Submissions for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
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These are the lists of documentary films that were shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in recent years.
List of selected films and years
1999
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amargosa | Not nominated | [1] | |||
American Movie | Chris Smith | The making of a low budget horror movie | Not nominated | ||
Beyond the Mat | Not nominated | ||||
Buena Vista Social Club | Wim Wenders | A group of elderly Cuban musicians | Nominated | ||
Genghis Blues | Nominated | ||||
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. | Errol Morris | Not nominated | |||
On the Ropes | Brett Morgen | Nominated | |||
One Day in September | Terrorist attacks at the 1972 Summer Olympics | Won Academy Award | |||
Pop & Me | Not nominated | ||||
Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial | Not nominated | ||||
The Source | Chuck Workman | The Beat Generation | Not nominated | ||
Speaking in Strings | Nominated |
2000
2001
2002
2003
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Agronomist | Not nominated | [2] | |||
Balseros | Nominated | ||||
Bus 174 | Not nominated | ||||
Capturing the Friedmans | American family with dark sexual secrets | Nominated | |||
Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin | Not nominated | ||||
The Fog of War | Errol Morris | Robert McNamara and his involvement in the Vietnam War | Won Academy Award | ||
Heir to an Execution | Not nominated | ||||
Inheritance: A Fisherman's Story | Not nominated | ||||
Lost Boys of Sudan | Not nominated | ||||
My Architect | Nominated | ||||
My Flesh and Blood | Not nominated | ||||
The Weather Underground | The rise and fall of radical political group of the same name | Nominated |
2004
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born into Brothels | Won Academy Award | [3][2] | |||
Home of the Brave | Not nominated | ||||
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train | Not nominated | ||||
In the Realms of the Unreal | Jessica Yu | Outsider artist Henry Darger's magnum opus The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion | Not nominated | ||
Riding Giants | Not nominated | ||||
The Ritchie Boys | Not nominated | ||||
The Story of the Weeping Camel | Nominated | ||||
Super Size Me | Morgan Spurlock | A filmmaker eating nothing but McDonald's fast food for 30 days | Nominated | ||
Tell Them Who You Are | Not nominated | ||||
Touching the Void | Not nominated | ||||
Tupac: Resurrection | Late rapper Tupac Shakur | Nominated | |||
Twist of Faith | Nominated |
2005
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Darwin's Nightmare | Nominated | [4] | |||
The Devil and Daniel Johnston | Outsider music artist Daniel Johnston and his struggles with paranoid schizophrenia | Not nominated | |||
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room | Alex Gibney | Nominated | |||
Mad Hot Ballroom | Not nominated | ||||
March of the Penguins | Won Academy Award | ||||
Murderball | Nominated | ||||
Street Fight | Marshall Curry | Nominated |
2006
2007
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Autism: The Musical | Children on the autism spectrum performing their own stage musical | Not nominated | [5] | ||
Body of War | Not nominated | ||||
For the Bible Tells Me So | Not nominated | ||||
Lake of Fire | Not nominated | ||||
Nanking | Not nominated | ||||
No End in Sight | Nominated | ||||
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience | Nominated | ||||
The Price of Sugar | Not nominated | ||||
Please Vote for Me | Not nominated | ||||
Sicko | Michael Moore | Nominated | |||
Taxi to the Dark Side | Alex Gibney | Won Academy Award | |||
War/Dance | Nominated | ||||
White Light/Black Rain | Not nominated |
2008
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) | [6] | ||||
Encounters at the End of the World | |||||
The Garden | |||||
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts | Classical music composer Philip Glass | ||||
I.O.U.S.A. | |||||
Man on Wire | Won Academy Award | ||||
Trouble the Water |
2009
2010
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exit Through the Gift Shop | [7] | ||||
Gasland | |||||
Inside Job | Won Academy Award | ||||
Restrepo | |||||
The Tillman Story | The untimely death of former football player turned soldier Pat Tillman | Not nominated | |||
Waiting for "Superman" | |||||
Waste Land |
2011
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Buck | Not nominated | [8] | |||
Bill Cunningham New York | Not nominated | ||||
