By Glenn Dunks (returning from a writing break, I hope y'all missed me)
Following last year’s surprising line-up for Best Documentary Feature that ignored multiple major box office hits and favoured critical and festival hits, I asked how much the Academy’s changing dynamics had affected the nominations in this category that was often considered a musty piece of furniture. It was undeniable that a significant shift had been made and I am thankful to say that it wasn’t a fluke. The 2019 nominations for documentary have yet again marked the branch as one on its own course through the greater Oscar season narrative. A narrative that is otherwise marked by predictability, a distinct lack of adventurousness, and even outright laziness.
This year’s nominees took us from the bombs and missiles of a warzone of Syria (two times! The Cave and For Sama) to the silent beekeeping traditions of North Macedonia (Honeyland), through the muddy democratic waters of Brazil (The Edge of Democracy) and the blue collar working yards of America's midwest (American Factory). They represent American and international filmmaking at their finest made by newcomers and veterans alike...
Beginning with the prediction side of things, I correctly predicted three out of the five nominees. I wish I had stuck to my guns on Petra Costa’s stunning The Edge of Democracy, my favourite doc of 2019. I had initially assumed it was an obvious given for the nomination way back in July, but the precursors' aversion to it for whatever reason made me question my own assumptions. I’m glad I was wrong. I wasn’t wrong on Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s American Factory and Feras Fayyad’s The Cave. I did not expect, however, the double nod for the two competing Syrian docs, expecting the jagged edges of For Sama to be pushed out in favour of One Child Nation. I’m less a fan of Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ video diary doc than most, but I hope this means something for al-Kateab’s future as a female documentarian from the Middle East.
And, lastly, of course, is that double nomination for Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov's Honeyland (it's also in the International lineup). A moment of history that distributor Neon should be proud of. I was on the money with that prediction, at least.
Less of a success for the relatively new distributor was the absence of Apollo 11. For obvious reasons, this has been the category’s biggest—and strangest—omission. Some have suggested the voters were deliberately leaving it off their ballots so that it couldn’t sail to an easy victory. Others have pointed out that the Academy is skittish on docs built entirely out of archival footage. A feat of editing, perhaps, more than documenting—what excuse does that leave the editing branch who should know better than to have ignored non-fiction cinema in their category for decades now.
The snub, if that’s what you want to call it, does come on the heels of both Jane and Won’t You Be My Neighbor missing out on nominations so make of that what you will. I am a big fan of the movie, but I don’t feel particularly upset by its absence. That people went and saw it is more than most documentary filmmakers can say and director Todd Douglas Miller will no doubt get to the ceremony one day. I had been rooting for Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s One Child Nation, but one can chalk that alongside The Farewell as another Asia-focused film that couldn’t stick the landing with voters.
While many will be upset that Apollo 11, the highest-grossing doc of the year, didn’t make it in, this year’s batch is one of its strongest. Anybody who actually sits down and watches these five will surely find it hard to quibble. But, then again, I say that every year and people still think the branch perverse for their idiosyncratic whims. In the face of everything, the Academy’s documentary branch has once again thought for themselves and gone their own way. They have nominated four female directors across four films with female central protagonists. And if American Factory wins as I suspect it will (and have done since I saw it, even when Apollo 11 was the frontrunner), a deserved win it will be for four-time nominee Julie Reichert and her co-nominees Steven Bognar and Jeff Reichert. Although who knows what will happen next—that's part of why this category is so good!
Here’s hoping for another year of great documentaries and unexpected delights!