Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film
Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film | |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Presented by | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) |
First awarded | 1942 |
Most recent winner | Mstyslav Chernov Michelle Mizner Raney Aronson-Rath 20 Days in Mariupol (2023) |
Website | oscars |
The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to Kukan and Target for Tonight.[1] They have since been bestowed competitively each year, with the exception of 1946.[2] Copies of every winning film (along with copies of most nominees) are held by the Academy Film Archive.[3]
Winners and nominees
Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year (that is, the year they were released under the Academy's rules for eligibility). In practice, due to the limited nature of documentary distribution, a film may be released in different years in different venues, sometimes years after production is complete.
red links with the language codes in [small blue letters] in brackets. Click on the language code to see the page in that language.1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
Year | Film | Nominees |
---|---|---|
1970 (43rd) | Woodstock | Bob Maurice |
Chariots of the Gods | Dr. Harald Reinl | |
Jack Johnson | Jim Jacobs | |
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis | Ely Landau | |
Say Goodbye | David H. Vowell | |
1971 (44th) | ||
The Hellstrom Chronicle | Walon Green | |
Alaska Wilderness Lake | Alan Landsburg | |
On Any Sunday | Bruce Brown | |
The RA Expeditions | Lennart Ehrenborg [de; sv] and Thor Heyerdahl | |
The Sorrow and the Pity | Marcel Ophüls | |
1972 (45th) | ||
Marjoe | Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan | |
Ape and Super-Ape | Bert Haanstra | |
Malcolm X | Marvin Worth and Arnold Perl | |
Manson | Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick | |
The Silent Revolution | Eckehard Munck [de] | |
1973 (46th) | ||
The Great American Cowboy | Kieth Merrill | |
Always a New Beginning | John D. Goodell [pl] | |
Battle of Berlin | Bengt von zur Muehlen | |
Journey to the Outer Limits | Alexander Grasshoff | |
Walls of Fire | Gertrude Ross Marks [de] and Edmund F. Penney | |
1974 (47th) | ||
Hearts and Minds | Peter Davis and Bert Schneider | |
Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman | Judy Collins and Jill Godmilow | |
The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art | Herbert Kline [de; fr] | |
The 81st Blow | Jacquot Ehrlich, David Bergman and Haim Gouri | |
The Wild and the Brave | Natalie R. Jones and Eugene S. Jones | |
1975 (48th) | ||
The Man Who Skied Down Everest | F. R. Crawley, James Hager and Dale Hartlebe[8] | |
The California Reich | Walter F. Parkes and Keith F. Critchlow | |
Fighting for Our Lives | Glen Pearcy | |
The Incredible Machine | Irwin Rosten | |
The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir | Shirley MacLaine | |
1976 (49th) | ||
Harlan County, U.S.A. | Barbara Kopple | |
Hollywood on Trial | James Gutman and David Helpern Jr. | |
Off the Edge | Michael Firth | |
People of the Wind | Anthony Howarth and David Koff | |
Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry | Donald Brittain and Robert Duncan | |
1977 (50th) | ||
Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? | John Korty, Dan McCann and Warren L. Lockhart | |
The Children of Theatre Street | Robert Dornhelm and Earle Mack | |
High Grass Circus | Bill Brind, Torben Schioler and Tony Ianzelo | |
Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love | Harry Rasky | |
Union Maids | Jim Klein [de], Julia Reichert and Miles Mogulescu | |
1978 (51st) | ||
Scared Straight! | Arnold Shapiro | |
The Lovers' Wind | Albert Lamorisse | |
Mysterious Castles of Clay | Alan Root | |
Raoni | Jean-Pierre Dutilleux, Barry Williams and Michel Gast | |
With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade | Anne Bohlen, Lyn Goldfarb and Lorraine Gray | |
1979 (52nd) | ||
Best Boy | Ira Wohl | |
Generation on the Wind | David A. Vassar | |
Going the Distance | Paul Cowan and Jacques Bobet | |
The Killing Ground | Steve Singer and Tom Priestley | |
The War at Home | Glenn Silber and Barry Alexander Brown |
1980s
Year | Film | Nominees |
---|---|---|
1980 (53rd) | From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China | Murray Lerner |
Agee | Ross Spears | |
