More films will be competing in the Oscar race for Best Documentary Feature this year than ever before, according to a list of submitted films obtained by TheWrap.
The Academy has yet to release the official roster of films that have qualified in the category, because the final determination has yet to be made before that late-October release. But all members of the Documentary Branch receive lists of films and viewing assignments throughout the year, and can view the documentaries on a secure AMPAS website.
This week, 80 new docs were added to the screener site, in addition to the 79 feature links that were already available there.
That puts the field at 159 films so far, breaking the previous record of 151 qualifying films in 2013. Last year, 145 qualified.
In recent years, the branch has regularly tweaked and modified its rules. Often, that has been with the intention of cutting down on the number of films, particularly made-for-television docs, that qualified by renting theaters (or “four-walling”) for the minimum required run. But as the market for nonfiction filmmaking has grown, particularly on platforms like Netflix, the number of Oscar submissions has remained high.
This year’s films include several docs about Syria (“City of Ghosts,” “Cries From Syria,” “Last Men in Aleppo,” “Hell on Earth”), two about the Los Angeles riots of 1992 (“LA 92,” “Let It Fall”), more than a dozen about music (including “Bang! The Bert Berns Story,” “Chasing Trane,” “Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis,” “Gaga: Five Foot Two,” “I Called Him Morgan,” “Long Strange Trip” and “Whitney: Can I Be Me?”) and quite a few from celebrated documentarians: Frederick Wiseman’s “Ex Libris,” Agnes Varda’s “Faces, Place” (co-directed by JR), Steve James’ “Abacus” and the artist Ai Weiwei (“Human Flow”).
Recent nominees with films in the running this year include Evgeny Afineevsky (“Cries From Syria”), David France (“The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson”), Matthew Heineman (“City of Ghosts”), Sebastian Junger (“Hell on Earth”), Scott Hamilton Kennedy (“Food Evolution”), Rory Kennedy (“Take Every Wave”) and Oscar winners TJ Martin and Dan Lindsay (“LA 92”) and Laura Poitras (“Risk”).
To ensure that every eligible film is viewed by voters, members of the branch are assigned specific films that they must watch. They are then free to see and vote for any other film in contention.
Ballots are due on Nov. 30, with a shortlist of 15 films to be announced in December. A second round of voting will then produce the final five nominees.
Here is the list of films currently available for members to stream:
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
“Aida’s Secret”
“Al Di Qua”
“All the Rage”
“All These Sleepless Nights”
“AlphaGo”
“American Media & the Second Assassination of John F. Kennedy”
“Architects of Denial”
“Arthur Miller: Writer”
“Atomic Homefront”
“Augie”
“Bang! The Bert Berns Story”
“Bending the Arc”
“Big Sonia”
“Bill Nye: Science Guy”
“Birthright: A War Story”
“Bobbi Jene”
“Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story”
“Born in China”
“Born to Lead: The Sal Aunese Story”
“Boston”
“Brimstone & Glory”
“Bronx Gothic”
“Burden”
“California Typewriter”
“Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story”
“Casting JonBenet”
“Chasing Coral”
“Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary”
“Chavela”
“Citizen Jane: Battle for the City”
“City of Ghosts”
“Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives”
“Cries From Syria”
“Cruel and Unusual”
“Dawson City: Frozen Time”
“Dealt”
“The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson”
“Destination Unknown”
“Dina”
“Dolores”
“Dream Big: Engineering Our World”
“Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis”
“Earth: One Amazing Day”
“11/8/16”
“Elian”
“Embargo”
“Escapes”
“Everybody Knows … Elizabeth Murry”
“Ex Libris: New York Public Library”
“Extraordinary Ordinary People”
“Faces Places”
“The Farthest”
“The Final Year”
“Finding Oscar”
“500 Years”
“Food Evolution”
“For Akheem”
“The Force”
“The Freedom to Marry”
“From the Ashes”
“Gaga: Five Foot Two”
“A German Life”
“Get Me Roger Stone”
“Gilbert”
“God Knows Where I Am”
“Good Fortune”
“A Gray State”
“Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami Who Started It All”
“Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story”
“Hearing Is Believing”
“Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS”
“Human Flow”
“I Am Another You”
“I Am Evidence”
“I Am Jane Doe”
“I Called Him Morgan”
“Icarus”
“If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast”
“The Incomparable Rose Hartman”
“An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power”
“Intent to Destroy”
“Jane”
“Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent”
“Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold”
“Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower”
“Karl Marx City”
“Kedi”
“Keep Quiet”
“Kiki”
“LA 92”
“The Last Dalai Lama?”
“The Last Laugh”
“Last Men in Aleppo”
“Legion of Brothers”
“Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992”
“Let’s Play Two”
“Letters From Baghdad”
“Long Strange Trip”
“Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry”
“Machines”
“Man in Red Bandana”
“Motherland”
“Mr. Gaga”
“Mully”
“My Scientology Movie”
“Naples ’44”
“Neary’s: The Dream at the End of the Rainbow”
“Night School”
“No Stone Unturned”
“Nobody Speak”
“Nowhere to Hide”
“Obit.”
“Oklahoma City”
“One of Us”
“The Paris Opera”
“The Pathological Optimist”
“Prosperity”
“The Pulitzer at 100”
“Quest”
“Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman”
“The Reagan Show”
“Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan”
“Risk”
“A River Below”
“Rocky Ros Muc”
“Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World”
“Santoalla”
“School Life”
“Score: A Film Music Documentary”
“Served Like a Girl”
“The Settlers”
“78/52”
“Shadowman”
“Shot! The Psycho Spiritual Mantra of Rock”
“Sidemen: Long Road to Glory”
“The Skyjacker’s Tale”
“Sled Dogs”
“Spettacolo”
“Step”
“Stopping Traffic: The Movement to End Sex Trafficking”
“Strong Island”‘
“Surviving Peace”
“Swim Team”
“Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton”
“Take My Nose … Please!”
“They Call Us Monsters”
“32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide”
“This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous”
“Tickling Giants”
“Trophy”
“Twenty Two”
“Unrest”
“Vince Giordano: There’s a Future in the Past!”
“Wasted! The Story of Food Waste”
“Water & Power: A California Heist”
“Whitney: Can I Be Me?”
“Whose Streets?”
“The Work”