The Best Documentary Of 2025 Was Released Directly To YouTube
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Much ink has been spilled about the current state of cinema, and many critics have become distressed that the old-world multiplex model of film distribution may be increasingly moribund in the modern age. Films will certainly live on — the technology to make them is far too ubiquitous — but the idea of a single theatrically released film capturing the whole of the public's imagination is going to become increasingly rare as time passes. This will likely only accelerate under the auspices of all the recent studio mergers and general movement to streaming.
As such, cineastes have to keep their minds open as to where they might find their cinema. While many of us still deeply value the theatrical experience, we must also acknowledge that art can come from anywhere. A multipart, phones-only film presented on Quibi is just as much a work of cinema as James Cameron's "Avatar" movies. A film you see on VHS on a CRT TV in the basement of a bondage club will be just as vital a work of art as "The Godfather."
And YouTube, in recent years, has provided some of the more stirring original documentaries the medium has ever seen. Many freelance YouTubers, not working for any studios or beholden to any financial interests beyond YouTube subscribers and the website's dodgy payout system, have been assembling insightful analyses, dissections of popular culture, and amazing nature videos for the better part of a decade. Who's your favorite YouTube doc-maker?
One of the better documentaries on YouTube, and one of the best films of 2025, is Owen Reiser's film "Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching," available now on Reiser's YouTube channel. On NPR, Reiser revealed that Netflix, HBO, and Amazon offered to buy his film, but he went to YouTube instead.
Listers is the best, most foul-mouthed birdwatching documentary you'll ever see
"Listers" followed Owen and Quentin Reiser as they took to the road in their 2010 Kia to go birdwatching for an entire year. They spend the year traveling the United States, looking for rare bird species and living out of their car. The idea came to Quentin one afternoon while he was very high, and Owen felt it would be a fun thing to film. They essentially had time to kill and were ambitious enough to unpack what birdwatching might be all about; they were both complete amateurs.
The Reisers have a laidback, foulmouthed affability that makes them imminently watchable. They are very matter-of-fact, laying out their experiences, both positive and negative, with an easygoing, yet thorough eye. One might be reminded of the early works of Errol Morris, like "Gates of Heaven" or "Vernon, Florida."
It seems the rules of birdwatching are strict and plentiful. There is an entire community of extreme birdwatchers in the United States, and they all compete with one another over who can see the most birds. In a surprising development, it seems the entire activity operates on the honor system. One can see a bird and record it in a log, but one needn't photograph the bird in any way. You just have to be honest. One cannot trespass while looking for birds, although the Resiers do. One also brings up the ethics of birdwatching. Is it ethically okay to play a pre-recorded mating call of a rare bird to attract it? That seems to go against the naturalist vibe of the entire activity, and some birdwatchers find it to be incredibly gauche. Should one use the eBird app, or is that gamifying something that should be more peaceful?
Listers is as professional as anything you might see
The Resiers interview many of the people they meet in the world of birdwatching, including several people who claim to have broken multiple birdwatching records (which, well, must be believed). They detail the kinds of foods they can eat while on the road (they eat out of a lot of cans), and how they get sick of their limited menu options. Because of the pace, the editing, and the gorgeousness of the photography, "Listers" is endlessly watchable.
The film dropped on YouTube in August of 2025 and, as of this writing, has 2.3 million views. It was released in conjunction with a special birdwatching book called "Field Guide of All the Birds We Found One Year in the United States," which the Reisers wrote as part of their experience, and which one can purchase online. The Reisers also assembled a pretty kickin' soundtrack for "Listers," which one can listen to on Spotify.
"Listers" is not just one of the best films of 2025, but it's also an invitation to think about the expanding parameters of cinema. "Listers" is no more or less legitimate than Hollywood prestige pictures or major studio blockbusters, only suffused with a certain degree of sincerity that most major productions lack. It is a sign that we need to start looking elsewhere for our art. The multiplex is all well and good, but as the industry mutates into a destructive, Godzilla-like monster, it will be the indie filmmakers, bypassing all traditional distribution methods, that will be making the most interesting art.
Be sure to watch "Listers" today. You can. It's on YouTube. And then donate to the American Bird Conservatory, because it is a noble cause.