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


Rioja: The Land of a Thousand Wines
2023 · 1h 36m
country: Spain
By telling the human stories behind the entire value chain that gives life to the Spanish wine with the greatest international projection, ‘Rioja, Land of the Thousand Wines’ portrays a currently blooming wine region underpinned by the talent and the work of the new generations of winemakers that operate side by side with the region’s historic wineries. The film puts the focus on the match between territory and product, wisdom and tradition, and lays a bridge between the origins and the future of Rioja. An immersion into a fascinating world that, through captivating cinematography and careful editing, attempts to find the keys to understanding what Rioja wine is and what makes it so special.


The Pope: Answers
2023 · 1h 23m
country: Spain
Ten young people from all over the world meet in Rome with Pope Francis with the aim of talking and conveying to him the main concerns of their generation. What awaits them is an unprecedented meeting, a face-to-face conversation, and a unique event.


Santa Liberdade
2004 · 1h 28m
country: Portugal
Santa Liberdade tells the kidnapping of the Portuguese transatlantic ship "Santa Maria" at the beginning of the 60's.This was a political act aiming to call the world's attention on the dictatorships of Salazar and Franco, since also several Galician Franco's opponents took part in it.


In Tania's Head
2026 · 1h 28m
country: Spain
Tania Head became a household name as a 9/11 survivor, celebrated for her miraculous escape from the very floor the plane hit. Her story of resilience, coupled with the heartbreaking death of her fiancé, Dave, moved the nation. As president of the Survivors' Network, she was a symbol of American strength, a fixture alongside political elites at Ground Zero. The illusion shattered in 2007 when a New York Times investigation proved her story was a lie: her career, her fiancé, even her identity.


Raphaelismo
2022
country: Spain
Raphael is one of the most prolific, followed & adored spanish artists in the world. This documentary takes us across his childhood, early years, his home & family, glory, transplant and reinvention as singer & actor in 60 yrs of legacy.


¿Tienes fuego?
2025 · 1h 6m
country: Spain
Film critic Alejandro G. Calvo traces an audiovisual journey through the work of David Lynch trying to find clues to decipher his enigmatic universe.


Las cinéphilas
2017 · 1h 12m
country: Argentina
Six elderly retired women, two from Buenos Aires, Argentina; two from Montevideo, Uruguay; and two from Madrid, Spain, have something in common, despite their different interests and lives: they go to the movies almost every day.


Money Heist: The Phenomenon
2020 · 57m
country: Spain
A documentary on why 'Money Heist' sparked a wave of enthusiasm around the world for a lovable group of thieves and their professor.


Miguel Ángel Blanco: The 48 Hours That Changed Spain
2026 · 1h 33m
country: Spain
This documentary explores how Miguel Ángel Blanco's 1997 abduction turned fear into collective resistance and shaped Spain's fright Against ETA terrorism.


Querido Fotogramas
2018 · 1h 16m
country: Spain
The 70th anniversary of the “Fotogramas” magazine comes in the shape of a sentimental voyage through the history of Spanish cinema thanks to a mosaic of voices represented by people who make films, those who write them and those who consume them. The documentary pays tribute to the readers of “Fotogramas” helped by the leading figures of Spanish cinema, who will read to the camera the most representative letters received at its offices in the history of the magazine.


Lágrimas rojas
2006
country: Spain
No overview available


Río arriba
2005
country: Unknown
No overview available


The Labyrinth
2018 · 20m
country: Colombia
A voyage into the labyrinthic memories of a Uitoto man, who worked for the drug Lords in the Colombian Amazon back in the 80s. Following his path between the forest and the ruin of a Narco´s mansion imitating the Carrington mansion in the soap opera Dynasty, the film unfolds the hallucinatory account of a near-death experience.


Sacachun
2018 · 1h 13m
country: Ecuador
A documentary about faith through an essay on aging and the fear of death. A story about a group of elders in a ghost town and their lifetime struggle for the respect of their culture and their different ways of understanding faith, where the need of water is the main element that supports their demands and ancient culture is presented as an heritage for new generations to come, that if their home town survives after they are gone. A film that portrays youthfulness as hope, while the main characters reminds us all that nothing is more powerful than our own will and that there is no such thing as a lost cause.


