View source for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film

{{Short description|Award for documentary films}}
{{Infobox award
| name = Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film
| presenter = [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] (AMPAS)
| country = [[United States]]
| year = {{start date and age|1943|3|4}} (for films released in [[1942 in film|1942]])
| holder_label = Most recent winner
| holder = [[Basel Adra]], Rachel Szor, [[Hamdan Ballal]], and [[Yuval Abraham]]<br>''[[No Other Land]]'' ([[97th Academy Awards|2024]])
| website = {{URL|oscars.org}}
}}

The '''Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film''' is an award for [[documentary film]]s. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as [[Academy Honorary Award|Special Awards]] to ''[[Kukan]]'' and ''[[Target for Tonight]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.documentary.org/magazine/drive-archive-academy-pushes-preserve-docs |title=The Drive to Archive: Academy Pushes to Preserve Docs |last=Fisher |first=Bob |date=2012 |publisher=[[International Documentary Association]] |access-date=January 4, 2018 }}</ref> They have since been bestowed competitively each year, with the exception of 1946.<ref>[http://www.cinemasight.com/awards-history/19th-academy-awards-1946/19th-academy-awards-1946-nominees-and-winners/ 19th Academy Awards (1946): Nominees and Winners-Cinema Sight by Wesley Lovell]</ref> Copies of every winning film (along with copies of most nominees) are held by the [[Academy Film Archive]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Academy Award-Winning Documentaries|url=https://www.oscars.org/film-archive/collections/academy-award-winning-documentaries|website=Academy Film Archive|date=4 September 2014}}</ref>

== Winners and nominees ==
Following the Academy's practice, [[film]]s are listed below by the award year (that is, the year they were released under the Academy's rules for eligibility). In practice, due to the limited nature of documentary distribution, a film may be released in different years in different venues, sometimes years after production is complete.
{{Interlanguage link info|section=true|small=left}}

=== 1940s ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
! rowspan="25" |[[1942 in film|1942]]<br />{{small|[[15th Academy Awards|(15th)]]}} <br /><ref name="Fortytwo" group="note">In 1942, documentary features and short subjects competed together for '''Best Documentary'''. Four special awards were bestowed among the 25 nominees.</ref>
| '''''[[The Battle of Midway (film)|The Battle of Midway]]'''''
| '''[[John Ford]]''' ([[United States Navy]])
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Kokoda Front Line!]]'''''
| '''[[Ken G. Hall]]'''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aso.gov.au/titles/newsreels/kokoda-front-line/notes/ |title=Kokoda Front Line! (1942)|author=De Souza, P.|publisher=australianscreen (National Film and Sound Archive Australia)|access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/australias-first-oscar|title=Australias First Oscar|author=Taylor, B.|publisher=National Film and Sound Archive Australia|access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref> ([[Australian Information Service|Australian News & Information Bureau]])
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Moscow Strikes Back]]'''''
| '''[[Artkino]]'''
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Prelude to War]]'''''
| '''[[Frank Capra]]''' ([[Office of War Information]])
|-
| ''[[Africa, Prelude to Victory]]''
| ''[[The March of Time]]''
|-
| ''[[Combat Report]]''
| [[Signal Corps (United States Army)|United States Army Signal Corps]]
|-
| ''[[Conquer by the Clock]]''
| {{ill|Frederic Ullman Jr.|de|Frederic Ullman junior|fr}} [[Slavko Vorkapich]]
|-
| ''[[The Grain That Built a Hemisphere]]''
| [[Walt Disney]]
|-
| ''[[Henry Browne, Farmer]]''
| [[United States Department of Agriculture]]
|-
| ''High Over the Borders''
| [[National Film Board of Canada]]
|-
| ''High Stakes in the East''
| [[Statistics Netherlands|The Netherlands Information Bureau]]
|-
| ''[[Inside Fighting China]]''
| [[National Film Board of Canada]]
|-
| ''[[It's Everybody's War]]''
| [[United States Office of War Information]]
|-
| ''[[Listen to Britain]]''
| [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|British Ministry of Information]]
|-
| ''Little Belgium''
| Belgian Ministry of Information
|-
| ''Little Isles of Freedom''
|[[Victor Stoloff]] and Edgar Loew
|-
| ''Mr. Blabbermouth''
| [[United States Office of War Information]]
|-
| ''Mr. Gardenia Jones''
| [[United States Office of War Information]]
|-
| ''[[The New Spirit]]''
| [[Walt Disney]]
|-
| ''[[The Price of Victory]]''
| [[William H. Pine]]
|-
| ''[[A Ship Is Born]]''
| [[United States Merchant Marine]]
|-
| ''Twenty-One Miles''
| [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|British Ministry of Information]]
|-
| ''We Refuse to Die''
| [[Pine-Thomas Productions|William C. Thomas]]
|-
| ''The White Eagle''
| {{ill|Concanen Films|de|Concanen Films Ltd.}}
|-
| ''[[Winning Your Wings]]''
| [[United States Army Air Forces|United States Army Air Force]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1943 in film|1943]]<br />{{small|[[16th Academy Awards|(16th)]]}} <br /><ref name="Fortythree" group="note">A preliminary list of eight films were announced as nominees, but the Documentary Award Committee subsequently narrowed the field to five titles included on the final ballot. The films that did not advance were: ''For God and Country'' ([[Signal Corps (United States Army)|United States Army Pictorial Service]]), ''Silent Village'' ([[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|British Ministry of Information]]), and ''We've Come a Long, Long Way'' (Negro Marches On, Inc.).</ref> <br /><ref name="Database" />
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Desert Victory]]'''''
| '''[[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|British Ministry of Information]]'''
|-
| ''[[Baptism of Fire (1943 film)|Baptism of Fire]]''
| [[United States Army]]
|-
| ''[[The Battle of Russia]]''
| [[United States Department of War|United States Department of War Special Service Division]]
|-
| ''[[Report from the Aleutians]]''
| [[Signal Corps (United States Army)|United States Army Pictorial Service]]
|-
| ''[[War Department Report]]''
| [[Office of Strategic Services|United States Office of Strategic Services Field Photographic Bureau]]
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1944 in film|1944]]<br />{{small|[[17th Academy Awards|(17th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[The Fighting Lady]]'''''
| '''[[Edward Steichen]]''' ([[United States Navy]])
|-
| ''[[Resisting Enemy Interrogation]]''
| [[United States Army Air Forces|United States Army Air Force]]
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1945 in film|1945]]<br />{{small|[[18th Academy Awards|(18th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[The True Glory]]'''''
| '''The Governments of Great Britain and the United States of America'''
|-
| ''[[The Last Bomb]]''
| [[United States Army Air Forces|United States Army Air Force]]
|-
! rowspan="4" style="text-align:center" | [[1947 in film|1947]]<br />{{small|[[20th Academy Awards|(20th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Design for Death]]'''''
| '''[[Sid Rogell]], Theron Warth and [[Richard Fleischer]]'''
|-
| ''[[Journey into Medicine]]''
| [[United States Department of State|United States Department of State Office of Information and Educational Exchange]]
|-
| ''[[The World Is Rich]]''
| [[Paul Rotha]]
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1948 in film|1948]]<br />{{small|[[21st Academy Awards|(21st)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[The Secret Land]]'''''
| '''[[Orville O. Dull]]'''
|-
| ''[[The Quiet One (film)|The Quiet One]]''
| [[Janice Loeb]]
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1949 in film|1949]]<br />{{small|[[22nd Academy Awards|(22nd)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Daybreak in Udi]]'''''
| '''[[Crown Film Unit]]'''
|-
| ''[[Kenji Comes Home]]''
| [[Paul F. Heard]]
|-
|}