The Day After Trinity | Jon H. Else | |
Front Line | David Bradbury | |
The Yellow Star: The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45 | Bengt von zur Mühlen and Arthur Cohn | |
1981 (54th) | ||
Genocide | Arnold Schwartzman and Rabbi Marvin Hier | |
Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey | Suzanne Bauman, Paul Neshamkin and Jim Burroughs | |
Brooklyn Bridge | Ken Burns | |
Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott | Mary Benjamin, Susanne Simpson and Boyd Estus | |
El Salvador: Another Vietnam | Glenn Silber and Tete Vasconcellos | |
1982 (55th) | ||
Just Another Missing Kid | John Zaritsky | |
After the Axe | Sturla Gunnarsson and Steve Lucas | |
Ben's Mill | John Karol and Michel Chalufour | |
In Our Water | Meg Switzgable | |
A Portrait of Giselle | Joseph Wishy | |
1983 (56th) | ||
He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' | Emile Ardolino | |
Children of Darkness | Richard Kotuk and Ara Chekmayan | |
First Contact | Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson | |
The Profession of Arms | Michael Bryans and Tina Viljoen | |
Seeing Red | James Klein and Julia Reichert | |
1984 (57th) | ||
The Times of Harvey Milk | Rob Epstein and Richard Schmiechen | |
High Schools | Charles Guggenheim and Nancy Sloss | |
In the Name of the People | Alex W. Drehsler and Frank Christopher | |
Marlene | Karel Dirka and Zev Braun | |
Streetwise | Cheryl McCall | |
1985 (58th) | ||
Broken Rainbow | Maria Florio and Victoria Mudd | |
Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo | Susana Blaustein Muñoz and Lourdes Portillo | |
Soldiers in Hiding | Japhet Asher | |
The Statue of Liberty | Ken Burns and Buddy Squires | |
Unfinished Business | Steven Okazaki | |
1986 (59th) [note 5] | ||
Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (TIE) | Brigitte Berman | |
Down and Out in America (TIE) | Joseph Feury and Milton Justice | |
Chile: Hasta Cuando? | David Bradbury | |
Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer | Kirk Simon and Amram Nowak | |
Witness to Apartheid | Sharon I. Sopher [de] | |
1987 (60th) | ||
The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table | Aviva Slesin | |
Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years/Bridge to Freedom 1965 | Callie Crossley and James A. DeVinney | |
Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima | John Junkerman and John W. Dower | |
Radio Bikini | Robert Stone | |
A Stitch for Time | Barbara Herbich and Cyril Christo | |
1988 (61st) | ||
Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie | Marcel Ophüls | |
The Cry of Reason – Beyers Naudé: An Afrikaner Speaks Out | Robert Bilheimer and Ronald Mix | |
Let's Get Lost | Bruce Weber and Nan Bush | |
Promises to Keep | Ginny Durrin [de] | |
Who Killed Vincent Chin? | Renee Tajima-Peña and Christine Choy | |
1989 (62nd) | ||
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt | Rob Epstein and Bill Couturié | |
Adam Clayton Powell | Richard Kilberg and Yvonne Smith | |
Crack USA: County Under Siege | Vince DiPersio and William Guttentag | |
For All Mankind | Al Reinert and Betsy Broyles Breier | |
Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren | Judith Leonard and William C. Jersey [de] |
1990s
Year | Film | Nominees |
---|---|---|
1990 (63rd) | American Dream | Barbara Kopple and Arthur Cohn |
Berkeley in the Sixties | Mark Kitchell | |
Building Bombs | Mark Mori and Susan Robinson | |
Forever Activists: Stories from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade | Judith Montell | |
Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey | Robert Hillmann and Eugene Corr | |
1991 (64th) | ||
In the Shadow of the Stars | Allie Light and Irving Saraf | |
Death on the Job | Vince DiPersio and William Guttentag | |
Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House | Alan Raymond and Susan Raymond | |
The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945 | Hava Kohav Beller | |
Wild by Law | Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey | |
1992 (65th) | ||
The Panama Deception | Barbara Trent and David Kasper | |
Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker | David Haugland | |
Fires of Kuwait | Sally Dundas | |
Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II | Bill Miles and Nina Rosenblum | |
Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann | Margaret Smilow [de] and Roma Baran | |
1993 (66th) | ||
