One of These 15 Documentaries Will Win the Oscar

Your guide to this year's Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature and where to watch all the contenders.

misterrogers
Focus Features

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has narrowed down this year’s documentary feature contenders to a shortlist of 15 titles. These semifinalists for the Oscar, which will be pared down further to five nominees announced on January 22nd, contain few shocks or snubs.

All of the big box office hits of the year — Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, RBG, Three Identical Strangers, and Free Solo — are included, while Hulu continues to show itself a big dog for docs now with both Minding the Gap and Crime + Punishment on the list. And I’m pleasantly surprised to see a little, nontraditional doc like Hale County This Morning, This Evening there. Another positive: half of the directors represented are women, a few are first-time filmmakers, and only one is a past nominee.

There also seem to be more foreign documentaries than normal, which is the result of a new rule this year allowing some features to become eligible by winning awards at qualifying festivals (including IDFA, Berlin, and Sheffield) — similar to the shorts categories — without a theatrical release of any kind, even a special Oscar-qualifying run. Beneficiaries of this seem to include CommunionThe Distant Barking of Dogs, and The Silence of Others.

As for what’s not on the shortlist, it’s sort of glaring that Michael Moore‘s Fahrenheit 11/9 was overlooked, especially since it’s actually very good, but while rare, it’s not his first exclusion. I’m maybe more surprised that a Netflix music documentary as favored as Quincy didn’t make the cut. Or that Netflix only managed one spot this year. And certainly I’m disappointed that some favorites, such as McQueen and The King weren’t shortlisted but I’m not too surprised.

Here is the full shortlist with notes about the movie’s creators, accolades, and availability:

Charm City

Directed by Marilyn Ness
What it’s about: violence in Baltimore and the people trying to turn things around.

Now in theaters; premieres on PBS’ Independent Lens on 4/22/19.


Communion (Komunia)

Directed by Anna Zamecka
What it’s about: A 14-year-old girl who cares for and tries to unite her family as her younger brother celebrates his communion.

Winner of numerous international film festival honors (including at Jihlava, Locarno, DOK Leipzig, and Yamagata, the last of which was a qualifying festival prize), as well as both the Polish Film Award and the European Academy Award for Best Documentary plus the Polish Independent Cinema Award for Best Film.

Now in theaters.


Crime + Punishment

Directed by Stephen Maing
What it’s about: the NYPD’s continuation of illegal quota mandates and the officers fighting against the corruption.

Winner of honors from the International Documentary Association, The National Board of Review and film festivals including Sundance and Montclair.

Now streaming on Hulu.


Dark Money

Directed by Kimberley Reed
What it’s about: the influence of corporate money on elections, with a particular focus on politics in Montana.

Winner of honors from film festivals including Montclair and Omaha.

Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.


The Distant Barking of Dogs

Directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont
What it’s about: the frontlines of war in Ukraine through a year in the life of a 10-year-old boy.

Winner of honors from the International Documentary Association and qualifying festival awards from DocAviv, Goteborg, and Thessaloniki.

Now in theaters.


Free Solo

Directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
What it’s about: free solo climber Alex Honnold as he takes on the El Capitan wall at Yosemite while also falling in love.

Winner of honors from the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards and the National Board of Review and festivals including Toronto and Mill Valley and critics groups including Seattle. Also nominated for a Producers Guild Award.

Now in theaters (IMAX release opens 1/11/19).


Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Directed by RaMell Ross
What it’s about: an impression of Hale County and its people.

Winner of the Gotham Award for Best Documentary and honors from the International Documentary Association and festivals including Sundance, Full Frame, Montclair, and Camden. Also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Now in theaters; premieres on PBS’ Independent Lens on 2/11/19.


Minding the Gap

Directed by Bing Liu
What it’s about: three friends who grew up skating together and now reflect and confront the abuses of their past and present.
Read our review.

Winner of honors from the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association, the International Documentary Association, the National Board of Review, and festivals including Sundance, Telluride, Sheffield, Hot Docs, Full Frame, Docutah, DOXA, and CPX: DOX. Also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Now streaming on Hulu.


Of Fathers and Sons

Directed by Talal Derki
What it’s about: a radical Islamist family from the inside.

Read our capsule review.

Winner of honors at festivals including Sundance, Full Frame, Thessaloniki, and Documentary Edge, the last of which was a qualifying festival award. Also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Now streaming on Kanopy.


On Her Shoulders

Directed by Alexandria Bombach
What it’s about: Yazidi genocide survivor and now Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad as she campaigns for awareness.

Read our review.

Winner of honors from the National Board of Review and festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Camden, Hot Docs, and Dokufest. Also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Rent from Amazon.


RBG

Directed by Julie Cohen and Betsy West
What it’s about: US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Read our review.

Winner of honors from the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, and festivals including Sarasota and Wisconsin. Also nominated for a Producers Guild Award.

Now streaming on Hulu.


Shirkers

Directed by Sandi Tan
What it’s about: the independent film Tan and her friends made in the early 1990s and how it was hijacked for decades.

Read our capsule review.

Winner of honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and festivals including Sundance and Philadelphia.

Now streaming on Netflix.


The Silence of Others

Directed by Robert Bahar and Almudena Carracedo
What it’s about: victims of the Franco dictatorship in Spain who continue to seek justice.

Winner of honors from the International Documentary Association and festivals including Berlin, Jihlava, Traverse City, Hamptons, and Sheffield, the last of which was a qualifying festival grand jury prize.

Opening officially in the US in Spring 2019.


Three Identical Strangers

Directed by Tim Wardle
What it’s about: triplets separated at birth.

Read our review.

Winner of honors from the San Diego Film Critics Society, the Detroit Film Critics Society, the National Board of Review, and the Sundance Film Festival.

Rent from Amazon.


Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Directed by Morgan Neville (Oscar winner for 20 Feet From Stardom)
What it’s about: Fred Rogers and his PBS series, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Read our review.

Winner of honors from the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, the Gotham Awards, the Atlanta Film Critics Circle, Boston Society of Film Critics, the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, the Phoenix Critics Circle, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle, the St. Louis Film Critics Association, the Toronto Film Critics Association, the Utah Film Critics Association, the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society, the New York Film Critics Online, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the Indiana Film Journalists Association, and the National Board of Review. Also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and a Producers Guild Award.

Rent from Amazon.

(Editor in Chief)

Christopher Campbell is the founding editor of Nonfics.