# Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary

The AFI Award for Best Documentary was an award presented by the Australian Film Institute in the annual AFI Awards. The category was superseded in 2008 with an award for Best Feature Length Documentary.

## Winners and nominees

Winners are highlighted and in bold.
| Year | Film | Recipient(s) |
| 1980s |||
| 1980 (22nd) |
| 1980 (22nd) | Frontline | David Bradbury (Director) |
| 1980 (22nd) | Bird of the Thunder Woman | David Parer (Director) |
| 1980 (22nd) | Evictions | Richard Lowenstein (Director) |
| 1980 (22nd) | Give Trees a Chance | Jeni Kendall (Director) |
| 1980 (22nd) | Winter's Harvest / Raccolto D'Inverno | Brian McKenzie (Director) |
| 1981 (23rd) |
| 1981 (23rd) | Stepping Out | Chris Noonan (Producer / Director) |
| 1981 (23rd) | Backs to the Blast | Harry Bardwell (Producer / Director) |
| 1981 (23rd) | Public Enemy Number One | David Bradbury (Producer / Director) |
| 1981 (23rd) | Waiting for Harry | Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (Production Company), Kim McKenzie (Director) |
| 1982 (24th) |
| 1982 (24th) | Angels of War | Andrew Pike, Hank Nelson, Gavan Daws (Producer) |
| 1982 (24th) | Journey to the End of the Night | Peter Tammer (Producer) |
| 1982 (24th) | Two Laws | Carolyn Strachan, Alessandro Cavadini (Producer) |
| 1983 (25th) |
| 1983 (25th) | First Contact | Robin Anderson, Bob Connolly (Producer) |
| 1983 (25th) | Birdmen of Kilimanjaro | Anne Folland (Producer) |
| 1983 (25th) | Double Concerto | Angela Catterns (Producer) |
| 1983 (25th) | Peppimenarti | Ron Iddon (Producer) |
| 1984 (26th) |
| 1984 (26th) | Kemira: Diary of a Strike | Tom Zubrycki (Producer / Director) |
| 1984 (26th) | Antarctic Man: 'This Is Not A Place For Humans' | ABC Natural History Unit (Production Company), David Parer (Producer / Director) |
| 1984 (26th) | Celso and Cora | Gary Kildea (Producer / Director) |
| 1984 (26th) | For Love or Money | Margot Oliver, Megan McMurchy, Jeni Thornley (Producer), Megan McMurchy, Jeni Thornley (Director), Margot Nash (Editor) |
| 1985 (27th) |
| 1985 (27th) | Raoul Wallenberg: Between the Lines | Bob Weis (Producer) |
| 1985 (27th) | Collum Calling Canberra | Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (Production Company), David MacDougall, Judith MacDougall (Producer / Director) |
| 1985 (27th) | I'll Be Home For Christmas | Brian McKenzie (Producer / Director) |
| 1985 (27th) | Munda Nyuringu: He's Taken The Land, He Believes It Is His, He Won't Give It Back | Robert Bropho, Jan Roberts (Producer / Director) |
| 1986 (28th) |
| 1986 (28th) | Chile: Hasta Cuando? | David Bradbury (Producer) |
| 1986 (28th) | Flight Of The Windhorse | Richard Dennison (Producer) |
| 1986 (28th) | Half Life | Dennis O'Rourke (Producer) |
| 1986 (28th) | Pitjiri: The Snake That Will Not Sink | Karen Hughes (Producer) |
| 1986 (28th) | Rocking the Foundations | Pat Fiske (Producer) |
| 1986 (28th) | Some Babies Die | Martyn Down (Producer) |
