The 40 most popular hong kong documentary movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Chinese Erotic Movies
1997 · HK
A full length documentary on sexy Chinese movies (including sizzling scenes from EROTIC GHOST STORY, SEX AND ZEN, CONFESSIONS OF A CONCUBINE, SEX AND THE EMPEROR and many more.


Bruce Lee, the Legend
1984 · 1h 28m · HK
The Official Golden Harvest tribute to the Master of the Martial Arts Film, Bruce Lee.


Girl Unbound
2016 · 1h 17m · KR
In Waziristan, "one of the most dangerous places on earth", Maria Toorpakai defies the Taliban, disguising herself as a boy so she can play sports freely. But when she becomes a rising star, her true identity is revealed and death threats force Maria to leave her country. Undeterred, Maria decides to return facing the danger and to play the sport she loves.


Jackie Chan: My Story
1998 · 1h 15m · HK
Jackie Chan is one of the world's biggest action stars, famed for his wacky sense of humor, remarkable martial arts techniques, and willingness to perform incredible stunts without the use of doubles -- or a net. This video takes a personal look at Chan as he works on screen projects in Hollywood and Beijing and candidly discusses his life and work.


Buenos Aires Zero Degree: The Making of 'Happy Together'
1999 · 1h 2m · HK
A making of documentary for Happy Together. Includes interviews, on-set footage, cut scenes and footage of crew members revisiting the locations where Happy Together was filmed.


Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey
2000 · 1h 40m · HK
Documentary on the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, with a focus on the production of his unfinished film Game of Death. Using interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, Lee aficionado John Little paints a portrait of the world's most famous action hero, concluding with a new cut of Game of Death's action finale, reconstructed from Lee's notes and recently-recovered footage.


Havana Divas
2018 · 1h 31m · HK
The story focus on Caridad and Georgina, who had learned the art of Cantonese Opera in Havana as a young age and performed as divas for over a decade before their lives were changed by Fidel Castro's revolution.


Cockroach
2020 · 1h 33m · HK
In February 2019, the Hong Kong government proposed a bill that would have allowed the extradition of criminal suspects from Hong Kong to face trial in mainland China. The controversial bill sparked immediate outrage over widespread fear of arbitrary detention and politically motivated trials that would decimate Hong Kong’s autonomy under ‘one country, two systems.’ Protests escalated into epic pro-democracy demonstrations, in part led by young people connected via social media. COCKROACH, filmed during the height of the protests, captures the extraordinary intensity of an unprecedented era in Hong Kong’s history.


The Last Days of Bruce Lee
1973 · 18m · HK
Betty Ting Pei provides in-depth insight into her relationship with Bruce Lee and the circumstances surrounding his mysterious death.


@ in the mood for love
2001 · 51m · HK
A documentary following Wong Kar-wai and his cast and crew through the production of his 2000 film In the Mood for Love.


Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend
1973 · 1h 26m · HK
This documentary tells the story of Bruce Lee and his unsuccessful efforts to start a acting career in the U.S., he returned to Hong Kong where he became an international star, and his death at age 32.


Ritoma
2018 · 57m · HK
High on the Tibetan Plateau, the old way of life is on the decline. We follow the nomads of Ritoma as they navigate the collision of tradition and modernity.


Top Fighter
1995 · 1h 40m · HK
Welcome to the world of the martial arts. A voyage for the times of the martial arts cinema, from the beginning in China in the 6th Century A.C. by a Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma, until the actual time and the influence in the world, with interviews to actors and historians, and a review to the most important movies of all times and to the most famous action movies actors. A magnificent jewel of this genre what nobody wouldn't lose.


A Plastic Ocean
2016 · 1h 42m · HK
A documentary focused on plastic pollution in the world's oceans.


Shocking Asia
1974 · 1h 34m · DE
High on shock and light on cultural relativism, this mondo collection of video strangeness features assorted dead (or dying) people, a sex change operation, inexplicable sex acts, and a bunch of other stuff the producers' could get the rights to cheaply.


Jackie Chan: My Stunts
1999 · 1h 34m · HK
Jackie Chan: My Stunts shows some of the tricks of the trade that Jackie and his stunt team utilize to perform their stunts. This is not an endless gag reel of stunts gone wrong, but an in depth look at how timing and camera placement can make or break a shot. Jackie will show you what is done to enhance fights and protect the stuntmen from getting injured. Of course, if the character you are portraying is wearing shorts and a tank top, you just have to get hurt!


Revolution of Our Times
2021 · 2h 32m · HK
Throughout Hong Kong’s history, Hongkongers have fought for freedom and democracy but have yet to succeed. In 2019, a controversial extradition bill was introduced that would allow Hongkongers to be tried in mainland China. This decision spurred massive protests, riots, and resistance against heavy-handed Chinese rule over the City-State. Award-winning director Kiwi Chow documents the events to tell the story of the movement, with both a macro view of its historical context and footage and interviews from protestors on the front lines.