=== 1950s ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
! rowspan="2" |[[1950 in film|1950]]<br />{{small|[[23rd Academy Awards|(23rd)]]}}
| '''''[[The Titan: Story of Michelangelo]]'''''
| '''[[Robert Snyder (filmmaker)|Robert Snyder]]'''
|-
| ''[[With These Hands (film)|With These Hands]]''
| [[Jack Arnold (director)|Jack Arnold]] and {{ill|Lee Goodman (filmmaker)|lt=Lee Goodman|de|Lee Goodman}}
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1951 in film|1951]]<br />{{small|[[24th Academy Awards|(24th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Kon-Tiki (1950 film)|Kon-Tiki]]'''''
| '''[[Olle Nordemar]]'''
|-
| ''[[I Was a Communist for the FBI|I Was a Communist for the F.B.I.]]''
| [[Bryan Foy]]
|-
! rowspan="4" style="text-align:center" | [[1952 in film|1952]]<br />{{small|[[25th Academy Awards|(25th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[The Sea Around Us (film)|The Sea Around Us]]'''''
| '''[[Irwin Allen]]'''
|-
| ''[[The Hoaxters]]''
| [[Dore Schary]]
|-
| ''[[Navajo (film)|Navajo]]''
| [[Hall Bartlett]]
|-
! rowspan="4" style="text-align:center" | [[1953 in film|1953]]<br />{{small|[[26th Academy Awards|(26th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[The Living Desert]]'''''
| '''[[Walt Disney]]'''
|-
| ''[[The Conquest of Everest]]''
| [[John Taylor (documentary filmmaker)|John Taylor]], [[Leon Clore]] and {{ill|Grahame Tharp|de}}
|-
| ''[[A Queen Is Crowned]]''
| [[Castleton Knight]]
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1954 in film|1954]]<br />{{small|[[27th Academy Awards|(27th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[The Vanishing Prairie]]'''''
| '''[[Walt Disney]]'''
|-
| ''[[The Stratford Adventure]]''
| [[Guy Glover]]
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1955 in film|1955]]<br />{{small|[[28th Academy Awards|(28th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Helen Keller in Her Story]]'''''
| '''[[Nancy Hamilton]]'''
|-
| ''[[Crèvecoeur (film)|Heartbreak Ridge]]''
| {{ill|René Risacher|de}}
|-
! rowspan="4" style="text-align:center" | [[1956 in film|1956]]<br />{{small|[[29th Academy Awards|(29th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[The Silent World]]'''''
| '''[[Jacques Cousteau|Jacques-Yves Cousteau]]'''
|-
| ''[[The Naked Eye (1956 film)|The Naked Eye]]''
| [[Louis Clyde Stoumen]]
|-
| ''[[Where Mountains Float]]''
| The Government Film Committee of Denmark
|-
! rowspan="4" style="text-align:center" | [[1957 in film|1957]]<br />{{small|[[30th Academy Awards|(30th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Albert Schweitzer (film)|Albert Schweitzer]]'''''
| '''[[Jerome Hill]]'''
|-
| ''[[On the Bowery]]''
| [[Lionel Rogosin]]
|-
| ''[[Torero! (film)|Torero!]]''
| [[Manuel Barbachano Ponce]]
|-
! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center" | [[1958 in film|1958]]<br />{{small|[[31st Academy Awards|(31st)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[White Wilderness (film)|White Wilderness]]'''''
| '''[[Ben Sharpsteen]]'''
|-
| ''[[Antarctic Crossing]]''
| {{ill|James Carr (filmmaker)|lt=James Carr|de|James Carr (Filmproduzent)}}
|-
| ''[[The Hidden World]]''
| [[Robert Snyder (filmmaker)|Robert Snyder]]
|-
| ''[[Psychiatric Nursing]]''
| {{ill|Nathan Zucker|de}}
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1959 in film|1959]]<br />{{small|[[32nd Academy Awards|(32nd)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Serengeti Shall Not Die]]'''''
| '''[[Bernhard Grzimek]]'''
|-
| ''[[The Race for Space (film)|The Race for Space]]''
| [[David L. Wolper]]
|-
|}

=== 1960s ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
! rowspan="2" |[[1960 in film|1960]]<br />{{small|[[33rd Academy Awards|(33rd)]]}}
| '''''[[The Horse with the Flying Tail]]'''''
| '''[[Larry Lansburgh]]'''
|-
| ''[[Rebel in Paradise (film)|Rebel in Paradise]]''
| Robert D. Fraser
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1961 in film|1961]]<br />{{small|[[34th Academy Awards|(34th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Sky Above and Mud Beneath|Le Ciel et la Boue (Sky Above and Mud Beneath)]]'''''
|'''[[Arthur Cohn]] and {{ill|René Lafuite|de}}'''
|-
|''[[The Grand Olympics|La Grande Olimpiade (Olympic Games 1960)]]''
| [[1960 Summer Olympics|dell Istituto Nazionale Luce, Comitato Organizzatore Del Giochi Della XVII Olimpiade]]
|-
! rowspan="3" style="text-align:center" | [[1962 in film|1962]]<br />{{small|[[35th Academy Awards|(35th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler|Black Fox]]'''''
|'''[[Louis Clyde Stoumen]]'''
|-
|''[[Alvorada (film)|Alvorada (Brazil's Changing Face)]]''
| [[Hugo Niebeling]]
|-
! rowspan="4" style="text-align:center" | [[1963 in film|1963]]<br />{{small|[[36th Academy Awards|(36th)]]}} <br /><ref name="Terminus" group="note">''[[Terminus (1961 film)|Terminus]]'' was originally announced as a nominee, but the nomination was rescinded after it was discovered the film had been released prior to the eligibility period.</ref><ref name="Database">{{cite web |url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ |title=The Official Academy Awards Database |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=January 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227145302/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ |archive-date=February 27, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World]]'''''
|'''Robert Hughes'''
|-
|''[[The Link and the Chain|Le Maillon et la Chaine (The Link and the Chain)]]''
|{{ill|Paul de Roubaix|de||fr}}
|-
|''[[The Yanks Are Coming (1963 film)|The Yanks Are Coming]]''
|[[Marshall Flaum]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1964 in film|1964]]<br />{{small|[[37th Academy Awards|(37th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[World Without Sun|Jacques-Yves Cousteau's World without Sun]]'''''
|'''[[Jacques Cousteau|Jacques-Yves Cousteau]]'''
|-
|''[[The Finest Hours (1964 film)|The Finest Hours]]''
| [[Jack Levin (producer)|Jack Le Vien]]
|-
|''[[Four Days in November]]''
|[[Mel Stuart]]
|-
|''[[The Human Dutch]]''
|[[Bert Haanstra]]
|-
|''[[14-18|Over There, 1914–18]]''
|[[Jean Aurel]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1965 in film|1965]]<br />{{small|[[38th Academy Awards|(38th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Eleanor Roosevelt Story]]'''''
| '''[[Sidney Glazier]]'''
|-
|''[[The Battle of the Bulge... The Brave Rifles]]''
| {{ill|Laurence E. Mascott|de||fr}}
|-
|''[[The Forth Road Bridge]]''
| Peter Mills
|-
|''[[Let My People Go: The Story of Israel|Let My People Go]]''
| [[Marshall Flaum]]
|-
|''[[To Die in Madrid]]''
| [[Frédéric Rossif]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1966 in film|1966]]<br />{{small|[[39th Academy Awards|(39th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The War Game]]'''''
| '''[[Peter Watkins]]'''
|-
|''[[The Face of a Genius]]''
| [[Alfred R. Kelman]]
|-
|''[[Helicopter Canada]]''
| Peter Jones and [[Tom Daly (filmmaker)|Tom Daly]]
|-
|''[[The Really Big Family]]''
| [[Alex Grasshoff]]
|-
|''[[Le Volcan interdit|Le Volcan Interdit (The Forbidden Volcano)]]''
| [[Haroun Tazieff]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1967 in film|1967]]<br />{{small|[[40th Academy Awards|(40th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Anderson Platoon]]'''''
| '''[[Pierre Schoendoerffer]]'''
|-
|''[[Festival (1967 film)|Festival]]''
| [[Murray Lerner]]
|-
|''[[Harvest (1967 film)|Harvest]]''
| [[Carroll Ballard]]
|-
|''[[A King's Story]]''
| [[Jack Levin (producer)|Jack Le Vien]]
|-
|''[[A Time for Burning]]''
| {{ill|Bill Jersey|lt=William C. Jersey|de}}
|-
! rowspan="5" style="text-align:center" | [[1968 in film|1968]]<br />{{small|[[41st Academy Awards|(41st)]]}} <br /><ref name="YoungAmericans" group="note">''[[Young Americans (1967 film)|Young Americans]]'', produced by Robert Cohn and [[Alex Grasshoff]], won this award on April 14, 1969. 
On May 7, 1969, the win and nomination were rescinded after it was discovered the film had been released prior to the eligibility period. First runner-up ''[[Journey into Self (1968 film)|Journey into Self]]'' was named the winner the following day.</ref><ref name="Database" /><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ti6C0lFsfk Documentary Winners: 1969 Oscars]</ref> 
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Journey into Self (1968 film)|Journey into Self]]''''' 
| '''Bill McGaw'''
|-
|''[[A Few Notes on Our Food Problem]]''
| [[James Blue]]
|-
|''[[Legendary Champions|The Legendary Champions]]''
| [[Bill Cayton|William Cayton]]
|-
|''[[Other Voices (1970 film)|Other Voices]]''
| {{ill|David H. Sawyer|de}}
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1969 in film|1969]]<br />{{small|[[42nd Academy Awards|(42nd)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life]]'''''
| '''{{ill|Bernard Chevry|de}}'''
|-
|''[[Before the Mountain Was Moved]]''
| Robert K. Sharpe
|-
|''[[In the Year of the Pig]]''
| [[Emile de Antonio]]
|-
|''[[The Olympics in Mexico]]''
| [[1968 Summer Olympics|Comite Organizador de los Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada]]
|-
|''[[The Wolf Men]]''
| [[Irwin Rosten]]
|-
|}

