The International Emmy Award for Best Documentary has been presented since 1967 by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (IATAS) to the best documentaries produced and initially aired outside the United States.
Rules
According to the rules of the International Academy, a documentary is a factual presentation that provides an in-depth analysis of a specific subject or point of view, supported by evidence and informed commentary, on any subject other than art and artists. The program must meet the minimum format length of a televised half-hour time slot.
If the program is part of a continuous series of self-contained episodes (i.e., each episode has its own storyline with a conclusion; or each episode may have a different director and/or producer; or the series has the potential to continue for multiple seasons), then each episode must be submitted as a separate entry.
If the program is a multi-part series with a finite number of episodes (no further episodes planned), covering the same theme, two (2) episodes must be submitted to represent the series as a whole.
If the program contains multiple parts with a continuing storyline beyond one episode or shares the same concept, two (2) episodes must be submitted to represent the series as a whole. The program may employ partial reenactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion, or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not fiction.
Winners and nominees 1960s-1970s Year English title Original title Production company/Network Country 1967 Big Deal at Gothenburg Tyne Tees Television 1968 The Anderson Platoon La Section Anderson Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française 1969 The Last Campaign of Robert Kennedy Swiss Broadcasting and Television 1979 The Secret Hospital – Part 1, Rampton Yorkshire Television
1980s Year English title Original title Production company/Network Country 1980 Fighting Back Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 1981 Charters to Hell Charters Pour L'Enfer TF1 1982 Is There One Who Understands Me? – The World of James Joyce Raidió Teilifís Éireann 1983 The Miracle of Life Swedish Television 1984 The Heart of the Dragon: Remembering (Episode 1) Channel 4 1985 28 Up Granada Television 1986 Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker Channel 4 / Csaky Ltd. 1987 The Sword of Islam Granada Television 1988 The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank TROS / BRT Belgium Television / AVA 1989 Four Hours in My Lai Yorkshire TV
1990s Year English title Original title Production company/Network Country 1990 J'ai Douze Ans et Je Fais la Guerre CAPA Production / Canal Plus / France 3 1991 Cambodia – The Betrayal ITV Central El Caso 112 Televisión Española Chasseurs des ténèbres Antenne 2 / MDI / Nat Geo / Wind Horse 1992 The Fifth Estate: To Sell A War Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Inside Story: The Nightrider BBC Television Kwai Antenne 2 1993 Disappearing World: "We Are All Neighbours" || style="background:#B0C4DE;" |Granada Television || style="background:#B0C4DE;" ||- | colspan="2" style="background:#B0C4DE;" |Monika and Jonas – The Face of the Informer State NHK Shackled Children Metropole Television 1994 Life in the Freezer: "The Big Freeze" || style="background:#B0C4DE;" |BBC || style="background:#B0C4DE;" ||- | rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;" | 1995 || colspan="2" style="background:#B0C4DE;" |Anne Frank Remembered Jon Blair Film Company / BBC / Disney Channel Lest We Forget Contre L’Oubli France 2 The Dead (Twenty-Five Bloody Years) BBC Igor – Child of Chernobyl Zenith North / Carlton Television1996 The Pelican of Ramzan the Red Boreales / Canal + / Docstar / Premiere People's Century: "1933: The Master Race" || style="background:#B0C4DE;" |BBC Television / WGBH || style="background:#B0C4DE;" ||- | colspan="2" style="background:#B0C4DE;" |The Saga of Life: The Unknown World Sveriges Television / Eriksson Television / Wanngard 1997 Gerrie & Louise Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 1998 Exile in Sarajevo Exile Productions Futebol GNT / Globosat / Videofilmes Endgame: The Untold Story of the Hostage Crisis in Peru NHK 1999 Born in the USSR: 14 Up Granada Television / BBC Just Like Anyone Else Mainichi Broadcasting System
2000s Year English title Original title Production company/Network Country2000 Kapo RAI 3 / Spiegel TV / TEL-AD TV Stolen Generations Jotz Productions Playing the China Card: Nixon and Mao Channel 4 / WGBH-TV 2001 Welcome to North Korea KRO Television Challenger: Go for Launch BBC Two Golda's List La liste Golda France 3 For My Baby Mainichi 2002 Nicholas Winton - The Power of Good WIP / Czech Television / Slovak Television Offspring Barna-Alper Productions / CBC Television Decision at Age 18 - Israeli Youths Refuse To Fight NHK City Slickers: A Tale of Two African Penguins Pelican Pictures 2003 Like Goes On Das Leben geht weiter StarCrest Media GmbH Avenging Terror Channel 4 The Last PeasantsStalingrad ZDF 2004 The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off Channel 4 Testigo Canal 13 Seven Wonders of the Industrial World: "Hoover Dam" BBC Two The Origins of AIDS Les Origines du Sida Galafilm / MFP / Pathe Archives , 2005 The Drama of Dresden BROADVIEW TV GmbH / ZDF Contacto: "Paul Schafer: Se Busca" Canal 13 The House of Saud Arte France / Alegria / Starling / BBC / WGBH Boston , Prostitution