Academy Announces Eligible Titles for Best Animated, Documentary and International Feature

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced feature films eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature Film and International Feature Film categories for the 96th Academy Awards®. The shortlist of 15 films in each category will be announced on Thursday, December 21, 2023.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Thirty-three features are eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.  Some of the films have not yet had their required qualifying release and must fulfill that requirement and comply with all the category’s other qualifying rules to advance in the voting process.

To determine the five nominees, members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch are automatically eligible to vote in the category.  Academy members outside of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch are invited to opt in to participate and must meet a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.  Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture.

“The Amazing Maurice”
“Blue Giant”
“The Boy and the Heron”
“Chang’an”
“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”
“Deep Sea”
“Elemental”
“Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia”
“The First Slam Dunk”
“The Inventor”
“Leo”
“Lonely Castle in the Mirror”
“The Magician’s Elephant”
“Migration”
“Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie”
“The Monkey King”
“My Love Affair with Marriage”
“Nimona”
“Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie”
“The Peasants”
“Perlimps”
“Robot Dreams”
“Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie”
“Suzume”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”
“They Shot the Piano Player”
“Titina”
“Trolls Band Together”
“Unicorn Wars”
“Warrior King”
“Wish”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM

One hundred sixty-seven features are eligible for consideration in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.  Some of the films have not yet had their required qualifying release and must fulfill that requirement and comply with all the category’s other qualifying rules to advance in the voting process.

Documentary features that have won a qualifying film festival award or have been submitted in the International Feature Film category as their country’s official selection are also eligible in the category.  Films submitted in the Documentary Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture. Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.  The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on Thursday, December 21, 2023. 

“AKA Mr. Chow”
“After Sherman”
“Against the Tide”
“Alexander”
“American Symphony”
“American: An Odyssey to 1947”
“Americonned”
“And Miles to Go before I Sleep”
“Anhell69”
“Anonymous Sister”
“Another Body”
“Anselm”
“Apache Blues: Welcome Home”
“Apolonia, Apolonia”
“Bad Press”
“Batata”
“Bella”
“Bella!”
“Beyond Utopia”
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
“Bye Bye Tiberias”
“Canary”
“Carlos”
“Carterland”
“Close to Vermeer”
“Common Ground”
“A Compassionate Spy”
“Cup of Salvation”
“De Humani Corporis Fabrica”
“Deep Rising”
“The Deepest Breath”
“Deserters”
“Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy”
“The Disappearance of Shere Hite”
“Dosed: The Trip of a Lifetime”
“Downwind”
“Eat Bitter”
“The Echo”
“El Juicio”
“Elis & Tom – It Had to Be You”
“The Eternal Memory”
“Every Body”
“Fantastic Machine”
“Finding Her Beat”
“Fioretta”
“For the Animals”
“Four Daughters”
“Full Circle”
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
“Grandpa Was an Emperor”
“Have You Got It Yet? The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd”
“Here. Is. Better.”
“High & Low – John Galliano”
“The Holly”
“Holy Frit”
“I Got a Monster”
“If You Let Me Go”
“Imagining the Indian”
“Immediate Family”
“In the Company of Rose”
“In the Rearview”
“In the Shadow of Beirut”
“In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis”
“Incompatible with Life”
“Into the Spotlight”
“The Invention of the Other”
“Invisible Beauty”
“The Issue with Tissue – A Boreal Love Story”
“It Ain’t Over”
“Joan Baez I Am a Noise”
“Joonam”
“King Coal”
“Knights of Santiago”
“Kokomo City”
“The Lady Bird Diaries”
“Lakota Nation vs. United States”
“Land of My Dreams”
“The Last Rider”
“The League”
“Lift”
“Little Richard: I Am Everything”
“The Lost Weekend: A Love Story”
“The Melt Goes on Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons”
“Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros”
“The Mission”
“Mission Peace: The Staunch Moderates Documentary”
“Mr. Jimmy”
“The Mother of All Lies”
“Motherland”
“The Mountains”
“Mourning in Lod”
“Music Is My Life – Dr. Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo”
“My Name Is Happy”
“Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV”
“1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture”
“North Circular”
“Occupied City”
“Orlando, My Political Biography”
“Our Body”
“Pacific Mother”
“The Padilla Affair”
“The Painting”
“Pay or Die”
“Periodical”
“Photophobia”
“Pianoforte”
“Pictures of Ghosts”
“The Pigeon Tunnel”
“Plan C”
“Radical Wolfe”
“Razing Liberty Square”
“Reality Winner”
“Refuge”
“A Revolution on Canvas”
“Rewind & Play”
“A Rising Fury”
“Robert Irwin: A Desert of Pure Feeling”
“Rojek”
“Sam Now”
“Samuel and the Light”
“The Secret Cities of Mark Kistler”
“Shot in the Arm”
“Show Her the Money”
“Silver Dollar Road”
“Sly”
“The Smell of Money”
“Smoke Sauna Sisterhood”
“A Song Film by Kishi Bashi – ‘Omoiyari’”
“Songs of Earth”
“Sound of the Police”
“Splice Here: A Projected Odyssey”
“Stamped from the Beginning”
“State of the Unity”
“Stephen Curry: Underrated”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
“A Still Small Voice”
“A Storm Foretold”
“Subject”
“Symphony of the Holocaust”
“Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music”
“They Shot the Piano Player”
“32 Sounds”
“This Much We Know”
“Thy Neighbours”
“Tito, Margot and Me”
“To Kill a Tiger”
“Total Trust”
“20 Days in Mariupol”
“26.2 to Life”
“Twice Colonized”
“Umberto Eco: A Library of the World”
“Uncharitable”
“Unconditional”
“Under the Sky of Damascus”
“Unfinished Business”
“Unseen”
“Unzipped: An Autopsy of American Inequality”
“Victim/Suspect”
“We Dare to Dream”
“What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?”
“While the Green Grass Grows”
“While We Watched”
“Who I Am Not”
“Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West”
“Yoshiki under the Sky”
“You Were My First Boyfriend”
“Your Fat Friend”

