When the Oscar shortlist was released last week, the announcement brought joy to a select group of documentary filmmakers and heartbreak to many others. The record number of 201 eligible non-fiction feature films has been narrowed down to 15 by the Academy’s documentary arm, sending the remaining films to the next round of competition: the nominations vote.
In the new edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey break down the biggest shocks and surprises from the shortlists. The announcement made National Geographic wince, which saw its main contender go unnoticed, even though the film in question had just won the IDA prize for best feature documentary. Likewise, HBO Documentary Films failed to deliver one of its main hopes: a documentary directed by a famous actress. However, HBO was rewarded with recognition for The Alabama Solutionthe investigative documentary directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman.
Revealing for Oscar documentary watchers: the number of films not distributed in the United States that overcame this obstacle to earn a place on the feature shortlist, among them Hold Liat, Seeds, Yanuni And Coexistence, my ass! Ridley, himself an Oscar winner (12 years a slave) and member of the Academy, congratulates the doc branch for having adopted Seedsbut he expressed outrage at the omission of a film directed by Davis Guggenheim and Nyle DiMarco.
“Really? Really?” Ridley said in disbelief at this snub.
A film had to go through hoops to make the shortlist. Also in the mix: a documentary from a filmmaker who won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature just two years ago, and another from a filmmaker who won her Oscar ten years ago.
We also scrutinized the pre-selection of short documentaries. Some prominent filmmakers were recognized there, including Joshua Seftel, Ondi Timoner and Jay Rosenblatt. The remarkable Geeta Gandbhir has been selected for an acclaimed feature film she directed And for a short documentary that she co-directed, an impressive duo.
It’s on the new episode of Doc Talk, hosted by Deadline documentary editor Ridley and Carey. The pod is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.
Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.
