Documentaries on cetaceans: the essential filmography

Watching in order to understand

Since Jacques Cousteau’s first underwater footage in the 1950s, documentary film has profoundly changed the way we see cetaceans. From the cultural shock of Blackfish (2013) to the hypnotic beauty of Blue Planet II, here is an annotated selection of the films that shed light, each in its own way, on the life and conservation of whales, dolphins and killer whales, and on the human relationship with them.

Going further

Beyond the documentaries, discover the feature films, the musical works, cetaceans in human culture and the directory of specialist photographers.

Wildlife documentary as a lever for conservation

The documentary has played a decisive part in public awareness. “Blackfish” by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (2013) precipitated the commercial collapse of killer whale shows at SeaWorld. “The Cove” by Louie Psihoyos (2009, Academy Award for Best Documentary) exposed the dolphin hunt at Taiji, Japan. “Sonic Sea” (2016), from the Natural Resources Defense Council, put ocean noise on the international agenda.

For general audiences, the BBC Natural History Unit series presented by Sir David Attenborough, The Blue Planet (2001) and then Blue Planet II (2017), remain the aesthetic and scientific benchmarks. “Mission Blue” (Sylvia Earle, 2014) and “My Octopus Teacher” (2020), although they reach beyond cetaceans, continue this tradition of cinematic marine ecology.