The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has winnowed down the list of 124 documentary feature films that are eligible for being nominated for this year’s Academy Awards. The shortlist contains 15 films from which a final five will be nominated.
The titles that made the list include a number of films that have been receiving lots of critical attention this year, including the Amy Winehouse biography Amy, the examination of the drug war Cartel Land, Alex Gibney’s controversial Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief, He Named Me Malala, Joshua Oppenheimer’s followup to his critically acclaimed The Act Of Killing, The Look Of Silence and Mihael Moore’s latest Where To Invade Next.
Surprisingly, The Wolfpack and Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck, both films which received strong reviews, didn’t make the cut. Personally, I was disappointed to see that Bobcat Goldthwait’s Call Me Lucky, which profiles the life of political comic Barry Crimmins, didn’t make the cut.
Here is the complete list of documentary films that made the Academy’s shortlist –
- Amy
- Best of Enemies
- Cartel Land
- Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
- He Named Me Malala
- Heart of a Dog
- The Hunting Ground
- Listen to Me Marlon
- The Look of Silence
- Meru
- 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets
- We Come as Friends
- What Happened, Miss Simone?
- Where to Invade Next
- Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
