Final Oscars Predictions - Best Documentary Feature

Throughout the critics awards portion of awards season, Best Documentary Feature was a battle of two powerful, socially-relevant documentaries; Garrett Bradley’s Time and Alexander Nanau’s Collective. The former collected wins from major critics associations of Los Angeles, New York, the National Board of Review, and the National Society of Film Critics. The latter scored wins from Boston, London, San Francisco, Toronto, and nabbed an additional Oscar nomination for Best International Feature. It appeared these two films were going to duel it out again at the Oscars.

Then something strange happened. From seemingly nowhere, James Reed and Pippa Ehrlich’s My Octopus Teacher emerged as the true frontrunner. The doco landed an Oscar nod over more highly favoured contenders like Welcome to Chechnya, Dick Johnson is Dead, and Boys State. But it stunned award watchers everywhere with key wins at PGA and BAFTA to place it firmly in line to snatch Netflix’s third win in this category in the last four years.

It’s hard to argue with a heartwarming, feel-good contender like My Octopus Teacher, especially after the dour year we’ve all had. It touched hearts all over the globe with its simple tale of a man and his unlikely friendship with a precocious octopus. One could bemoan it’s far from the “best” documentary feature of the year, but it certainly made an impact. There’s a mild chance of an upset for either Time or Collective, but the octopus appears to have bolted on this one.