=== 1970s ===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
! rowspan="5" |[[1970 in film|1970]]<br />{{small|[[43rd Academy Awards|(43rd)]]}}
|'''''[[Woodstock (film)|Woodstock]]'''''
| '''Bob Maurice'''
|-
|''[[Chariots of the Gods (film)|Chariots of the Gods]]''
|[[Harald Reinl|Dr. Harald Reinl]]
|-
|''[[Jack Johnson (film)|Jack Johnson]]''
|[[Jimmy Jacobs (handballer)|Jim Jacobs]]
|-
|''[[King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis]]''
|[[Ely Landau]]
|-
|''[[Say Goodbye (film)|Say Goodbye]]''
| David H. Vowell
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1971 in film|1971]]<br />{{small|[[44th Academy Awards|(44th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Hellstrom Chronicle]]'''''
|'''[[Walon Green]]'''
|-
|''[[Alaska Wilderness Lake]]''
|[[Alan Landsburg]]
|-
|''[[On Any Sunday]]''
|[[Bruce Brown (director)|Bruce Brown]]
|-
|''[[Ra (1972 film)|The RA Expeditions]]''
|{{ill|Lennart Ehrenborg|de||sv}} and [[Thor Heyerdahl]]
|-
|''[[The Sorrow and the Pity]]''
|[[Marcel Ophüls]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1972 in film|1972]]<br />{{small|[[45th Academy Awards|(45th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Marjoe]]'''''
|'''[[Howard Smith (director)|Howard Smith]] and [[Sarah Kernochan]]'''
|-
|''[[Ape and Super-Ape]]''
|[[Bert Haanstra]]
|-
|''[[Malcolm X (1972 film)|Malcolm X]]''
|[[Marvin Worth]] and [[Arnold Perl]]
|-
|''[[Manson (film)|Manson]]''
|[[Robert Hendrickson (director)|Robert Hendrickson]] and [[Laurence Merrick]]
|-
|''[[The Silent Revolution (1972 film)|The Silent Revolution]]''
|{{ill|Eckehard Munck|de}}
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1973 in film|1973]]<br />{{small|[[46th Academy Awards|(46th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Great American Cowboy]]'''''
|'''[[Kieth Merrill]]'''
|-
|''[[Always a New Beginning]]''
|{{ill|John D. Goodell|pl|John Goodell (reżyser)}}
|-
|''[[Battle of Berlin (film)|Battle of Berlin]]''
|Bengt von zur Muehlen
|-
|''[[Journey to the Outer Limits]]''
|[[Alexander Grasshoff]]
|-
|''[[Walls of Fire]]''
|{{ill|Gertrude Ross Marks|de}} and Edmund F. Penney
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1974 in film|1974]]<br />{{small|[[47th Academy Awards|(47th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Hearts and Minds (film)|Hearts and Minds]]'''''
|'''[[Peter Davis (director)|Peter Davis]] and [[Bert Schneider]]'''
|-
|''[[Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman]]''
|[[Judy Collins]] and [[Jill Godmilow]]
|-
|''[[The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art]]''
|[[Herbert Kline]]
|-
|''[[The 81st Blow]]''
|Jacquot Ehrlich, David Bergman and [[Haim Gouri]]
|-
|''[[The Wild and the Brave]]''
|Natalie R. Jones and Eugene S. Jones
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1975 in film|1975]]<br />{{small|[[48th Academy Awards|(48th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Man Who Skied Down Everest]]'''''
|'''[[F. R. Crawley]], James Hager and Dale Hartlebe'''<ref name="The 48th Academy Awards">{{cite web | url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1976 | title=The 48th Academy Awards | date=4 October 2014 | access-date=September 29, 2015}}</ref>
|-
|''[[The California Reich]]''
|[[Walter Parkes|Walter F. Parkes]] and Keith F. Critchlow
|-
|''[[Fighting for Our Lives (film)|Fighting for Our Lives]]''
|Glen Pearcy
|-
|''[[The Incredible Machine (film)|The Incredible Machine]]''
|[[Irwin Rosten]]
|-
|''[[The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir]]''
|[[Shirley MacLaine]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1976 in film|1976]]<br />{{small|[[49th Academy Awards|(49th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Harlan County, USA|Harlan County, U.S.A.]]'''''
|'''[[Barbara Kopple]]'''
|-
|''[[Hollywood on Trial]]''
|James Gutman and David Helpern Jr.
|-
|''[[Off the Edge]]''
|Michael Firth
|-
|''[[People of the Wind]]''
|Anthony Howarth and [[David Koff]]
|-
|''[[Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry]]''
|[[Donald Brittain]] and Robert Duncan
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1977 in film|1977]]<br />{{small|[[50th Academy Awards|(50th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?]]'''''
|'''[[John Korty]], Dan McCann and Warren L. Lockhart'''
|-
|''[[The Children of Theatre Street]]''
|[[Robert Dornhelm]] and [[Earle I. Mack|Earle Mack]]
|-
|''[[High Grass Circus]]''
| Bill Brind, Torben Schioler and [[Tony Ianzelo]]
|-
|''[[Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love]]''
|[[Harry Rasky]]
|-
|''[[Union Maids]]''
|{{ill|Jim Klein (filmmaker)|lt=Jim Klein|de|Jim Klein}}, Julia Reichert and Miles Mogulescu
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1978 in film|1978]]<br />{{small|[[51st Academy Awards|(51st)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Scared Straight!]]'''''
|'''[[Arnold Shapiro]]'''
|-
|''[[The Lovers' Wind]]''
|[[Albert Lamorisse]]
|-
|''[[Mysterious Castles of Clay]]''
|[[Alan Root]]
|-
|''[[Raoni]]''
|[[Jean-Pierre Dutilleux]], Barry Williams and Michel Gast
|-
|''[[With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade]]''
|Anne Bohlen, Lyn Goldfarb and Lorraine Gray
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1979 in film|1979]]<br />{{small|[[52nd Academy Awards|(52nd)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Best Boy (1979 film)|Best Boy]]'''''
|'''[[Ira Wohl]]'''
|-
|''[[Generation on the Wind]]''
|David A. Vassar
|-
|''[[Going the Distance (1979 film)|Going the Distance]]''
|[[Paul Cowan (filmmaker)|Paul Cowan]] and [[Jacques Bobet]]
|-
|''[[The Killing Ground (film)|The Killing Ground]]''
|Steve Singer and [[Tom Priestley]]
|-
|''[[The War at Home (1979 film)|The War at Home]]''
|Glenn Silber and [[Barry Alexander Brown]]
|}

