Awards & Winners

BAFTA Award for Best Documentary

British Academy Film Awards

This page lists the winners for the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary, formerly known as the Robert Flaherty Award, for each year. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, children's film and television, and interactive media. A theatrical documentary award was presented by the Academy between 1948 and 1990. Documentaries have continued to be honoured with British Academy Television Awards since then and have been eligible in all relevant categories at the Film Awards. In 2012, the Academy re-introduced this category in recognition of the number of high-quality theatrical documentaries released in cinemas in the UK each year.
Date Established : 1948

Check all the winners of BAFTA Award for Best Documentary presented under British Academy Film Awards since 1949 .


Joshua Oppenheimer

Honored for : The Act of Killing

Nominations 2014 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Joshua Oppenheimer The Act of Killing
Alex Gibney The Armstrong Lie
Teller Tim's Vermeer
Penn Jillette Tim's Vermeer
Farley Ziegler Tim's Vermeer
Alex Gibney We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks
Gabriela Cowperthwaite Blackfish

Simon Chinn, Malik Bendjelloul

Honored for : Searching for Sugar Man

Nominations 2013 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Bart Layton The Imposter
Dimitri Doganis The Imposter
Kevin Macdonald Marley
Steve Bing Marley
Charles Steel Marley
David Morris McCullin
Jacqui Morris McCullin
Malik Bendjelloul Searching for Sugar Man
Simon Chinn Searching for Sugar Man
Amy J. Berg West of Memphis

Nominations 2012 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Asif Kapadia Senna
Eric Fellner Senna
Tim Bevan Senna
Manish Pandey Senna
James Gay-Rees Senna
Martin Scorsese George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Olivia Trinidad Arias George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Nigel Sinclair George Harrison: Living in the Material World
James Marsh Project Nim
Simon Chinn Project Nim

Les Blank

Honored for : Burden of Dreams

Nominations 1983 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Les Blank Burden of Dreams
Kevin Rafferty The Atomic Café
Jayne Loader The Atomic Café
Pierce Rafferty The Atomic Café
Bonnie Sherr Klein Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography
Jim Brown The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time!

Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill

Honored for : Soldier Girls

Nominations 1982 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Ira Wohl Best Boy
Connie Field The Life and Time of Rosie the Riveter
Ian Potts Return Journey
Joan Churchill Soldier Girls
Nick Broomfield Soldier Girls

Ermanno Olmi

Honored for : The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Nominations 1980 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Ermanno Olmi The Tree of Wooden Clogs

David Rolfe

Honored for : The Silent Witness

Nominations 1979 »

Nominee Nominated Work
David Rolfe The Silent Witness

Albert Kish

Honored for : The Canadians (Los Canadienses)

Nominations 1977 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Tony Maylam White Rock
Albert Kish The Canadians (Los Canadienses)

Alan Pendry

Honored for : The Early Americans

Nominations 1976 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Eric Marquis Seven Green Bottles
Alan Pendry The Early Americans

Boyce Richardson, Tony Ianzelo

Honored for : Cree Hunters of Mistassini

Nominations 1975 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Cree Hunters of Mistassini
Stanley Forman Compañero: Victor Jara of Chile
Martin Smith Compañero: Victor Jara of Chile

National Film Board of Canada

Honored for : Grierson

Nominations 1974 »

Nominee Nominated Work
National Film Board of Canada Grierson
Leprosy

Walon Green

Honored for : The Hellstrom Chronicle

Nominations 1972 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Walon Green The Hellstrom Chronicle
Bill Mason Death of a Legend

National Film Board of Canada

Honored for : Sad Song of Yellow Skin

Nominations 1971 »

Nominee Nominated Work
National Film Board of Canada Sad Song of Yellow Skin

National Film Board of Canada

Honored for : Prologue

Nominations 1970 »

Nominee Nominated Work
National Film Board of Canada Prologue

Jonathan Stedall

Honored for : In Need of Special Care

Nominations 1969 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Jonathan Stedall In Need of Special Care
Felix Greene Inside North Vietnam
Michael Tuchner Experiment in Television
Adrian Malone A Plague on your Children

Frédéric Rossif

Honored for : To Die in Madrid

Nominations 1968 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Tanya Ballantyne The Things I Cannot Change
Jack Gold Famine
Frédéric Rossif To Die in Madrid

Abidin Dino, Ross Devenish

Honored for : Goal! The World Cup

Nominations 1967 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Ross Devenish Goal! The World Cup
Abidin Dino Goal! The World Cup
John Spotton Buster Keaton Rides Again
Richard Cawston I'm Going to Ask You to Get out of Your Seat
Kevin Billington Matador

Kon Ichikawa

Honored for : Tokyo Olympiad

Nominations 1966 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Kon Ichikawa Tokyo Olympiad
Max Morgan-Witts Bruce Force and Finesse
Michael Grigsby Deckie Learner
Wolf Koenig Stravinsky
Roman Kroitor Stravinsky

Nobody Waved Good-bye

Nominations 1965 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Portrait of Queenie

The Devil's Blast

Joseph Strick, Sidney Meyers, Ben Maddow

Honored for : The Savage Eye

Nominations 1960 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Sidney Meyers The Savage Eye
Ben Maddow The Savage Eye
Joseph Strick The Savage Eye
Richard Cawston This is the BBC
Karel Reisz We Are the Lambeth Boys
James Algar White Wilderness

Glass

Nominations 1959 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Secrets of the Reef
Wonders of Chicago
L. S. Lowry
Jabulani Afrika
The Forerunner
Glass

Journey into Spring

Nominations 1958 »

Nominee Nominated Work
The USA in the 1930s
Holiday
Every Day Except Christmas
City of Gold
Journey into Spring

On the Bowery

Nominations 1957 »

Nominee Nominated Work
On the Bowery
The Silent World
Generator 4
Under the Same Sky
Foothold in Antarctica

The Vanishing Prairie

Nominations 1956 »

Nominee Nominated Work
The Vanishing Prairie
Rival World
Gold
Miner's Window

The Great Adventure

Nominations 1955 »

Nominee Nominated Work
The Back of Beyond
3-2-1-Zero
The Great Adventure
Lekko!
Thursday's Children

The Conquest of Everest

Nominations 1954 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Pictures of the Middle Ages (Images Medievales)
Elizabeth Is Queen
A Queen Is Crowned
Teeth of the Wind
Water Birds
Operation Hurricane
Mille Miglia
World Without End
Life in the Arctic (Vo l'dakh okeana)
Kumak, the Sleepy Hunter
The Conquest of Everest
White Mane

Royal Journey

Nominations 1953 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Royal Journey
Fishermen of Negombo
Highlights of Farnborough 1952
Journey into History
Le Mans 1952
Nature's Half Acre
Ocean Terminal
Rig 20
Opera School
The Streamlined Pig
The Open Window

In Beaver Valley

Nominations 1952 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Oil for the Twentieth Century
Visit to Picasso
Out of True
Family Portrait
David
A Family Affair
In Beaver Valley

The Undefeated

Nominations 1951 »

Nominee Nominated Work
La montagne est verte
Inland Waterways
Kon-Tiki
Life Begins Tomorrow (La Vie Commence Demain)
The Vatican
The Undefeated
Seal Island

Daybreak in Udi

Nominations 1950 »

Nominee Nominated Work
Isole nella laguna
Report on the refugee problem
The Liver Fluke in Great Britain
Daybreak in Udi
Circulation
The Cornish Engine
Drug Addict

Louisiana Story