The Top 10 Documentaries of 2010

From art docs to war chronicles, from undiscovered indie gems to award-winning phenomena, these are our favourite documentaries of the year.

10. Swansea Love Story

Swansea has seen a 178 percent jump in registered heroin users over the last four years. Somewhat unusually, it is the supply that is driving the demand, as the high unemployment made the lucrative profession of dealing drugs more attractive than ever.

"Socially-aware filmmaking of a very high standard which deserves an audience not only because of its sensitive portrayal of a topic so often reduced to newspaper bylines, but because of the undeniable quality of craft and compassion shown by these relatively unknown filmmakers." - Little White Lies

9. After The Apocalypse

This powerful doc looks at the appalling consequences of Russia's nuclear testing programme in Kazakhstan during the Cold War. In an area where one in 20 children is born with a birth defect, Bibigul, a young pregnant woman, vows to keep her child.

"I have seen a lot of horror films and documentary depictions of human suffering, and I'm not sure that I have ever seen a film as horrific as this." - Eye For Film

8. Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow

Sophie Fiennes' latest film bears witness to German artist Anselm Kiefer’s alchemical creative processes and renders as a film journey the personal universe he has built at his hill studio estate in the South of France.

"The artist is immersed in his vocation and Fiennes's docu-essay immerses us in it, too. […] It is a valuable film that aspires to create an artistic response to its subject matter." - The Guardian

7. Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg take the audience on a year-long ride with legendary comedian Joan Rivers in her 76th year of life.  Peeling away the mask of an iconic comedian and exposing the struggles, sacrifices and joy of living life as a ground-breaking female performer.

"Funny, heartbreaking, and casually profound about the insatiable need for validation and approval that fuels so much stand-up comedy." - A.V. Club

6. My Kidnapper

In 2003, filmmaker Mark Henderson was one of eight backpackers taken hostage for 101 days by Marxist guerrillas while trekking in the Colombian jungle. Eleven months after his release, Mark received an email from one of his kidnappers, starting a five-year correspondence that eventually drew the hostages back to the one part of the world he thought he’d never see again.

"As a chronicle of different reactions to the trauma of abduction, and the culture shock experienced by inhabitants of developed countries thrust into a decades-long, three-way civil war where nothing registers as morally straightforward, My Kidnapper succeeds brilliantly." - Variety

5. Catfish

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives.

"It really is an intriguing modern tale of communication, intimacy, self-knowledge and the web: a great companion to The Social Network." - The Guardian

4. Enemies of the People

The Khmer Rouge ran what is regarded as one of the twentieth century’s most brutal regimes. Yet the Killing Fields of Cambodia remain unexplained. Until now.

"This is an extraordinary historical document, an archive of confessions with potential for closure, atonement, and belated punishment from one single man on a mission." - Slant

3. The Arbor

British playwright Andrea Dunbar died tragically at the age of 29 in 1990, leaving ten year old Lorraine with bitter childhood memories. The Arbor catches up with Lorraine in the present day, also aged 29, ostracised from her mother’s family and in prison undergoing rehab.

"A remarkable film: conceptually acute, brilliantly realised, impossibly sad." - The Telegraph

2. Exit Through The Gift Shop

The story of how an eccentric French shop-keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results.

"That rarest of art documentaries, one that actually leaves viewers with a better sense of the gifted versus the phony. In several senses, Banksy has created a monster." - Time Out NY

1. Restrepo

Raw, unflinching and without a political agenda, the film chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, one of the deadliest places in the world.

"Film doesn’t get more relevant." - Little White Lies
 

Did we miss anything? Tell us your favourite docs of the year in the comments.

Previously: current.com's Top 10 Tracks of 2010.