The phrase "a successful documentary" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to a documentary film or program that has achieved its intended goals, such as engaging the audience or receiving critical acclaim.
Example: "The filmmaker was thrilled to see that her latest project had become a successful documentary, sparking conversations about the important issues it addressed."
Alternatives: "an impactful documentary" or "a well-received documentary."
Muybridge, who is best known for his photographic portrayal of animal and human subjects in motion, was also a successful documentary artist, war correspondent and inventor.
From the moment his legs gave way during a 2006 Caribbean vacation, to the film's improbably upbeat 2012 conclusion, Mr. DaSilva, a successful documentary filmmaker and just 25 when he received his diagnosis, ruthlessly chronicled his dismayingly rapid decline.
In 1985, as a student from a poor farm town in Sichuan Province, he tested brilliantly, escaped to university in Shanghai and is now a successful documentary film maker in Beijing.
It has lately been the subject of Hollywood films and a successful documentary — the third-most popular documentary of all time in Britain — that looks at the life of Ayrton Senna, the world champion who died in a racing accident in 1994.
Her brother Steven has made the film; he is a successful documentary maker in his own right but is still mostly referred to as Joanne O'Riordan's brother.
The sign of a successful documentary is its ability to change public perception, and Netflix's Making a Murderer is no exception.
As previously noted, all successful documentaries (Man on Wire, Touching the Void, Fahrenheit 9/11) take us up death-defying heights (the World Trade towers, Siula Grande, the lies of the Bush regime).
After Jackson's death several months later, a clip of the entertainer singing "Speechless" was included in Michael Jackson's This Is It, a commercially successful documentary-concert film of the singer's rehearsals for his London concert series.
Evan Casher, a successful young documentary film-maker, wakes up one morning to find his life collapsed around him.
If the mark of a successful music documentary is its ability to capture the essence of a band while also making them look a bit like characters out of Wacky Races, then Bravo's new, 10-part reality series on Towers Of London is a sash-wearing, bouquet-waving triumph.
And in the days of the failing major label, it's become more of a figurehead than just a vanity venture, comprising a record shop, studio and label, not to mention the successful documentary Under the Great Northern Lights.
