Satellite Awards / Film / Best Documentary

The Satellite Award for Best Documentary is awarded to film documentaries that have been implemented in an outstanding manner in terms of film art. This award has been given since 1997.

The documentaries from the previous year are always awarded.

Nominations and winners

Late 1990s

year	Award winners	Director	Nominations
1997	Four little girls	Spike Lee	Fast, cheap and out of control hype! Shooting Porn SICK: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, super masochist
1998	Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life	Michael Paxton	The Cruise The Farm: Angola, USA Kurt & Courtney live on the outskirts of the city
1999	Buena Vista Social Club	Wim Wenders	42 Up American Movie Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Return with Honor The Beat Generation - How It All Began

2000-2009

year	Award winners	Director	Nominations
2000	Reckless indifference	William Gazecki	Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies Dark Days The Eyes of Tammy Faye Kindertransport - In a Foreign World One Day in September
2001	A Vida em Cana	Jorge W. Atalla	Calle 54 My Italian Journey Stanley Kubrick - A Life for Film
2002	The Kid Stays in the Picture	Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen	Biggie & Tupac Bowling for Columbine The Cockettes Dogtown & Z-Boys
2003	Amandla !: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony	Lee Hirsch	Capturing the Friedmans The Fog of War Verloren in La Mancha My Flesh and Blood Stevie
2004	Super size me	Morgan Spurlock	Born in a brothel - children in the red light district of Calcutta The Fuente Family: An American Dream Lightning in a Bottle Fall into the Void Tupac: Resurrection
2005	Mad Hot Ballroom	Marilyn Argrelo	Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Favela Rising The Journey of the Penguins Murderball New York Doll
2006	Deliver us from evil	Amy J. Berg	An Inconvenient Truth Jonestown - A Sect's Death Mania Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man The US vs. John Lennon The War Tapes
2007	Sicko	Michael Moore	11th Hour - 5 to 12 Darfur Now The King of Kong Lake of Fire No End In Sight - Invasion of the Amateurs?
2008	Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer Man on Wire	Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden James Marsh	Encounters at the End of the World Pray the Devil Back to Hell Religulous Waltz with Bashir
2009	Every Little Step	James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo	It Might Get Loud The Beaches of Agnès The Bay The September Issue Valentino: The Last Emperor

2010-2019

year	Award winners	Director	Nominations
2010	Restrepo	Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junge	Behind the Burly Q Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer Countdown to Zero Geheimsache Ghettofilm Inside Job Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work Sequestro The Tillman Story Waiting for 'Superman'
2011	Senna	Asif Kapadia	American: The Bill Hicks Story The Den of Forgotten Dreams The Interrupters My Perestroika One Lucky Elephant Pina Project Nim Tabloid Under Fire: Journalists in Combat
2012	Chasing ice	Jeff Orlowski	Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry The Central Park Five Kill Marina Abramović first : The Artist is Present The Pruitt-Igoe Myth Searching for Sugar Man West of Memphis
2013	The killer whale	Gabriela Cowperthwaite	20 Feet from Stardom The Act of Killing After Tiller American Promise Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr.Movie Sound City Al Midan Stories We Tell Tim's Vermeer
2014	Citizenfour	Laura Poitras	Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq Art and Craft Finding Vivian Maier Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me Jodorowsky's Dune Keep On Keepin 'On Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles Red Army - Legenden auf dem Eis Virunga
2015	Amy The Look of Silence	Asif Kapadia Joshua Oppenheimer	Becoming Bulletproof Best of Enemies Cartel Land Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon Scientology: A Belief Malala - Your Right to Education (He named me Malala) The Hunting Ground Where to Invade Next
2016	The 13th	Ava DuVernay	The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years The Eagle Huntress Seefeuer Gleason The Ivory Game - Das Ivory Plot Life, Animated O.J .: Made in America Tower Zero Days
2017	Chasing coral	Jeff Orlowski	City of Ghosts Cries From Syria Ex Libris: The New York Public Library Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS Human Flow Ikarus Kedi Legion of Brothers
2018	Minding the gap	Bing Liu	Crime and Punishment Free Solo RBG - A Life for Justice Three Identical Strangers Won't You Be My Neighbor?
2019	63 Up	Michael Apted	The Apollo Apollo 11 The Cave Citizen K For Sama Land of Honey One Child Nation