=== 1980s ===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
! rowspan="5" |[[1980 in film|1980]]<br />{{small|[[53rd Academy Awards|(53rd)]]}}
|'''''[[From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China]]'''''
|'''[[Murray Lerner]]'''
|-
|''[[Agee (film)|Agee]]''
|Ross Spears
|-
|''[[The Day After Trinity]]''
|[[Jon H. Else]]
|-
|''[[Front Line (film)|Front Line]]''
| [[David Bradbury (film maker)|David Bradbury]]
|-
|''[[The Yellow Star: The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45]]''
| Bengt von zur Mühlen and [[Arthur Cohn]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1981 in film|1981]]<br />{{small|[[54th Academy Awards|(54th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Genocide (1981 film)|Genocide]]'''''
|'''[[Arnold Schwartzman]] and Rabbi [[Marvin Hier]]'''
|-
|''[[Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey]]''
|Suzanne Bauman, Paul Neshamkin and Jim Burroughs
|-
|''[[Brooklyn Bridge (film)|Brooklyn Bridge]]''
|[[Ken Burns]]
|-
|''[[Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott]]''
|Mary Benjamin, Susanne Simpson and [[Boyd Estus]]
|-
|''[[El Salvador: Another Vietnam]]''
|Glenn Silber and Tete Vasconcellos
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1982 in film|1982]]<br />{{small|[[55th Academy Awards|(55th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Just Another Missing Kid]]'''''
|'''[[John Zaritsky]]'''
|-
|''[[After the Axe]]''
|[[Sturla Gunnarsson]] and Steve Lucas
|-
|''[[Ben's Mill]]''
|John Karol and Michel Chalufour
|-
|''[[In Our Water]]''
|Meg Switzgable
|-
|''[[A Portrait of Giselle]]''
|Joseph Wishy
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1983 in film|1983]]<br />{{small|[[56th Academy Awards|(56th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin']]'''''
|'''[[Emile Ardolino]]'''
|-
|''[[Children of Darkness]]''
|[[Richard Kotuk]] and Ara Chekmayan
|-
|''[[First Contact (documentary)|First Contact]]''
|[[Bob Connolly]] and [[Robin Anderson (filmmaker)|Robin Anderson]]
|-
|''[[The Profession of Arms (1983 film)|The Profession of Arms]]''
|Michael Bryans and Tina Viljoen
|-
|''[[Seeing Red (1983 film)|Seeing Red]]''
|James Klein and [[Julia Reichert]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1984 in film|1984]]<br />{{small|[[57th Academy Awards|(57th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Times of Harvey Milk]]'''''
|'''[[Rob Epstein]] and Richard Schmiechen'''
|-
|''[[High Schools (film)|High Schools]]''
|[[Charles Guggenheim]] and Nancy Sloss
|-
|''[[In the Name of the People (1985 film)|In the Name of the People]]''
|Alex W. Drehsler and Frank Christopher
|-
|''[[Marlene (1984 film)|Marlene]]''
| Karel Dirka and [[Zev Braun]]
|-
|''[[Streetwise (1984 film)|Streetwise]]''
| Cheryl McCall
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1985 in film|1985]]<br />{{small|[[58th Academy Awards|(58th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Broken Rainbow (film)|Broken Rainbow]]'''''
|'''Maria Florio and Victoria Mudd'''
|-
|''[[The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo|Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo]]''
|[[Susana Blaustein Muñoz]] and [[Lourdes Portillo]]
|-
|''[[Soldiers in Hiding]]''
|[[Japhet Asher]]
|-
|''[[The Statue of Liberty (film)|The Statue of Liberty]]''
|[[Ken Burns]] and Buddy Squires
|-
|''[[Unfinished Business (1985 American film)|Unfinished Business]]''
|[[Steven Okazaki]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1986 in film|1986]]<br />{{small|[[59th Academy Awards|(59th)]]}} <br /><ref group="note">A tie in voting resulted in two winners.</ref>
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got]]''''' <small>(TIE)</small>
|'''[[Brigitte Berman]]'''
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Down and Out in America]]''''' <small>(TIE)</small>
|'''[[Joseph Feury]] and Milton Justice'''
|-
|''[[Chile: When Will It End?|Chile: Hasta Cuando?]]''
|[[David Bradbury (film maker)|David Bradbury]]
|-
|''[[Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer]]''
|[[Kirk Simon]] and Amram Nowak
|-
|''[[Witness to Apartheid]]''
|{{ill|Sharon I. Sopher|de}}
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1987 in film|1987]]<br />{{small|[[60th Academy Awards|(60th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Ten-Year Lunch|The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table]]'''''
|'''[[Aviva Slesin]]'''
|-
|''[[Eyes on the Prize|Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years/Bridge to Freedom 1965]]''
|[[Callie Crossley]] and James A. DeVinney
|-
|''[[Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima]]''
|John Junkerman and [[John W. Dower]]
|-
|''[[Radio Bikini]]''
|[[Robert Stone (director)|Robert Stone]]
|-
|''[[A Stitch for Time]]''
|Barbara Herbich and Cyril Christo
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1988 in film|1988]]<br />{{small|[[61st Academy Awards|(61st)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie]]'''''
|'''[[Marcel Ophuls|Marcel Ophüls]]'''
|-
|''[[The Cry of Reason|The Cry of Reason – Beyers Naudé: An Afrikaner Speaks Out]]''
|[[Robert Bilheimer]] and Ronald Mix
|-
|''[[Let's Get Lost (1988 film)|Let's Get Lost]]''
|[[Bruce Weber (photographer)|Bruce Weber]] and Nan Bush
|-
|''[[Promises to Keep (film)|Promises to Keep]]''
|[[Ginny Durrin]]
|-
|''[[Who Killed Vincent Chin?]]''
| [[Renee Tajima-Peña]] and [[Christine Choy]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1989 in film|1989]]<br />{{small|[[62nd Academy Awards|(62nd)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt]]'''''
|'''[[Rob Epstein]] and [[Bill Couturié]]'''
|-
|''[[Adam Clayton Powell (film)|Adam Clayton Powell]]''
|Richard Kilberg and Yvonne Smith
|-
|''[[Crack USA: County Under Siege]]''
|Vince DiPersio and [[Bill Guttentag|William Guttentag]]
|-
|''[[For All Mankind (film)|For All Mankind]]''
|[[Al Reinert]] and Betsy Broyles Breier
|-
|''[[Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren]]''
|Judith Leonard and {{ill|Bill Jersey|lt=William C. Jersey|de}}
|}

