It’s no secret that in recent years, IDFA has become a hotbed for the Oscars, which compete for best documentary feature and best documentary short. Timing-wise, the Dutch festival is perfectly positioned on the calendar, taking place each year about three weeks before preliminary voting for chapter members begins, and sections of the festival like Signed Fest and Best of Fest head to Amsterdam, from Sundance to Toronto, all representing the year’s highlights. So do most of the teams at Netflix and National Geographic, for example, who host lively receptions and special screenings of top candidates on-site.
Capitalizing on the festival’s awards season buzz, Michael Benedict, one of the directors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which oversees categories such as documentary and animation, gave a presentation outlining the eligibility, submission and campaign process for films vying for a coveted Oscar nomination. As a reminder, preliminary voting for Best Documentary opens on December 8th and closes on December 12th. Members of the documentary category are asked to submit a list of their top 15 films, ranked according to their preferences. IDFA is an Oscar-eligible festival, and winning films are automatically eligible for next year’s Academy Awards.
Explaining how branch voting works, Benedict emphasized that documentaries are considered not only in that category, but in all craft categories and Best Picture. “I’m always fighting for documentaries to be recognized in other categories,” he said. “It’s a little embarrassing to say that we’re over 90 years old and we’ve never had a documentary nominated for Best Picture. We’ve had animated films, we’ve had international films…As one of the leaders working on this sector, it’s my mission to work with the sector to make this happen one day.”
Asked how he is working to change the profile of documentaries in other categories, the executive said he and his team are “trying to get the word out there.” “I’ve been working with the Academy to try to connect the dots between people who work in both fields, documentary features and narrative features. We’ve been looking at how we can bridge the gap for the public as well as for our members. The Academy Preview Room isn’t just for films that are entered as Oscar nominees. We also have an educational platform. That’s how we’re trying to make sure that people are not afraid to vote for documentaries in certain areas.”
“We are trying to plant a seed,” he stressed. “Progress will take time, but we are seeing a lot of interest from members looking to vote in other categories.”
Recently, acclaimed filmmakers like Laura Poitras and Kauser Ben-Hania spoke about the challenges of distributing politically driven films in the United States. With documentaries on pressing sociopolitical issues, such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, taking the lead, how does the academy view issues of distribution and visibility of political documents?
Asked by Variety about the issue, Benedict said the documentary sector is “on the forefront” of anticipating these industry hurdles. “They were actually aware of these issues,” he said. “That’s why targeted film festivals have documentary features, because when we go to festivals, people will say, ‘We don’t have access to distribution in the U.S.'” Having targeted film festivals allows you to avoid distribution, and hopefully get there eventually if your film is shortlisted, but it’s not required. The executive added that a change in the rules under which films selected by each country as Best International Feature automatically qualify for the Best Documentary award also helped in this respect.
“In terms of qualifying areas, about seven years ago, films could only qualify in Los Angeles,” Benedict added of recent changes that have improved access for smaller films to the Oscars. “The pandemic helped in this way. We had to expand the regions in which films were eligible. We expanded into the largest regions in the U.S. where the theatrical markets are very large: San Francisco, New York, Chicago… Independent films no longer needed to be screened in Los Angeles. Obviously, as we become more international, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of films to consider, so there’s a balance to be struck, but we’re definitely taking notes.
Bong Joon Ho won the Academy Award for Best Director and Best International Feature Film for “Parasite” and posed with them.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/Shut
When it comes to numbers, the documentary section is the largest and most diverse in the academy. In the past, leading figures in the category, such as branch governor Roger Ross Williams, have spoken about how the category’s diversity has changed not just the category, but the Oscar landscape as a whole. In 2021, Williams told Variety that the documentary category “probably played a big role” in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite becoming the first non-English film to win Best Picture. During Benedict’s speech, fellow branch governor Gene Tsien, who was also in attendance, echoed Williams, saying, “The year that Parasite won Best Picture was due to increased diversity across all chapters.”
Do other departments look to and draw inspiration from the documentary department’s pioneering qualities? Benedict says yes, especially when it comes to animation. “Animation and documentary departments are most similar because they are community departments. They are made up of directors, producers, editors, cinematographers…unlike other departments like costume design, makeup, hair, etc., there is a wide range of people.”
“I think they kind of borrow from each other,” he added. “Sometimes they look at each other and say, ‘Oh, they did that. We’re going to do that.'” As for the animation department, it was previously part of the short film department. They then split up, and the animators noticed a decline in women within the branch. So now they are taking cues from the documentary field and focusing on women. They are working towards achieving gender equality someday. It will take several years. The documentary department eventually got there, and now there are actually more women than men in the documentary department. ”
Benedict points out that the internationalization and diversification of the Academy has dramatically changed the possibilities when it comes to Oscar nominations. “For the past 10 years, international films have been nominated for Best Picture, and that wasn’t the case before. Genre films that would never have been nominated 20 years ago are now making inroads. It’s great to have a good mix of films that can be chosen as the best of the best.”
