Torrent - Material that deals with or is relevant to issues of social justice, progressive and radical politics, independent media, ecology.
• SnagFilms - 1800 films. Plus SnagFilms iPad app offering 50 of its most popular documentaries in the palm of your hand.
• Surfthechannel - Offers an impressive Documentary section with almost 1800 documentaries.
• YouTube Documentary & Biography - Plenty to choose from here!
• Watch Documentaries Online - More free documentaries. Heavy on the ads and hoops to jump through. Account required to view some content.