The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has unveiled the list of what is said to be a record number of films that will contend for the 90th Academy Awards Documentary Feature Oscar.
A total of One hundred seventy (170) feature documentaries have been submitted for consideration. Per the Academy, several of the films have not yet had their required Los Angeles and New York qualifying releases. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules in order to advance in the voting process.
Films submitted in the Documentary Feature category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.
Of note, with respect to Shadow and Act’s interests, are (in alphabetical order):
— Bronx Gothic: Director Andrew Rossi’s film is based on Okwui Okpokwasili’s lauded performance piece of the same name, which follows the Bessie Award–winning actor, dancer, writer, performance artist and singer as she stages a final tour for her one-woman show, Bronx Gothic. Inspired by Okpokwasili’s early 1980s Bronx childhood, Rossi’s film asks the audience: “Can I make all of you be born again as a black girl?”
— Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story: Sean “Diddy” Combs’ documentary celebrating the first 20 years of the Bad Boy Entertainment record label, the film is directed by Daniel Kaufman, providing a raw and exclusive look behind the scenes at the history and legacy of Bad Boy through a complex portrait of the label’s mastermind, Combs, aka Puff Daddy, as he tries to reunite his Bad Boy Family in the course of a frantic three-week rehearsal period.
— Chasing Trane: John Scheinfeld’s John Coltrane documentary is the definitive documentary film about the outside-the-box thinker with extraordinary talent whose boundary-shattering music continues to impact and influence people around the world. A smart, passionate, thought-provoking and uplifting documentary for anyone who appreciates the power of music to entertain, inspire and transform.
— The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson: One of at least 2 different films on the self-described “street queen” in circulation, director David France’s film chronicles the life of the legendary drag queen, Stonewall veteran, and co-founder of the trans-rights movement, who was found dead in the Hudson River 25 years ago, and her best friend and fellow activist Sylvia Rivera, who died a few years later, the victim of a broken heart.
— For Ahkeem: From co-directors Jeremy Levine and Landon Van Soest, the documentary follows Daje Shelton, a 17-year-old black girl from north St. Louis, Missouri as she strives to graduate from the nation’s only court-supervised public high school. Through Daje’s intimate first-person account, For Ahkeem explores the complex web between juvenile justice, education and race in America today.
— I Called Him Morgan: A feature documentary directed by Kasper Collin which centers on the turbulent relationship between the great jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan and his common-law wife, Helen Morgan that led to her shooting him dead in 1972. Lee Morgan was just 33 years old at the time.
— Kiki: Director Sara Jordenö’s film is a strikingly intimate documentary that offers riveting, complex insight into a safe space created and governed by LGBTQ youth of color in New York City, who are claiming their own peace and political power.
— LA 92: National Geographic Documentary Films’ riveting look back at the controversial Rodney King trial and subsequent protests, violence and looting of the city, viewed from a multitude of vantage points through visceral and rarely seen archival footage.
— Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982 – 1992: John Ridley’s feature documentary takes a unique and in-depth look at the years and events leading up to the city-wide violence that began April 29, 1992, when the verdict was announced in the Rodney King case.
— The Skyjacker’s Tale: Filmmaker Jamie Kastner’s feature-length documentary gives audiences unprecedented access to one of the USA’s top five most wanted fugitives – Ishmael Muslim Ali (formerly LaBeet) – who lives in Cuba. Called The Fountain Valley massacre, Ali was one of 5 Afro-Caribbean men convicted of murdering 8 (white) people on a Rockefeller-owned golf course in the US Virgin Islands. After years of trying to get his conviction overturned, he took matters into his own hands and hijacked an American Airlines flight that was full of passengers, en route to Cuba, on New Years Eve in 1984; and he got away with it, living at large in Cuba.
— Strong Island: Yance Ford’s powerful, poetic documentary chronicles the arc of a family across history, geography and tragedy. It is the story of the Ford family: Barbara Dunmore, William Ford and their three children and how their lives were shaped by the enduring shadow of race in America.
— Whitney. “Can I Be Me”: The Showtime documentary is an intimate portrait of Whitney Houston, one of the most successful female recording artists of all time, who, after a troubled marriage to singer Bobby Brown and many years of struggles with addiction, died suddenly and tragically at age 48. The film is directed by acclaimed BAFTA Award winner Nick Broomfield with Rudi Dolezal.
— Whose Streets?: Directed by Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis, the film is a nonfiction account of the Ferguson, Missouri uprising told through the eyes and by the people who lived it. It’s an unflinching look at how the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown inspired a community to fight back – and sparked a global movement.
— The Work: Set inside a single room in Folsom Prison, 3 men from the outside participate in a 4-day group therapy retreat with level-four convicts. Over the 4 days, each man in the room takes his turn at delving deep into his past. Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous directed the film.
For the full list of 170 films that will be considered for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar at the 90th Academy Awards next year, see the list below.
A shortlist of 15 films will be announced in December. Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.
The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Aida’s Secrets
Al Di Qua
All the Rage
All These Sleepless Nights
AlphaGo
The American Media and the Second Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
And the Winner Isn’t
Angels Within
Architects of Denial
Arthur Miller: Writer
Atomic Homefront
The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography
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
Chavela
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
City of Ghosts
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives
Cries from Syria
Cruel & Unusual
Cuba and the Cameraman
Dawson City: Frozen Time
Dealt
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Destination Unknown
Dina
Dolores
Dream Big: Engineering Our World
A Dying King: The Shah of Iran
Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends)
Earth: One Amazing Day
11/8/16
Elian
Embargo
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars
Escapes
Everybody Knows… Elizabeth Murray
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library
Extraordinary Ordinary People
Faces Places
The Farthest
The Final Year
Finding Oscar
500 Years
Food Evolution
For Ahkeem
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
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton
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
Machines
Man in Red Bandana
Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance
Motherland
Mully
My Scientology Movie
Naples ’44
Neary’s – The Dream at the End of the Rainbow
Night School
No Greater Love
No Stone Unturned
Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press
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 Rape of Recy Taylor
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
Soufra
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
Voyeur
Wait for Your Laugh
Wasted! The Story of Food Waste
Water & Power: A California Heist
Whitney. Can I Be Me
Whose Streets?
The Work