Behind the Veil Prostitution bakom slojan COSMO DOC APS / SVT , 2006 Hiroshima BBC / TF1 / ZDF / Discovery Channel How Putin Came To Power Arte 9/11: The Falling Man Channel 4 The Search for Happiness WRD 2007 Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive IWC Media / BBC Scotland In God's Hands RCN Televisión Dinosaurs vs. Mammals – Secrets of Mammalian Survival NHK Smiling in a War Zone Cosmo Doc / ZDF / SVT 2008 The Beckoning Silence Channel 4 Asian Corridor in Heaven (Tea-Horse Old Road) KBS Collision over the Amazon Colisão sobre a Amazônia Discovery Channel / US Hispanic Please Vote for Me Steps International 2009 The Ascent of Money Chimerica Media Limited / Channel 4 Pancho Villa: Aqui y Alli History Channel Latin America / Anima Films Shooting the Messenger Al Jazeera English Cityboy – The Life of Investment Banker Geraint Anderson United Docs / ECO Media / WDR
2010s Year English title Original title Production company/Network Country2010 Mom and the Red Bean Cake Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation 9/11: Phone Calls from the Towers Channel 4 Kuarup: The Lost Soul Will Return Kuarup: A alma perdida vai voltar TV Globo You Die as You Lived: Roterdam Hospice Je gaat dood zoals je geleefd hebt KRO Broadcasting Company 2011 Life with Murder JS Kastner Productions / National Film Board of Canada Confesiones de un Sicario Turner Argentina / Anima Films The Nonfiction: Family Meeting - 7 Years in the Tanaka Family Fuji TV Wild Japan GmbH / ORF / ARTE / National Geographic / Parthenon Entertainment 2012 Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die BBC / KEO Films Across Land, Across Sea The Chosun Ilbo Hitler's Scape El escape de Hitler History Channel Latin America / Anima Films Race to the South Pole Der Wettlauf zum Südpol Loopfilm GmbH / ZDF 2013 5 Broken Cameras Alegria Productions / Guy DVD Films / Burnat Films Palestine / France Télévisions The Golden Hour Desert Road / TVNZ My Mother, Lady Bondong MBC 5 de Mayo, Un Dia de Gloria Discovery Channel Latin America / Cactus Films 2014 No Burqas Behind Bars Frihet bakom galler Nima Film / SVT / NHK / Ikon / DRTV / NRK Going Back De Volta Canal Futura / COOPAS No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka Outsider Films / Channel 4 Phantoms of the Border TV Chosun 2015 Miners Shot Down Uhuru Productions Africa's Wild West - Stallions of the Namib Desert Interspot Film / ORF / ARTE / NDR Before We Are Forgotten Antes de que Nos Olviden HBO Latin America Growing Up Down's Maverick Television / Dartmouth Films 2016 War of Lies Krieg der Lügen Zischlermann Filmproduktion Mothers of Plaza de Mayo - The Story Madres de Plaza de Mayo El Perro en la Luna Mom & Clarinet KBS / Upright Media My Son the Jihadi True Vision Productions 2017 EXODUS: Our Journey to Europe KEO Films / BBC 2 The Phone of the Wind: Whispers to Lost Families NHK Terror Studios Le Studio de la Terreur Capa Presse / Canal+ Tempestad Pimienta Films / Cactus Films / Terminal 2018 Goodbye Aleppo BBC Arabic This Is Me Eu Sou Assim GNT / TV Zero Puck's World De Wereld van Puck KURTA / EO Television Who I Am WOWOW / Acrobat Film 2019 Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World Submarine Amsterdam / VPRO The First Stone – The Rise of Lynching in Brazil A Primeira Pedra Canal Futura / Couro de Rato Louis Theroux's Altered States BBC Studios Witness: "India's Forbidden Love" Grain Media / AJE Witness
2020s Year English title Original title Production company/Network Country2020 For Sama Channel 4 The Witness El testigo Caracol Televisión Granni-E-minem KBS Back to Rwanda Terug naar Rwanda De Chinezen / VRT Belgium 2021 Hope Frozen: A Quest to Live Twice 2050 Productions / Netflix Sieged Cercados Original Globoplay / Globo Jornalism They Call Me Babu Pieter van Huystee Film Toxic Beauty White Pine Pictures 2022 Iraq's Lost Generation Enfants de Daech, Les Damnés de la Guerre Cinétévé / France Televisions / LCP / RTS / DR / NRK / SVT / Région Ile-de-France / CNC / PROCIREP – ANGOA Myanmar Coup: Digital Resistance NHK The Return: Life After ISIS Sky / Alba Sotorra Productions / MetFilm The Evandro Case: A Devilish Plot O Caso Evandro Globoplay / Glaz Entretenimento 2023 Mariupol: The People's Story Top Hat Productions / Hayloft Productions / BBC Dossiê Chapecó – O Jogo Por Trás Da Tragédia Warner Bros. Discovery / Pacha Films Nazi Hunter – Journey Into Darkness Nazijäger – Reise In Die Finsternis Spiegel TV Witness: "Serigne vs. The EU" Zungu / Al Jazeera English 2024 Otto Baxter: Not a F**ing Horror Story Story Films / Archface Films / Sky Documentaries The Billionaire, the Butler and the Boyfriend L'affaire Bettencourt : Scandale chez la femme la plus riche du monde Quadbox / Netflix The Exiles Mediacorp Transo FRM / Canal Futura / LateForCake 2025 Hell Jumper Expectation Entertainment for the BBC King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones Abelart Productions It's My Pleasure O Prazer é Meu Amana Cine School Ties IdeaCandy 2026 Louis Theroux: The Settlers Mindhouse Productions Marcial Maciel: The Wolf of God Marcial Maciel: El lobo de Dios Warner Bros. Discovery / Anima Films One "Orphan" Every Hour Mediacorp Pte Ltd Addiction Criminals Opioïdes, Business & Addiction Premières Lignes / France Télévisions
Breakdown United Kingdom has the most awards for this category with 23 (including wins for both BBC and Channel 4).
References
External links Official website