| 1987 (29th) |
| 1987 (29th) | Painting the Town | Trevor Graham (Director) |
| 1987 (29th) | Friends and Enemies | Tom Zubrycki (Director) |
| 1987 (29th) | How the West Was Lost | David Noakes (Director) |
| 1987 (29th) | The Musical Mariner (Part One) | Bill Leimbach (Director) |
| 1988 (30th) |
| 1988 (30th) | Cane Toads, An Unnatural History | Film Australia (Production Company), Mark Lewis (Producer) |
| 1988 (30th) | Riding the Gale | Kim Batterham, Genni Batterham (Producer) |
| 1988 (30th) | South of the Border | David Bradbury (Producer) |
| 1988 (30th) | Thanks Girls and Goodbye | Sue Maslin, Sue Hardisty (Producer) |
| 1989 (31st) |
| 1989 (31st) | Joe Leahy's Neighbours | Robin Anderson, Bob Connolly (Producer) |
| 1989 (31st) | A Little Life | Deborah Howlett (Producer) |
| 1989 (31st) | Confessions of a Simple Surgeon | NSW Dept of TAFE (Production Company) |
| 1989 (31st) | Philippines, My Philippines | Maree Delofski, Chris Nash (Producer) |
| 1990s |||
| 1990 (32nd) |
| 1990 (32nd) | Handmaidens and Battleaxes | Rosalind Gillespie (Director) |
| 1990 (32nd) | Lord of the Bush | Tom Zubrycki (Director) |
| 1990 (32nd) | Senso Daughters | Noriko Sekiguchi (Director) |
| 1990 (32nd) | Tightrope Dancer | Ruth Cullen (Director) |
| 1991 (33rd) |
| 1991 (33rd) | Canto A La Vida | Lucia Salinas Briones (Director) |
| 1991 (33rd) | Chainsaw | Shirley Barrett (Director) |
| 1991 (33rd) | Cowboy, Maria In Town | Les McLaren, Annie Stiven (Director) |
| 1991 (33rd) | Eclipse of the Man-Made Sun | Nicolette Freeman, Amanda Stewart (Director) |
| 1992 (34th) |
| 1992 (34th) | Black Harvest | Robin Anderson, Bob Connolly (Director) |
| 1992 (34th) | God's Girls: Stories from an Australian Convent | Cherie Nowlan (Director) |
| 1992 (34th) | Mr Neal is Entitled To Be An Agitator | Daryl Dellora (Director) |
| 1992 (34th) | The Serpent And The Cross | Chris Hilton (Director) |
| 1993 (35th) |
| 1993 (35th) | Exile And The Kingdom | Frank Rijavec (Director) |
| 1993 (35th) | For All The World To See | Pat Fiske (Director) |
| 1993 (35th) | Homelands | Tom Zubrycki (Director) |
| 1993 (35th) | The Journey | Christopher Tuckfield (Director) |
| 1994 (36th) |
| 1994 (36th) | 50 Years Of Silence | James Bradley, Ned Lander, Carol Ruff (Director) |
| 1994 (36th) | Eternity | Lawrence Johnston (Director) |
| 1994 (36th) | The Last Magician | Tracey Holloway, Liz Thompson (Director) |
| 1994 (36th) | Watch the Watch | Malcolm McDonald (Director) |
| 1995 (37th) |
| 1995 (37th) | The Good Looker | Claire Jager (Director) |
| 1995 (37th) | Pat And Eddy's Greyhound Racing Family | Brian McKenzie (Director) |
| 1995 (37th) | Raskols | Sally Browning, Anou Borrey (Director) |
| 1995 (37th) | Witness | Michael Buckley (Director) |
| 1996 (38th) |
| 1996 (38th) | Not Fourteen Again | Gillian Armstrong (Director) |
| 1996 (38th) | Billal | Tom Zubrycki (Director) |
| 1996 (38th) | Hatred | Mitzi Goldman (Director) |
