10 of the best documentaries to stream for free in Australia

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A good doco is always worth your time. But the right documentary can open your mind, or even change your life. The all-timers we’ve listed here are just a sampling from Docplay’s vast library, packed with non-fiction features and series.

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Ablaze (2020)

History is, we’re told, written by the victors. That’s where fierce independent filmmaking can swoop in and change the past—a feat powerfully accomplished in this documentary from Alec Morgan and Tiriki Onus. It’s a journey through First Nations invention, as Onus realises his enterprising and mysterious granddad may have been the first Indigenous filmmaker. The raw footage he has is a bit of a miracle, and the newer film surrounding it is appropriately passionate.

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (2013-2018)

How good can a food-and-travel show really be? Every dang celeb in the world is hosting one of ‘em now—but the late, loveably cantankerous Anthony Bourdain did it best. Over 12 seasons and thousands of unique cuisines and dishes, the acerbic, up-for-anything chef is the finest possible host to new ways of eating, drinking, thinking and being. If you can’t afford an actual round-the-world holiday, this is the next best option.

Crumb (1994)

Cartoonist R. Crumb made his fame by drawing bodacious babes for underground comics, hoards 1920s memorabilia, and speaks of his fetishes openly and proudly. It’s a testament to Terry Zwigoff’s direction that, by the end of this absorbingly freaky character study, Crumb emerges as a relatively wholesome and well-adjusted character, compared to his morbid supporting cast of family members. Bizarre, funny, and gut-wrenchingly sad.

De Humani Corporis Fabrica (2022)

This is not your nanna’s breed of genteel Sunday afternoon doco. Gory, violating and coldly clinical, this French-Swiss film is named after a 16th century anatomy text. It penetrates the fragile human shell with gusto, following the exhausted staff of multiple Parisian hospitals as they slice and scoop at unconscious patients. Most of Docplay’s terrific titles will get inside your head in a metaphorical way; this one will actually have you worrying about what your dark wet organs look like.

Flee (2021)

A migrant story, a war story, a queer story, a documentary. Oh, and it’s animated. Jonas Poser Rasmussen’s experimental feature has a lot on its plate, but capably serves it to us through pivotally being a character study of Rasmussen’s mate Amin, who escaped his native Afghanistan for Denmark and has struggled to speak of his traumatising journey ever since. Until now: through confessional narration, warmly drawn animation and the encouraging gaze of the documentarian’s lens, a troubled truth emerges.

Hoop Dreams (1994)

Welcome to the jam! Rightfully considered one of the best docos of all time, this juggernaut sports saga follows two young NBA hopefuls—Black kids in Chicago who see a career in professional basketball as their only possible happy ending. It’s 170 minutes long, but every one of those minutes is riveting, thanks to director Steve James’ ability to make each new hurdle and opportunity feel as hugely important to us as it does to his desperate characters.

Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros (2023)

Don’t switch on Frederick Wiseman’s epic if you’re feeling peckish. Four hours long and made up solely of observational footage, the legendary documentarian turns his clear-eyed gaze to a revered French restaurant, where we pore over the painstaking artistry and flawless presentation of Michelin-worthy food. There’s no such thing as complete objectivity, and so Wiseman’s camera suggests sly hints of humour, pathos and poignancy, even if it’s just while we’re watching a fantastic cheese plate getting wordlessly assembled.

No Other Land (2024)

Co-directed by a collective of four activists from both Palestine and Israel, this West Bank-set exposé goes beyond the boundaries of storytelling or medium to become something far more significant. Just consider the soft censorship of its troubled distribution in the West; its triumphant Oscar win at the 97th Academy Awards; and the violence inflicted upon filmmaker Basel Adra in February of 2025, even with the world’s attention focused on his cause. A vital, shockingly well-made document.

Stop Making Sense (1984)

It’s considered the greatest concert film of all time for a good reason. Still screened in cinemas to this day as a bonafide party starter, we see the Talking Heads tear through their greatest hits, sweat blossoming across frontman David Byrne’s baggy grey ensembles. Through music, composition and explosive energy alone, this movie tells a story about community: a band’s beautiful minds coming together to make magic.

The Vietnam War (2017)

Seventeen-and-a-half hours, 24,000 photographs, 1,500 hours of archival footage, 79 interviews, and 10 years of production. Esteemed documentarian Ken Burns tackles an enormous subject in enormous detail, going deeper than deep for this seminal 10 part deconstruction of a morally fraught conflict. The breadth of analysis is made digestible through Burns’ patient, erudite tone, and an original score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.