The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has selected 15 feature documentaries that will be narrowed down to five competing for the Oscar in that category.
In a highly competitive year for documentary films, in which 124 were submitted, the first round of voting by members of the Academy’s documentary branch singled out docs that range from Asif Kapadia’s Amy, a look at the late singer Amy Winehouse, to Evgeny Afineevsky’s Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, which presents an account of the Ukranian uprising in 2013-2014.
Previous Oscar winners are represented by new works on the list, including Michael Moore, a winner for 2002’s Bowling for Columbine, is back with Where to Invade Next, in which he journeys to Europe to spotlight progressive policies lacking in America; Alex Gibney, who took the Oscar for 2007’s Taxi to the Dark Side, made the cut with Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief; Davis Guggenheim, who received an Oscar for 2006’s An Inconvenient Truth, scored a mention with He Named Me Malala, about the young activist Malala Yousafzai; and Morgan Neville, who earned his Oscar for 2013’s 20 Feet From Stardom, is in with Best of Enemies, a film about Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, which Neville directed with Robert Gordon.
The shortlist also encompasses Liz Garbus’ What Happened, Miss Simone?, which looks at the life and times of singer-civil-right activist Nina Simone; Matthew Heineman’s Cartel Land, which captures efforts to fight the drug cartels along the U.S./Mexican border; Marc Silver’s 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets, which focuses on the murder of a young black man in Jacksonville, Fla.; and Hubert Sauper’s We Come as Friends, a tour of war-ravaged South Sudan.
“Amy,” On the Corner Films and Universal Music
“Best of Enemies,” Sandbar
“Cartel Land,” Our Time Projects and The Documentary Group
“Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” Jigsaw Productions
“He Named Me Malala,” Parkes-MacDonald and Little Room
“Heart of a Dog,” Canal Street Communications
“The Hunting Ground,” Chain Camera Pictures
“Listen to Me Marlon,” Passion Pictures
“The Look of Silence,” Final Cut for Real
“Meru,” Little Monster Films
“3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets,” The Filmmaker Fund, Motto Pictures, Lakehouse Films, Actual Films, JustFilms, MacArthur Foundation and Bertha BRITDOC
“We Come as Friends,” Adelante Films
“What Happened, Miss Simone?,” RadicalMedia and Moxie Firecracker
“Where to Invade Next,” Dog Eat Dog Productions
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” Pray for Ukraine Productions
