Netflix dominated the Oscar documentary race in recent years, winning the Documentary in 2020 and 2018, but the launch of the Academy’s finalist lists on Tuesday confirms that this time it faces a battle, from a rival streamer.
Amazon Studios placed two films on the shortlist –Time, directed by Garrett Bradley, and All In: The struggle for democracy, directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés. Time, which deals with mass incarceration through the experience of a black family in Louisiana, should be considered a solid favorite in the Oscar race, having tied for the Gotham Prize and accumulating several critical awards.
Netflix entered the Oscar list, as expected, with its two main competitors –Crip Camp, directed by Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht, and Dick Johnson is dead, by director Kirsten Johnson. It is also muscular with a shellfish theme My octopus teacher, holding in its tentacles a fifth of the 15 slots on the list. But Netflix failed to make the list with several of its other competitors, including The social dilemma, Athlete A and disclosure.
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The list of finalists for the feature film shot down a record of 238 films qualified for just 15, so there were sure to be many disappointed filmmakers. Three of the documentary’s most revered talents were rejected by Doc Branch voters: Errol Morris (My psychedelic love story), Frederick Wiseman (town hall) and Werner Herzog (Fireball: visitors from dark worlds) Oscar winning director Ron Howard and his National Geographic documentary Rebuilding paradise.
These omissions cannot be considered surprises. But Thousand cuts can qualify as the greatest contempt. Ramona Diaz’s film about the courageous journalist Maria Ressa, who went head-to-head with the strong Filipino Rodrigo Duterte, shared the Best Documentary with Time on Gothams and last week received a Producers Guild Award nomination.
A slight surprise in the selection list came with the inclusion of Night, simply because Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary does not have a prominent distributor (Super LTD) and was only released in virtual cinemas at the end of last month. He gained momentum when he joined Hulu on January 29, just before voting on the finalist list began, and was elected Italy’s official selection for the Oscar International Film category. Rosi received an Oscar nomination for her previous documentary, 2016 Fire in the sea.
Night was not part of the list of international finalists that was also released today.
In the absence of big surprises, what stands out in the shortlist announcement is the incredible recognition of international filmmakers. There’s Italy (Rosi); Chile (Maite Alberdi, The Mole Agent, also on the list of international purposes); Norway (Benjamin Ree, The Painter and the Thief); Romania (Alexander Nanau, Collective, another internationally renowned finalist); Russia (Victor Kossakovsky, Gunda); South Africa (Pippa Ehrlich, My octopus teacher); and the United Kingdom (James Reed, My octopus teacher) Hao Wu, director of the shortlist 76 days, is based in New York, but comes from China. Continuing with the international theme, The Truffle Hunters is situated in the fungus-rich hills of the Piedmont region in Italy and Welcome to Chechnya faces LGBTQ hate crimes in the Russian Republic of Chechnya.
Among national films, what is striking is how many deal in one way or another with the timely issue of racial injustice. Along with the above Time, there is All in, which explores the long history of suppressing the African-American vote and the recent work of former Georgia presidential candidate Stacey Abrams to break down barriers to the ballot box. MLK / FBI, by director Sam Pollard, reviews J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI-backed campaign to harass and discredit Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Oscar Shortlists: Deadline’s Complete Coverage
The Academy also released its list of short films, reducing the list of films still in the running for an Oscar nomination to 10. Skye Fitzgerald’s Hunger Wing was on the list, despite the director’s concern that his topic – starving children in Yemen – might be very difficult for some voters to experience. Holocaust Theme Colette took a place, just like the New York Times Op-Doc A Concert is a Conversation, executive production by Ava DuVernay.
The biggest scorn was the omission of the award-winning Netflix short John was trying to contact foreigners. But the streamer made up for it by putting several other shorts on the list: A love song for Latasha, on the 1992 murder of an African American girl; the captivating What would Sophia Loren do?, about a New Jersey grandmother who finds inspiration in the titular Italian actress; and The Speed Cubers, about people who can solve a Rubik’s cube in less time than it took to read this article.
Below are short lists of resources and short documentary subjects. The nominations in all Oscar categories are March 15th and the 93rd Oscar will take place on April 25th live on ABC.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“All In: The Fight for Democracy”
“Boys State”
“Collective”
“Crip Camp”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Gunda”
“MLK / FBI”
“The Mole Agent”
“My Professor Octopus”
“Notturno”
“The Painter and the Thief”
“76 days”
“Time”
“Truffle hunters”
“Welcome to Chechnya”
SUMMARY DOCUMENTARY SUBJECT
“Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa”
“Call Center Blues”
“Colette”
“A Concert is a Conversation”
“Don’t Divide”
“Hunger Guard”
“Hysterical girl”
“A love song for Latasha”
“The Speed Cubers”
“What would Sophia Loren do?”