If there is one fickle and often head-scratching branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, it’s the Documentary one. Over the years, the branch has angered many of its peers by snubbing acclaimed works and uplifting what some consider pedestrian docs. This year appears to be on solid ground as the Documentary Film Oscar shortlist contains critically lauded films such as “No Other Land,” “Daughters,” “Porcelain War,” and “Union.”
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One mention, Mati Diop’s “Dahomey,” also made the International Film Oscars shortlist as Senegal’s entry.
Other celebrated inclusions include “Wil & Harper,” “The Bibi Files,” “Frida,” “Sugarcane,” and “Eno.”
Overall, “Emilia Perez” led all films with six mentions in the 10 categories. “Wicked” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” earned 4 while “Dune: Part Two,” “Gladiator II,” “The Wild Robot,” “Alien: Romulus,” and “Blitz” earned 3 each. “Nosferatu,” “Mufasa: The Lion King,” “The Six Triple Eight,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Sing Sing,” “Better Man,” “Dahomey,” and “Challengers” earned 2 respectively.
The fifteen films that made the Documentary Feature shortlist are:
“The Bibi Files”
“Black Box Diaries”
“Dahomey”
“Daughters”
“Eno”
“Frida”
“Hollywoodgate”
“No Other Land”
“Porcelain War”
“Queendom”
“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin”
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
“Sugarcane”
“Union”
“Will & Harper”
Additionally, the Academy released the shortlists for Documentary Short, Live-Action Short, and Animated Short. They are as follows:
Documentary Short Film
“Chasing Roo”
“Death by Numbers”
“Eternal Father”
“I Am Ready, Warden”
“Incident”
“Instruments of a Beating Heart”
“Keeper”
“Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World”
“Once upon a Time in Ukraine”
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
“Planetwalker”
“The Quilters”
“Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr”
“A Swim Lesson”
“Until He’s Back”
Animated Short Film
“Au Revoir Mon Monde”
“A Bear Named Wojtek”
“Beautiful Men”
“Bottle George”
“A Crab in the Pool”
“In the Shadow of the Cypress”
“Magic Candies”
“Maybe Elephants”
“Me”
“Origami”
“Percebes”
“The 21”
“Wander to Wonder”
“The Wild-Tempered Clavier”
“Yuck!”
Live Action Short Film
“Anuja”
“Clodagh”
“The Compatriot”
“Crust”
“Dovecote”
“Edge of Space”
“The Ice Cream Man”
“I’m Not a Robot”
“The Last Ranger”
“A Lien”
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”
“The Masterpiece”
“An Orange from Jaffa”
“Paris 70”
“Room Taken”
The 97th Academy Awards nominations will be unveiled bright and early on Friday, January 17.