These are our 2023 Oscar predictions for Best Animated Film, Best Documentary Film, and Best International Film part of a series on this year’s awards. Check out full predictions in all Oscar categories.
As we continue our annual Academy Awards prediction series, we turn to Best Documentary Feature. This year’s slate of nominees include two Netflix documentaries, a PBS film, a National Geographic film, and a film distributed by Neon.
Continue reading 2020 Oscar Predictions — Best Documentary Feature
With the notable absence of presumed front-runner Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Best Documentary is suddenly up in the air. What film will rise to take its place as the “Best Documentary” of 2018?
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Predictions – Best Documentary Feature
The ease of predicting the Oscar race for Best Documentary comes down to the category already being narrowed down to a shortlist. The contenders are already limited to 15 films. Of those 15, though, there are clear frontrunners.
The Best Documentary race appears to be one of the most cut and dry of the year, but there are one or two contenders on the outside of the top five that are strong enough to get in.
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions – Best Documentary
The Best Documentary category features one of the more prominent snubs of the 2018 Oscar nominations. The arguable front-runner in the category, Jane, did not appear in the final five (I disputed this front-runner status in favor of Agnes Varda’s Faces Places, but I in no way foresaw Jane not even earning a nomination).
With that film out of the running—as well as other notable docs like City of Ghosts not showing up—the conversation around the Best Documentary category has changed drastically. So let’s have that conversation!
Continue reading 2018 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary has been narrowed to a shortlist of 15 films. Raises my chances of not screwing this up, right?
Continue reading 2018 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Documentary Nominees
I am fascinated by the 2017 Academy Award Best Documentary race. In a normal year, a film like 13th would be the clear favorite. It is adherent to the talking-head documentary formula will having important and informative subject matter.
But then there’s ESPN…
Continue reading Academy Awards Predictions 2017 – Best Documentary Feature
I have always grappled with reviewing documentaries. The cinematic elements are often time more muted than in fiction films, although there are exceptions to this of course. Documentaries are defined by formula. It is nice, then, to see documentaries that go above and beyond the simple formula.
Here are my picks for the Best Documentary nominations.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Documentary
The Best Documentary category has developed into one of the more elusive categories at the Oscars. The Academy has a recent history of honoring the more lighthearted pieces of nonfiction film. Three of the past five years’ winners have been films that avoid politics or heavy issues.
This year, all five nominees deal with heavy issues to various degrees. And two of the three emerging frontrunners appear to be the most heavy of the lot. The Look of Silence and Cartel Land are hailed critically, and appear to be powerful enough films to elicit Academy recognition.
At least, that is the hope.
The Look of Silence is Joshua Oppenheimer’s follow up to 2012’s The Act of Killing. The sequel may not Continue reading 2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Documentary
The Nominees:
Continue reading 2015 Academy Award Predictions — Best Documentary
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