Battle for Brooklyn | Not nominated | ||||
Hell and Back Again | Nominated | ||||
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front - | Marshall Curry | The rise and fall of radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front | Nominated | ||
Jane's Journey | Not nominated | ||||
The Loving Story | Not nominated | ||||
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory | Nominated | ||||
Pina | Wim Wenders | Nominated | |||
Project Nim | Not nominated | ||||
Semper Fi: Always Faithful | Not nominated | ||||
Sing Your Song | Not nominated | ||||
Undefeated | Won Academy Award | ||||
Under Fire: Journalists in Combat | Not nominated | ||||
We Were Here | Not nominated |
2012
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bully | Not nominated | [9] | |||
Chasing Ice | Best Original Song nominee | Not nominated | |||
5 Broken Cameras | Nominated | ||||
The Gatekeepers | Nominated | ||||
How to Survive a Plague | Nominated | ||||
The Invisible War | Nominated | ||||
Searching for Sugar Man | Won Academy Award | ||||
This Is Not a Film | Filmmaker Jafar Panahi's exile from making cinema in Iran | Not nominated |
2013
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Act of Killing | Nominated | [10] | |||
Blackfish | Controversies surrounding the mistreatment of whales at Sea World | Not nominated | |||
Cutie and the Boxer | Nominated | ||||
Dirty Wars | Nominated | ||||
God Loves Uganda | Not nominated | ||||
The Square | Nominated | ||||
20 Feet from Stardom | Morgan Neville | Legendary backup singers (eg.Darlene Love) | Won Academy Award |
2014
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Citizen Koch | Not nominated | [11][9] | |||
Citizenfour | Won Academy Award | ||||
Finding Vivian Maier | Female photographer Vivian Maier | Nominated | |||
The Internet's Own Boy | Not nominated | ||||
Jodorowsky's Dune | Cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky's attempts at adapting the classic sci-fi novel Dune | Not nominated | |||
Last Days in Vietnam | Nominated | ||||
Life Itself | Steve James | Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert | Not nominated | ||
The Salt of the Earth | Nominated | ||||
Virunga | Nominated |
2015
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amy | The life and death of singer Amy Winehouse | Won Academy Award | [12][13] | ||
Batkid Begins | A child Batman fan with cancer | Not nominated | |||
Best of Enemies | The televised arguments between conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr and progressive novelist Gore Vidal | Not nominated | |||
Cartel Land | Nominated | ||||
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief | Church of Scientology | Not nominated | |||
He Named Me Malala | Not nominated | ||||
Heart of a Dog | Composer Laurie Anderson's meditative ode to canines | Not nominated | |||
The Hunting Ground | Best Original Song nominee | Not nominated | |||
I Am Chris Farley | The late comedian Chris Farley | Not nominated | |||
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck | Brett Morgen | Grunge rock iconoclast Kurt Cobain's upbringing | Not nominated | ||
A Lego Brickumentary | Not nominated | ||||
Listen to Me Marlon | Archival footage examining the life of Academy Award-winning actor Marlon Brando | Not nominated | |||
The Look of Silence | Nominated | ||||
Meru | Not nominated | ||||
Racing Extinction | Best Original Song nominee | Not nominated | |||
Tab Hunter Confidential | Gay actor Tab Hunter | Not nominated | |||
What Happened, Miss Simone? | The life and troubled times of singer and civil rights activist Nina Simone | Nominated | |||
Where to Invade Next | Not nominated | ||||
Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom | Ukraine's fight for freedom during the Revolution of Dignity | Nominated |
2016
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week | Not nominated | [14] | |||
Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds | Not nominated | ||||
Cameraperson | Kirsten Johnson | A cinematographer's collection of documentary footage | Not nominated | ||
Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words | Cult rock composer Frank Zappa | Not nominated | |||
Everything is Copy-Nora Ephron:Scriped & Unscripted | Not nominated | ||||
Fire at Sea | Nominated | ||||
Floyd Norman: An Animated Life | African-American animator Floyd Norman | Not nominated | |||
Gleason | Not nominated | ||||
I Am Not Your Negro | Raoul Peck | Author James Baldwin's unfinished memoir about being black in America | Nominated | ||
Jim: The James Foley Story | Journalist James Foley and the untimely death perpetrated by ISIS; Best Original Song nominee | Not nominated | |||