=== 1990s ===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
! rowspan="5" |[[1990 in film|1990]]<br />{{small|[[63rd Academy Awards|(63rd)]]}}
|'''''[[American Dream (film)|American Dream]]'''''
|'''[[Barbara Kopple]] and [[Arthur Cohn]]'''
|-
|''[[Berkeley in the Sixties]]''
|Mark Kitchell
|-
|''[[Building Bombs]]''
|[[Mark Mori]] and Susan Robinson
|-
|''[[Forever Activists|Forever Activists: Stories from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade]]''
|Judith Montell
|-
|''[[Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey]]''
|Robert Hillmann and Eugene Corr
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1991 in film|1991]]<br />{{small|[[64th Academy Awards|(64th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[In the Shadow of the Stars]]'''''
|'''[[Allie Light]] and [[Irving Saraf]]'''
|-
|''[[Death on the Job]]''
|Vince DiPersio and William Guttentag
|-
|''[[Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House]]''
|Alan Raymond and Susan Raymond
|-
|''[[The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945]]''
|[[Hava Kohav Beller]]
|-
|''[[Wild by Law]]''
|Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1992 in film|1992]]<br />{{small|[[65th Academy Awards|(65th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Panama Deception]]'''''
|'''Barbara Trent and David Kasper'''
|-
|''[[Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker]]''
|David Haugland
|-
|''[[Fires of Kuwait]]''
|Sally Dundas
|-
|''[[Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II]]''
|[[Bill Miles]] and [[Nina Rosenblum]]
|-
|''[[Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann]]''
|{{ill|Margaret Smilow|de|Margaret_Smilov}} and [[Roma Baran]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1993 in film|1993]]<br />{{small|[[66th Academy Awards|(66th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School]]'''''
|'''Susan Raymond and Alan Raymond'''
|-
|''[[The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter]]''
|David Paperny and Arthur Ginsberg
|-
|''[[Children of Fate: Life and Death in a Sicilian Family|Children of Fate]]''
|Susan Todd and Andrew Young
|-
|''[[For Better or For Worse (1993 film)|For Better or For Worse]]''
|David Collier and Betsy Thompson
|-
|''[[The War Room]]''
|[[D. A. Pennebaker]] and [[Chris Hegedus]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1994 in film|1994]]<br />{{small|[[67th Academy Awards|(67th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision]]'''''
|'''[[Freida Lee Mock]] and Terry Sanders'''
|-
|''[[Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter]]''
|[[Deborah Hoffmann]]
|-
|''[[D-Day Remembered]]''
|[[Charles Guggenheim]]
|-
|''[[Freedom on My Mind]]''
|Connie Field and Marilyn Mulford
|-
|''[[A Great Day in Harlem (film)|A Great Day in Harlem]]''
|[[Jean Bach]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1995 in film|1995]]<br />{{small|[[68th Academy Awards|(68th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Anne Frank Remembered]]'''''
|'''[[Jon Blair]]'''
|-
|''[[The Battle Over Citizen Kane]]''
|[[Thomas Lennon (filmmaker)|Thomas Lennon]] and Michael Epstein
|-
|''[[Small Wonders]]''
|Allan Miller and Walter Scheuer
|-
|''[[Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream]]''
|[[Michael Tollin]] and Fredric Golding
|-
|''[[Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern]]''
|[[Jeanne Jordan]] and [[Steven Ascher]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1996 in film|1996]]<br />{{small|[[69th Academy Awards|(69th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[When We Were Kings]]'''''
|'''[[Leon Gast]] and [[David Sonenberg]]'''
|-
|''[[The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story]]''
|Susan W. Dryfoos
|-
|''[[Mandela (1996 film)|Mandela]]''
|{{ill|Jo Menell|cs||sk}} and Angus Gibson
|-
|''[[Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse]]''
|[[Anne Belle]] and {{ill|Deborah Dickson|de||fr}}
|-
|''[[Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press]]''
|{{ill|Rick Goldsmith|de||pt}}
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1997 in film|1997]]<br />{{small|[[70th Academy Awards|(70th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Long Way Home (1997 film)|The Long Way Home]]'''''
|'''[[Marvin Hier]] and Richard Trank'''
|-
|''[[4 Little Girls]]''
|[[Spike Lee]] and [[Sam Pollard (filmmaker)|Sam Pollard]]
|-
|''[[Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life]]''
|[[Michael Paxton]]
|-
|''[[Colors Straight Up]]''
|[[Michèle Ohayon]] and Julia Schachter
|-
|''[[Waco: The Rules of Engagement]]''
|Dan Gifford and [[William Gazecki]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1998 in film|1998]]<br />{{small|[[71st Academy Awards|(71st)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Last Days]]'''''
|'''[[James Moll]] and [[Kenneth Lipper]]'''
|-
|''[[Dancemaker]]''
|[[Matthew Diamond]] and [[Jerry Kupfer]]
|-
|''[[The Farm: Angola, USA]]''
|[[Jonathan Stack]] and [[Liz Garbus]]
|-
|''[[Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth]]''
|[[Robert B. Weide]]
|-
|''[[Regret to Inform]]''
|Barbara Sonneborn and {{ill|Janet Cole (filmmaker)|lt=Janet Cole|de|Janet Cole (Filmproduzentin)}}
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[1999 in film|1999]]<br />{{small|[[72nd Academy Awards|(72nd)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[One Day in September]]'''''
|'''[[Arthur Cohn]] and [[Kevin Macdonald (director)|Kevin Macdonald]]'''
|-
|''[[Buena Vista Social Club (film)|Buena Vista Social Club]]''
|[[Wim Wenders]] and {{ill|Ulrich Felsberg|de||pl}}
|-
|''[[Genghis Blues]]''
|[[Roko Belic]] and Adrian Belic
|-
|''[[On the Ropes (1999 film)|On the Ropes]]''
|[[Nanette Burstein]] and [[Brett Morgen]]
|-
|''[[Speaking in Strings]]''
|Paola di Florio and [[Lilibet Foster]]
|}

