Submissions for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
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 | Jonathan Demme | Not nominated | [2] | ||
| Balseros | Carles Bosch and Josep M. Domenech | Nominated | |||
| Bus 174 | Jose Padilha | Not nominated | |||
| Capturing the Friedmans | Andrew Jarecki |
|
American family with dark sexual secrets | Nominated | |
| Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin | Richard Schickel | The life and times of Golden Age of Hollywood legend Charlie 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 | Marc Levin | Not nominated | |||
| Inheritance: A Fisherman's Story | Peter Hegedus | Not nominated | |||
| Lost Boys of Sudan | Megan Mylan and Jou Shenk | Not nominated | |||
| My Architect | Nathaniel Kahn | Nominated | |||
| My Flesh and Blood | Jonathan Karsh | Not nominated | |||
| The Weather Underground | Sam Green and Bill Siegel |
|
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 |
|
The rise and fall of the real estate corporation Enron | Nominated | |
| Mad Hot Ballroom |
|
Not nominated | |||
| March of the Penguins | 
|
The daily lives of emperor penguins | Won Academy Award | ||
| Murderball |
|
American Wheelchair rugby players facing against Canadian wheelchair rugby players at the 2004 Paralympic Games | 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 | Not nominated | |||
| 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 | Nominated | [7] | |||
| Gasland | Nominated | ||||
| Inside Job | Won Academy Award | ||||
| Restrepo | Nominated | ||||
| The Tillman Story |
|
The untimely death of former football player turned soldier Pat Tillman | Not nominated | ||
| Waiting for "Superman" | Not nominated | ||||
| Waste Land | Nominated |
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] | |||
| 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 | Asif Kapadia | 
|
The life and death of singer Amy Winehouse | Won Academy Award | [12][13] |
| 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 | An exposé on the practices of the Church of Scientology | Not nominated | |||
| He Named Me Malala | Not nominated | ||||
| Heart of a Dog | Laurie Anderson |
|
Composer Laurie Anderson's meditative ode to canines | Not nominated | |
| The Hunting Ground | Best Original Song nominee | 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 | ||||
| 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. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameraperson | Kirsten Johnson |
|
A cinematographer's collection of documentary footage | Not nominated | [14] |
| Fire at Sea | Nominated | ||||
| Gleason |
|
Not nominated | |||
| I Am Not Your Negro | Raoul Peck |
|
Author James Baldwin's unfinished memoir about being black in America | 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 | |
| OJ: Made in America | Ezra Edelman |
|
The examination of racial divides in America during the O. J. Simpson saga | Won Academy Award | |
| 13th | Ava DuVernay |
|
A look at the 13th amendment and its' effect on African Americans | Nominated | |
| Tower |
|
The 1966 University of Texas shooting perpetrated by Charles Whitman | Not nominated | ||
| Weiner |
|
The rise and fall of politician Anthony Weiner due to his excessive sexting | Not nominated |
2017
| Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abacus: Small Enough to Jail | Steve James |
|
A family-owned community bank, Abacus Federal Savings Bank, the only financial institution to face criminal charges following the subprime mortgage crisis | Nominated | [15][16][17] |
| Chasing Coral | Jeff Orlowski |
|
A team of divers, scientists and photographers around the world who document the disappearance of coral reefs | Not nominated | |
| City of Ghosts | Matthew Heineman |
|
The Syrian media activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently after their homeland is taken over by ISIS in 2014 | Not nominated | |
| Ex Libris: The New York Public Library | Frederick Wiseman |
|
The role of the New York Public Library as an egalitarian network of exploration, exchange and learning | Not nominated | |
| Faces Places | Agnes Varda, JR |
|
Varda and JR traveling around rural France, creating portraits of the people they come across | Nominated | |
| Human Flow | Ai Weiwei |
|
The current global refugee crisis | Not nominated | |
| Icarus | Bryan Fogel |
|
Fogel's exploration of the option of doping to win an amateur cycling race and happening upon a major international doping scandal when he asks for the help of Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory | Won Academy Award | |
| An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power | Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk |
