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| Company type | Division |
|---|---|
| Industry | Film,cable television |
| Headquarters | United States |
Key people |
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| Products | Films andminiseries |
| Parent | Home Box Office, Inc. |
| Website | www |
HBO Documentary Films is an American production and distribution company and a division of the cable television networkHBO that produces non-fiction feature films and miniseries.
The division releases between 10 and 15 documentaries per year for the network and provideslimited theatrical distribution of certain films prior to their initial broadcast on HBO's linear television and streaming services.
The unit's longtime chief wasSheila Nevins, who initially served as Director of Documentary Programming from 1979 to 1982; upon returning in 1986, she headed HBO's documentary unit under various executive capacities (as Vice President of Documentary Programming, as Senior [later, Executive] Vice President of Original Programming and, beginning in 2004, as President of HBO Documentary Films) and served as executive producer of most of its documentary productions until she left the network in March 2018. Under Nevins, HBO's documentaries have won 35News and Documentary Emmy Awards, 42 Peabody Awards, and 26Academy Awards as well as 31 individual Primetime Emmy Awards honored to Nevins.[1][2] In December 2017, Nevins announced she would be stepping down from her position, with Nancy Abraham and Lisa Heller set to replace her.[3][4]
The network's first successful documentary was the six-part 1979 miniseriesTime Was, aDick Cavett-hosted retrospective that took a historical look at an individual decade in the 20th century—from the 1920s up to the 1970s—over the course of each episode. 1981'sShe's Nobody's Baby—produced in conjunction withMs. magazine—traced the evolution of the societal role of American women during the 20th Century; the special earned HBO its first Peabody Award, the first to be won by a pay television service and the first of many HBO documentaries to receive the prestigious award.[5][6] HBO also produced a series of informational documentaries in partnership withConsumer Reports starting in 1980, detailing information on subjects encompassing product safety, personal finance and health.[7][8] One such documentary,AIDS: Everything You and Your Family Need to Know..But Were Afraid to Ask, which aired in 1987 at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S., was hosted by Surgeon GeneralC. Everett Koop and provided factual information on theAIDS and HIV viruses.[7][9]
In 2006, film directorSpike Lee made a two-part four-hour documentary onHurricane Katrina,When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. Also in 2006, documentary artistLauren Greenfield directedThin, a feature-length film about four young women struggling witheating disorders seeking treatment at the Renfrew Clinic in Florida. 2008 saw the U.S. television premiere ofBaghdad High, which depicted the lives of four boys attending a high school in theIraqi capital city over the course of one year, through a video diary filmed by the documentary's principal subjects who were provided cameras to film the project.[10]
In November 2008, HBO paid low seven figures for the U.S. television rights to the Amy Rice–Alicia Sams documentaryBy the People: The Election ofBarack Obama. The film—which had a limited theatrical release in New York City and Los Angeles, and aired on HBO in November 2009—covered Obama's 2006 trip to Africa, his presidential primary campaign, the2008 general election and hisfirst Presidential inauguration.[11] In November 2012, HBO aired the four-part documentary,Witness, which devoted each part to one of four conflict regions—Juarez,Libya,South Sudan andRio de Janeiro—as covered by a team of photojournalists based in those regions.[12] On March 28, 2013, the channel premiered theAlexandra Pelosi-directedFall to Grace, about the infidelity scandal that led to the 2011 resignation of New Jersey governorJim McGreevey and resulted in him coming out asgay.[13][14] That same year, HBO produced and distributedLife According to Sam a documentary film based on the life ofSam Berns.[15][16][17]
In February 2015, HBO premiered a six-part documentary fromAndrew Jarecki,The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, chronicling the mystery surrounding theNew York real estate heir's alleged involvement in the unsolved 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathie Durst; the 2000 execution-style killing of writerSusan Berman; and the 2001 death anddismemberment of Durst's neighbor, Morris Black. The miniseries gained broader exposure after Durst was arrested onfirst-degree murder charges in relation to Berman's death on March 14, 2015 (one day prior to the docuseries's finale). The evidence leading to his arrest included an envelope left by Berman after her murder and provided to the filmmakers for analysis by her stepson, Sareb Kaufman, with misspelledblock letter handwriting matching an anonymous envelope sent to police in December 2000 to alert them to Berman's murder, and a rambling apparent confession by Durst—unaware that the microphone attached to him for his interview with Jarecki was still recording—to the murders of all three victims.[18][19]
