Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment
  3. News

Here are the 15 documentaries that could earn Oscar nominations

Rick Marshall
By

2017 oscars documentary nominees anthony weiner pic
lev radin/Shutterstock
After announcing the contenders for the visual effects category earlier in the week, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has now revealed the films in the running for Academy Award nominations in the “Best Documentary Feature” category.

According to the announcement, 145 films were submitted for consideration and the list was narrowed down to 15 films that could earn nominations. Among the films is Weiner, a documentary chronicling disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiner’s mayoral campaign in the context of the current political landscape, as well as Zero Days, about the infamous Stuxnet computer virus allegedly created by the U.S. and Israel; and O.J.: Made in America, about the highly publicized murder trial of former professional football player O.J. Simpson.

Recommended Videos

The full list of finalists for Academy Award nominations in the “Best Documentary Feature” category consists of the following projects and the companies that produced them:

Related

Cameraperson, Big Mouth Productions
Command and Control, American Experience Films/PBS
The Eagle Huntress, Stacey Reiss Productions, Kissiki Films and 19340 Productions
Fire at Sea, Stemal Entertainment
Gleason, Dear Rivers Productions, Exhibit A and IMG Films
Hooligan Sparrow, Little Horse Crossing the River
I Am Not Your Negro, Velvet Film
The Ivory Game, Terra Mater Film Studios and Vulcan Productions
Life, Animated, Motto Pictures and A&E IndieFilms
O.J.: Made in America, Laylow Films and ESPN Films
13th, Forward Movement
Tower, Go-Valley
Weiner, Edgeline Films
The Witness, The Witnesses Film
Zero Days, Jigsaw Productions

Of the 15 films contending for nominations, five will be chosen by the Documentary Branch of the Academy to becomes Oscar nominees. The full list of official nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards will be announced Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

The upcoming Academy Awards will be held Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. the ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC, with the program kicking off at 7 p.m. ET that day.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
5 great performances that were snubbed by the Oscars, ranked
Two women sit on an airplane in Bridesmaids.

Part of the pleasure of the Academy Awards is pointing out all the times they got it wrong over the years. Crash winning Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain in 2006, Judy Holliday winning over Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson in 1951 ... these are the moments that incite great debate and endless chatter.

But what about the performances and films that weren't even nominated? Oscar has shunned some pretty memorable performances over the years, and we've highlighted five particularly egregious examples of snubbing that can't go unnoticed.

Read more
9 strange facts about the Oscars you didn’t know
A man looks away in Oppenheimer.

The Academy Awards ceremony has been held since 1929, with the ceremony broadcast via radio for the first time in 1930. In 1953, the event was first televised and has been ever since. As the oldest of the major annual entertainment awards in America, the Academy Awards are a huge production. It's not just about the honor of being nominated -- earning an Academy Award can be career-changing.

You might think you know everything there is to know about the Oscars, but as you gear up for the 2024 Academy Awards, here are lesser-known interesting facts about its origins, past, and how things run behind the scenes that you'll find fascinating.

Read more
All the 2024 Best Picture Oscar nominees, ranked
Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ken singing in a car in Barbie.

Early this morning (like, perversely early, as is tradition), Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid presented a bleary-eyed America with the nominations for the 96th Annual Academy Awards. There were few big surprises among the 10 films selected to compete for Best Picture — it was an expected lineup that had solidified into gospel over the past few weeks. By nominations day, we usually have a pretty good idea of what movies we’re going to hear named. 

Maybe that inevitability would be more disheartening if this weren’t a fairly solid crop of contenders. There are no true follies competing for Best Picture this year. And at the top, there are two near-masterpieces — including the best movie of the year, which happens to be the frontrunner, too. The lineup also covers a spectrum of budgets and definitions of success, with the year’s biggest sensations going toe-to-toe with smaller international fare (including an unprecedented three films entirely or mostly in a language other than English). 

Read more