Snoop Dogg, now Snoop Lion, spends a good deal of Reincarnated getting stoned out of his tiny little mind on holiday. In fact, you’ll come away from the documentary knowing more about weed than you will about Snoop’s album, which is a large part of why it’s a bit difficult to take this film seriously.

Michael H. Profession: Director is an insightful, intriguing and concise look into the work, motives and personality of Michael Haneke. Yves Montmayeur, the man behind the ‘making of’ extras on Haneke DVDs, uses his exclusive behind-the-scenes access to paint an informative and critical portrait of the man, the myth, the monster. Unmissable for any Haneke fans, or anyone interested in film directing.

Humourous, sad and surprisingly uplifting despite its subject matter, I Am Breathing makes you think about the little things we take for granted. Neil Platt’s positive outlook and emotional strength in the face of unimaginable devastation make him a true hero. There couldn’t be a better ambassador for his cause.

Guided by the probing mind of Keanu Reeves, Side By Side is a thoughtful documentary exploring the near universal adoption of digital filmmaking techniques by an industry once defined by the physicality of photochemical film. While most of the directors interviewed wax lyrical about new cinematic frontiers and the endless possibilities presented by the 21st century’s digital playground, some dissenters suggest such freedoms mightn’t be such a good thing.

Fire in the Blood is a documentary about injustice. The unjust decision to favour the maintenance of profits over the maintenance of people; the unjust decision to allow millions of lives to be extinguished while counting up the value of profits achieved by making that decision. It is about how while the light went out of the eyes of millions who could have been kept with us, some of their fellow human beings battled against the prevailing dark. Justice is a light that profit attempts to extinguish, but it survives undimmed as long as some people know what it is. Fire in the Blood is an attempt to make people remember.

Never mind Zero Dark Thirty, 5 Broken Cameras is the closest we’ve ever been to conflict, and it’s a staggeringly powerful piece of filmmaking. Despite being one-sided, there’s little to dispute in a film depicting such extreme injustice for Palestinian people. This is a great cinematic achievement, and its Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature shows it have been given international acclaim. Here’s to history in the making.

A load of raw fish? Think again. This minimalist documentary from David Gelb introduces the world’s greatest sushi-maker, Jiro Ono, who at 85 is still working hard at perfecting his craft.

A thorough account of the infamous West Memphis Three murder case and its 18 year fallout, Amy Berg’s documentary combines forensic detail with righteous anger to compelling effect. There has been a lot of film dedicated to this particular story, but Berg’s is the first account to provide a complete overview of the murders that befell a rural American community in 1993. From the initial sentencing of three outcast teenagers through the years of legal wrangling and newly discovered evidence, West of Memphis paints a damning portrait of police misconduct in a society all too quick to punish those least able to defend themselves.

Following the A5 as it winds eastward from Holyhead in Wales to London’s Marble Arch, Marc Isaacs’ The Road is an insight into immigrants who have adopted England’s capital as their home. Up close and personal, the picture that emerges is a bleak one. Its very nature defined by a state of flux, the road of Isaacs’ documentary seems to act as a point on the horizon as far from homes left behind as it is from those yet to be found.

A touching, often heartbreaking documentary on the conditions that women around the world are forced to give birth in, as well as looking at the life chances of the babies lucky enough to survive childbirth. With incredible access, Welcome to the World shows us how fortunate we are to have made it even past our first birthday.