Will Ferrell Doc In, Christopher Reeve Doc Out: Snubs & Surprises From Oscar Documentary Shortlist
Will & Harperthe Netflix documentary about comedic actor Will Ferrell and his friendship with SNL pal Harper Steele who came out as trans, earned a spot on the coveted Oscar documentary feature shortlist today.
It wasn’t the only shortlist honor for the film directed by Josh Greenbaum. The tune from the closing credits – “Will and Harper Go West,” written by SNL alum Kristen Wiig and Sean Douglas and performed by Wiig – got shortlisted for Best Original Song (Douglas is the son of actor Michael Keaton).
But another high-profile documentary in the running for the shortlist didn’t make the cut: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Storyabout the late actor who was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident. That film, directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, recently won Best Documentary Feature at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, and last week earned a nomination for the Producers Guild of America Award. [Scroll for full list of shortlisted features and short documentaries]
Aside from Will & Harperfeature documentaries with a celebrity element did not fare particularly well in shortlist voting (the list is determined by the Academy’s Documentary Branch, which will also choose the eventual five Oscar nominees in the category). Also snubbed were I Am: Celine Dion about the French Canadian chanteuse; Elton John: Never Too Late; Marthaabout lifestyle doyenne Martha Stewart; Luther: Never Too Muchabout the late singer-songwriter Luther Vandross; Music by John Williamsabout the Oscar-winning composer; and Piece by PieceOscar winner Morgan Neville’s film on music producer, singer and songwriter Pharrell Williams, done entirely with LEGO animation.
However, the Pharrell doc and the Elton John film did earn places on the Original Song shortlist. John, already an EGOT winner, wrote “Never Too Late” with his longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, along with singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, and Andrew Watt; Williams wrote and performs “Piece by Piece,” the title track to his doc.
Artist Frida Kahlo
Amazon MGM Studios
A celebrity, albeit of the art world, did claim a place on the doc shortlist: Fridathe Carla Gutiérrez film about the great Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Another surprise omission was Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpathe award-winning film directed by two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker that was nominated for a PGA Award last week. Two previous Oscar winners got snubbed: Errol Morris for his documentary Separatedand Asif Kapadia for 2073. (Coincidentally or not, both of those films incorporate fictionalized elements into their narratives).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in ‘The Bibi Files‘
BNU Productions
The doc feature shortlist of 15 was culled from 169 qualifiers this year. One of the biggest surprises to make the shortlist: The Bibi Filesdirected by Alexis Bloom and produced by Oscar winner Alex Gibney. The documentary, a blistering portrait of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that foregrounds a longstanding corruption investigation against him, made the cut despite having no major distributor or streamer. The film recently joined Jolt, a new streaming platform.
‘Hollywoodgate’
Rolling Narratives
At least two other films without U.S. distribution also made the shortlist: Unionthe Brett Story, Stephen Maing directed film about the first Amazon facility to be successfully unionized, and Hollywoodatedirector Ibrahim Nash’at’s harrowing examination of the Taliban’s transition from insurgent group to governing force after the exit of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan.
As expected, some of the most acclaimed documentaries of the year secured their places on the feature shortlist, including No Other Landthe film set in the occupied West Bank that’s directed by a collective of two Israeli and two Palestinian filmmakers. Despite having no U.S. distribution, the film has won about four dozen awards around the world.
‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’
Kino Lorber
It joins other top Oscar contenders on the shortlist: Black Box Diariesthe MTV Documentary Films title directed by Shiori Ito; Sugarcanethe National Geographic film directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, Netflix’s directed by Benjmain Ree; another Netflix title — Daughtersdirected by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etatthe Kino Lorber film directed by Johan Grimonprez.
Dahomeythe acclaimed documentary directed by Mati Diop, pulled off a rare double: the film about the repatriation of royal treasures to Benin that had been plundered by the French made both the documentary feature shortlist and Best International Feature shortlist, representing Senegal.
Oscar-qualifying short documentaries also saw their number culled to 15. Actor-filmmaker Rashida Jones made it with short A Swim Lessonco-directed with Will McCormack. Smriti Mundhra, an Oscar nominee for St. Louis Supermansaw her latest short documentary, I Am Ready, Wardenmake the list.
Two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot, the defending champion in the documentary short category, will not be in the running for a third Oscar this year. His two contenders – The Turnaround (directed by Kyle Thrash) and The Final Copy of Ilon Specht – did not make the shortlist.
These are the shortlists in the documentary categories announced today:
| DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards. One hundred sixty-nine films were eligible in the category. Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees. The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are: “The Bibi Files” DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are: “Chasing Roo” |
Nominations voting begins on Wednesday, January 8 and end Sunday, January 12. Nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced on Friday, January 17.
The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, televised live on ABC, streamed live on Hulu.