Kung Fu Stuntmen
2021 · 1h 32m · CN
A new documentary film revisits the golden age of kung fu stuntmen and action directors in Hong Kong during the 1960s-'80s, exploring their pain and struggles. The documentary is a tribute to kung fu stuntmen. “They risked their lives for stunts,” said kung fu choreographer Yuen Bin. In their heyday, these stuntmen and choreographers presented the best, most creative and most complicated kung fu fight sequences anywhere in the world, creating stunts that looked seemingly impossible.


Ta'ang
2016 · 2h 28m · CN
The Ta'ang or Palaung people, an ethnic minority living in the mountainous area between Myanmar's Kokang region and China's Yunnan province, have historically suffered many forced migrations due to war. When their survival is threatened again in 2015, thousands of them flee across the border. Filmmaker Wang Bing accompanies them and becomes a privileged witness to a human story that is both a modern reportage and a mythical epic.


Blue Island
2022 · 1h 37m · HK
Although the Chinese government promised that Hong Kong would retain separate status until 2047, in recent years the Chinese state has consolidated its power over the metropolis. Large-scale protests by the populace have been brutally suppressed. This mix of documentary, fiction, and visions of the future reveals the current state of desolate depression among the people of Hong Kong. “A desperate attempt to capture the final moments of a sinking island”, as maker Chan Tze-woon himself puts it.


The Best of the Martial Arts Films
1990 · 1h 31m · HK
The most explosive barehanded combat sequences ever filmed. An electrifying video of martial arts mastery and mayhem. This program takes a behind-the-scenes look at the weapons, the mystical eastern philosophy, and the incredible skills that have made martial arts films one of the most popular genres in the world today.


Stories of Pang Jai
2020 · 50m · HK
Until 2015, the government proposed land resumption without consultation to build a subsidized housing unit. In Hong Kong, where land is extremely expensive, it is not difficult to become a target for eradication if it is regarded as "no economic value". Cloth vendors roar for their common beliefs, between struggle and life, between politicians and bureaucrats, in Sham Shui Po "shacks", in the wind and rain, on sunny days, this is their living space.


One-Tenth of a Millimeter Apart
2021 · 27m · HK
Tracing the beginnings of Jet Tone Films, which was founded in 1991 by Wong Kar Wai for the production of Ashes of Time (1994), the film features never-before-seen materials, including deleted scenes, behind-the-scene footage, and selected narration by Wong Kar Wai.


Fish Story
2013 · 1h 12m · HK
J and Jacky are good friends who attend the same school. J is from a single-parent family, and will be taken care by Jacky’s family whenever his mother has to return to Mainland to renew her visa; such kind of story is not an isolated case. These families have been uprooted for a “better future” in Hong Kong, but is this “future” that the children really long to have? A Chinese saying: “How does one understand the joy of fish, if one is not a fish?” Will the adults really understand what the children want?


We Have Boots
2020 · 2h 10m · HK
The Umbrella Movement of 2014, also known as the Occupy Movement, paved the way for Hong Kong’s current upheavals, but unfolded in significantly different ways. This creative documentary focuses on the intellectual, political, and discursive underpinnings of the social and political actions of 2014, before fast-forwarding to 2019. A range of thoughtful and engaged intellectuals, students, scholars, activists, and artists including Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, Ray Wong, and Agnes Chow (many of whom are facing imprisonment for their democratic activism) articulate a range of philosophies, viewpoints and emotions, set against Hong Kong’s spectacular urban background of skyscrapers, night lights, and street-occupying mass movements.


Red Obsession
2013 · 1h 15m · AU
France’s Bordeaux region has long commanded respect for its coveted wine, but shifts in the global marketplace mean that a new, voracious consumer base in China is buying up this finite product. Bordeaux both struggles with and courts the spike in demand, sending prices skyrocketing. Narrated by Russell Crowe, Red Obsession is a fascinating look at our changing international economy and how an obsession in Shanghai affects the most illustrious vineyards in France.


Kung Fu Killers
1974 · 1h 12m · AU
Australian stuntman Grant Page travels to Hong Kong to find Bruce Lee's successor and looks at the cultural phenomenon that Asian martial arts has become in the West. He talks to actors such as Angela Mao, Stuart Whitman and George Lazenby - who were all making movies in Hong Kong at the time - and fights Carter Wong twice.


All Along the Way
2013 · 20m · HK
When the colors of the street seem fading, vitality of the city seems weakening, rhythm of people's life seems confusing...... There is still a bunch of young people, who are trying to confront the brutal facts of reality, to safeguard the kind of lifestyle they want to live. This is a fable from industrial building.


Via Dolorosa
2014 · 31m · HK
Via Dolorosa captures director’s journey in reconnecting with Vietnamese homeless persons whom she filmed for another short film two years ago. While she accompanied a man in his final days, Jo searched within herself to resolve the original sin of the documentary filmmaker as a bystander to the suffering of others.