Life, Animated | Roger Ross Williams | Owen Suskind, son of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, diagnosed with autism learning about life and communication through classic Disney animated movies | Nominated | ||
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise | Not nominated | ||||
Norman Lear: Just Another Vision of You | TV pioneer Norman Lear | Not nominated | |||
OJ: Made in America | Ezra Edelman | The examination of racial divides in America during the O.J. Simpson saga | Won Academy Award | ||
13th | Nominated | ||||
Tower | Not nominated | ||||
Weiner | The rise and fall of politician Anthony Weiner due to his excessive sexting | Not nominated |
2017
2018
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Charm City | Marilyn Ness | A community in Baltimore, Maryland, over the span of three years of high violence | Not nominated | [18] | |
Communion | Anna Zamecka | Ola, a 14-year old girl who takes care of her dysfunctional, alcoholic father, autistic brother, mother who lives separately, and her preparation of family celebration of her brother's Holy Communion sacrament | Not nominated | ||
Crime + Punishment | Stephen T. Maing | A group of black and Latino whistleblower cops and a private investigator who risk everything to expose illegal quota practices and their impact on young minorities | Not nominated | ||
Dark Money | Kimberly Reed | The effects of corporate money and influence in the American political system | Not nominated | ||
The Distant Barking of Dogs | Simon Lereng Wilmont | The life of 10-year-old Ukrainian boy Oleg throughout a year during the War in Donbas | Not nominated | ||
Free Solo | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | Alex Honnold as he attempts to become the first person to ever free solo climb Yosemite National Park's 3,000 foot high El Capitan wall | Won Academy Award | ||
Hale County This Morning, This Evening | RaMell Ross | The lives of black people in Hale County, Alabama | Nominated | ||
Minding the Gap | Bing Liu | The lives and friendships of three young men growing up in Rockford, Illinois, united by their love of skateboarding | Nominated | ||
Of Fathers and Sons | Talal Derki | Radical jihadism and terrorist training in Syria | Nominated | ||
On Her Shoulders | Alexandria Bombach | Human rights activist Nadia Murad, as she met with politicians and journalists to alert the world to the massacres and kidnapping happening in Iraq | Not nominated | ||
RBG | Betsy West, Julie Cohen | The life, legacy and career of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Ruth Bader Ginsburg | Nominated | ||
Shirkers | Sandi Tan | The making of an independent thriller featuring a teenage assassin set in Singapore | Not nominated | ||
The Silence of Others | Almudena Carracedo, Robert Bahar | The silenced fight of the victims from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco | Not nominated | ||
Three Identical Strangers | Tim Wardle | The lives of Edward Galland, David Kellman, and Robert Shafran, a set of identical triplet brothers adopted as infants by separate families | Not nominated | ||
Won't You Be My Neighbor? | Morgan Neville | The life, legacy and guiding philosophy of children's television host Fred Rogers | Not nominated |
2019
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Advocate | Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaïche | Human rights lawyer Leah Tsemel as she navigates through the Israeli judicial system in defense of Palestinians accused of terrorism | Not nominated | [19] | |
American Factory | Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert | Chinese company Fuyao's factory in Moraine that occupies Moraine Assembly, a shuttered General Motors plant | Won Academy Award | ||
The Apollo | Roger Ross Williams | The history of Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York City | Not nominated | ||
Apollo 11 | Todd Douglas Miller | The 1969 Apollo 11 mission | Not nominated | ||
Aquarela | Viktor Kossakovsky | Climate change depicted by water and ice around the world | Not nominated | ||
The Biggest Little Farm | John Chester | John Chester and his wife Molly as they acquire and establish themselves on Apricot Lane Farms in Moorpark, California | Not nominated | ||
The Cave | Feras Fayyad | Dr. Amani Ballour, a physician in Ghouta who is operating a makeshift hospital nicknamed "the Cave" during the Syrian Civil War | Nominated | ||
The Edge of Democracy | Petra Costa | Political past of Costa in a personal way, in context with the first term of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the events leading to impeachment of Dilma Rousseff | Nominated | ||
