Academy Awards Announce Shortlist For Best Documentary

Oscar statuettes
(Image credit: MPAA)

It's still hard to believe that 2012 is already coming to an end, but you need no further proof of it beyond the constant announcements about award season. Just this afternoon the New York Film Critics Circle announced what they believe are the best films of the year (Zero Dark Thirty took home the grand prize), but what titles are really aiming for are the Academy Awards - and not just in the narrative and features categories.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group behind the Oscars, has sent out a press release announcing the 15 documentary features that will be eligible to be nominated in this year's Best Feature-Length Documentary category. The list was culled from an original list that included 126 titles. You can read the names of the remaining movies below (in alphabetical with the production companies behind them):

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Never Sorry LLC

Bully, The Bully Project LLC

Chasing Ice, Exposure

Detropia, Loki Films

Ethel, Moxie Firecracker Films

5 Broken Cameras, Guy DVD Films

The Gatekeepers, Les Films du Poisson, Dror Moreh Productions, Cinephil

The House I Live In, Charlotte Street Films, LLC

How to Survive a Plague, How to Survive a Plague LLC

The Imposter, Imposter Pictures Ltd.

The Invisible War, Chain Camera Pictures

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Jigsaw Productions in association with Wider Film Projects and Below the Radar Films

Searching for Sugar Man, Red Box Films

This Is Not a Film, Wide Management

The Waiting Room, Open’hood, Inc.

So if you're an Oscar perfectionist who aims to score a 100% in your company pool, these are the 15 movies you should seek out ASAP.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

NJ native who calls LA home and lives in a Dreamatorium. A decade-plus CinemaBlend veteran who is endlessly enthusiastic about the career he’s dreamt of since seventh grade.