Defining Genre
THE NEWS
A GENRE IN CINEMA
Every film catalogued, ranked by master score across a hundred years of the form.
Peak 2010s
58
Films Catalogued
71.1
Avg Master Score
7.3
Avg IMDb
2010s
Peak Decade
ROBERT DREW
Top Director
Of which 1 earned Oscar nominations or wins
The Defining Three
ESSENTIAL VIEWING
Top-ranked by master score. If you only saw three films from this decade, these are the three.

No.01
MS86.3
PETER D. HUTCHISON, KELLY NYKS, JARED P. SCOTT|2015
REQUIEM FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM
“Noam Chomsky and the PRINCIPLES of CONCENTRATION of WEALTH & POWER”

No.02
MS84.5
LOUIE PSIHOYOS|2015
RACING EXTINCTION
“It's better to light one candle than curse the darkness.”

No.03
MS83.7
FISHER STEVENS|2016
BEFORE THE FLOOD
“The science is clear, the future is not.”
Filter the List
58/58 films
Master Score
Awards
Showing 50 of 58
01










Requiem for the American Dream
2015 · Peter D. Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, Jared P. Scott
86.3
02
Racing Extinction
2015 · Louie Psihoyos
84.5
03
Before the Flood
2016 · Fisher Stevens
83.7
04
Food, Inc.
2008 · Robert Kenner
83.7
05H
How to Survive a Plague
2012 · David France
83.2
06W
While We Watched
2022 · Vinay Shukla
81.9
07T
The Culture High
2014 · Brett Harvey
81.4
08T
The Weight of Chains
2010 · Boris Malagurski
81.3
09A
Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory
2014 · Michael Rossato-Bennett
81.2
10
The True Cost
2015 · Andrew Morgan
80.3
11T
The Mask You Live In
2015 · Jennifer Siebel Newsom
79.4
12(
(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies
2015 · Yael Melamede
79.3
13
Terms and Conditions May Apply
2013 · Cullen Hoback
79.3
14T
The Case Against 8
2014 · Ben Cotner, Ryan White
78.3
15B
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
2008 · Anders Østergaard
78.0
16F
Four Horsemen
2012 · Ross Ashcroft
77.8
17A
All the World in a Design School
2015 · Mattias Löw
77.5
18
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
2004 · Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman · 1 Oscar
77.5
19P
Primary
1960 · Robert Drew
75.2
20T
The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin
2014 · Nicholas Mross
75.2
21T
The Age of Stupid
2009 · Franny Armstrong
75.1
22P
Propaganda
2012 · Slavko Martinov
75.1
23
Banking on Bitcoin
2016 · Christopher Cannucciari
74.0
24T
The Chinese Mayor
2015 · Hao Zhou
73.4
25P
Poverty, Inc.
2014 · Michael Matheson Miller
72.8
26M
Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve
2013 · Jim Bruce
72.8
27N
Neurons to Nirvana
2013 · Oliver Hockenhull
72.7
28E
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare
2012 · Susan Froemke, Matthew Heineman
72.1
29R
Red Obsession
2013 · David Roach, Warwick Ross
71.9
30C
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
1963 · Robert Drew
71.6
31S
SlingShot
2014 · Paul Lazarus
71.2
32
No Safe Spaces
2019 · Justin Folk
71.0
33T
The Drop Box
2015 · Brian Tetsuro Ivie
70.5
34T
The Champions
2015 · Darcy Dennett
70.3
35T
The Revisionaries
2012 · Scott Thurman
70.1
36F
F@ck This Job
2021 · Vera Krichevskaya
68.5
37R
Rabbit à la Berlin
2009 · Bartosz Konopka
68.2
38D
Disneynature: Wings of Life
2011 · Louie Schwartzberg
67.9
39B
Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World
2018 · Hans Pool
67.8
40
Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It
2015 · Torsten Hoffmann, Michael Watchulonis
67.0
41A
Among the Believers
2015 · Mohammed Ali Naqvi, Hemal Trivedi
67.0
42L
Lost for Life
2013 · Joshua Rofé
66.6
43T
The Human Scale
2012 · Andreas Dalsgaard
66.1
44S
Sustainable
2016 · Matt Wechsler
65.6
45L
Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home
2010 · Thomas Napper
65.0
46T
The Lottery
2010 · Madeleine Rotzler
64.6
47T
Two Catalonias
2018 · Álvaro Longoria, Gerardo Olivares
64.4
48O
Oxyana
2013 · Sean Dunne
64.2
49F
Farmageddon
2011 · Kristin Canty
63.4
50S
Streif: One Hell of a Ride
2014 · Gerald Salmina, Tom Dauer
62.4
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