The BEST episodes of HBO Documentary Film Series season 2018
Every episode of HBO Documentary Film Series season 2018, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of HBO Documentary Film Series season 2018!
HBO presents a full spectrum of non-fiction programming by leading documentary filmmakers. Taking viewers from the hidden corners of America to the shocking reality of global issues, these powerful, uncompromising and award-winning films never fail to leave an impact. Now, with HBO Podcast, listen to interviews with many of our award-winning filmmakers - and even some of their documentary subjects!
#1 - Elvis Presley: The Searcher, Part 1
Season 2018 - Episode 11 - Aired 4/14/2018
He was a boy from Tupelo who grew up to become the biggest star in music. Along the way, he absorbed a staggering range of influences, creating a revolutionary sound in his lifelong search for self-expression. Part 1 details Elvis’ early life in Tupelo, Mississippi and his unprecendented rise to fame over a single year.
#2 - Jane Fonda in Five Acts
Season 2018 - Episode 19 - Aired 9/24/2018
A look at the life, work, activism and controversies of actress and fitness tycoon, Jane Fonda.
#3 - Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
Season 2018 - Episode 18 - Aired 7/16/2018
A funny, intimate and heartbreaking portrait of one of the world’s most beloved and inventive comedians, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind is told largely through Williams’ own words, and celebrates what he brought to comedy and to the culture at large, from the wild days of late-1970s L.A. to his death in 2014. The film explores his extraordinary life and career, revealing what drove him to give voice to the characters in his mind. With previously unheard and unseen glimpses into his creative process through interviews with Williams, as well as home movies and onstage footage, this insightful tribute features in-depth interviews with those who knew and loved him, including Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Pam Dawber and his son, Zak Williams.
#4 - It Will Be Chaos
Season 2018 - Episode 16 - Aired 6/18/2018
An epic, yet intimate portrait of lives in transit and the human consequences of the refugee crisis spanning the Mediterranean. It Will Be Chaos unfolds between Italy and the Balkan corridor, focusing on two unforgettable refugee stories of human strength and resilience in search of a better and safer future. The film is directed by Lorena Luciano and Filippo Piscopo and debuts in conjunction with World Refugee Day, June 20.
#5 - Believer
Season 2018 - Episode 17 - Aired 6/25/2018
Directed by Don Argott, Believer follows Mormon Dan Reynolds, frontman for the Grammy Award-winning band Imagine Dragons, as he takes on a new mission to explore how the Mormon Church treats its LGBTQ members. With the rising suicide rate amongst teens in the state of Utah, his concern with the Church's policies sends him on an unexpected path for acceptance and change.
#6 - John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Season 2018 - Episode 15 - Aired 5/28/2018
Produced and directed by six-time Emmy winner Peter Kunhardt, along with Emmy winners George Kunhardt and Teddy Kunhardt, this documentary about Senator John McCain is an illuminating, exclusive profile of one of the most influential forces in modern American politics.
#7 - A Dangerous Son
Season 2018 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/7/2018
One in 10 American children suffers from serious emotional disturbance and more than 17 million have experienced a psychiatric disorder. A Dangerous Son focuses primarily on three families in crisis, each struggling with a child’s severe mental illness, desperately seeking treatment in the face of limited resources and support.
#8 - Andre the Giant
Season 2018 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/10/2018
A documentary examining the life and career of one of the most beloved legends in WWE history, from Andre’s upbringing in France to his celebrated WWE career and forays into the entertainment world.
#9 - David Bowie The Last Five Years
Season 2018 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2018
In the last years of his life, David Bowie ended nearly a decade of silence to engage in an extraordinary burst of activity, producing two groundbreaking albums and a musical. David Bowie: The Last Five Years explores this unexpected end to a remarkable career.
#10 - Elvis Presley: The Searcher, Part 2
Season 2018 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/15/2018
Elvis Presley: The Searcher includes stunning atmospheric shots taken inside Graceland, Elvis’ iconic home, and features more than 20 new, primary source interviews with session players, producers, engineers, directors and other artists who knew him or who were profoundly influenced by him Part 2 begins with his return home after his Army discharge and facing a rapidly changing pop-music scene.
#11 - The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm
Season 2018 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/27/2018
When ten-year-old Elliott asks his 90-year-old great-grandfather, Jack, about the number tattooed on his arm, he sparks an intimate conversation about Jack’s life that spans happy memories of childhood in Poland, the loss of his family, surviving Auschwitz and finding a new life in America. Directed and produced by Emmy winner Amy Schatz, the short film The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm interweaves haunting historical footage and hand-painted animation to tell a heartbreaking story of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, sharing memories and lessons of the Holocaust with a new generation.
#12 - Arthur Miller: Writer
Season 2018 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/19/2018
An intimate portrait of one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, told from the unique perspective of his daughter, who filmed interviews with her father over decades. The doc features a host of personal archival material and provides new insights into Miller’s life as an artist and explores his character in all its complexity.
#13 - I Am Evidence
Season 2018 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/16/2018
“I Am Evidence,” produced by Law & Order:SVU actress Mariska Hargitay, is about the untested rape kit backlog in the U.S. The doc tells stories of survivors who have waited years for their kits to be tested, as well as the law enforcement officials who are leading the charge to work through the backlog and pursue long-awaited justice
#14 - King In The Wilderness
Season 2018 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/2/2018
A documentary on the last years of Martin Luther King Jr., this doc explores the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to MLK’s assassination in 1968. It is designed to find a clear window into King’s character, showing him to be a man with an unshakable commitment to nonviolence in the face of an increasingly unstable country.
#15 - The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling, Part 2
Season 2018 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/27/2018
Part Two of The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling offers an extensive examination of The Larry Sanders Show, his landmark HBO comedy series. Colleagues remember the demands of producing material that met Shandling’s high standards, while his diaries reveal an ongoing struggle with complacency and search for authenticity.
#16 - The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling, Part 1
Season 2018 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/26/2018
When Garry Shandling passed away in 2016, he was widely remembered as a top stand-up comic and the star of two of the most innovative sitcoms in TV history. But to those who knew him, the “real” Garry Shandling was a far more complex person.
#17 - Traffic Stop
Season 2018 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/12/2018
In 2015, African-American schoolteacher Breaion King was stopped for a minor traffic violation in Austin, Texas — and what should have been a routine encounter quickly escalated into a harrowing arrest that was captured in detail by police dash cams.
#18 - Atomic Homefront
Season 2018 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/12/2018
In 1942, the U.S. government chose downtown St. Louis as a processing center of uranium for the first atomic bombs. Over the next 25 years, the radioactive waste from this processing center was moved to sites throughout the city’s northern and western suburbs and eventually dumped into the West Lake Landfill in North St. Louis County. But until recently, many residents living near the landfill were unaware the waste had become a ticking time bomb.
#19 - May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers
Season 2018 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/29/2018
Founded by Scott and Seth Avett and Bob Crawford in 2001, The Avett Brothers have gone from obscurity to critical acclaim and sold-out tours, experiencing profound heartbreak and exceptional joy along the way. Filmed with extensive access over the course of more than two years, May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers is an inside look at the North Carolina band, from their origins to a recent collaboration with legendary record producer Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Jay Z, Beastie Boys, Dixie Chicks, etc.) on the Grammy-nominated album True Sadness.