The BEST episodes of HBO Documentary Film Series season 2019

#1 - Buzz

Season 2019 - Episode 14 - Aired 9/25/2019

Acclaimed author Buzz Bissinger narrates his own journey as he struggles and searches for his own true freedom of expression.

#2 - In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11

Season 2019 - Episode 13 - Aired 9/11/2019

Eight student eyewitnesses from Stuyvesant High School in New York City recount their experiences of the Twin Towers attack on September 11, 2001, who as young teenagers, found themselves fleeing debris in the heart of the danger zone and faced with a harrowing journey home.

#3 - One Nation Under Stress

Season 2019 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/25/2019

"One Nation Under Stress" follows Sanjay Gupta as he tries to uncover the root causes of why American life expectancy is falling and is now shorter than all other major developed countries.

#4 - Alternate Endings: Six New Ways to Die in America

Season 2019 - Episode 12 - Aired 8/14/2019

An exploration of the changing attitudes in the United States surrounding death, including the ways it is recognized today and how many approach the end of life.

#5 - Finding the Way Home

Season 2019 - Episode 23 - Aired 12/18/2019

Eight children, who were once living in orphanages and other institutions around the world, are reunited with family members or placed in safe, loving homes with the help of J.K. Rowling's LUMOS foundation.

#6 - Liberty: Mother of Exiles

Season 2019 - Episode 15 - Aired 10/7/2019

A look at the history of the Statue of Liberty and the meaning of sculptor Auguste Bartholdi's creation to people around the world.

#7 - Saudi Women's Driving School

Season 2019 - Episode 16 - Aired 10/24/2019

The Saudi Women’s Driving School in the capital city of Riyadh is said to be the world's largest driving school, catering exclusively to women. While they embrace a new way of life and the freedom that comes from being behind the wheel, they also face challenges in a conservative Kingdom that appears to be making strides towards gender equality, but continues to silence and jail female activists.

#8 - Song of Parkland

Season 2019 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/7/2019

Filmed in the months following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, while the Florida school community is grappling with the tragedy, Song of Parkland documents the dedication of drama teacher Melody Herzfeld and her theater students as they return to school and resolve to continue with their production.

#9 - The Cold Blue

Season 2019 - Episode 10 - Aired 7/4/2019

A tribute to one of the world's great filmmakers and the men of the 8th Air Force who flew mission after suicidal mission in the Second World War.

#10 - Wig

Season 2019 - Episode 24 - Aired 12/19/2019

Wigstock was an annual drag festival which glamorously signaled the end of summer for the gay community in New York City for almost 20 years.

#11 - Unmasking Jihadi John: Anatomy of a Terrorist

Season 2019 - Episode 11 - Aired 7/31/2019

This feature documentary tells the inside story behind the hunt for ISIS poster boy "Jihadi John" by the US and British military and intelligence services. It interrogates the twisted worldview espoused by ISIS - the richest and most notorious Islamist terrorist organisation in history - and its propaganda machine which was operated by "Jihadi millennials" who turned social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube into recruitment platforms.

#12 - Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops

Season 2019 - Episode 21 - Aired 11/19/2019

Two officers with the San Antonio Police Department mental health unit are diverting people away from jail and into mental health treatment, and doing it one 911 call at a time.

#13 - The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley

Season 2019 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/18/2019

Academy Award winner Alex Gibney directs a documentary investigating the rise and fall of Theranos, the one-time multibillion-dollar healthcare company founded by Elizabeth Holmes. In 2004, Holmes dropped out of Stanford to start a company that was going to revolutionize healthcare. In 2014, Theranos was valued at $9 billion, making Holmes the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. But just two years later, Theranos was cited as a “massive fraud” by the SEC, and its value was less than zero.

#14 - The Apollo

Season 2019 - Episode 18 - Aired 11/6/2019

The history of New York City's Apollo Theater in Harlem is given the full treatment.

#15 - Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists

Season 2019 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/28/2019

The story of New York City journalists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill lauded in their time as the voice of New York.

#16 - Ice on Fire

Season 2019 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/11/2019

Produced by Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio, George DiCaprio and Mathew Schmid and directed by Leila Conners, Ice on Fire is an eye-opening documentary that focuses on many never-before-seen solutions designed to slow down our escalating environmental crisis. The film goes beyond the current climate change narrative and offers hope that we can actually stave off the worst effects of global warming.

#17 - Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston

Season 2019 - Episode 20 - Aired 11/15/2019

Overcoming the seemingly insurmountable odds that life threw his way, Liston became heavyweight champion of the world when he knocked out Floyd Patterson in 1962. Eight years later, he died but friends questioned the cause of his death.

#18 - Belichick & Saban: The Art of Coaching

Season 2019 - Episode 22 - Aired 12/10/2019

The documentary explores the four-decade-long friendship between two of the most successful and revered coaches in football history.

#19 - Very Ralph

Season 2019 - Episode 19 - Aired 11/12/2019

A documentary about the origin and the up growth of the fashion label Ralph Lauren.

#20 - The Bronx, USA

Season 2019 - Episode 17 - Aired 11/1/2019

From the team behind HBO’s If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast, The Bronx, USA follows producer George Shapiro as he returns to his hometown of the Bronx. Revisiting the streets, stores and memories of his childhood, Shapiro reflects on the singularity of the borough he grew up in and the close friendships he made there that have stood the test of time.

#21 - True Justice: Bryan Stevenson's Fight for Equality

Season 2019 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/26/2019

#22 - Running With Beto

Season 2019 - Episode 7 - Aired 5/28/2019

Filmmaker David Modigliani's behind-the-scenes look at Beto O'Rourke's breakaway campaign that was designed to unseat Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate.

#23 - Foster

Season 2019 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/7/2019

This documentary looks at the moving stories behind the largest county child protection agency in the U.S.

#24 - At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal

Season 2019 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/3/2019

This hard-hitting documentary chronicles the lives affected by the Larry Nassar sexual-abuse criminal case that shook the sports world.