First awarded 1941 Country United States of America Currently held by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy | Official website oscars.org Instituted 1941 Category of Academy Awards | |
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Presented by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences People also search for Academy Award for Best Short Film (Live Action) Winners & Nominees The White HelmetsOrlando von Einsiedel - Joanna Natasegara, The White Helmets, Winner, Watani: My HomelandMarcel Mettelsiefen - Stephen Ellis, Watani: My Homeland, Nominee, Joe's ViolinKahane Cooperman - Raphaela Neihausen, Joe's Violin, Nominee, 41 MilesDaphne Matziaraki, 41 Miles, Nominee, ExtremisDan Krauss, Extremis, Nominee, A Girl in the River: The Price of ForgivenessSharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, Winner, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the ShoahAdam Benzine, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, Nominee, Chau - Beyond the LinesCourtney Marsh - Jerry Franck, Chau - Beyond the Lines, Nominee, Last Day of FreedomDee Hibbert-Jones - Nomi Talisman, Last Day of Freedom, Nominee, Body Team 12Bryn Mooser - David Darg, Body Team 12, Nominee, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1Dana Heinz Perry - Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Winner, White EarthJ Christian Jensen, White Earth, Nominee, JoannaAneta Kopacz, Joanna, Nominee, The ReaperGabriel Serra, The Reaper, Nominee, Our CurseMaciej Ślesicki - Tomasz Sliwinski, Our Curse, Nominee, The Lady In Number 6Nick Reed - Malcolm Clarke, The Lady In Number 6, Winner, Facing FearJason Cohen, Facing Fear, Nominee, Karama Has No WallsSara Ishaq, Karama Has No Walls, Nominee, Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack HallEdgar Barens, Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall, Nominee, CavediggerJeffrey Karoff, Cavedigger, Nominee, InocenteSean Fine - Andrea Nix Fine, Inocente, Winner, Open HeartKief Davidson - Cori Shepherd Stern, Open Heart, Nominee, Mondays at RacineCynthia Wade - Robin Honan, Mondays at Racine, Nominee, Kings PointJedd Wider - Sari Gilman, Kings Point, Nominee, RedemptionJon Alpert - Matthew O'Neill, Redemption, Nominee |
This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and presented early in the following year.
Contents
Rules and eligibility
Per the recent rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a Short Subject Documentary is defined as a nonfiction motion picture "dealing creatively with cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, economic or other subjects". It may be photographed in actual occurrence, or may employ partial reenactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact, and not on fiction. It must have a run time of no more than 40 minutes and released during a special eligibility period which may vary from year to year, but generally begins the month of September of the prior year and ends in August of award year. (This eligibility differs from most other Academy Award categories which only includes films released between January and December of the award year). The documentary's release must also occur within 2 years of the film's completion, and there are also rules governing the formatting of audio and video used to produce and exhibit the picture.
In addition, to be eligible the film must meet one of the following criteria:
The film must run daily for 7 days, open to the public for paid admission, and must be advertised in one of the city's major circulars during its run. The film must have narration or dialogue primarily in English or with English subtitles, and must be the whole of an original works. Partial edits from larger works and episodes from serialized films are not eligible.
Eligibility rules for prior years may have differed from these.
Nomination process
The Documentary Branch of the Academy first votes to select ten pictures for preliminary nomination, after which a second round of balloting is conducted to select the five documentary nominees. The entire Academy membership will then vote for one of these five for The Oscar. A maximum of two people involved with the production of the documentary may be nominated for the award, one of whom must be the film's credited director. One producer may also be nominated, but if more than one non-director producer is credited the Academy Documentary Branch will vet the producers to select the one they believe was most involved in the creation of the film.
1940s
1950s
Note: A press release issued by AMPAS in 2005 states that "Documentary Short Subject winners Benjy (1951) and Neighbours (1952) are among a group of films that not only competed, but won Academy Awards in what were clearly inappropriate categories. Benjy, directed by Fred Zinnemann and narrated by Henry Fonda, is the fictional tale of a crippled boy. The film was used as a fundraiser for the Los Angeles Orthopedic Hospital. ... Norman McLaren's Neighbours, which today would compete in the Animated Short category, used "pixilation" – animation using living people – to create an allegory of war."