For Sama | Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts | Al-Kateab's journey as a journalist and rebel in the Syrian civil war uprising as she and her husband raise their daughter Sama | Nominated | ||
The Great Hack | Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer | The Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal | Not nominated | ||
Honeyland | Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov | The life of Hatidže Muratova, a loner beekeeper of wild bees who lives in the remote mountain village of Bekirloja, North Macedonia | Nominated | ||
Knock Down the House | Rachel Lears | Four female democrats who run for Congress in the 2018 United States elections: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush and Paula Jean Swearengin | Not nominated | ||
Maiden | Alex Holmes | Tracy Edwards and the crew of the Maiden as they compete as the first all-woman crew in the 1989–1990 Whitbread Round the World Race | Not nominated | ||
Midnight Family | Luke Lorentzen | Ochoa family who run a private ambulance business | Not nominated | ||
One Child Nation | Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang | The fallout of China's one-child policy that lasted from 1980 to 2015 | Not nominated |
2020
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
All In: The Fight for Democracy | Liz Garbus, Lisa Cortés | Voter suppression and the perspective and expertise of Stacey Abrams, the former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives | Not nominated | [20] | |
Boys State | Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine | A thousand teenage boys attending Boys State in Texas, coming to build a representative government from the ground up | Not nominated | ||
Collective | Alexander Nanau | The 2016 public health scandal following the Colectiv nightclub fire | Nominated | ||
Crip Camp | Nicole Newnham, James Lebrecht | Camp Jened campers who turned themselves into activists for the disability rights movement in the 1970s and follows their fight for accessibility legislation | Nominated | ||
Dick Johnson Is Dead | Kirsten Johnson | Johnson's father Richard "Dick", who suffers from dementia, portraying different ways in which he could ultimately die | Not nominated | ||
Gunda | Viktor Kossakovsky | The daily life of a pig, two cows, and a one-legged chicken | Not nominated | ||
MLK/FBI | Sam Pollard | The investigation and harassment of activist Martin Luther King Jr. by J. Edgar Hoover and the Federal Bureau of Investigation | Not nominated | ||
The Mole Agent | Maite Alberdi | A private investigator, Rómulo, hires Sergio, an elderly man to go undercover in a nursing home in Chile | Nominated | ||
My Octopus Teacher | Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed | A year spent by filmmaker Craig Foster forging a relationship with wild common octopus in a South African kelp forest | Won Academy Award | ||
Notturno | Gianfranco Rosi | Different people from areas near war zones in the Middle East who are trying to start over again with their everyday lives | Not nominated | ||
The Painter and the Thief | Benjamin Ree | Barbora Kysilkova, an artist, forming a friendship with Karl-Bertil Nordland, a man who stole her artwork | Not nominated | ||
76 Days | Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, anonymous third | The struggles of patients and frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan | Not nominated | ||
Time | Garrett Bradley | Sibil Fox Richardson, fighting for the release of her husband, Rob, who is serving a 60-year prison sentence for engaging in an armed bank robbery | Nominated | ||
The Truffle Hunters | Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw | A group of aging men hunt in the woods in Northern Italy, for a prized quarry, the Alba truffle | Not nominated | ||
Welcome to Chechnya | David France | LGBT Chechen refugees as they made their way out of anti-gay purges in Chechnya of the late 2010s | Not nominated |
2021
Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ascension | Jessica Kingdon | The pursuit of the Chinese Dream | Nominated | [21] | |
Attica | Stanley Nelson Jr., Traci Curry | The infamous 1971 Attica Prison riot | Nominated | ||
Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry | R. J. Cutler | The career and creative process of singer-songwriter Billie Eilish | Not nominated | ||
Faya Dayi | Jessica Beshir | The rituals of khat, a psychoactive plant that plays an important role in Ethiopia's economy and culture | Not nominated | ||
