Movies about Billie Eilish and The Velvet Underground and the acclaimed Summer of Soul (… or when the revolution couldn’t be televised) are on the shortlist of 15 films that will compete for an Oscar for documentary film.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released shortlists in 10 categories on Tuesday (December 21). Members of the documentary industry voted on the shortlist for the documentary, drawn from 138 eligible films. They will vote again to determine the five nominees in the category, which will be announced on February 8th. All Academy voters will vote to determine the winner, who will be announced at the 94th Annual Academy Awards on March 27th.
RJ Cutler wrote and directed Billie Eilish: The world is a little bit drearywho tells the story of the teenage phenomenon on the go, on stage and at home as she creates her blockbuster debut album.
Todd Haynes wrote and directed The velvety underground, about the legendary New York underground rock band. This would be the first nomination for Haynes, 60, for such acclaimed films as Far from heaven and Carol.
Questlove, 50, made his directorial debut with Summer of the soul, about the Harlem Cultural Festival 1969 with performances by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Fifth Dimension, Sly and The Family Stone, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, BB King and many other top artists of the era.
Summer of the soul won both the US Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for Documentary Films at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The film is also nominated for a Grammy for best music film.
Eilish is also nominated in this Grammy category, but with a different film: Happier than ever: a love letter to Los Angeles.
Eilish received more good news from the Film Academy on Tuesday. “No Time to Die”, which she and her brother and collaborator Finneas wrote together for the James Bond film of the same name, is on the shortlist for the best original song.
Brian Wilson had mixed results on the shortlists. Brian Wilson: The long promised path was skipped from the shortlist of the documentary, but a song from the document “Right Where I Belong” is nominated for the best original song.
Other musical documents that have been skipped for the shortlist for documentaries are Ennio (about the film composer Ennio Morricone), The Jesus music (on the rise of contemporary Christian music genre), Fire music (on the free jazz movement of the 1960s and 70s), Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres (via one of the top writers and editors for Rolling Stone shortly after the magazine was founded from 1967 to 1981), The spark brothers (via Russell and Ron Mael, who make up Sparks) and Tina (via the indomitable Tina Turner).
Also omitted in the shortlist: Dave Chapelle Live in Real Life and Rita Moreno: Just a girl who chose to do it, about the actress who was only the third person – and the first Latina – to complete the EGOT in 1977.
The films on the shortlist, in alphabetical order by title, are:
Ascent
Attica
Billie Eilish: The world is a little blurry
Faya Dayi
The first wave
Flee
In the same breath
Julia
president
procession
The rescue
Just like water
Summer of Soul (… or when the revolution couldn’t be televised)
The velvety underground
Writing with fire
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