The Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary is one of the annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. It was first presented in 2004 with Jonathan Demme's The Agronomist being the first recipient of the award.
Winners and nominees
2000s YearFilmDirector(s) 2004 The Agronomist Jonathan Demme Bright Leaves Ross McElwee Fahrenheit 9/11 Michael Moore In the Realms of the Unreal Jessica Yu Tarnation Jonathan Caouette 2005 Murderball Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro Ballets Russes Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Alex Gibney Grizzly Man Werner Herzog William Eggleston in the Real World Michael Almereyda 2006 Iraq in Fragments James Longley Deliver Us from Evil Amy J. Berg Following Sean Ralph Arlyck An Inconvenient Truth Davis Guggenheim Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple Stanley Nelson 2007 Sicko Michael Moore The Devil Came on Horseback Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg Man from Plains Jonathan Demme My Kid Could Paint That Amir Bar-Lev Taxi to the Dark Side Alex Gibney 2008 Trouble the Water Tia Lessin and Carl Deal Chris & Don. A Love Story Guido Santi and Tina Mascara Encounters at the End of the World Werner Herzog Man on Wire James Marsh Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired Marina Zenovich 2009 Food, Inc. Robert Kenner Good Hair Jeff Stilson My Neighbor, My Killer Anne Aghion Paradise Michael Almereyda Tyson James Toback
2010s YearFilmDirector(s) 2010 The Oath | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Laura Poitras|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | 12th & Delaware || Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing |- | Inside Job || Charles Ferguson |- | Public Speaking || Martin Scorsese |- | Sweetgrass || Lucien Castaing-Taylor |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2011 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Better This World | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Kelly Duane and Katie Galloway|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | Bill Cunningham New York || Richard Press |- | Hell and Back Again || Danfung Dennis |- | The Interrupters || Steve James |- | The Woodmans || Scott Willis |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2012 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | How to Survive a Plague | style="background:#B0C4DE" | David France|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | Detropia || Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing |- | Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present || Matthew Akers and Jeff Dupre |- | Room 237 || Rodney Ascher |- | The Waiting Room || Peter Nicks |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2013 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | The Act of Killing | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Joshua Oppenheimer|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | The Crash Reel || Lucy Walker |- | First Cousin Once Removed || Alan Berliner |- | Let the Fire Burn || Jason Osder |- | Our Nixon || Penny Lane |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2014 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Citizenfour | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Laura Poitras|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | Actress || Robert Greene |- | Life Itself || Steve James |- | Manakamana || Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez |- | Point and Shoot || Marshall Curry |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2015 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | The Look of Silence | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Joshua Oppenheimer|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | Approaching the Elephant || Amanda Wilder |- | Cartel Land || Matthew Heineman |- | Heart of a Dog || Laurie Anderson |- | Listen to Me Marlon || Stevan Riley |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2016 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | O.J.: Made in America | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Ezra Edelman|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | Cameraperson || Kirsten Johnson |- | I Am Not Your Negro || Raoul Peck |- | Tower || Keith Maitland |- | Weiner || Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2017 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Strong Island | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Yance Ford|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | Ex Libris: The New York Public Library || Frederick Wiseman |- | Rat Film || Theo Anthony |- | Whose Streets? || Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis |- | The Work || Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2018 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Hale County This Morning, This Evening | style="background:#B0C4DE" | RaMell Ross|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- |Bisbee '17 || Robert Greene |- |Minding the Gap || Bing Liu |- | Shirkers || Sandi Tan |- |Won't You Be My Neighbor? || Morgan Neville |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" |2019 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | American Factory Steven Bognar and Julia ReichertApollo 11 Todd Douglas MillerThe Edge of Democracy Petra Costa Midnight Traveler Hassan FaziliOne Child Nation Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang
2020s YearFilmDirector(s) 2020A Thousand Cuts Ramona DiazTime Garrett Bradley 76 Days Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous City Hall Frederick Wiseman Our Time Machine Yang Sun and S. Leo Chiang 2021 Flee | style="background:#B0C4DE" | Jonas Poher Rasmussen|rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- | Ascension || Jessica Kingdon |- | Faya Dayi || Jessica Beshir |- | President || Camilla Nielsson |- | Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) || Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson |- ! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;" | 2022 | style="background:#B0C4DE" | All That Breathes Shaunak Sen All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Laura Poitras I Didn't See You There Reid Davenport The Territory Alex Pritz What We Leave Behind Iliana Sosa 2023 Four Daughters Kaouther Ben Hania 20 Days in Mariupol Mstyslav Chernov Against the Tide Sarvnik Kaur Apolonia, Apolonia Lea Glob Our Body Claire Simon 2024 No Other Land Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor Dahomey Mati Diop Intercepted Oksana Karpovych Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Johan Grimonprez Sugarcane Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie Union Brett Story and Stephen Maing2025 My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow Julia Loktev2000 Meters to AndriivkaMstyslav ChernovBLKNWS: Terms & ConditionsKahlil JosephThe Perfect NeighborGeeta GandbhirPut Your Soul on Your Hand and WalkSepideh Farsi
See also Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature BAFTA Award for Best Documentary Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Cinema Eye Honors IDA Documentary Awards National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature
References