I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School | Susan Raymond and Alan Raymond | |
The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter | David Paperny and Arthur Ginsberg | |
Children of Fate | Susan Todd and Andrew Young | |
For Better or For Worse | David Collier and Betsy Thompson | |
The War Room | D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus | |
1994 (67th) | ||
Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision | Freida Lee Mock and Terry Sanders | |
Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter | Deborah Hoffmann | |
D-Day Remembered | Charles Guggenheim | |
Freedom on My Mind | Connie Field and Marilyn Mulford | |
A Great Day in Harlem | Jean Bach | |
1995 (68th) | ||
Anne Frank Remembered | Jon Blair | |
The Battle Over Citizen Kane | Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein | |
Small Wonders | Allan Miller and Walter Scheuer | |
Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream | Michael Tollin and Fredric Golding | |
Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern | Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher | |
1996 (69th) | ||
When We Were Kings | Leon Gast and David Sonenberg | |
The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story | Susan W. Dryfoos | |
Mandela | Jo Menell [cs; sk] and Angus Gibson | |
Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse | Anne Belle and Deborah Dickson [de; fr] | |
Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press | Rick Goldsmith [de; pt] | |
1997 (70th) | ||
The Long Way Home | Marvin Hier and Richard Trank | |
4 Little Girls | Spike Lee and Sam Pollard | |
Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life | Michael Paxton | |
Colors Straight Up | Michèle Ohayon and Julia Schachter | |
Waco: The Rules of Engagement | Dan Gifford and William Gazecki | |
1998 (71st) | ||
The Last Days | James Moll and Kenneth Lipper | |
Dancemaker | Matthew Diamond and Jerry Kupfer | |
The Farm: Angola, USA | Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus | |
Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth | Robert B. Weide | |
Regret to Inform | Barbara Sonneborn and Janet Cole [de] | |
1999 (72nd) | ||
One Day in September | Arthur Cohn and Kevin Macdonald | |
Buena Vista Social Club | Wim Wenders and Ulrich Felsberg [de; pl] | |
Genghis Blues | Roko Belic and Adrian Belic | |
On the Ropes | Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen | |
Speaking in Strings | Paola di Florio and Lilibet Foster |
2000s
2010s
2020s
Year | Film | Nominees |
---|---|---|
2020/21 (93rd) | My Octopus Teacher | Pippa Ehrlich [de], James Reed and Craig Foster |
Collective | Alexander Nanau and Bianca Oana [de] | |
Crip Camp | Nicole Newnham, Jim LeBrecht and Sara Bolder | |
The Mole Agent | Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibáñez [de] | |
Time | Garrett Bradley, Lauren Domino [de] and Kellen Quinn | |
2021 (94th) | ||
Summer of Soul | Questlove, Joseph Patel [de], Robert Fyvolent [de] and David Dinerstein [de] | |
Ascension | Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell | |
Attica | Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry [de] | |
Flee | Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie | |
Writing with Fire | Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh | |
2022 (95th) | ||
Navalny | Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris | |
All That Breathes | Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer | |
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov | |
Fire of Love | Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman | |
A House Made of Splinters | Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström | |
2023 (96th) | ||
20 Days in Mariupol | Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath | |
Bobi Wine: The People's President | Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek | |
The Eternal Memory | Maite Alberdi | |
Four Daughters | Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha | |
To Kill a Tiger | Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim |
Shortlisted finalists
Finalists for Best Documentary Feature are selected by the Documentary Branch based on a preliminary ballot. A second preferential ballot determines the five nominees.[11] Prior to the 78th Academy Awards, there were twelve films shortlisted. These are the additional films that were shortlisted.