===2000s=== <!-- This section is linked from [[Enron]] -->

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2000 in film|2000]]<br />{{small|[[73rd Academy Awards|(73rd)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport]]'''''
|'''[[Mark Jonathan Harris]] and [[Deborah Oppenheimer]]'''
|-
|''[[Legacy (2000 film)|Legacy]]''
|[[Tod Lending]]
|-
|''[[Long Night's Journey into Day]]''
|[[Deborah Hoffmann]] and [[Frances Reid (director)|Frances Reid]]
|-
|''[[Scottsboro: An American Tragedy]]''
|Daniel Anker and Barak Goodman
|-
|''[[Sound and Fury (film)|Sound and Fury]]''
|Josh Aronson and {{ill|Roger Weisberg|de}}
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2001 in film|2001]]<br />{{small|[[74th Academy Awards|(74th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Murder on a Sunday Morning]]'''''
|'''[[Jean-Xavier de Lestrade]] and Denis Poncet'''
|-
|''[[Children Underground]]''
|[[Edet Belzberg]]
|-
|''[[LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton]]''
|{{ill|Deborah Dickson|de||fr}} and [[Susan Froemke]]
|-
|''[[Promises (2001 film)|Promises]]''
|B.Z. Goldberg and [[Justine Shapiro]]
|-
|''[[War Photographer]]''
|[[Christian Frei]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2002 in film|2002]]<br />{{small|[[75th Academy Awards|(75th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Bowling for Columbine]]'''''
|'''[[Michael Moore]] and [[Michael Donovan (producer)|Michael Donovan]]'''
|-
|''[[Daughter from Danang]]''
|[[Gail Dolgin]] and Vicente Franco
|-
|''[[Prisoner of Paradise (2002 film)|Prisoner of Paradise]]''
|[[Malcolm Clarke (film maker)|Malcolm Clarke]] and Stuart Sender
|-
|''[[Spellbound (2002 film)|Spellbound]]''
|[[Jeffrey Blitz]] and Sean Welch
|-
|''[[Winged Migration]]''
|[[Jacques Perrin]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2003 in film|2003]]<br />{{small|[[76th Academy Awards|(76th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Fog of War]]'''''
|'''[[Errol Morris]] and [[Michael Williams (film producer)|Michael Williams]]'''
|-
|''[[Balseros (film)|Balseros]]''
|{{ill|Carles Bosch|es|Carles Bosch|ca|Carles Bosch i Arisó}} and Josep Maria Domenech
|-
|''[[Capturing the Friedmans]]''
|[[Andrew Jarecki]] and [[Marc Smerling]]
|-
|''[[My Architect]]''
|[[Nathaniel Kahn]] and Susan R. Behr
|-
|''[[The Weather Underground (film)|The Weather Underground]]''
|[[Sam Green (filmmaker)|Sam Green]] and [[Bill Siegel]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2004 in film|2004]]<br />{{small|[[77th Academy Awards|(77th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Born into Brothels]]'''''
|'''Ross Kauffman and [[Zana Briski]]'''
|-
|''[[The Story of the Weeping Camel]]''
|[[Byambasuren Davaa]] and {{ill|Luigi Falorni|de}}
|-
|''[[Super Size Me]]''
|[[Morgan Spurlock]]
|-
|''[[Tupac: Resurrection]]''
|[[Karolyn Ali]] and [[Lauren Lazin]]
|-
|''[[Twist of Faith]]''
|[[Kirby Dick]] and [[Eddie Schmidt]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2005 in film|2005]]<br />{{small|[[78th Academy Awards|(78th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[March of the Penguins]]'''''
|'''[[Luc Jacquet]] and Yves Darondeau'''
|-
|''[[Darwin's Nightmare]]''
|[[Hubert Sauper]]
|-
|''[[Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room]]''
|[[Alex Gibney]] and [[Jason Kliot]]
|-
|''[[Murderball (film)|Murderball]]''
|[[Henry Alex Rubin]] and [[Dana Adam Shapiro]]
|-
|''[[Street Fight (film)|Street Fight]]''
|[[Marshall Curry]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2006 in film|2006]]<br />{{small|[[79th Academy Awards|(79th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[An Inconvenient Truth]]'''''
|'''[[Davis Guggenheim]]'''
|-
|''[[Deliver Us from Evil (2006 film)|Deliver Us from Evil]]''
|[[Amy J. Berg|Amy Berg]] and [[Frank Donner (film producer)|Frank Donner]]
|-
|''[[Iraq in Fragments]]''
|[[James Longley (filmmaker)|James Longley]] and John Sinno
|-
|''[[Jesus Camp]]''
|[[Heidi Ewing]] and [[Rachel Grady]]
|-
|''[[My Country, My Country]]''
|{{ill|Jocelyn Glatzer|de}} and [[Laura Poitras]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2007 in film|2007]]<br />{{small|[[80th Academy Awards|(80th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Taxi to the Dark Side]]'''''
|'''[[Alex Gibney]] and [[Eva Orner]]'''
|-
|''[[No End in Sight]]''
|[[Charles Ferguson (filmmaker)|Charles Ferguson]] and [[Audrey Marrs]]
|-
|''[[Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience]]''
|[[Richard E. Robbins|Richard Robbins]]
|-
|''[[Sicko]]''
|[[Michael Moore]] and Meghan O'Hara
|-
|''[[War/Dance]]''
|[[Sean Fine]] and [[Andrea Nix Fine]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2008 in film|2008]]<br />{{small|[[81st Academy Awards|(81st)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Man on Wire]]'''''
|'''[[Simon Chinn]] and [[James Marsh (director)|James Marsh]]'''
|-
|''[[The Betrayal – Nerakhoon|The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)]]''
|[[Ellen Kuras]] and [[Thavisouk Phrasavath]]
|-
|''[[Encounters at the End of the World]]''
|[[Werner Herzog]] and [[Henry Kaiser (musician)|Henry Kaiser]]
|-
|''[[The Garden (2008 film)|The Garden]]''
|[[Scott Hamilton Kennedy]]
|-
|''[[Trouble the Water]]''
|[[Carl Deal]] and [[Tia Lessin]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2009 in film|2009]]<br />{{small|[[82nd Academy Awards|(82nd)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[The Cove (film)|The Cove]]'''''
|'''[[Louie Psihoyos]] and [[Fisher Stevens]]'''
|-
|''[[Burma VJ]]''
|{{ill|Anders Østergaard|da|Anders Østergaard (filminstruktør)|de|Anders Østergaard}} and {{ill|Lise Lense-Møller|de}}
|-
|''[[Food, Inc.]]''
|[[Robert Kenner]] and {{ill|Elise Pearlstein|de}}
|-
|''[[The Most Dangerous Man in America|The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers]]''
|[[Judith Ehrlich]] and Rick Goldsmith
|-
|''[[Which Way Home]]''
|[[Rebecca Cammisa]]
|}

