Academy announces top 15 documentaries

Ascension, The First Wave and more to compete for Oscar

by Jennie Kermode

Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Photo: Mass Distraction Media

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has tonight revealed its list of 15 documentaries, which will be whittled down to five in the final stage as the Oscar ceremony approaches on 27 March. Overall the tone is quite political, and they include two documentaries focused on the pandemic, The First Wave and In the Same Breath.

This year's documentary contenders:-

The line-up for short documentaries has also been announced with some impressive entries including Ben Proudfoot's The Queen Of Basketball and the New York Times investigative team's Day Of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took The US Capitol.

This year's Oscar ceremony will be held at the Dolby® Theatre at Hollywood & Highland® in Hollywood. It will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.

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Movies out this week include:

A.I. Highlander Kokuho Romería Top Gun Top Gun: Maverick
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Going off-plan Ben Wheatley on early inspirations, developing his craft and making Normal

The accidental revolutionary Dimitri Planchon and Jean-Paul Guigue discuss artistic evolution and Blaise

Embracing complexity Nigel Santos on the messiness of real life romance, and Open Endings

Alone together Park Joon-ho on loneliness, North Korean experience, gay life and 3670

The destroyer of worlds Daniel Everitt-Lock on experiences of atomic testing and Our Planet, The People, My Blood

Taking the temperature Jacqueline Zünd on exploring the climate crisis through companion films Heat and Don't Let The Sun

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