Year | Finalists |
---|---|
1999 | Amargosa, American Movie, Beyond the Mat, Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., Pop & Me, Smoke and Mirrors: A History of Denial, The Source[12] |
2003 | The Agronomist, Bus 174, Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin, Heir to an Execution, Inheritance: A Fisherman's Story, Lost Boys of Sudan, My Flesh and Blood[13] |
2004 | Home of the Brave, Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, In the Realms of the Unreal, Riding Giants, The Ritchie Boys, Tell Them Who You Are, Touching the Void[14] |
2005 | After Innocence, The Boys of Baraka, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Favela Rising, Mad Hot Ballroom, Occupation: Dreamland, On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report, Rize, 39 Pounds of Love, Unknown White Male[15] |
2006 | Blindsight, Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?, The Ground Truth, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, Shut Up & Sing, Sisters in Law, Storm of Emotions, The Trials of Darryl Hunt, An Unreasonable Man, The War Tapes[16] |
2007 | Autism: The Musical, Body of War, For the Bible Tells Me So, Lake of Fire, Nanking, Please Vote for Me, The Price of Sugar, A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman, The Rape of Europa, White Light/Black Rain[17] |
2008 | At the Death House Door, Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh, Fuel, Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts, I.O.U.S.A., In a Dream, Made in America, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, Standard Operating Procedure, They Killed Sister Dorothy[18] |
2009 | The Beaches of Agnès, Every Little Step, Facing Ali, Garbage Dreams, Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, Mugabe and the White African, Sergio, Soundtrack for a Revolution, Under Our Skin, Valentino: The Last Emperor[19] |
2010 | Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Enemies of the People, Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, The Lottery, Precious Life, Quest for Honor, This Way of Life, The Tillman Story, Waiting for "Superman", William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe[20] |
2011 | Battle for Brooklyn, Bill Cunningham New York, Buck, Jane's Journey, The Loving Story, Project Nim, Semper Fi: Always Faithful, Sing Your Song, Under Fire: Journalists in Combat, We Were Here[21] |
2012 | Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Bully, Chasing Ice, Detropia, Ethel, The House I Live In, The Imposter, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, This Is Not a Film, The Waiting Room[22] |
2013 | The Armstrong Lie, Blackfish, The Crash Reel, First Cousin Once Removed, God Loves Uganda, Life According to Sam, Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, Stories We Tell, Tim's Vermeer, Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington[23] |
2014 | Art and Craft, The Case Against 8, Citizen Koch, The Internet's Own Boy, Jodorowsky's Dune, Keep on Keepin' On, The Kill Team, Life Itself, The Overnighters, Tales of the Grim Sleeper[24] |
2015 | Best of Enemies, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, He Named Me Malala, Heart of a Dog, The Hunting Ground, Listen to Me Marlon, Meru, 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets, We Come as Friends, Where to Invade Next[25] |
2016 | Cameraperson, Command and Control, The Eagle Huntress, Gleason, Hooligan Sparrow, The Ivory Game, Tower, Weiner, The Witness, Zero Days[26] |
2017 | Chasing Coral, City of Ghosts, Ex Libris: The New York Public Library, Human Flow, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, Jane, LA 92, Long Strange Trip, One of Us, Unrest[27] |
2018 | Charm City, Communion, Crime + Punishment, Dark Money, The Distant Barking of Dogs, On Her Shoulders, Shirkers, The Silence of Others, Three Identical Strangers, Won't You Be My Neighbor?[28] |
2019 | Advocate, The Apollo, Apollo 11, Aquarela, The Biggest Little Farm, The Great Hack, Knock Down the House, Maiden, Midnight Family, One Child Nation [29] |
2020 | All In: The Fight for Democracy, Boys State, Dick Johnson Is Dead, Gunda, MLK/FBI, Notturno, The Painter and the Thief, 76 Days, The Truffle Hunters, Welcome to Chechnya[30] |
2021 | Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry, Faya Dayi, The First Wave, In the Same Breath, Julia, President, Procession, The Rescue, Simple as Water, The Velvet Underground[31] |
2022 | Bad Axe, Children of the Mist, Descendant, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, Hidden Letters, The Janes, Last Flight Home, Moonage Daydream, Retrograde, The Territory[32] |
2023 | 32 Sounds, American Symphony, Apolonia, Apolonia, Beyond Utopia, Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, In the Rearview, Stamped from the Beginning, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, A Still Small Voice[33] |
Superlatives
For this Academy Award category, the following superlatives emerge:[34]
- Most awards:
Arthur Cohn – 3 awards (resulting from 4 nominations); Simon Chinn – 2 awards; Jacques-Yves Cousteau – 2 awards; Walt Disney – 2 awards (resulting from 7 nominations; Disney has an additional 2 wins in the Documentary Short Subject category); Rob Epstein – 2 awards; Marvin Hier – 2 awards; Barbara Kopple – 2 awards
Process controversies
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, at the time the highest-grossing documentary film in movie history, was ruled ineligible because Moore had opted to have it played on television prior to the 2004 election. Previously, the 1982 winner Just Another Missing Kid had already been broadcast in Canada and won that country's ACTRA award for excellence in television at the time of its nomination.