=== 2010s ===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
! rowspan="5" |[[2010 in film|2010]]<br />{{small|[[83rd Academy Awards|(83rd)]]}}
|'''''[[Inside Job (2010 film)|Inside Job]]'''''
|'''[[Charles Ferguson (filmmaker)|Charles Ferguson]] and [[Audrey Marrs]]'''
|-
|''[[Exit Through the Gift Shop]]''
|[[Banksy]] and [[Jaimie D'Cruz]]
|-
|''[[Gasland]]''
|[[Josh Fox]] and [[Trish Adlesic]]
|-
|''[[Restrepo (film)|Restrepo]]''
|[[Tim Hetherington]] and [[Sebastian Junger]]
|-
|''[[Waste Land (film)|Waste Land]]''
|[[Lucy Walker (director)|Lucy Walker]] and {{ill|Angus Aynsley|no||pt}}
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2011 in film|2011]]<br />{{small|[[84th Academy Awards|(84th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Undefeated (2011 film)|Undefeated]]'''''
|'''[[T. J. Martin]], [[Daniel Lindsay]] and [[Rich Middlemas]]'''
|-
|''[[Hell and Back Again]]''
|[[Danfung Dennis]] and [[Mike Lerner (filmmaker)|Mike Lerner]]
|-
|''[[If a Tree Falls|If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front]]''
|[[Marshall Curry]] and [[Sam Cullman]]
|-
|''[[Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory]]''
|[[Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky]]
|-
|''[[Pina (film)|Pina]]''
|[[Wim Wenders]] and [[Gian-Piero Ringel]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2012 in film|2012]]<br />{{small|[[85th Academy Awards|(85th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Searching for Sugar Man]]'''''
|'''[[Malik Bendjelloul]] and [[Simon Chinn]]'''
|-
|''[[5 Broken Cameras]]''
|[[Emad Burnat]] and [[Guy Davidi]]
|-
|''[[The Gatekeepers (film)|The Gatekeepers]]''
|[[Dror Moreh]], {{ill|Philippa Kowarsky|de||pt}}, and {{ill|Estelle Fialon|de}}
|-
|''[[How to Survive a Plague]]''
|[[David France (writer)|David France]] and [[Howard Gertler]]
|-
|''[[The Invisible War]]''
|[[Kirby Dick]] and [[Amy Ziering]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2013 in film|2013]]<br />{{small|[[86th Academy Awards|(86th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[20 Feet from Stardom]]'''''
|'''[[Morgan Neville]], [[Gil Friesen]] and [[Caitrin Rogers]]'''
|-
|''[[The Act of Killing]]''
|[[Joshua Oppenheimer]] and [[Signe Byrge Sørensen]]
|-
|''[[Cutie and the Boxer]]''
|[[Zachary Heinzerling]] and [[Lydia Dean Pilcher]]
|-
|''[[Dirty Wars]]''
|[[Richard Rowley (film director)|Richard Rowley]] and [[Jeremy Scahill]]
|-
|''[[The Square (2013 film)|The Square]]''
|[[Jehane Noujaim]] and [[Karim Amer]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2014 in film|2014]]<br />{{small|[[87th Academy Awards|(87th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Citizenfour]]'''''
|'''[[Laura Poitras]], [[Mathilde Bonnefoy]] and [[Dirk Wilutzky]]'''
|-
|''[[Finding Vivian Maier]]''
|[[John Maloof]] and {{ill|Charlie Siskel|de||pt}}
|-
|''[[Last Days in Vietnam]]''
|[[Rory Kennedy]] and Kevin McAlester
|-
|''[[The Salt of the Earth (2014 film)|The Salt of the Earth]]''
|[[Wim Wenders]], [[Juliano Ribeiro Salgado]] and [[David Rosier]]
|-
|''[[Virunga (film)|Virunga]]''
|[[Orlando von Einsiedel]] and [[Joanna Natasegara]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2015 in film|2015]]<br />{{small|[[88th Academy Awards|(88th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Amy (2015 film)|Amy]]'''''
|'''[[Asif Kapadia]] and [[James Gay-Rees]]'''
|-
|''[[Cartel Land]]''
| [[Matthew Heineman]] and [[Tom Yellin]]
|-
|''[[The Look of Silence]]''
| [[Joshua Oppenheimer]] and [[Signe Byrge Sørensen]]
|-
|''[[What Happened, Miss Simone?]]''
| [[Liz Garbus]], [[Amy Hobby]] and [[Justin Wilkes]]
|-
|''[[Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom]]''
| [[Evgeny Afineevsky]] and [[Den Tolmor]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2016 in film|2016]]<br />{{small|[[89th Academy Awards|(89th)]]}} <br /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-oscars-2017-nominees-winners-list-20170123-story.html |title=Academy Awards 2017: Complete list of Oscar winners and nominees |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=February 26, 2017 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=January 8, 2018 }}</ref>
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[O.J.: Made in America]]'''''
| '''[[Ezra Edelman]] and [[Caroline Waterlow]]'''
|-
| ''[[Fire at Sea]]''
| [[Gianfranco Rosi (director)|Gianfranco Rosi]] and [[Donatella Palermo]]
|-
| ''[[I Am Not Your Negro]]''
| [[Raoul Peck]], {{ill|Rémi Grellety|de||pt}} and [[Hébert Peck]]
|-
| ''[[Life, Animated]]''
| [[Roger Ross Williams]] and [[Julie Goldman (producer)|Julie Goldman]]
|-
| ''[[13th (film)|13th]]''
| [[Ava DuVernay]], [[Spencer Averick]] and [[Howard Barish]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2017 in film|2017]]<br /><small>[[90th Academy Awards|(90th)]]</small> <br /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2018/01/oscar-nominations-2018-academy-award-nominees-1202266874/ |title= Oscar Nominations: 'The Shape Of Water' Leads Way With 13 |last=Hipes |first=Patrick |date=January 23, 2018 |website=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |access-date=January 23, 2018 }}</ref>
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Icarus (2017 film)|Icarus]]'''''
| '''[[Bryan Fogel]] and [[Dan Cogan]]'''
|-
| ''[[Abacus: Small Enough to Jail]]''
| [[Steve James (producer)|Steve James]], [[Mark Mitten]] and [[Julie Goldman (producer)|Julie Goldman]]
|-
| ''[[Faces Places (film)|Faces Places]]''
| [[Agnès Varda]], [[JR (artist)|JR]] and [[Rosalie Varda]]
|-
| ''[[Last Men in Aleppo]]''
| [[Feras Fayyad]], [[Kareem Abeed]] and [[Søren Steen Jespersen]]
|-
| ''[[Strong Island (film)|Strong Island]]''
| [[Yance Ford]] and [[Joslyn Barnes]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2018 in film|2018]]<br /><small>[[91st Academy Awards|(91st)]]</small>
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[Free Solo]]'''''
| '''[[Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi]], [[Jimmy Chin]], Evan Hayes, and [[Shannon Dill]]'''
|-
| ''[[Hale County This Morning, This Evening]]''
| [[RaMell Ross]], [[Joslyn Barnes]], and Su Kim
|-
| ''[[Minding the Gap]]''
|[[Bing Liu (filmmaker)|Bing Liu]] and [[Diane Moy Quon|Diane Quon]]
|-
| ''[[Of Fathers and Sons]]''
| [[Talal Derki]], {{ill|Ansgar Frerich|de}}, {{ill|Eva Kemme|de}}, and {{ill|Tobias N. Siebert|de}}
|-
| ''[[RBG (film)|RBG]]''
| [[Betsy West]] and {{ill|Julie Cohen (filmmaker)|lt=Julie Cohen|de|Julie Cohen|fr|Julie Cohen|pt|Julie Cohen}}
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2019 in film|2019]]<br /><small>[[92nd Academy Awards|(92nd)]]</small>
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[American Factory]]'''''
| '''[[Steven Bognar]], [[Julia Reichert]] and Jeff Reichert'''
|-
| ''[[The Cave (2019 Syrian film)|The Cave]]''
| [[Feras Fayyad]], {{ill|Kirstine Barfod|de}} and {{ill|Sigrid Dyekjær (producer)|lt=Sigrid Dyekjær|da|Sigrid Dyekjær|de|Sigrid Dyekjær}}
|-
| ''[[The Edge of Democracy]]''
|[[Petra Costa]], [[Joanna Natasegara]], [[Shane Boris]] and {{ill|Tiago Pavan|pt}}
|-
| ''[[For Sama]]''
| [[Waad al-Kateab]] and [[Edward Watts (director)|Edward Watts]]
|-
| ''[[Honeyland]]''
| [[Ljubomir Stefanov|Ljubo Stefanov]], [[Tamara Kotevska]] and Atanas Georgiev
|}

