After winning Best Documentary Feature three times in the past four years, streaming juggernaut Netflix initially appeared to be sitting out the race this year. That all changed after the Telluride Film Festival where they acquired the rights to Procession, a documentary centred on six men who survived childhood sexual assault at the hands of Catholic priests. While they are yet to set a streaming date for the film, they are expected to mount a full Oscar campaign for the doco, so stay tuned.
Leading the way in the preliminary stages of the season is Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s The Rescue, which scored the People’s Choice Award for Documentaries at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Chin and Vasarhelyi won this category in 2018 for Free Solo and The Rescue has earned similar rave reviews. Could they do it all again this year?
Hot on their heels is Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee, which debuted to a rapturous response at the Sundance Film Festival back in January and has really started picking up steam during festival season. The film will also contend for Animated Feature and (if selected by Denmark) International Feature, so Neon may need to decide which category to truly target with their campaign strategy.
Also in the mix are Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul, Traci Curry and Stanley Nelson’s Attica, Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers, and Camilla Nielsson’s President. Keep an eye on Eva Orner’s Burning. It’s got the might of Amazon Studios and executive producer Cate Blanchett behind it and Orner won this category in 2008 with Taxi to the Dark Side.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE PREDICTIONS:
1. The Rescue (National Geographic)
2. Flee (Neon)
3. Summer of Soul (Searchlight Pictures)
4. Attica (Showtime)
5. President (TBA)
IN CONTENTION
Ailey (Neon)
Ascension (MTV Documentary Films)
Becoming Cousteau (Picturehouse)
Burning (Amazon Studios)
Julia (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Lost Leonardo (Sony Pictures Classics)
Mayor Pete (Amazon Studios)
Procession (Netflix)
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (Focus Features)
The Sparks Brothers (Focus Features)
The Velvet Underground (Apple TV+)