In 1990, a group of 45 filmmakers filed a protest to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over a potential conflict of interest involving Mitchell Block. They noted that Block was a member of the Documentary Steering Committee, which selects films as nominees, but he had a conflict of interest because his company Direct Cinema owned the distribution rights to three of the five films (including eventual winner Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt)[35] selected that year as nominees for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. They noted that Michael Moore's Roger & Me (distributed by Warner Brothers) was omitted from the nominees, although it had been highly praised by numerous critics and was ranked by many critics as one of the top ten films of the year.[36]
The controversy over Hoop Dreams' exclusion was enough to have the Academy Awards begin the process to change its documentary voting system.[37] Roger Ebert, who had declared it to be the best 1994 movie of any kind, looked into its failure to receive a nomination: "We learned, through very reliable sources, that the members of the committee had a system. They carried little flashlights. When one gave up on a film, he waved a light on the screen. When a majority of flashlights had voted, the film was switched off. Hoop Dreams was stopped after 15 minutes."[38]
The Academy's executive director, Bruce Davis, took the unprecedented step of asking accounting firm Price Waterhouse to turn over the complete results of that year's voting, in which members of the committee had rated each of the 63 eligible documentaries on a scale of six to ten. "What I found," said Davis, "is that a small group of members gave zeros (actually low scores) to every single film except the five they wanted to see nominated. And they gave tens to those five, which completely skewed the voting. There was one film that received more scores of ten than any other, but it wasn't nominated. It also got zeros (low scores) from those few voters, and that was enough to push it to sixth place."[39]
In 2000, Arthur Cohn, the producer of the winning One Day in September boasted "I won this without showing it in a single theater!" Cohn had hit upon the tactic of showing his Oscar entries at invitation-only screenings, and to as few other people as possible. Oscar bylaws at the time required voters to have seen all five nominated documentaries; by limiting his audience, Cohn shrank the voting pool and improved his odds. Following protests by many documentarians, the nominating system subsequently was changed.[40]
Hoop Dreams director Steve James said "With so few people looking at any given film, it only takes one to dislike a film and its chances for making the short list are diminished greatly. So they've got to do something, I think, to make the process more sane for deciding the shortlist."[41] Among other rule changes taking effect in 2013,[42] the Academy began requiring a documentary to have been reviewed by either The New York Times or Los Angeles Times, and be commercially released for at least one week in both of those cities. Advocating the rule change, Michael Moore said "When people get the award for best documentary and they go on stage and thank the Academy, it's not really the Academy, is it? It's 5% of the Academy."[41]
The awards process has also been criticized for emphasizing a documentary's subject matter over its style or quality. In 2009, Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman wrote about the documentary branch members' penchant for choosing "movies that the selection committee deemed good because they're good for you... a kind of self-defeating aesthetic of granola documentary correctness."[43]
In 2014, following the announcement of the shortlist of eligible feature documentary nominees, Sony Pictures Classics co-president Tom Bernard publicly criticized Academy documentary voters after they excluded SPC's Red Army from the shortlist. "It's a sign of some really old people in the documentary area of the Academy. There's a lot of people who are really up in their years. It's shocking to me that that film (Red Army) didn't get in," Bernard said.[44] Additionally, in his reporting of the Oscar documentary shortlist exclusions that year, The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg reacted to Red Army's omission: "...no matter which 15 titles the doc branch selected, plenty of other great ones would be left on the outside. That is the case, most egregiously, with Gabe Polsky's Red Army (Sony Classics), a masterful look at the role of sports in society and Russian-American relations".[45] (Icarus, another documentary related to sports and Russian-American relations, later won the Oscar.)
In 2017, following the win of the eight-hour O.J.: Made in America in this category, the Academy announced that multi-part and limited series would be ineligible for the award in the future, even if they are not broadcast after their Oscar-qualifying release (as was O.J.: Made in America).[46]
Various other acclaimed documentaries have not been nominated.[47][48]
Documentaries with wins or nominations in other categories
Though Academy rules do not expressly preclude documentaries from being nominated in other competitive categories,[49] documentaries are typically considered ineligible for nominations in categories that presume the work is fictitious, including Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and acting. To date, no documentaries have been nominated for Best Picture,[50] or Best Director. The Quiet One was nominated for Best Story and Screenplay.
