{"id":14737,"date":"2017-02-14T11:38:30","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T19:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=14737"},"modified":"2023-09-19T12:57:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T19:57:46","slug":"great-animated-documentaries","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Great Animated Documentaries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Keith Maitland\u2019s animated documentary <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/tower\/\">TOWER<\/a><\/em>\u00a0has left critics and awards-voting bodies alike flummoxed as to how best to categorize it. This is a visionary work, no doubt, that uses voice-actors and vintage audio to reconstruct what happened back in 1966 when a sniper shot dozens of people on the campus of University of Texas. The rotoscopic animation smoothes over the differences between the various source materials, creating a gripping\u2014and ultimately moving\u2014\u201cyou are there\u201d effect. So was <em>TOWER\u00a0<\/em>one of 2016\u2019s best docs, or one of the best cartoons? Or was it something entirely new?<\/p>\n<p>This past decade has seen a boom in non-fiction films that use animation to tell their stories, either as short illustrative interludes or as the main selling point of the entire picture. But while animation may be trendy in documentaries, it\u2019s hardly a novel technique. Animation pioneer Windsor McCay spent nearly two years hand-drawing his interpretation of \u201cThe Sinking of the Lusitania,\u201d for a 1918 short that turned out to be more vivid than any newsreel could\u2019ve been at depicting a tragedy. Later, artists and writers working for major companies like Disney, Warner Bros, and UPA used their expertise to educate and inspire, in lively mini-movies aimed at audiences young and old.<\/p>\n<p>The ten movies below push well beyond the short-form, sustaining animated (or at least mostly animated) non-fiction for an hour or more. These are the films that show how a drawn documentary can work, and why this approach is more than just a gimmick. At their best, animated docs can be even more image-driven than their live-action counterparts, using ink and paint to leave a deeper impression.<!--more--><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong><em>Victory<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Through<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Air<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Power<\/em><\/strong><strong> (1943)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Victory Through Air Power\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C7dkC4iJf54?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Walt Disney was so impressed by Russian-born aviator Alex De Seversky\u2019s 1942 treatise on how the U.S. should counter Germany and Japan&#8217;s aerial prowess that he spent his own money to turn it into a movie, and then went outside his skeptical usual distribution partner RKO to get into theaters, to reach the largest possible audience of persuadable Americans. Disney was always a master propagandist, selling a vision of placid middle-class living that even now people confuse with how this country actually was in the mid-20th century. <em>Victory Through Air Power<\/em> retains all of the entertainment value of the studio\u2019s classic films, right down to the amusing history of aviation that frames the story; but that charm quickly evolves into a cogent argument for how to beat back fear and uncertainty with technology.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong><em>Of<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Stars<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>and<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Men<\/em><\/strong><strong> (1964)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Of stars and men - Extrait\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/98123446?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe>\n<p>Groundbreaking animators John and Faith Hubley made one of their most personal films with this adaptation of astronomer Harlow Shapley\u2019s book about the size of the universe. Taking that bit of science as their starting point, the Hubleys free-associate and philosophize, celebrating the wonders of existence while contemplating our place within it. The movie opens with mankind taking the crown from the lion as the king of the Earth. The rest of the picture ponders what that really means.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong><em>Drawn<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>from<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Memory<\/em><\/strong><strong> (1995)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Drawn From Memory - Extrait\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/97312896?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe>\n<p>Czech animator Paul Fierlinger led a fascinating life, which involved hopping around the globe as the son of a diplomat, becoming a pioneer in his homeland\u2019s thriving film industry in the \u201850s and \u201860s, and then defecting after the Soviets rolled into Prague. His animated memoir covers just that first stretch of his biography, with contributions from his famous friends Milos Forman and Vaclav Havel, who provide the voices for their own characters. By the end of the film, Fierlinger proves that this may be one the best ways to see how one man\u2019s experiences shaped his art: by fusing the two.<\/p>\n<p>More on Fierlinger, behind the scenes of another film, <em>My Dog Tulip<\/em>:<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Making of My Dog Tulip Clip1\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V2GAPTbEX9E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><strong><em>In<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>the<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Realms<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>of<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>the<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Unreal<\/em><\/strong><strong> (2004)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL - trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MSzzirIP0No?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>When Chicago janitor Henry Darger died in 1973, he left behind piles of artwork and journals, a 5,000-page autobiography, and a 15,000-page fantasy novel about a revolution led by two sexually ambiguous preteens. Darger took images from comic strips and catalogs and rearranged them into surreal, disturbing images of war and torture, informed by his own rough childhood. Because he didn\u2019t have many relationships, Jessica Yu\u2019s documentary <em>In the Realms of the Unreal<\/em> largely eschews talking heads, instead relying on voice-over comments from neighbors, and animated versions of Darger\u2019s original illustrations. Her approach unlocks the connection between the depressing life of a lonely blue-collar worker and the insanely elaborate revenge fantasy he worked on at home for decades.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/chicago10\/\"><strong><em>Chicago<\/em><\/strong><strong><em> 10<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong> (2007)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CHICAGO 10 - OFFICIAL TRAILER\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M9uJL7lWdFg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Brett Morgen\u2019s energetic take on the trial of the high-profile radicals arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention uses animation to bring life to old audio recordings and dramatic readings of courtroom transcripts\u2014but also as a way of capturing the inherent cartoonishness of the legal proceedings, which quickly went from being a case about inciting a riot to a vehicle for society as a whole to judge the entire restless hippie generation. The look of <em>Chicago 10<\/em>\u00a0(which aired on <em>Independent Lens<\/em>) gives overused late 1960s imagery a necessary freshness, helping to connect the passions of the past to what angry activist youth are still up to today.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li><strong><em>Waltz<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>with<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Bashir<\/em><\/strong><strong> (2008)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WALTZ WITH BASHIR - Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ylzO9vbEpPg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Ari Folman\u2019s Oscar-nominated <em>Waltz with Bashir<\/em> reflects on his own experiences as a young Israeli soldier in 1982 during the Lebanon War. He goes searching for other people who were there back then, hoping they can fill in some of the gaps in his memory, and lead him to figure out what part he may have played in a massacre. The artwork in the film is heavy on shadows and shifting textures, helping Folman get at the slipperiness of memory and the hard sting of regret.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li><strong><em>Is<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>the<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Man<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Who<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Is<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Tall<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Happy<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>?<\/em><\/strong><strong> (2013)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy? Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Michel Gondry Documentary HD\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zex7yxN4GW0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Adventurous, imaginative French filmmaker Michel Gondry\u00a0(<em>Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind<\/em>) turns multiple conversations with influential linguist Noam Chomsky into his squiggly-lined animated essay <em>Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?<\/em>\u00a0Gondry mostly relies on pen-and-ink drawings, but also tries stop-motion and xerography\u2026 really anything that will help him understand Chomsky\u2019s often abstract ideas through a process of literalization. The designs are colorful and funky, but they\u2019re in support of an honest inquiry, as a curious artist owns up to what he doesn\u2019t know while listening to a genius.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"8\">\n<li><strong><em>The<\/em><\/strong> <strong><em>Wanted<\/em><\/strong><strong><em> 18<\/em><\/strong><strong> (2014)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The grave and perpetual standoff between two bitter international foes gets reduced to an odd, almost whimsical stop-motion-animated history-play in Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan\u2019s good-hearted <em>The Wanted 18<\/em>. Based on an incident from the \u201880s, when a Palestinian collective defied Israeli law by running an underground dairy farm, the movie functions as a kind of tongue-in-cheek caper picture, with cartoon bovines walking the audience through how they escaped the authorities. This is a strange story, rendered in an even stranger way.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"9\">\n<li><strong><em>25 <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>April<\/em><\/strong><strong> (2015)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"25 April trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gfeKrG74_uQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>The style of the animation is one of the biggest selling points of this New Zealand production, which looks back at the Battle of Gallipoli, and presents the experiences of a handful of soldiers with computer-generated images that at times look like something out of a video game. Though it\u2019s an overly jingoistic link at a complicated moment in world history, <em>25 April<\/em> does recount the details of an oft-forgotten conflict in a form that\u2019s relevant to today. It makes war look surreal, yet never distant.<\/p>\n<ol start=\"10\">\n<li><strong><em>Nuts<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>!<\/em><\/strong><strong> (2016)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Director Penny Lane slyly employs animation to tell the story of early 20th-century medical huckster John R. Brinkley, a man who claimed he could cure men\u2019s sexual problems with a goat-testicle implant. Initially framed as a gung-ho, family-friendly tribute to a forgotten Great American, <em>Nuts!<\/em> eventually assembles its illustrations of old recordings and its recreations of anecdotes from Brinkley\u2019s life into a larger point about how a slick presentation can lead people to believe anything. Any similarities to political rhetoric\u2014now or 100 years ago\u2014is purely intentional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keith Maitland\u2019s animated documentary TOWER\u00a0has left critics and awards-voting bodies alike flummoxed as to how best to categorize it. This is a visionary work, no doubt, that uses voice-actors and vintage audio to reconstruct what happened back in 1966 when a sniper shot dozens of people on the campus of University of Texas. The rotoscopic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":14738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[939],"tags":[],"topic":[1247],"class_list":["post-14737","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lists","topic-cinema"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>10 Great Animated Documentaries | PBS | Independent Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Writer\/critic Noel Murray picks the 10 best animated documentaries, a still-evolving art form that was taken to a new level with TOWER.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Check Out Our Top Picks of 10 Amazing Animated Documentaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From TOWER to Waltz with Bashir, you don&#039;t want to miss out on these amazing animated documentaries!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Independent Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-19T19:57:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1216\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Check Out Our Top Picks of 10 Amazing Animated Documentaries\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"From TOWER to Waltz with Bashir, you don&#039;t want to miss out on these amazing animated documentaries!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Noel Murray\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#\/schema\/person\/b0c6e79fe1bad9d07e69d7e1a3d8a41b\"},\"headline\":\"10 Great Animated Documentaries\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-14T19:38:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-19T19:57:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/\"},\"wordCount\":1357,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Lists\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/\",\"name\":\"10 Great Animated Documentaries | PBS | Independent Lens\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-14T19:38:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-19T19:57:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"Writer\/critic Noel Murray picks the 10 best animated documentaries, a still-evolving art form that was taken to a new level with TOWER.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1216,\"caption\":\"Fallen bicycle after shooting at UT Austin, as animated in the film TOWER\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Posts\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"10 Great Animated Documentaries\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/\",\"name\":\"Independent Lens\",\"description\":\"Independent Documentary Films\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#\/schema\/person\/b0c6e79fe1bad9d07e69d7e1a3d8a41b\",\"name\":\"Noel Murray\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e6cc06844c4ad8d01e7c33317a833fa52c00235e018d997c469adb12b282fd3?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e6cc06844c4ad8d01e7c33317a833fa52c00235e018d997c469adb12b282fd3?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e6cc06844c4ad8d01e7c33317a833fa52c00235e018d997c469adb12b282fd3?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Noel Murray\"},\"description\":\"Noel Murray is a freelance writer who has contributed regularly to The Dissolve, The A.V. Club, The Los Angeles Times, and Rolling Stone. He lives in Arkansas with his wife, two children, and a TV that is never off.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/noelmu\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/author\/noelmurray\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 Great Animated Documentaries | PBS | Independent Lens","description":"Writer\/critic Noel Murray picks the 10 best animated documentaries, a still-evolving art form that was taken to a new level with TOWER.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Check Out Our Top Picks of 10 Amazing Animated Documentaries","og_description":"From TOWER to Waltz with Bashir, you don't want to miss out on these amazing animated documentaries!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/","og_site_name":"Independent Lens","article_modified_time":"2023-09-19T19:57:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1216,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Check Out Our Top Picks of 10 Amazing Animated Documentaries","twitter_description":"From TOWER to Waltz with Bashir, you don't want to miss out on these amazing animated documentaries!","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/"},"author":{"name":"Noel Murray","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#\/schema\/person\/b0c6e79fe1bad9d07e69d7e1a3d8a41b"},"headline":"10 Great Animated Documentaries","datePublished":"2017-02-14T19:38:30+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-19T19:57:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/"},"wordCount":1357,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg","articleSection":["Lists"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/","name":"10 Great Animated Documentaries | PBS | Independent Lens","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-14T19:38:30+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-19T19:57:46+00:00","description":"Writer\/critic Noel Murray picks the 10 best animated documentaries, a still-evolving art form that was taken to a new level with TOWER.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/tower-fallen-bicycle-animation.jpg","width":1920,"height":1216,"caption":"Fallen bicycle after shooting at UT Austin, as animated in the film TOWER"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/great-animated-documentaries\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Posts","item":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"10 Great Animated Documentaries"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/","name":"Independent Lens","description":"Independent Documentary Films","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#\/schema\/person\/b0c6e79fe1bad9d07e69d7e1a3d8a41b","name":"Noel Murray","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e6cc06844c4ad8d01e7c33317a833fa52c00235e018d997c469adb12b282fd3?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e6cc06844c4ad8d01e7c33317a833fa52c00235e018d997c469adb12b282fd3?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e6cc06844c4ad8d01e7c33317a833fa52c00235e018d997c469adb12b282fd3?s=96&r=g","caption":"Noel Murray"},"description":"Noel Murray is a freelance writer who has contributed regularly to The Dissolve, The A.V. Club, The Los Angeles Times, and Rolling Stone. He lives in Arkansas with his wife, two children, and a TV that is never off.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/noelmu"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/author\/noelmurray\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/14737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14737"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/14737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27812,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/14737\/revisions\/27812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14737"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=14737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}