Decembers
2018 · 1h 27m
country: Colombia
The ghost of a photo-journalist killed during the December 1989 US invasion of Panama returns exactly 10 years later to resolve his family’s conflicts. Inspired by the story of his own family, in his feature-length debut, Enrique Costas Ríos poetically blends together archival footage and fictional scenes that recreate events from the invasion while tracing links to the true-life story of Spanish journalist Juantxu Rodriguez who was killed during the invasion.


Experiment Stuka
2018 · 1h 15m
country: Spain
Spanish Civil War, May, 1938. Four villages in Castellón, Benassal, Albocàsser, Ares del Maestrat and Vilar de Canes, were bombed from the sky and ravaged. 38 people died. Inhabitants never knew for sure who piloted the planes responsible for such atrocity, although the rebel propaganda attributed the act to the republican side. Now, 80 years later, the truth is finally exposed.


Informe Plus+. Eterno Wilfred
2026
country: Spain
No overview available
Miró tapís
Miró tapís
1973 · 22m
country: Spain
Commissioned by the Maeght Gallery with the exhibition of Joan Miró, organized by the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs at the Grand Palais, which opened on May 17, 1974 in Paris. This film was shot in six days in Montroig del Camp (at the Miró) and Tarragona during the implementation process, by Josep Royo, a tapestry by Joan Miró. Five people worked for eight months in the realization of this tapestry, using wool 1200kg and 600kg for the warp. The total weight of 3500kg and a half was six meters wide by 11 meters long. They need a purpose built weaving loom. The day of the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, the tapestry was placed in the lobby of one of the towers when they were demolished.


The Building
2012 · 1h 34m
country: Spain
The documentary captures the fall or rebuilding what had been a symbol of the Franco regime, but the cessation of work due to the economic crisis turns into a viewer of the financial and economic paralysis of the country during these years.


Landa
2026
country: Spain
Portrait of Alfredo Landa, Spanish cinema's most popular actor. From landismo to his greatest roles, featuring public affection, prestigious awards, unreleased material, and intimate testimonies about the person behind the performer


Society of the Snow: Who Were We on the Mountain?
2024 · 37m
country: Spain
An in-depth look at the creative process behind "Society of the Snow," featuring cast, crew, director J.A. Bayona and even real-life survivors.


Romancero marroquí
1939 · 1h 25m
country: Spain
The young farmer Aalami leaves his family to find work elsewhere. He gets to know the country and its people, customs and traditions at Küste in North Africa: Market life in Tetuan, the art of craftsmanship, the life of the Moors, dances and festivities in honour of the caliph, white mosques, the call of the muezzin of the minaret and the music of the shepherd flutes. Aalami also follows Franco's call and flies from Morocco to Spain to fight at Bürgerkrieg. In the end Aalami comes back to his wife and children.


El mundo de Fructuoso Gelabert
1968 · 19m
country: Spain
Documentary by Juan Francisco de Lasa about a pioneer of Spanish cinema. Gelabert attended one of the first sessions of the Lumière's cinématographe in Barcelona. Briefly after, he built a contraption based on this invention. He produced his first picture, "Dorotea", in 1897. His film "Riña en un café" is considered the first Spanish film to feature a plot.


You Will Be a Man
2018 · 1h 37m
country: Unknown
This documentary is about sexism and masculinity. It’s also a journey through reflections on male condition, an attempt to strip away beliefs, myths and prejudices about masculinity. Why is there violence against women? We try to answer that by the hand of a former pimp trapped by his past and an artist, son of a prostitute, who transforms his pain into provocative performances. In parallel, the class of a high school teacher and a team of publicists become debate scenarios on the same theme, while interspersed reflections of several influential men who address the issue of masculinity from multiple points of view. A rich and complex approach that invites us to reflect on our own gender related education and socialization.


Paradise
2020 · 19m
country: Colombia
The day of the “Event” has arrived and Dalila, Jano, Daph D, Megan, Putricia, Ciara, Barbara and Zodoma, are here to climb on heels higher than the walls of the genre and the identity. Together they will expand the limits of imagination; the makeup will be their war paint and their dresses the armor.


Esmeraldero
2003
country: Colombia
The true story of the rise of a Japanese businessman from Los Angeles named Eishy Hayata from an Airline engineer into the legend of the Emerald world -- the Emerald Cowboy


Ponerse Brackets
2021 · 15m
country: Peru
The journey to a great change


Anarchists
2000 · 1h 13m
country: Uruguay
Armed based on photography, period films, archival materials and testimonies of survivors, family members and historians, the documentary accurately and exquisitely reconstructs the course of the “expropriating anarchists” in the Río de la Plata and specifically in Montevideo del First third of the 20th century.


