The documentary options remaining in rivalry for an Oscar nomination have been whittled down from 169 to a shortlist of a mere 15, a brutal culling that has inevitably left many filmmakers disenchanted, and a choose few in celebratory mode.
What have been the harshest snubs? That query comes up for debate in a particular Oscar-shortlist-reaction episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, hosted John Ridley, the Oscar-winning writer-director, and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. We get into what Academy Documentary Department members voted in, and essentially the most shocking hopefuls they overlooked.
One of many massive omissions: a highly regarded film about an iconic Hollywood star who made a comeback after a close to deadly accident dramatically altered his life.
One shock inclusion: a film that takes a really unflattering view of Israeli chief Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister was so angered by the documentary that he sued to dam its unofficial premiere on the Toronto Movie Competition in September. That movie takes its place on the Oscar shortlist regardless of having no U.S. distribution. Remarkably, a slew of movies with out home distribution companions managed to make the primary lower.
Ridley explains why he was thrilled to see a selected Netflix documentary earn a shortlist slot – and why he finds it unforgivable that Doc Department voters overlooked a movie he considers one of many 12 months’s greatest. We additionally parse the shortlist of documentary shorts – there, too, the sphere of contenders has been narrowed to a lucky 15. One in every of them is co-directed by actress-filmmaker Rashida Jones, one other is co-directed by a filmmaker greatest recognized for her documentary on late U.S. Supreme Court docket Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
That’s on a particular episode of the Doc Talk podcast, a manufacturing of Deadline and John Ridley’s Nō Studios. Hearken to the episode above or on main podcast platforms together with Spotify, iHeart and Apple.
