Filmmakers who work in the documentary genre are extremely disciplined, focused, and in some cases daring. Documentaries often contain historical, political, or social elements presented as travelogues or through interviews or news footage. They can also focus on an individual or group of individuals such as the 1988 film Imagine: John Lennon, Stephen Hawking's life in A Brief History of Time, and The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, which tells the tale of Ernest Shackleton's doomed expedition in 1914.

Documentaries are typically made with small film crews on a low budget. Part of their charm is the raw footage and emotion that's often at the heart of the film's subject matter. One of the more provocative and highly successful mainstream documentaries is Luc Jacquet's 2005 film March of the Penguins. An exquisite look at the life and breeding cycle of the emperor penguin it really hit the mark with audiences, having grossed to date over $122 million worldwide.