HBO has also produced recurring documentary series, among the earliest and most notable beingAmerica Undercover, a monthly one-hour series of topical documentaries covering subjects in an un-sensationalized manner.[20][21] TheAmerica Undercover banner would go on to spawn two regular sub-series:Real Sex (a late night magazine-formatted series of specials that ran from 1992 to 2009, featuring frank explorations on a variety of mainstream and non-mainstream sexual matters[7]) andAutopsy (a series of specials that aired between 1994 and 2008, in whichforensic pathologist Dr.Michael Baden provides analysis on criminal, suspicious and health-related death cases). One ofAmerica Undercover's most notable specials was 1985'sSoldiers in Hiding, focusing onhomeless veterans of theVietnam War living in the wilderness, which was the firstAcademy Award nomination for a cable television service in the Best Documentary category (although HBO has had some of its documentaries enter limited theatrical release to qualify for Oscar nominations in later years).[7] HBO is also noted for itsSports of the 20th Century documentary brand. One of its most notable documentaries from that series wasDare to Dream, a 2005 film about theU.S. Women's Soccer Team and the roles ofMia Hamm,Kristine Lilly,Brandi Chastain,Joy Fawcett andJulie Foudy in the team's rise to prominence in sports.
Through a partnership withVice Media, the network ran a monthly docuseries,Vice, featuring in-depth reports from host/creator/Vice magazine co-founderShane Smith and a team of correspondents investigating political and cultural topics and using animmersionist filmmaking style. Running for six seasons from April 2013 to December 2018, the show won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Informational Series or Special" in 2014.[22]Vice was cancelled on February 1, 2019, as part of a broader corporate reorganization at Vice Media; a companion daily news show,Vice News Tonight, was cancelled on June 10, 2019, when HBO announced it would be terminating its seven-year partnership with the company. (TheVice docuseries moved to Showtime andVice News Tonight moved toVice on TV in March 2020.)[23][24][25][26]
In 2020, HBO premieredThe Vow, a documentary series revolving aroundNXIVM directed byJehane Noujaim andKarim Amer.[27][28] The series was renewed for a second and final season, which premiered in October 2022.[29]
In 2021, HBO premieredAllen v. Farrow, a documentary series examining theallegations made by Dylan Farrow against her father Woody Allen.[30] The first episode garnered over a million viewers, the most for an HBO documentary series sinceThe Case Against Adnan Syed in 2019.[31] The series went on to earn severalPrimetime Emmy Award nominations.[32]
In 2022, HBO acquired television and streaming rights toAll That Breathes directed byShaunak Sen, andAll the Beauty and the Bloodshed directed byLaura Poitras, both of which went on to be nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.[33][34][35]
In 2023, HBO premieredLast Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York directed byAnthony Caronna, and executive produced byLiz Garbus,Dan Cogan andCharlize Theron.[36]Telemarketers directed byAdam Bhala Lough and Sam Lipman-Stern, executive produced byJosh Safdie,Benny Safdie,David Gordon Green andDanny McBride, revolving around two employees set to expose thetelemarketing industry,[37]Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God followingAmy Carlson directed byHannah Olson,[38] andMurder in Boston: Roots, Rampage, and Reckoning directed byJason Hehir.[39]
In 2024, HBO premiered the second season ofThe Jinx, focusing on Robert Durst trial and the aftermath following the release of the first season,[40]Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. directed byJamila Wignot focusing onStax Records,[41]Ren Faire directed byLance Oppenheim focusing on theTexas Renaissance Festival,[42] andChimp Crazy directed byEric Goode following Tonia Haddix, whose love for a chimpanzee spins into a wild game with authorities and the animal rights groupPETA.[43] The series marked HBO's most watched documentary series in several years.[44]
That same year, HBO premiered the feature-length documentariesThe Truth vs. Alex Jones,[45]MoviePass, MovieCrash,[46]Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes,[47]Faye,[48]Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery,[49] andNight is Not Eternal.[50]
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