|
Former United States Vice President Al Gore's continuing mission to battle climate change | Not nominated | |
| Jane | Brett Morgen |
|
Iconic anthropologist Jane Goodall | Not nominated | |
| Jim and Andy | Chris Smith |
|
The making of the 1999 biopic Man on the Moon starring Jim Carrey in his Golden Globe-winning portrayal of the controversial stand-up comedian Andy Kaufman | Not nominated | |
| LA 92 | Daniel Lindsay, T. J. Martin |
|
Archival coverage of the 1992 Rodney King riots | Not nominated | |
| Last Men in Aleppo | Feras Fayyad |  
|
The lives of three White Helmets founders, Khaled Omar Harrah, Subhi Alhussen and Mahmoud as they grapple the dilemma to flee their country or stay and fight for it | Nominated | |
| Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992 | John Ridley |
|
Prior events leading up to the Rodney King riots | Not nominated | |
| Long Strange Trip | Amir Bar-Lev |
|
The career of the rock band the Grateful Dead | Not nominated | |
| Strong Island | Yance Ford |
|
The April 1992 murder of William Ford, the director's brother | Nominated | |
| One of Us | Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady |
|
The lives of three ex-Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn | Not nominated | |
| Unrest | Jennifer Brea |
|
Brea faced chronic fatigue syndrome that struck just before she married her husband Omar Wasow | Not nominated |
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][20] |
| 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 | [21][22] |
| 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 | [23] |
| 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 |
2022
| Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A House Made of Splinters | Simon Lereng Wilmont | Denmark Ukraine Sweden
|
The care of the staff of an institution for children who have been removed from their homes. | Nominated | [24] |
| All That Breathes | Shaunak Sen | India United States United Kingdom
|
Two brothers devote their lives to protect one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the black kite | Nominated | |
| All the Beauty and the Bloodshed | Laura Poitras | United States
|
The life of artist Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family | Nominated | |
| Bad Axe | David Siev | United States
|
David Siev's Asian-American family struggles to keep their local restaurant afloat amidst racial tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic | Not nominated | |
| Children of the Mist | Ha Le Diem |  Vietnam
|
The Di Hmong teenager faces challenges growing up. In traditional Di culture, girls are married at the age of 14. But at school he learns that there are alternatives. | Not nominated | |
| Descendant | Margaret Brown | United States
|
The community of Africatown and the descendants of some of the last known enslaved Africans that were brought to the United States | Not nominated | |
| Fire of Love | Sara Dosa | United States Canada
|
The life and career of the daring French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who were ultimately killed in the 1991 eruption of Mount Unzen | Nominated | |
| Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song | Daniel Geller & Dayna Goldfine | United States Canada
|
The story of Leonard Cohen, and his song "Hallelujah" | Not nominated | |
| Hidden Letters | Violet Du Feng & Qing Zhao | China
|
The story of two Chinese women trying to balance their lives as independent women in modern China while confronting the traditional identity that defines but also oppresses them. | Not nominated | |
| The Janes | Tia Lessin & Emma Pildes | United States
|
The story of a clandestine service for women seeking safe, affordable, and illegal abortions, calling themselves JANE | Not nominated | |
| Last Flight Home | Ondi Timoner | United States
|
In his final days, we discover Eli Timoner and an extraordinary life of wild achievements, tragic loss and most of all, enduring love | Not nominated | |
| Moonage Daydream | Brett Morgen | Germany United States
|
David Bowie's creative, spiritual and musical journey | Not nominated | |
| Navalny | Daniel Roher | United States
|
The poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny | Won Academy Award | |
| Retrograde | Matthew Heineman | United States
|
The Events that took place during the last nine months of the United States' 20-year war in Afghanistan | Not nominated | |
| The Territory | Alex Pritz | United States United Kingdom Brazil Denmark
|
The attempts of a young indigenous leader of the Uru-eu-wau-wau, an Amazonian tribe contacted by the Brazilian government only in 1980 | Not nominated |
2023
