Oscar Doc Shortlist Scores and Shocks: “American Symphony Earns Trifecta, But Two Doc Legends Are Snubbed.”

American SymphonyObama’s executive-produced documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste scored a remarkable hat trick today when the Oscar shortlists were announced, but some documentary icons were left on the bench.

Other headlines from the announcement said a popular documentary filmmaker who died unexpectedly in August deserved a spot on the nonfiction shortlist. And the film about popular actor Michael J. Fox, directed by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim, made the list. Two films received double recognition: they were shortlisted for documentary and international films. [See full shortlists for doc feature and doc short below].

The most obvious insight 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 is shortlisted for Documentary Films and two further shortlists were 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 string of Grammys, his wife was diagnosed with cancer again and underwent chemotherapy. (Read Deadline’s article about the film here).

In the documentary category, the list of 167 eligible films was reduced to 15. Two films made it to the shortlist for both the documentary and the international feature: Four daughtersdirected by Kaouther Ben Hania, who represents Tunisia in the international competition, and 20 days in MariupolThe film was directed by Pulitzer Prize winner Mstyslav Chernov, representing Ukraine.

The mother of all liesthe award-winning film by Asmae El Moudir, which won the top prize for documentary film Four daughters It missed the documentary shortlist at the Cannes Film Festival, but secured a spot on the international feature list as Morocco’s representative.

Two of the most respected documentary film directors – Errol Morris and Frederick Wiseman – were left off the documentary shortlist in the biggest criticism of the day. Morris’s film The pigeon tunnelby Apple Original Films was overlooked, as was Wiseman’s Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgrosthe 44th film from Wiseman, who turns 94 on January 1st.

Menus-Plaisirs arrive at 4 o’clock, which may have hurt his chances. Another film with a running time of four hours, that of Steve McQueen Occupied cityShe didn’t make the shortlist either. It was mixed news for another cinema titan, Wim Wenders. Its 3D documentation Anselmabout the German artist Anselm Kiefer, but was not shortlisted for the documentary Perfect daysHis narrative film made progress in the international film race, representing Japan.

Moving, the documentary by the late Nancy Buirski Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy made it to the short list of features. 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 Cowboythe Oscar-winning 1969 classic 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 list of prominent Oscar contenders. Davis Guggenheim’s film about the Canadian-born film and television star, Still: A Michael J. Fox film, earned a place on the document shortlist. The film is up for the top seven nominations at the PrimeTime Emmy Awards, which take place next month.

National Geographic Documentary Films, a perennial documentary producer, has scored one of the two top contenders in the Oscar hunt: Bobi Wine: the people’s president, directed by Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp. His other hopes, The missionThe film, directed by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, did not make the shortlist.

In another tree stump, The disappearance of Shere Hite, Nicole Newnham’s documentary about the famous sex researcher, fell by the wayside. Last week, this film received a nomination for the Producers Guild Awards. Newnham received an Oscar nomination for her 2020 documentary Crib campCo-directed by Jim LeBrecht and executive produced by the Obamas’ Higher Ground.

In addition to American SymphonyNetflix is ​​on the shortlist of movies Stamped from the startthe youngest of Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams. Apollonia, Apollonia, despite not yet having an American distribution, made it. The film, directed by Lea Glob, comes from HBO Max Europe.

Two films about the war in Ukraine made the shortlist – the ones mentioned above 20 days in Mariupoldocumenting the brutal siege of this port city in the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and In the rearview mirrordirected by Maciek Hamela, in which Ukrainian citizens flee destruction at the hands of Russia. Almost the entire film was shot in a minivan as Hamela, who worked as a volunteer, ferried the very young, elderly and in-between to safety across the border into Poland.

Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster made it to the shortlist with their HBO documentary Heading to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, winner of the top prize for American documentary at the Sundance Film Festival last January. The grand prize winner for World Cinema Documentary at Sundance, The eternal memoryShe also made the cut. Directed by Oscar-nominated Maite Alberdi, this film tells the love story of two of Chile’s most important figures in art and media, Paulina Urrutia and journalist Augusto Góngora, who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 62.

By Nisha Pahuja Kill a tigerOne of the most decorated films of the year also made the shortlist Beyond utopia, Madeleine Gavin’s documentary that exposes the hidden – and horrific – living conditions of the people of North Korea. To complete the shortlist of positions, 32 tones, directed by Sam Green, continues the hunt. His film “explores the fundamental phenomenon of sound and its power to change time, transcend boundaries and deeply shape our perception of the world around us.”

As for the Oscar shortlist for documentary shorts, Ben Proudfoot continues his quest for a third Oscar nomination in the past four years The last repair shop, which he directed with Kris Bowers. The two received an Oscar nomination for their previous short film. A concert is a conversationand Proudfoot won the 2021 Oscar for Short Documentary for his film The queen of basketball (executive produced by Shaquille O’Neal, Stephen Curry, among others).

Camp courageThe choice fell on the Netflix short film directed by Max Lowe. Fabric wingsGiorgio Ghiotto’s short film, which previously won the Student Academy Award, was shortlisted out of 15 (chosen from 114 eligible films).

And even at the age of 84, Doc legend Sheila Nevins remains in the Oscar race with her short film The ABC of book banning, which marks her directorial debut. Over the course of her unparalleled career, she has produced or executive produced hundreds of films, first at HBO Documentary Films and most recently at MTV Documentary Films. Nevins is one of the executive producers of Alberdi’s Oscar shortlist The eternal memory.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FLIP
At the 96th Academy Awards, 15 films will be in the documentary category. 167 films were eligible for the category. The members of the documentary film department vote on the shortlist and nominees.

The films are in alphabetical order by title:

“American Symphony”
“Apollonia, Apollonia”
“Beyond Utopia”
“Bobi Wine: the people’s president”
“Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy”
“The Eternal Memory”
“Four Daughters”
“Towards Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
“In the Rearview Mirror”
“Influenced from the start”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
“A still small voice”
“32 sounds”
“Kill a Tiger”
“20 days in Mariupol”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
At the 96th Academy Awards, 15 films will be included in the category for documentary shorts. One hundred and fourteen films qualified for this category. The members of the documentary film department vote on the shortlist and nominees.

The films are in alphabetical order by title:

“The ABC of Book Banning”
“The Barber of Little Rock”
“Wear”
“Between Earth and Heaven”
“Black Girls Play: The History of Hand Games”
“camp courage”
“deciding vote”
“How do we get free”
“If Dreams Were Lightning Fast: Rural Health Care Crisis”
“Island in between”
“The Last Repair Shop”
“Last Song From Kabul”
“N|i Nai & Wài Pó”
“Oasis”
“Wings of Dust”