321 Features vie for Oscars, but only 266 for Best Picture
Monday, January 8, 2024 at 9:30PM
Cláudio Alves in Ant-Man, Best Picture, Godland, Mami Wata, Oscars (23), The Creator, The Marvels, animated films, documentaries, foreign films, lists

by Cláudio Alves

Though a likely Best Visual Effects nominee, THE CREATOR is ineligible in the Best Picture race.

While we're still recovering from last night's Golden Globes (yay, Lily Gladstone!), the Academy has released its final eligibility lists pertaining to most categories outside the music, shorts, and specialized feature ones. Overall, 321 films will vie for Hollywood's little golden men. However, only 266 can compete for the Best Picture honor, a first in Oscar history. Such productions as Godland, Mami Wata, The Creator, The Marvels, and the new Ant-Man movie are out of the running. This year marks the start of RAISE - Academy Representation and Inclusion Standards – to whom films must submit a confidential form to guarantee Best Picture eligibility…

While some excluded titles may have failed to meet those standards, many simply opted out of consideration. Reading over the RAISE guidelines, The Marvels and Mami Wata pass, which means this must have been a decision made by producers and/or distributors. We can deduce that this happened to multiple contenders, so hold your horses before accusing RAISE of blocking major films from consideration in the name of diversity. You can find more about the 96th Academy Awards rules here. 

As for the Best Picture-eligible titles, here they are: 

 

And these are the films eligible in most categories but NOT Best Picture: 

 

If you're on Letterboxd and want to keep track of which eligible films you've watched, I curated a list for that very purpose. You can find it here. 

Some fantastic films that won't be eligible for any categories despite getting 2023 releases include various past Best International Film submissions, all of Virginie Efira's many projects, and the likes of Bait, Jack's Ride, Law of Tehran, Love Life, New Religion, Nightsiren, Pacifiction, Pornomelancholia, Return to Dust, Shall I Compare You to a Summer's Day?, So Foul a Sky, Trenque Lauquen, and Will-o'-the-Wisp. I acknowledge a lot of these are obscure, but I love every one of them. 

What about you, dear reader? What do you think of these lists, and what absences do you mourn the most?

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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