| Film | Director(s) | Countrie(s) | Subject(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Symphony | Matthew Heineman | United States
|
A year in the life of musician Jon Batiste chronicling his career in music and his marriage with Suleika Jaouad as they deal with her leukemia. | Pending | [25] |
| Apolonia, Apolonia | Lea Glob | Denmark Poland France
|
A coming-of-age story of a girl as she finds her place in the art world, told through 13 years. | Pending | |
| Beyond Utopia | Madeleine Gavin | United States
|
The work of Pastor Sungeun Kim, a South Korean human rights activist who has helped rescuing North Korean defectors. | Pending | |
| Bobi Wine: The People's President | Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp | United Kingdom Uganda United States
|
The campaign trail of Ugandan politician, singer, and actor Bobi Wine leading to the 2021 Ugandan general election. | Pending | |
| Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy | Nancy Buirski | United States
|
The journey of making and producing John Schlesinger's 1969 film Midnight Cowboy. | Pending | |
| The Eternal Memory | Maite Alberdi | Chile
|
The relationship between actress Paulina Urrutia and journalist Augusto Góngora as they struggle with Gongora's Alzheimer's disease diagnosis. | Pending | |
| Four Daughters | Kaouther Ben Hania |  Tunisia Germany France Saudi Arabia
|
After two daughters of a Tunisian woman disappeared, the filmmaker invites professional actresses to compensate for the loss. | Pending | |
| Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project | Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson | United States
|
The life of American poet Nikki Giovanni and the historical periods she lived through from civil rights movement and Black Arts Movement to Black Lives Matter. | Pending | |
| In the Rearview | Maciek Hamela | Ukraine Poland France
|
Following the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a Polish van travels through Ukraine's streets serving as a refuge for citizens. | Pending | |
| Stamped from the Beginning | Roger Ross Williams | United States
|
A hibrid documentary based on Ibram X. Kendi's 2016 non-fiction book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas. | Pending | |
| Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie | Davis Guggenheim | United States
|
The life of American actor Michael J. Fox and his struggle with Parkinson's disease. | Pending | |
| A Still Small Voice | Luke Lorentzen | United Kingdom
|
A chaplain completing a year-long hospital residency facing the challenges and spiritual questions that come from her experiences with her patients. | Pending | |
| 32 Sounds | Sam Green | United States
|
Sound and its effects on human's perception of time and the world. | Pending | |
| To Kill a Tiger | Nisha Pahuja | Canada
|
A family in Jharkhand, India campaigning for justice for the teenage daughter, who has brutally raped. | Pending | |
| 20 Days in Mariupol | Mstyslav Chernov | Ukraine
|
The twenty days spent by the filmmaker and his colleagues in besieged Mariupol after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. | Pending |
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 (pg.41 of 178)". 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
- ^ "85th Academy Awards: Best Documentary Feature Shortlist Announced | what (not) to doc". whatnottodoc.com. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ "86th Oscars: Best Documentary Feature Shortlist Announced | what (not) to doc". whatnottodoc.com. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ Tim Gray (2 December 2014). "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. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- ^ 'I Am Not Your Negro' & '13th' Make Shortlist For Academy Awards' Best Documentary Feature - Okayplayer
- ^ "90th Academy Awards (2017): Documentary Feature Eligibility List". 19 January 2018.
- ^ Antonia Blyth (16 November 2017). "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.
- ^ 159 Documentary Features submitted for 2019 Oscar® Race - The Bahamas Weekly
- ^ Carey, Matthew (February 9, 2021). "Oscars Documentary Feature Shortlist: Snubs, Surprises And A Netflix-Amazon Showdown". Deadline. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
- ^ 94TH ACADEMY AWARDS® ELIGIBLE FOR ... - Oscars.org
- ^ 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.
- ^ Academy Announces 259 Eligible Titles for Animated, Documentary and International Feature Races - Variety
- ^ Davis, Clayton (21 December 2023). "Oscar Shortlists Announced for 10 Categories: 'Barbie' Leads the Way". Variety. Retrieved 22 December 2023.
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