“MLK/FBI”, “Time” among 15 feature docs shortlisted for Oscars

Kristen Johnson’s Dick Johnson Is Dead, Sam Pollard’s MLK/FBI, Garrett Bradley‘s Time and Hao Wu’s 76 Days are among the 15 feature documentaries shortlisted for the 93rd Academy Awards. The Academy ...

February 10, 2021

Kristen Johnson’s Dick Johnson Is Dead, Sam Pollard’s MLK/FBI, Garrett Bradley‘s Time and Hao Wu’s 76 Days are among the 15 feature documentaries shortlisted for the 93rd Academy Awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced shortlists in nine categories for this year’s Oscars yesterday (Feb. 9), including documentary feature and documentary short, for which 10 titles made the cut.

A record 238 films were eligible in the documentary feature category, while 114 short documentaries qualified.

In Dick Johnson Is Dead, director Kristen Johnson stages her father’s death in inventive ways as he nears the end of his life; while Pollard’s MLK/FBI examines the U.S. government’s surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bradley’s Time (pictured) presents an intimate portrait of a family’s struggle over years of incarceration; and Wu’s 76 Days captures the struggles of patients and frontline medical professionals amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan. My Octopus Teacher, meanwhile, has gained considerable accolades from niche natural history festivals and more general film festivals and critics’ associations alike.

The shortlist also features an array of films from international directors, ranging from Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno and Alexander Nanau’s Collective to Benjamin Ree’s The Painter and the Thief and Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s The Mole Agent among others.

Nominations will be revealed March 15. The 93rd Oscars will be held April 25, 2021.

Shortlisted feature documentaries and documentary shorts are listed below.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

All In: The Fight for Democracy
Boys State
Collective
Crip Camp
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Gunda
MLK/FBI
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher
Notturno
The Painter and the Thief
76 Days
Time
The Truffle Hunters
Welcome to Chechnya

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:

Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa
Call Center Blues
Colette
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
Hysterical Girl
A Love Song for Latasha
The Speed Cubers
What Would Sophia Loren Do?

(With files from Barry Walsh)

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TAGS:

76 Days, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Dick Johnson is Dead, Garrett Bradley, Hao Wu, Kristen Johnson, MLK/FBI, Oscars '21, TIME

About The Author

Barry Walsh is editor and content director for realscreen, and has served as editor of the publication since 2009. With a career in entertainment media that spans two decades, prior to realscreen, he held the associate editor post for now defunct sister publication Boards, which focused on the advertising and commercial production industries. Before Boards, he served as editor of Canadian Music Network, a weekly music industry trade, and as music editor for HMV.com. As content director, he also oversees the development of content for the brand's market-leading events, the Realscreen Summit and Realscreen West, as well as new content initiatives.

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