Andy DehnartDocumentary feature films are the smarter, older cousin of reality TV, and there are many, many amazing documentaries that tell true, often important stories in artistic and, yes, thoroughly entertaining ways. From a real-life thriller about dolphin slaughter to an honest look at Joan Rivers, there’s a lot of great documentary film being produced now–and of course, there’s a lot that’s been produced in the past.
To highlight some of the best, Current will air a mini-series that counts down the 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die starting tonight. Hosted by Morgan Spurlock, the director and star of the great film Super Size Me and other films, the series features talking head interviews, clips, and Spurlock interviewing documentary filmmakers and subjects.
The series airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET throughout August, and the network describes it as “a celebration of the most remarkable and moving documentaries released in the past 25 years” and says the series “examines how the documentary feature has evolved into an increasingly popular genre, becoming a major box office draw and impacting contemporary American culture in ways never seen before.”
There are clips of the series on Current’s site, and here are the first seven minutes: