Music documentaries have long offered more than just behind-the-scenes access.
At their best, they serve as time capsules, preserving pivotal moments in culture while peeling back the layers of the artists who helped shape them. From intimate portraits of reinvention to deep dives into eras that altered the course of popular music, the genre continues to evolve alongside the stories it tells.
RELATED: Here are 18 films we are excited to see
In 2026, a new slate of music documentaries promises to do just that, spotlighting artists at moments of transformation, reckoning, and creative rebirth. Whether revisiting legendary careers or examining the fleeting intensity of modern pop, these films offer music lovers a chance to experience the stories behind the sound.
Here are 11 music documentaries to add to your watchlist in 2026.
Ann Wilson- In My Voice
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ann Wilson is ready to tell her story in her own words. Wilson’s upcoming documentary, “Ann Wilson- In My Voice,” chronicles the life of one of the most iconic singers who brought us “Crazy On You,” “Barracuda,” and “Magic Man.”
The documentary’s announcement states that the film draws from a “personal archive of home movies, photographs, journals, and never-before-seen footage.” Wilson will give additional commentary from friends, family members, music executives, and fellow bandmates.
“This film is my story in my own words, told the way I’ve always wanted to tell it. I can’t wait to take you behind the scenes of my music and my story,” Wilson wrote in an Instagram post about the film.
Although the post mentioned it is slated for this year, no details have been shared on an exact release date.
The Best Summer
Tamra Davis, known for her insightful documentary on Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, is back with a new project that also dusts off rare archival footage. The film features behind-the-scenes looks at some of the most prominent up-and-coming indie-rock and punk bands of the 90s. Some of the acts include the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Pavement, Rancid, Beck, The Amps, and some more Bikini Kill.
The inspiration for the film came after Davis evacuated from the Palisades fires last January and discovered a box of videotapes she shot in 1995 at Summersault, a little-known Australian indie music festival.
“The Best Summer” tells an oral and visual history of the tour, featuring performances, candid interviews, and never-before-seen backstage footage. The documentary serves as a nostalgic time capsule of archival footage from 30 years earlier, capturing a moment in time before the groups’ launch into stardom.
According to Billboard, Davis’ film will be available to view online after its Sundance premiere between Jan. 22-Feb. 1.
Broken English
The British Invasion is often associated with the groups that led the charge onto American charts, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, and others. Among the leading female acts of the British Invasion was the late singer and actress Marianne Faithfull. While she was a popular figure in the musical movement taking over America, much of her success was overshadowed by personal problems in the ’70s, when she became anorexic, homeless and addicted to heroin.
Faithfull’s signature, distinctive, melodic, high-register vocals had defined her career, but her voice was permanently altered by severe laryngitis and her persistent drug abuse. After nearly a decade, Faithfull made a musical comeback in 1979 with the release of a critically acclaimed seventh studio album, “Broken English.” The album signified a resurgence of her musical career, earning her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and is now the title of the upcoming documentary.
“Broken English” stars Faithfull (before she passed away last year at 78), alongside Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, Sophia Di Martino, Zawe Ashton, and Calvin Demba. Additional appearances include Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Jehnny Beth, Courtney Love, Suki Waterhouse, and Beth Orton.
The documentary dramatizes Faithfull’s life and career by presenting real events and framing them within the fictionalized group, known as the “Ministry of Not Forgetting,” composed of Swinton and MacKay, to explore and correct the often-misrepresented legacy of the singer.
Although the film was released at a few film festivals last year, its U.S. theatrical debut is scheduled for March 20.
The Disciple
Wu-Tang Clan is among the most prolific rap groups in the genre’s history. In her directorial debut, Joanna Natasegara dives into the legends and myths surrounding Wu-Tang Clan’s 2015 album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.” There was only ever one copy of the album created, an intentional choice by RZA, the leader of the group, and Dutch Moroccan rapper and producer Cilvaringz, who felt the streaming age was cheapening music.
Natasegara tells the story of how Cilvaringz, as an outsider, worked his way into Wu-Tang’s inner circle to craft the album that sparked discussions about art’s material value and controversy over who gets to own rare art.
The only copy of the album was sold in 2015 for $2 million to Martin Shkreli, the disgraced CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. It remains the most expensive piece of music ever sold, after NFT company PleasrDAO bought it for $4 million. The album can only be legally played at private listening parties and is barred from use for any commercial purpose until 2130.
Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)
Billie Eilish, known for megahits such as “Lovely,” “Bad Guy” and “Birds of a Feather,” is teaming up with director James Cameron for her next documentary project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eilish first teased the project over the summer during a sold-out concert in Manchester, England, but couldn’t share many details beyond the fact that it was a 3D collaboration with the Oscar-winning director known for “Titanic,” “The Terminator,” and the “Avatar” franchise.
“So you may have noticed that there are more cameras than usual in here,” she told the crowd at the time. “Basically, I can’t say much about it, but what I can say is that I’m working on something very, very special with somebody named James Cameron, and it’s going to be in 3D. So, take that as you will, and these four shows here in Manchester, you and I are part of a thing that I am making with him. He’s in this audience somewhere, just saying. So don’t mind that, and also I’ll probably be wearing this exact outfit for like four days in a row.”
Eilish’s previous documentaries include “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry,” directed by R.J. Cutler, and the concert movie “Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles.”
“Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)” is scheduled to be released in theaters on March 20.
Take That
When it comes to classic ’90s boy bands, the English group Take That is one of the stars. The group successfully climbed the charts with their combination of catchy pop hits with heartthrob appeal. However, just a little over a decade into their budding career that captured millions, the band split. Now, a three-part Netflix documentary, dubbed “Take That,” will take fans and viewers back to the group’s beginnings in the early ’90s, through the present day, and chart their rise, reunion, and transition into a three-piece act.
The documentary features interviews with the three remaining musicians, Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen, while former bandmates Robbie Williams and Jason Orange will be featured in archival footage. The series was directed by David Soutar, who has worked on music documentaries for acts such as Ed Sheeran and Bros. “Take That” will stream on Netflix on January 27, 2026.
Antiheroine
Few figures loom as large — or as polarizing — in alternative rock history as Courtney Love.
The former “Hole” singer, songwriter, and actor helped define the sound and attitude of 1990s alt-rock, often commanding as much attention for her public persona as for her music. “Antiheroine,” a new documentary slated to drop this year, aims to shift that narrative by allowing Love to tell her story on her own terms.
Set against the backdrop of her life in London, where Love relocated in 2019, the film traces her evolution as an artist, mother, and cultural figure. While her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain inevitably factors into the story, the documentary positions it as only one chapter in a much larger, more complex life shaped by fame, loss, addiction, and survival.
The film features appearances from longtime peers and collaborators, including Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, former R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, and Hole bandmates Melissa Auf der Maur and Patty Schemel.
“Antiheroine” is scheduled to make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival between Jan. 22 and Feb. 1.
(Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP) (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images)
The Moment
“The Moment” captures Charli XCX at the height of her pop-culture takeover, offering a stylized, mockumentary-style look at a fictionalized version of her explosive summer 2024 rise. Conceived by Charli and directed by longtime collaborator Aidan Zamiri, the film blends real concert footage with scripted scenes to explore fame, pressure, and the chaos behind the scenes.
Rather than presenting a straightforward portrait of stardom, the documentary leans into the strange in-between spaces of pop life, backstage hours, rehearsals, and the emotional whiplash of being both celebrated and scrutinized in real time. It’s a self-aware examination of what it means to “be the moment,” and the inevitability that it won’t last forever.
The film features a stacked cast of cameos, including Alexander Skarsgård, Kylie Jenner, Rachel Sennott, Rosanna Arquette, and Jamie Demetriou, adding to its sharp, satirical edge. The Moment is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival before arriving in theaters worldwide in late January.
(Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Man on the Run
The newest Paul McCartney documentary takes fans on a ride of his creative rebirth in the years following the breakup of The Beatles, tracing his transition from one of the most famous musicians in the world to an artist rebuilding himself on his own terms. The documentary focuses on the formation of Wings with his wife, Linda McCartney, and the challenges of defining a new musical identity in the 1970s.
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Morgan Neville, the film draws from extensive interviews with McCartney, his personal journals, and Linda McCartney’s photographs, offering an intimate look at a period often overshadowed by Beatlemania. Rare archival footage and previously unseen material help illuminate the doubts, risks, and reinvention that shaped McCartney’s solo career.
Man on the Run premiered in 2025 and will screen in select theaters before arriving worldwide on streaming beginning Feb. 25, 2026.
(Alvin Jornada / The Press Democrat)
Earth, Wind & Fire
A new documentary directed by Questlove will explore the legacy and lasting cultural impact of Earth, Wind & Fire, one of the most influential bands in American music history. Founded by Maurice White, the group helped shape the sound of funk, soul, R&B, and pop while delivering a message rooted in spirituality, unity, and joy.
The film examines the band’s expansive body of work through rare and previously unseen archival material, drawing from visual, audio, and written records with the full support of the band and White’s estate. Rather than functioning as a traditional career overview, the documentary aims to contextualize Earth, Wind & Fire’s music within the broader cultural and social movements that surrounded it. Following acclaimed projects such as Summer of Soul and Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), Questlove brings his historian’s eye to a story that has long deserved deeper exploration.
The Earth, Wind & Fire documentary is set to air on HBO sometime later this year.
(AP Photo/Stephen Chernin, File)
Bowie In Berlin
“Bowie In Berlin” studies one of the most transformative periods in David Bowie’s career, when he retreated from fame and relocated to Berlin between 1976 and 1978. Seeking distance from the pressures of stardom and a reset both personally and creatively, Bowie’s time in the city would ultimately lead to the creation of Low, Heroes, and Lodger, collectively known as the Berlin Trilogy.
The documentary uses archival footage and rare interviews with four women who played pivotal roles during Bowie’s Berlin years, offering an intimate perspective on a side of the artist rarely seen by the public. Their reflections frame a period of deep artistic reinvention, as Bowie shed his theatrical personas and began performing as himself rather than through characters.
Directed by longtime Bowie documentarian Francis Whately, the film places Berlin at the center of Bowie’s regeneration, capturing a moment when he hit a personal low while simultaneously producing some of the most influential work of his career.
“Bowie In Berlin” is set to air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in autumn 2026.
Leave a Reply