‘Hoop Dreams’ scores as top doc

“Hoop Dreams,” the 1994 film about two African American teenagers pursuing basketball stardom, has been voted the best documentary in movie history by the International Documentary Assn.

To help celebrate its 25th anniversary, the organization polled its 3,000 members -- filmmakers, executives and educators -- to determine the top 25 documentaries.

The selected films span 55 years, but the list has a decidedly modern feeling, including the documentary about global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” that won an Oscar this year. Also represented: “Grizzly Man” and “Born Into Brothels” from 2005, and “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Super Size Me” from 2004.

Heading the list was “Hoop Dreams,” the two-hour, 49-minute film by Steve James, Peter Gilbert and Frederick Marx about five years in the lives of two Chicago teens whose skills on the basketball court contrast with their families’ poverty. Despite glowing reviews and commercial success, “Hoop Dreams” failed to garner an Academy Award nomination as best feature documentary.

Rounding out the IDA’s top 10, in order: “The Thin Blue Line,” “Bowling for Columbine,” “Spellbound,” “Harlan County USA,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Crumb,” “Gimme Shelter,” “The Fog of War” and “Roger and Me.”

The next 15, in order: “Super Size Me,” “Don’t Look Back,” “Salesman,” “Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance,” “Sherman’s March,” “Grey Gardens,” “Capturing the Friedmans,” “Born Into Brothels,” “Titticut Follies,” “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Fahrenheit 911,” “Winged Migration,” “Grizzly Man,” “Night and Fog” and “Woodstock.”

The directors with the most films on the list, three apiece, were Michael Moore (“Bowling for Columbine,” “Roger and Me” and “Fahrenheit 9/11”) and the Maysles brothers (“Gimme Shelter,” “Salesman” and “Grey Gardens”).

More on the list, including essays about the top 10, can be found in the association’s bimonthly magazine, Documentary, due out Wednesday.

lee.margulies@latimes.com