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Eighty-eight countries or regions have submitted films that are eligible for consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track. Namibia is a first-time entrant.

Albania, “Alexander”
Argentina, “The Delinquents”
Armenia, “Amerikatsi”
Australia, “Shayda”
Austria, “Vera”
Bangladesh, “No Ground beneath the Feet”
Belgium, “Omen”
Bhutan, “The Monk and the Gun”
Bolivia, “The Visitor”
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Excursion”
Brazil, “Pictures of Ghosts”
Bulgaria, “Blaga’s Lessons”
Burkina Faso, “Sira”
Cameroon, “Half Heaven”
Canada, “Rojek”
Chile, “The Settlers”
China, “The Wandering Earth II”
Colombia, “Un Varón”
Costa Rica, “I Have Electric Dreams”
Croatia, “Traces”
Czech Republic, “Brothers”
Denmark, “The Promised Land”
Dominican Republic, “Cuarencena”
Egypt, “Voy! Voy! Voy!”
Estonia, “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood”
Finland, “Fallen Leaves”
France, “The Taste of Things”
Georgia, “Citizen Saint”
Germany, “The Teachers’ Lounge”
Greece, “Behind the Haystacks”
Hungary, “Four Souls of Coyote”
Iceland, “Godland”
India, “2018 – Everyone Is a Hero”
Indonesia, “Autobiography”
Iran, “The Night Guardian”
Iraq, “Hanging Gardens”
Ireland, “In the Shadow of Beirut”
Israel, “Seven Blessings”
Italy, “Io Capitano”
Japan, “Perfect Days”
Jordan, “Inshallah A Boy”
Kenya, “Mvera”
Latvia, “My Freedom”
Lithuania, “Slow”
Luxembourg, “The Last Ashes”
Malaysia, “Tiger Stripes”
Mexico, “Totem”
Moldova, “Thunders”
Mongolia, “City of Wind”
Montenegro, “Sirin”
Morocco, “The Mother of All Lies”
Namibia, “Under the Hanging Tree”
Nepal, “Halkara”
Netherlands, “Sweet Dreams”
Nigeria, “Mami Wata”
North Macedonia, “Housekeeping for Beginners”
Norway, “Songs of Earth”
Pakistan, “In Flames”
Palestine, “Bye Bye Tiberias”
Panama, “Tito, Margot and Me”
Paraguay, “The Last Runway 2, Comando Yaguarete”
Peru, “The Erection of Toribio Bardelli”
Philippines, “The Missing”
Poland, “The Peasants”
Portugal, “Bad Living”
Romania, “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”
Saudi Arabia, “Alhamour H.A.”
Senegal, “Banel & Adama”
Serbia, “The Duke and the Poet”
Singapore, “The Breaking Ice”
Slovakia, “Photophobia”
Slovenia, “Riders”
South Africa, “Music Is My Life – Dr. Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo”
South Korea, “Concrete Utopia”
Spain, “Society of the Snow”
Sudan, “Goodbye Julia”
Sweden, “Opponent”
Switzerland, “Thunder”
Taiwan, “Marry My Dead Body”
Thailand, “Not Friends”
Tunisia, “Four Daughters”
Turkey, “About Dry Grasses”
Ukraine, “20 Days in Mariupol”
United Kingdom, “The Zone of Interest”
Uruguay, “Family Album”
Venezuela, “The Shadow of the Sun”
Vietnam, “Glorious Ashes”
Yemen, “The Burdened”


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Author: Doug Jamieson

From musicals to horror and everything in between, Doug has an eclectic taste in films. Both a champion of independent cinema and a defender of more mainstream fare, he prefers to find an equal balance between two worlds often at odds with each other. A film critic by trade but a film fan at heart, Doug also writes for his own website The Jam Report, and Australia’s the AU review.