If you’re looking for the best documentaries in 2024, as well as this year, DocPlay is the ultimate destination of factual content, with the best in the world curated to deliver thought-provoking and poignant titles straight to your screens.
DocPlay is a documentary-dedicated streaming service, offering almost 2,000 titles you can stream instantly. With several exclusives getting added each week, there’s always something new to watch on the service. Even better, you don’t need to subscribe to explore its library—simply go to the DocPlay website and scroll through categories.
However, if you watch documentaries on a regular basis, getting a DocPlay plan, which you can try for 14 days, is bound to be worthwhile. If you’re a Prime customer, DocPlay is available as an add-on via Prime Video channels in Australia.
For Foxtel users, the media giant launched DocPlay as a channel, allowing you to watch DocPlay content without the need for an additional subscription—available for all Foxtel customers.
To get started, here’s a list of top docos to watch, including some of the best documentaries 2024 and 2025 have to offer.
What are the Top 10 documentaries on DocPlay?
We’ve picked the Top 10 documentaries on DocPlay based on critics and audience ratings, as well as their enduring popularity on the service. Some newly released and acclaimed documentaries also made our Top 10 list. If you’re searching for the best documentaries of 2024 and 2025, you can find some of those films below.
Nang Nak
Drama •Documentary •Crime
Overview
In a rural village in Thailand, Mak is sent to fight in a war and leaves his pregnant wife, Nak. Mak is injured and barely survives. He returns home to his doting wife and child, or so he thinks.
Director
Nonzee Nimibutr
Cast
Inthira Charoenpura, Winai Kraibutr, Manit Meekaewjaroen, Pramote Suksatit
Duration
100 minutes
The Act of Killing
Documentary •Crime •History •War
Overview
In this chilling and groundbreaking documentary, former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of various film genres, from gangster epics to musicals. As they recreate their past atrocities, the line between reality and performance blurs, exposing the lingering impact of Indonesia’s 1965-66 anti-communist purge and the unsettling psychology of its perpetrators.”
Director
Joshua Oppenheimer
Cast
Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin, Ibrahim Sinik, Yapto Soerjosoemarno
Duration
159 minutes
蒸発
Documentary
Overview
In Japan, thousands of people disappear voluntarily every year. And there are companies ready to help those who want to disappear without a trace and start a new life somewhere else. Meet some of them in a film that soberly examines a modern phenomenon.
Director
Andreas Hartmann
Duration
86 minutes
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Documentary •Music •Musical
Overview
The individual journeys of the four members of the band, as they move through the music scene of the 1960s, playing small clubs throughout Britain and performing some of the biggest hits of the era, until their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that changes their lives forever.
Director
Bernard MacMahon
Cast
Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Robert Plant
Duration
122 minutes
Supersonic
Music •Documentary •Musical •History
Overview
Supersonic charts the meteoric rise of Oasis from the council estates of Manchester to some of the biggest concerts of all time in just three short years. This palpable, raw and moving film shines a light on one of the most genre and generation-defining British bands that has ever existed and features candid new interviews with Noel and Liam Gallagher, their mother, and members of the band and road crew.
Director
Mat Whitecross
Cast
Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs, Paul Gallagher, Peggy Gallagher
Duration
113 minutes
No Other Land
Documentary
Overview
This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.
Director
Rachel Szor
Cast
Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Farisa Abu Aram, Nasser Adra, Harun Abu Aram
Duration
96 minutes
Tickled
Documentary •Crime
Overview
Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn’t stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.
Director
Dylan Reeve
Cast
David Farrier, Dylan Reeve, David Starr, Hal Karp, Marko Realmonte
Duration
92 minutes
AUM: The Cult at the End of the World
Mystery •Thriller •History •Documentary •Crime •Horror
Overview
The shocking story of Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult that unleashed a deadly nerve gas in Tokyo’s subway system in 1995. Founded by disillusioned yoga teacher Shoko Asahara, Aum transformed into a terrorist organization while Japan’s police and media turned a blind eye. Featuring rare archival footage and an interview with one of Asahara’s former high-ranking disciples. A Sundance premiere.
Director
Ben Braun
Duration
106 minutes
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
Documentary
Overview
A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors’ health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.
Director
Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper, Eleanor Coppola
Cast
Francis Ford Coppola, Eleanor Coppola, Orson Welles, John Milius
Duration
96 minutes
The September Issue
Documentary
Overview
A documentary chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue.
Director
R.J. Cutler
Cast
Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, André Leon Talley, Hamish Bowles, Tonne Goodman
Duration
90 minutes
Best internet streaming plan
Best internet streaming plan
Benefits
Check out more documentaries on DocPlay
DocPlay’s content library combines Australian originals and international documentaries to stream, which makes the service a haven for doco buffs. Last year was also a great time for factual content with several documentaries released to widespread acclaim.
Some of the best documentaries in 2024 include the Academy Award-winning piece No Other Land, as well as other nominees Porcelain War, Black Box Diaries, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Sugarcane.
Frequently asked questions
Every week, you can find new documentaries to watch on DocPlay. Some of the most notable additions recently are Johatsu: Into Thin Air, Black Coast Vanishings, Voice, Still We Rise, and One to One: John & Yoko. These latest additions are also some of the best documentaries released in 2024.
DocPlay’s curated library covers a wide range of genres, including history, music, sports, politics, culture, health, environment, biography, and true crime, catering to all interests and ensuring there’s something for every documentary enthusiast. Categories such as Australian Stories, New Zealand Stories, Social Justice, Short Film, and many more are also available.
Crime shows and movies are even higher-stakes when based on real events. Some of the best true crime documentaries to watch in Australia are Nisman: The Prosecutor, The President & The Spy, Dear Zachary, When Missing Turns to Murder, and Top 10 Secrets and Mysteries.
Newly released documentaries that are now streaming on DocPlay include No Other Land, Black Box Diaries, Porcelain War, The Road to Patagonia, and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat. You can also explore the app without a subscription to check our more of the best documentaries in 2024.
You can sign up directly to DocPlay, which still offers a 14-day free trial. The monthly plan currently costs $9.99 per month, or you can save on plan fees when you get the annual plan at $99.99 (works out $8.33 per month).
If you’re a Foxtel customer, DocPlay is available as a channel (ch. 119). If not, Foxtel plans start at $73 per month to access its base entertainment channels, which includes DocPlay at no additional cost.
You can also get DocPlay as an add-on via Prime Video, although it’s worth noting that it’s not included for free with Amazon Prime. The subscription price remains the same, but the main advantage is that you can consolidate your streaming services under one account (Amazon Prime).
