The Best Documentaries of 2026 (So Far)

Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It debuted at SXSW two years ago, but the music doc is finally getting a theatrical release. The biopic-doc tells the story of Preston, a Grammy-winning keyboardist who played with everyone from The Beatles to Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, and The Rolling Stones (he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, 15 years after his death). While Preston’s artistic impact is legendary, his life is less well-known—until now.

Release date: Premieres in theaters February 20 at New York’s Film Forum Theater

This feature from Tribeca Films explores George Takei’s legacy through the lens of his time on Star Trek—and with the help of lost footage from a 1985 student film that he participated in making. “We were interested in figuring out what it is about Star Trek that makes people care so much—what made these student filmmakers spend 35 years making a fan film, what made George participate in it, what makes all of the fans so passionate,” directors Timour Gregory and Sasha Schneider said in a statement. “We found that it really comes back to this idea of ‘infinite diversity in infinite combinations’ that’s been baked into the show from the beginning and resonates now more than ever.”

Release date: February 17

Director Suzannah Herbert’s new documentary tells the story of Natchez, Mississippi—a small town and antebellum tourist destination grappling with how its unsettling history continues to define its present. Natchez won the Best Documentary Feature prize at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival and will soon get a wider theater release.

Release date: Premiered at Tribeca; in New York City theaters January 30, followed by national rollout

Courtney Love will tell her own story in this documentary from directors Edward Lovelace and James Hall. The film will include Love’s look back at her relationship with Kurt Cobain, yes, but it’ll also explore the creativity that’s driven her own highly influential art. Love is also reportedly working on a memoir and releasing new music for the first time in over a decade. It’s about time for a retrospective on the Gen X icon.

Release date: Premieres at Sundance

Over the course of fifty years, Barbara Hammer became a leading pioneer of the lesbian film movement, creating works that celebrated and affirmed her identity and life experiences while knocking down barriers along the way. In this intimate portrayal of Hammer’s life, legacy, and creative process, filmmaker Brydie O’Connor draws on archival footage and Hammer’s voice to pay tribute to a legend.

Release date: Premieres at Sundance

Only John Wilson could make a documentary about concrete seem appealing. With The History of Concrete, the humorist makes his feature directorial debut, and his filmmaking trick here is to apply the Hallmark movie formula to a film about cement. If it’s anything like his How to With John Wilson docuseries, it’ll be equal parts funny, moving, thought-provoking, and absurd.

Release date: Premieres at Sundance

Another documentary from one of the most disarming comedians of our time: In Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story, Bamford takes viewers on a journey through her childhood and successful comedy career while exploring the mental health issues that have followed her at every turn.

Release date: Premieres at Sundance

William Greaves, known for avant-garde films like Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One and his experimental approach to cinema, shot a very important scene in 1972: a party he arranged at Duke Ellington’s home, where he brought together the last living figures of the Harlem Renaissance. While Greaves passed away in 2014, his son, David, was there that day as a cameraman, and he assembled the footage into a rare, intimate look at that pivotal moment in time.

Release date: Premieres at Sundance

Who better to tackle the complexity of artificial intelligence’s swift proliferation than the Everything Everywhere All at Once filmmakers? Daniel Kwan is one of the producers behind The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, created by Daniel Roher (director of the Oscar-winning 2023 doc Navalny) and filmmaker Charlie Tyrell. For this film, the duo takes on the complicated, emotionally charged topic by enlisting both AI skeptics and evangelists to debate the technology’s merits in full.

Release date: Premieres at Sundance; in theaters March 27

With audiences flocking to theaters to see both Wicked movies, The Wizard of Oz remains more culturally relevant than ever. Still, not everyone knows the story behind the incredibly challenging production of the 1939 film. Events from that set have become the stuff of Hollywood lore, and the new documentary Oz, from Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way, will explore exactly what happened and why the film still has so much resonance today.

Release date: TBD 2026

Questlove will soon add another entry into his burgeoning canon of stories about iconic Black musicians—from Summer of Soul to Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), The Roots artist has been steadily creating his own historical archive. Now, he’s back with one more: this time, a deep dive into the creation of legendary funk group Earth, Wind & Fire. The film was made with the full support of the band, including exclusive access to decades of archival footage and material. It’ll premiere on HBO sometime in 2026.

Release date: TBD 2026