No documentary feature has yet been nominated for Best Picture, although Chang was nominated in the "Unique and Artistic Production" category at the 1927/28 awards.
At the 3rd Academy Awards, prior to the introduction of a documentary category, With Byrd at the South Pole won the award for Best Cinematography, becoming the first documentary both to be nominated for and win an Oscar.[51][52] 1952's Navajo would become the first film nominated for both Best Documentary and Best Cinematography.
Woodstock was the first documentary to be nominated for Best Film Editing[53] while Hoop Dreams was the second (although it was, controversially, not nominated for Best Documentary Feature).[54][55] Woodstock is also the only documentary to receive a nomination for Best Sound.[56]
Honeyland became the first documentary to be nominated for both Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature.[57] The following year, Collective would accomplish the same double nomination.[58][59][60] Prior to this, Waltz with Bashir became the first documentary and first animated film nominated for Best International Feature Film, although it was not nominated for Best Documentary Feature.[61][62] The Danish-language animated documentary Flee was later nominated for Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Animated Feature, the first film to accomplish this feat.
Nine documentaries have received nominations for Best Original Song: Mondo Cane (for Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliviero's "More"),[63] An Inconvenient Truth (for Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up", the only nominee from a documentary to win),[64] Chasing Ice (for J. Ralph's "Before My Time"), Racing Extinction (for Ralph and Anhoni's "Manta Ray"), Jim: The James Foley Story (for Ralph and Sting's "The Empty Chair"), Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me (for Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond's "I'm Not Gonna Miss You"), The Hunting Ground (for Lady Gaga and Diane Warren's "Til It Happens To You"), RBG (for Warren's "I'll Fight")[65] and American Symphony (for Batiste's "It Never Went Away").
Documentaries nominated for their scores include This is Cinerama, White Wilderness (which also won for Documentary Feature[66]), Let It Be, and Birds Do It, Bees Do It.
Five documentary filmmakers have received honorary Oscars: Pete Smith, William L. Hendricks, D. A. Pennebaker, Frederick Wiseman, and Agnès Varda.[67]
See also
- BAFTA Award for Best Documentary
- Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature
- Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Documentary Feature
- Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary
- Submissions for Best Documentary Feature
- Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film
- List of Academy Award–nominated films
Notes
- ^ In 1942, documentary features and short subjects competed together for Best Documentary. Four special awards were bestowed among the 25 nominees.
- ^ A preliminary list of eight films were announced as nominees, but the Documentary Award Committee subsequently narrowed the field to five titles included on the final ballot. The films that did not advance were: For God and Country (United States Army Pictorial Service), Silent Village (British Ministry of Information), and We've Come a Long, Long Way (Negro Marches On, Inc.).
- ^ Terminus was originally announced as a nominee, but the nomination was rescinded after it was discovered the film had been released prior to the eligibility period.
- ^ Young Americans, produced by Robert Cohn and Alex Grasshoff, won this award on April 14, 1969. On May 7, 1969, the win and nomination were rescinded after it was discovered the film had been released prior to the eligibility period. First runner-up Journey into Self was named the winner the following day.
- ^ A tie in voting resulted in two winners.
References
- ^ Fisher, Bob (2012). "The Drive to Archive: Academy Pushes to Preserve Docs". International Documentary Association. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
- ^ 19th Academy Awards (1946): Nominees and Winners-Cinema Sight by Wesley Lovell
- ^ "Academy Award-Winning Documentaries". Academy Film Archive. 4 September 2014.
- ^ De Souza, P. "Kokoda Front Line! (1942)". australianscreen (National Film and Sound Archive Australia). Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ^ Taylor, B. "Australias First Oscar". National Film and Sound Archive Australia. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ^ a b c "The Official Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
- ^ Documentary Winners: 1969 Oscars
- ^ "The 48th Academy Awards". 4 October 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- ^ "Academy Awards 2017: Complete list of Oscar winners and nominees". Los Angeles Times. February 26, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
- ^ Hipes, Patrick (January 23, 2018). "Oscar Nominations: 'The Shape Of Water' Leads Way With 13". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
- ^ "93rd Academy Award of Merit Rules" (PDF). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 2, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
- ^ "Academy Announces Films Remaining in Competition for Best Documentary Feature". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. January 3, 2000. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
- ^ 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 17, 2004. 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.
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- ^ "15 Docs Continue in 2008 Oscar Race". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. November 17, 2008. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
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