Citizen Hong Kong
1999 · 1h 30m · US
Five young Hong Kongers, equipped with digital camcorders, help filmmaker Ruby Yang create a portrait of a city in transition.


I've Got the Blues
2018 · 1h 31m
Following her award-winning documentary, One Tree Three Lives, about novelist Hualing Nieh Engle, Hong Kong director Angelina Chan examines the artist Yank Wong Yan-kwai. A complex man who resists easy categorizations, Wong is a painter, art director, set designer, writer, musician, and photographer, an elusive renaissance man of bountiful creativity. More than a portrait of an artist and the creative life, the lm is also a high-octane cat-and-mouse game between lmmaker and subject: one tries to capture, the other evades


黃子華棟篤笑 - 娛樂圈血肉史II
2010 · 2h 20m · HK
No overview available


My Voice, My Life
2014 · 1h 31m · HK
A Hong Kong documentary directed by Oscar winner Ruby Yang, chronicles the trials and tribulations of a group of under-privileged middle school students as they undergo six months of vigorous training to produce a musical on stage.


Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice
2022 · 1h 27m · HK
Resignation, frustration and helplessness is what we all face as humans living on this planet. In a place like Hong Kong these conditions are intensified and magnified by the densely populated living conditions. The pressures of just trying to survive in the big city are already enough to drive people into extreme physical, emotional and mental conditions. These extreme conditions can cause humans to lock-up in every way. In this documentary, "Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice", we get a group of well-known but reserved musicians and music students from the bustling streets of Hong Kong and send them halfway around the world to the natural landscapes of Iceland, Fire and Ice.


Cinema Hong Kong: Kung Fu
2003 · 47m · US
Filmmaker Ian Taylor examines the impressive legacy of Hong Kong cinema -- specifically, how martial arts crossed borders and become an international phenomenon -- with the help of footage and interviews with the stars who made the genre what it is today. Director Lau Ka Leung (who helmed The 36th Chamber of Shaolin) joins in, sharing his thoughts on how certain cinematic technologies have improved martial arts films and expanded their appeal, on the set of Drunken Monkey (2003).


Fist of Fear, Touch of Death
1980 · 1h 26m · HK
A television reporter interviews fighters and promoters about Bruce Lee in preparation for a tournament to claim the title of “Successor to the Bruce Lee legacy”. Footage from Bruce Lee's films and interviews is repurposed in pseudo-documentary style.


Yellowing
2016 · 2h 13m · HK
The turmoil that has overtaken Hong Kong since its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 has spawned a new generation of young, passionately committed activist filmmakers; they want to tell Hong Kong's story with Hong Kong voices. And the best indie documentary to have emerged so far from the HKSAR is this year's Yellowing, by Chan Tze Woon, a 29-year-old with degrees in policy studies and film production. Hong Kong's fraught, tense relationship with its mainland Chinese overseers came to a head with the Umbrella Movement of 2014. A crowd of protesters stormed Civic Square on September 27. The next day police shocked most residents of the HKSAR by attacking the growing crowds with volleys of tear gas, whereupon a wide cross section of Hong Kongers occupied the streets in several areas and stayed for almost 6 weeks. Chan took his camera on the streets for 67 days during these events.


If We Burn
2023 · 4h 25m · HK
Hundreds of thousands − perhaps even millions − of protestors have taken to the streets of Hong Kong since early June. Sparked initially by the government's plans for a controversial extradition bill, the movement has now transformed into a broader push for greater freedoms and democracy, with anger over police brutality fuelling a cycle of violence. The protests are Hong Kong's biggest challenge to Beijing since its return to China in 1997. If We Burn looks at the movement through the eyes of Hong Kongers whose fates, like their city's future, now hang in the balance.


The Supernormal
1992 · 1h 27m · HK
Fox spirits, mysterious deaths and curses are the main points of interest in this pseudo-documentary. It was a surprise hit and is followed by a sequel.


Lost in the Fumes
2017 · 1h 37m · HK
Edward Leung was an average student before he unexpectedly finds himself at the focal point of two Legislative Council elections. Despite winning over 60,000 votes in the by-election, his ticket to LegCo is forfeited when the regime imposes extra measures in the nomination process. On the other hand, Edward finds his free days numbered as he faces rioting charges for taking part in the Mong Kok Protest.
Hong Kong cinema's 1980s and 90s peak produced the most influential action filmmaking of the era — John Woo's gunplay ballets, Jackie Chan's stunt comedy, and the wire-work that Hollywood promptly absorbed. Wong Kar-wai's films run on a completely different and equally exported register.
Documentary covers everything from observational vérité to essay film and true crime. The form's best work argues rather than merely records, and the last two decades of streaming demand have made it a commercial genre as much as an artistic one.