Ronaldo
2015 · 1h 32m
country: Spain
Filmed over 14 months with unprecedented access into the inner circle of the man and the sport, this is the first official and fully authorised film of one of the most celebrated figures in football. For the first time ever, the world gets vividly candid and un-paralleled, behind-closed-doors access to the footballer, father, family-man and friend in this moving & fascinating documentary. Through in-depth conversations, state of the art football footage and never before seen archival footage, the film gives an astonishing insight into the sporting and personal life of triple Ballon D'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo at the peak of his career. From the makers of ‘Senna’ and ‘Amy’, Ronaldo takes audiences on an intimate and revealing journey of what it’s like to live as an iconic athlete in the eye of the storm.


National Road
2022 · 1h 4m
country: Unknown
A journey from dawn to dusk across Spanish landscape while a culture war unfolds in several mass events.


¡Al fútbol!
1975 · 11m
country: Spain
Any given Sunday of 1974 in Spain, soccer games in several stadiums, the sarcastic voice of commentators, the inevitable presence of advertising. Goal! The victors and the defeated.


Màscares
2009
country: Unknown
No overview available
Wounded Night
Wounded Night
2015 · 1h 26m
country: Belgium
Taken away from her land because of violence, Blanca has been recently taking care of a shack on the border of Bogotá with three of her grandsons. Didier, the eldest child, struggling with a turbulent adolescent crisis, already seems to be heading towards uncertain territories. Blanca fights to protect him from afar, as she watches over the two younger boys, in fear of seeing them stray as well…


Niñato
2017 · 1h 12m
country: Spain
Jobless and with no prospects, Niñato (Brat) lives with his parents and does hip-hop music. He lives the life of the outskirts, it's the Madrid of the chronic crisis. But he is 34 years old and has three children to bring up. Time goes by, the kids are growing up and Niñato carries on, making music and looking after the children, without worrying too much about his future. Oro, the smallest one, not too motivated at school, will demand more attention and drive Niñato to face his own conflicts.


The Rememberer
2019 · 1h
country: Unknown
Matías De Stefano, an Indigo child who was born in Venado Tuerto, Argentina in 1987. From the moment of his birth he has the ability to remember everything he has done before birth and can understand, in a simple way, how the Universe works. His memories take him to travel the world and share what he knows with thousands of people. His trips help him discover his purpose in life and fulfill a mission that he could not complete thousands of years ago.


Rubius X
2022 · 1h 16m
country: Spain
On the 10th anniversary of the publication of his first video on the Internet, "Rubius X" is a documentary that deals with the origin, motivation and secrets behind Rubius, one of the most followed Spanish content creators in the world. A review of the history of a pioneer, the icon of a whole generation, who represents like few others the revolution of the new digital media.


Zoé Panoramas
2017 · 1h 29m
country: Unknown
A unique and introspective look inside one of Latin America's biggest rock bands: Zoé. The film takes you on a contemplative and audiovisual journey through one of the bands decisive years.


Radio Belén
1983 · 12m
country: Peru
A documentary short about a town floating on a river in Iquitos, Peru.


Can Tunis
2006 · 1h 24m
country: Spain
Year 2002. In a neighborhood of Barcelona, residents demonstrate against the expropriation of their homes. Since the 80s, this neighborhood in ruins is the main drug market in the city. Juan lives there with his father, eight brothers and about twenty nephews. Surrounded by addicts, Juan output grows hoping his mother from prison. The neighborhood will be demolished, and the family will have to find another home.


Buñuel
1984 · 1h 20m
country: Spain
Completed a year after his death in 1983, this program presents the definitive biography of Spain’s renowned Surrealist film maker and iconoclast, Luis Buñuel. Using photographs, film excerpts, and numerous interviews with Bunuel, the video chronicles his early friendships with Salvador Dalí and Federico García Lorca, the stormy reactions to many of his groundbreaking films, and the influence he has had on international cinema. Among those interviewed are directors Federico Fellini, John Huston, and Jose L. Saenz De Heredia; Buñuel’s wife, Jeanne Rucar, and son Juan; actor Francisco Rabal; and Octavio Paz.
Spanish cinema carries the surrealist streak of Buñuel through to Almodóvar's melodramas and a modern horror scene with real international reach. The post-Franco decades produced an unusually sharp break with what came before.
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.