The First Wave | Matthew Heineman | A hospital in New York City, as it battles the COVID-19 pandemic | Not nominated | ||
Flee | Jonas Poher Rasmussen | Amin Nawabi, who shares his hidden past of fleeing his home country of Afghanistan to Denmark for the first time | Nominated | ||
In the Same Breath | Nanfu Wang | The response of the Chinese and American governments to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not nominated | ||
Julia | Julie Cohen, Betsy West | The life of cooking teacher and television personality Julia Child | Not nominated | ||
President | Camilla Nielsson | The career of Nelson Chamisa who takes on the corrupt ruling party in Zimbabwe | Not nominated | ||
Procession | Robert Greene | The six men, who suffered abuse by priests, looking for peace | Not nominated | ||
The Rescue | Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | The 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue | Not nominated | ||
Simple as Water | Megan Mylan | The Syrian families across five countries, revealing the impact of war, separation, and displacement | Not nominated | ||
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) | Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson | The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival | Won Academy Award | ||
The Velvet Underground | Todd Haynes | The life and times of influential rock band The Velvet Underground | Not nominated | ||
Writing with Fire | Sushmit Ghosh, Rintu Thomas | The journalists running the Dalit women-led newspaper Khabar Lahariya, as they shift from 14 years of print to digital journalism using smartphones | Nominated |
See also
- Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
- Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film
References
- ^ "Academy Announces Films Remaining in Competition for Best Documentary Feature". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. January 3, 2000. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
- ^ a b Kilday, Gregg (November 21, 2003). "Oscar's documentary dozen". Today.com. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
- ^ "Academy Announces Documentary Films in Competition for 78th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. November 15, 2005. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
- ^ 15 Films Selected for Oscar Short List in Doc Feature Category-IndieWire
- ^ Doc Soup: A New Award for Documentaries-Doc Soup-POV Blog-PBS
- ^ "2009 Academy Awards Best Documentary Short List Unveiled - Film Junk".
- ^ "Oscar's 2010 Feature Documentary Shortlist Revealed". ComingSoon.net. 18 November 2010.
- ^ Oscars: Documentary shortlist unveiled — Variety
- ^ a b "85th Academy Awards: Best Documentary Feature Shortlist Announced | what (not) to doc". whatnottodoc.com. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ "86th Oscars: Best Documentary Feature Shortlist Announced | what (not) to doc". whatnottodoc.com. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ Tim Gray. "15 Documentaries Land on Oscar's Short List". Variety. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ "15 Documentary Features Advance in 2015 Oscar Race". oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ "Oscars 2016: 124 documentaries submitted for consideration-Entertainment Weekly". ew.com. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ Patrick Hipes. "Oscars: 2016 Feature Documentary Submissions Unveiled". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ "90th Academy Awards (2017): Documentary Feature Eligibility List". 19 January 2018.
- ^ Antonia Blyth. "Oscars 2018: A Look At Contenders In The Best Documentary Feature Race". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ "One of these 15 movies will win best documentary at the Oscars-Entertainment Weekly". ew.com. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ Kiefer, Halle (December 17, 2018). "Get Ready to Fill That Void: The Academy Is Rolling Out Its 91st Oscars Shortlists". Vulture. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
- ^ Pedersen, Erik (December 16, 2019). "Oscars: Academy Releases Shortlists For Nine Categories Including Documentary, International Film, VFX, Song, Score & Shorts". Deadline. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
- ^ Carey, Matthew (February 9, 2021). "Oscars Documentary Feature Shortlist: Snubs, Surprises And A Netflix-Amazon Showdown". Deadline. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ Carey, Matthew (December 21, 2021). "'Flee' Scores Rare Oscar Shortlist Double, Joins 'Summer of Soul,' 'The Rescue,' 'Ascension' In Continued Hunt For Academy Awards". Deadline. Retrieved September 18, 2022.