| 1996 (38th) | Nearly Normal Nimbin: Part One | Jeni Kendall, Paul Tait (Director) |
| 1997 (39th) |
| 1997 (39th) | Mabo: Life of an Island Man | Trevor Graham (Director) |
| 1997 (39th) | Colour Bars | Mahmoud Yekta (Director) |
| 1997 (39th) | Exile in Sarajevo | Tahir Cambis, Alma Sahbaz (Director) |
| 1997 (39th) | The Butler | Anna Kannava (Director) |
| 1998 (40th) |
| 1998 (40th) | The Dragons of Galapagos | David Parer, Elizabeth Parer-Cook |
| 1998 (40th) | Mohamed Ali's Happy Day Feast | Catherine Dyson |
| 1998 (40th) | Paying for the Piper | Ed Punchard |
| 1998 (40th) | Urban Clan | Aanya Whitehead, Paul Humfress |
| 1999 (41st) |
| 1999 (41st) | Hephzibah | Curtis Levy |
| 1999 (41st) | A Calcutta Christmas | Denise Haslem |
| 1999 (41st) | Original Schtick | Peter George, Bronwyne Smith |
| 1999 (41st) | Sadness | Michael McMahon, Megan McMurchy |
| 2000s |||
| 2000 (42nd) |
| 2000 (42nd) | The Diplomat | Sally Browning, Wilson da Silva |
| 2000 (42nd) | A Death in the Family | Terry Carlyon, Robyn Miller |
| 2000 (42nd) | Stolen Generations | Tom Zubrycki |
| 2000 (42nd) | Uncle Chatzkel | Rod Freedman, Emile Sherman |
| 2001 (43rd) |
| 2001 (43rd) | Facing the Music | Bob Connolly, Robin Anderson |
| 2001 (43rd) | Cunnamulla | Dennis O'Rourke |
| 2001 (43rd) | Playing The Game - Episode 3 | Andrew Ogilvie, Peter Du Cane |
| 2001 (43rd) | Wonderboy | Andrew Wiseman, Richard Keddie |
| 2002 (44th) |
| 2002 (44th) | A Wedding in Ramallah | Sherine Salama |
| 2002 (44th) | East Timor - Birth of a Nation: Rosa's Story | Luigi Acquisto, Stella Zammataro |
| 2002 (44th) | Rainbow Bird & Monster Man | John Lewis |
| 2002 (44th) | The Diaries Of Vaslav Nijinski | Paul Cox, Aanya Whitehead |
| 2003 (45th) |
| 2003 (45th) | Wildness | Michael McMahon |
| 2003 (45th) | Painting with Light in a Dark World | Renata Schuman, Ellenor Cox |
| 2003 (45th) | Silent Storm | Peter Butt, Rob McAuely |
| 2003 (45th) | The Original Mermaid | Ian Collie |
| 2004 (46th) |
| 2004 (46th) | The President Versus David Hicks | Curtis Levy |
| 2004 (46th) | Helen's War: Portrait of a Dissident | Sonja Armstrong, Anne Pick |
| 2004 (46th) | Lonely Boy Richard | Denise Haslem, Rosemary Hesp |
| 2004 (46th) | The Men Who Would Conquer China | Nick Torrens |
| 2005 (47th) |
| 2005 (47th) | Land Mines - A Love Story | Dennis O'Rourke |
| 2005 (47th) | Girl in a Mirror | Helen Bowden |
| 2005 (47th) | Jabe Babe: A Heightened Life | Janet Merewether, Deborah Szapiro, Georgia Wallace-Crabbe |
| 2005 (47th) | Killers In Eden | Klaus Toft |
| 2006 (48th) |
| 2006 (48th) | Hunt Angels | Sue Maslin |
| 2006 (48th) | Raul The Terrible | Carlos Alperin |
| 2006 (48th) | Vietnam Nurses | Beth Frey, Lizzette Atkins |
| 2006 (48th) | Welcome 2 My Deaf World | Sally Ingleton |
| 2007 (49th) |
| 2007 (49th) | Forbidden Lie$ | Sally Regan, Anna Broinowski |
| 2007 (49th) | 4 | Joanna Buggy, Tim Slade |
| 2007 (49th) | Global Haywire | Claude Gonzalez |
| 2007 (49th) | Words from the City | Philippa Campey |