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American Symphony, the Obamas' lead documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste, scored a remarkable hat trick today as the Oscar shortlists were announced, but a few documentary icons were left on the bench.
Other headlines from the announcement: A popular documentary filmmaker who died unexpectedly in August landed on the non-fiction shortlist. And the film about esteemed actor Michael J. Fox, directed by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, made the list. Two films received double recognition – they were shortlisted for Documentary Film and International Feature Film. [See full shortlists for doc feature and doc short below].
Suleika Jouad and Jon Batiste in “American Symphony” Netflix
The most striking takeaway is the recognition for American Symphony, the Netflix film directed by Oscar nominee Matthew Heineman and produced by Higher Ground, the production company of former President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. It made the documentary shortlist, as well as two other shortlists announced today: Musical Score and Original Song, where Batiste's “It Never Went Away” made the breakthrough.
Heineman's film focuses on Batiste and his wife, musician and writer Suleika Jouad. In the midst of an extraordinary year for Batiste, in which he won a slew of Grammys, his wife was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer and underwent chemotherapy. (Read Deadline's article about the film here).
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In the documentary category, the list of 167 eligible films was shortened to 15. Two films made the shortlist for both documentary and international feature: Four Daughters, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, who represents Tunisia in the international competition, and 20 Days in Mariupol, directed by Pulitzer Prize winner Mstyslav Chernov, who represents Ukraine.
David Cornwell (aka John le Carré) in “The Pigeon Tunnel” Apple TV+
“The Mother of All Lies,” Asmae El Moudir's acclaimed film, which shared the top documentary prize with “Four Daughters” at the Cannes Film Festival, missed the documentary shortlist but secured a spot on the list representing Morocco of international feature films.
Two of the most respected documentary film directors – Errol Morris and Frederick Wiseman – have been left off the documentary shortlist in the biggest snubs of the day. Morris' Apple Original Films film “The Pigeon Tunnel” went unnoticed, as did Wiseman's “Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros,” Wiseman's 44th film, which turns 94 on January 1.
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For Menus-Plaisirs it's 4 hours, which may have hurt his chances. Another film with a running time of four hours, “Occupied City” by Steve McQueen, also did not make the shortlist. It was mixed news for another cinema titan, Wim Wenders. His 3D documentary Anselm, about German artist Anselm Kiefer, did not make the documentary shortlist, but Perfect Days, his narrative film, made it into the international feature race, representing Japan.
Director Nancy Buirski courtesy of Zeitgeist Films
Fortunately, the late Nancy Buirski's documentary Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy made the shortlist. She died unexpectedly in August at the age of 78. Deadline spoke with her in June for an in-depth article about the film that examines the legacy of “Midnight Cowboy,” the Oscar-winning 1969 classic film starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. “Desperate Souls” is produced by Buirski, Simon Kilmurry and Susan Margolin.
Michael J. Fox has never been nominated for a competitive Oscar, but his name is on the marquee in a prominent Oscar contender. Davis Guggenheim's film “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” about the Canadian-born film and television star, made it to the documentary shortlist. He is nominated for the top seven nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards, which will be held next month.
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National Geographic Documentary Films, a perennial documentary producer, was able to pursue one of its two main contenders in the Oscar hunt: Bobi Wine: The People's President, directed by Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp. The other hopeful, “The Mission,” directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, did not make the shortlist.
In another snub, “The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” Nicole Newnham’s documentary about the famed sex researcher, remained on the sidelines. Last week, this film received a nomination for the Producers Guild Awards. Newnham received an Oscar nomination for her 2020 documentary Crip Camp, co-directed by Jim LeBrecht and executive produced by the Obamas' Higher Ground.
“Stamped from the Beginning” Netflix
In addition to American Symphony, Netflix is represented on the feature shortlist with Stamped From the Beginning, the latest film from Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams. Apolonia, Apolonia made it even though there was no US distribution yet. The film, directed by Lea Glob, comes from HBO Max Europe.
Two films about the war in Ukraine made the shortlist – the aforementioned film “20 Days in Mariupol,” which documents the brutal siege of that port city in the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and “In the Rearview,” directed by Maciek Hamela. The focus is on Ukrainian civilians fleeing destruction at the hands of Russia. Almost the entire film was shot in a minivan, with Hamela volunteering to drive the very young, old and people in between across the border to safety in Poland.
Poet Nikki Giovanni in the HBO documentary Going to Mars.
Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster made the shortlist with their HBO documentary “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” which won the top prize for U.S. documentary at the Sundance Film Festival last January. Sundance World Cinema Documentary Grand Prize winner The Eternal Memory also made the cut. Directed by Oscar nominee Maite Alberdi, this film tells the love story of two of Chile's most important figures in art and media: Paulina Urrutia and the journalist Augusto Góngora, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 62.
“To Kill a Tiger” courtesy of the NFB and Notice Pictures
Nisha Pahuja's To Kill a Tiger, one of the most awarded films of the year, also made the shortlist, as did Beyond Utopia, Madeleine Gavin's documentary that exposes the hidden – and horrific – living conditions of the people of North Korea. Rounding out the feature shortlist is “32 Sounds,” directed by Sam Green, which continues the hunt. His film “explores the fundamental phenomenon of sound and its power to alter time, transcend boundaries and profoundly shape our perception of the world around us.”
As for the Oscar short documentary shortlist, Ben Proudfoot continues his quest for a third Oscar nomination in the last four years with The Last Repair Shop, which he co-directed with Kris Bowers. The pair received an Oscar nomination for their previous short film “A Concerto Is a Conversation,” and Proudfoot won the Oscar for the 2021 documentary short film “The Queen of Basketball” (exclusively produced by Shaquille O'Neal and Stephen Curry, among others ).
Camp Courage, the Netflix short film by Max Lowe, has done it. “Wings of Dust,” the short film by Giorgio Ghiotto that previously won the Student Academy Award, made the shortlist of 15 (selected from 114 eligible films).
“The ABCs of Book Banning” MTV Documentaries
And even at the age of 84, doc legend Sheila Nevins remains in Oscar contention with her short film “The ABCs of Book Banning,” which marks her directorial debut. She has produced or executive produced hundreds of films over the course of her unparalleled career, first at HBO Documentary Films and more recently at MTV Documentary Films. Nevins is one of the executive producers of Alberdi's Oscar-shortlisted The Eternal Memory.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
American Symphony
Apolonia, Apolonia
Beyond utopia
Bobi Wine: The People's President
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy
The eternal memory
Four daughters
On the way to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
In the rear view
Shaped from the start
Still: A Michael J. Fox film
A still, small voice
32 sounds
Kill a tiger
20 days in Mariupol
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
The ABC of book banning
The Barber of Little Rock
Carry
Between earth and sky
Black Girls Play: The History of Hand Games
Camp Courage
Decisive vote
How we become free
If Dreams Were Lightning Fast: Rural Health Care Crisis
island in between
The last repair shop
Last song from Kabul
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
oasis
Wings of dust