“Sugarcane,” “No Other Land,” “Will & Harper,” “Dahomey” and “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” are among the 15 films that made the shortlist in the Oscars’ Best Documentary Feature category, one of 10 shortlists that the Academy announced on Tuesday.
The doc shortlist includes many of the most acclaimed nonfiction films of 2024, including Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s “Sugarcane,” which led all nominees at the IDA Documentary Awards, the Cinema Eye Honors and Critics Choice Documentary Awards; Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham’s “No Other Land,” which went on to win at the IDA doc awards; and Mati Diop’s “Dahomey,” which also landed a spot on the International Feature Film list, representing Senegal.
As always, there were snubs, including “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” a well-reviewed look at the late actor who famously played the Man of Steel, directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui. This isn’t entirely surprising, given the documentary branch’s habit of icing out friendly, mainstream nonfiction films (see: Taylor Swift’s short, Robert Downey Jr.’s film about his dad, and “Good Night Oppy,” all snubbed in 2022). “Elton John: Never Too Late” was also absent from the shortlist, as was “Piece by Piece,” the story of Pharrell Williams’ life told through Lego, though the title song did make the Original Song shortlist.
It seems the Academy allowed only one spot for an unabashedly open-hearted mainstream doc this year — and that went to “Will & Harper,” Josh Greenbaum’s chronicle of Will Ferrell and comedy writer Harper Steele’s cross-country road trip that explored their relationship after Steele’s transition. Will its Oscar journey end here, à la “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” or will it go on to score a nomination?
Fifteen films also made the documentary-short category. Ben Proudfoot’s “The Turnaround” did not make the list, which is noteworthy, given that he has been nominated three times in the category in the last five years (he won in 2022 for “The Queen of Basketball”).
The Oscar nominations voting period will run from Jan. 8-12, 2025. Nominations will be announced on Jan. 17, 2025. The 97th Academy Awards will take place on March 2, 2025.
Check out the full list of nonfiction films that made the Oscars shortlist for 2025:
FEATURES
“The Bibi Files”
“Black Box Diaries”
“Dahomey”
“Daughters”
“Eno”
“Frida”
“Hollywoodgate”
“No Other Land”
“Porcelain War”
“Queendom”
“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin”
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
“Sugarcane”
“Union”
“Will & Harper”
SHORTS
“Chasing Roo”
“Death by Numbers”
“Eternal Father”
“I Am Ready, Warden”
“Incident”
“Instruments of a Beating Heart”
“Keeper”
“Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World”
“Once upon a Time in Ukraine”
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
“Planetwalker”
“The Quilters”
“Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr”
“A Swim Lesson”
“Until He’s Back”
See the other Oscar shortlists, below.