=== 2020s ===

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%"
|- bgcolor="#bebebe"
! width="5%" | Year
! width="45%" | Film
! width="50%" | Nominees
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
! rowspan="5" |[[2020 in film|2020/21]]<br />{{small|[[93rd Academy Awards|(93rd)]]}}
|'''''[[My Octopus Teacher]]'''''
|'''[[Pippa Ehrlich]], James Reed and [[Craig Foster (filmmaker)|Craig Foster]]'''
|-
|''[[Collective (2019 film)|Collective]]''
|[[Alexander Nanau]] and {{ill|Bianca Oana|de}}
|-
|''[[Crip Camp]]''
|[[Nicole Newnham]], [[James LeBrecht|Jim LeBrecht]] and Sara Bolder
|-
|''[[The Mole Agent]]''
|[[Maite Alberdi]] and {{ill|Marcela Santibáñez|de}}
|-
|''[[Time (2020 film)|Time]]''
|[[Garrett Bradley (filmmaker)|Garrett Bradley]], {{ill|Lauren Domino|de}} and Kellen Quinn
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2021 in film|2021]]<br />{{small|[[94th Academy Awards|(94th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Summer of Soul]]'''''
|'''[[Questlove]], [[Joseph Patel]], {{ill|Robert Fyvolent|display=1|de}} and {{ill|David Dinerstein|display=1|de}}'''
|- 
|''[[Ascension (film)|Ascension]]''
|[[Jessica Kingdon]], [[Kira Simon-Kennedy]] and [[Nathan Truesdell]]
|-
|''[[Attica (2021 film)|Attica]]''
|[[Stanley Nelson Jr.|Stanley Nelson]] and {{ill|lt=Traci A. Curry|Traci Curry|de}}
|-
|''[[Flee (film)|Flee]]''
|[[Jonas Poher Rasmussen]], [[Monica Hellström]], [[Signe Byrge Sørensen]] and [[Charlotte de la Gournerie|Charlotte De La Gournerie]]
|-
|''[[Writing with Fire]]''
|[[Rintu Thomas]] and [[Sushmit Ghosh]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" | [[2022 in film|2022]]<br />{{small|[[95th Academy Awards|(95th)]]}}
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[Navalny (film)|Navalny]]'''''
|'''[[Daniel Roher]], [[Odessa Rae]], Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris'''
|-
| ''[[All That Breathes]]'' 
|[[Shaunak Sen]], Aman Mann and [[Teddy Leifer]]
|-
|''[[All the Beauty and the Bloodshed]]''
|[[Laura Poitras]], Howard Gertler, John Lyons, [[Nan Goldin]] and Yoni Golijov
|-
|''[[Fire of Love (2022 film)|Fire of Love]]''
|[[Sara Dosa]], Shane Boris and [[Ina Fichman]]
|-
|''[[A House Made of Splinters]]''
|Simon Lereng Wilmont and [[Monica Hellström]]
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" |[[2023 in film|2023]]<br />{{small|[[96th Academy Awards|(96th)]]}}<br />
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
|'''''[[20 Days in Mariupol]]'''''
|'''[[Mstyslav Chernov]], [[Michelle Mizner]] and [[Raney Aronson-Rath]]'''
|-
|''[[Bobi Wine: The People's President]]''
|Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and [[John Battsek]]
|-
|''[[The Eternal Memory]]''
|[[Maite Alberdi]]
|-
|''[[Four Daughters (2023 film)|Four Daughters]]''
|[[Kaouther Ben Hania]] and Nadim Cheikhrouha
|-
|''[[To Kill a Tiger]]''
|[[Nisha Pahuja]], [[Cornelia Principe]] and David Oppenheim
|-
! rowspan="6" style="text-align:center" |[[2024 in film|2024]]<br />{{small|[[97th Academy Awards|(97th)]]}}<br />
|- style="background:#FAEB86"
| '''''[[No Other Land]]''''' || '''[[Basel Adra]], Rachel Szor, [[Hamdan Ballal]], and [[Yuval Abraham]]'''
|-
| ''[[Black Box Diaries]]'' || [[Shiori Itō]], Eric Nyari, and Hanna Aqvilin
|-
| ''[[Porcelain War]]'' || [[Brendan Bellomo]], [[Slava Leontyev]], Aniela Sidorska, and Paula DuPré Pesmen
|-
| ''[[Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat]]'' || [[Johan Grimonprez]], Daan Milius, and Rémi Grellety
|-
| ''[[Sugarcane (film)|Sugarcane]]'' || [[Julian Brave NoiseCat]], [[Emily Kassie]], and Kellen Quinn
|}

==Shortlisted finalists==
{{Main|Submissions for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature}}
Finalists for Best Documentary Feature are selected by the Documentary Branch based on a preliminary ballot. A second preferential ballot determines the five nominees.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/93aa_rules.pdf |title=93rd Academy Award of Merit Rules |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=May 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502044737/https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/93aa_rules.pdf |archive-date=May 2, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> Prior to the [[78th Academy Awards]], there were twelve films shortlisted.

== Superlatives ==

For this Academy Award category, the following superlatives emerge:<ref>[http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/helpMain.jsp?helpContentURL=statistics/indexStats.html Academy Award Statistics] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301005626/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/helpMain.jsp?helpContentURL=statistics%2FindexStats.html |date=2009-03-01 }}</ref>
* '''Most awards:''' 
[[Arthur Cohn]] {{ndash}} '''3 awards''' ''(resulting from 4 nominations)'';
[[Simon Chinn]] {{ndash}} '''2 awards''';
[[Jacques-Yves Cousteau]] {{ndash}} '''2 awards''';
[[Walt Disney]] {{ndash}} '''2 awards''' ''(resulting from 7 nominations; Disney has an additional 2 wins in the Documentary Short Subject category)'';
[[Rob Epstein]] {{ndash}} '''2 awards''';
[[Marvin Hier]] {{ndash}} '''2 awards''';
[[Barbara Kopple]] {{ndash}} '''2 awards'''
[[Mark Jonathan Harris]] {{ndash}} '''2 awards'''

== Process controversies ==
Michael Moore's ''[[Fahrenheit 9/11]]'', at the time the highest-grossing documentary film in movie history, was ruled ineligible because Moore had opted to have it played on television prior to the 2004 election. Previously, the 1982 winner ''[[Just Another Missing Kid]]'' had already been broadcast in Canada and won that country's ACTRA award for excellence in television at the time of its nomination.

In 1990, a group of 45 filmmakers filed a protest to the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] over a potential conflict of interest involving [[Mitchell Block]].  They noted that Block was a member of the Documentary Steering Committee, which selects films as nominees, but he had a conflict of interest because his company Direct Cinema owned the distribution rights to three of the five films (including eventual winner ''[[Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt]]''{{--)}}<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?companies=co0042450&sort=release_date,asc&start=51&ref_=adv_nxt With Direct Cinema Limited (Sorted by Release Date Ascending) – IMDb]</ref> selected that year as nominees for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. They noted that [[Michael Moore]]'s ''[[Roger & Me]]'' (distributed by [[Warner Brothers]]) was omitted from the nominees, although it had been highly praised by numerous critics and was ranked by many critics as one of the top ten films of the year.<ref name="conflict">Collins, Glenn. [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3061EFB3D5A0C778EDDAB0894D8494D81 "Film Makers Protest to Academy"], ''The New York Times'', 24 February 1990. Accessed March 6, 2011.</ref>

The controversy over ''[[Hoop Dreams]]''{{'}} exclusion was enough to have the Academy Awards begin the process to change its documentary voting system.<ref>[http://www.current.org/people/peop423h.html "Steve James, Frederick Marx, and Peter Gilbert: ''Hoop Dreams'': from short subject to major league"; current.org; July 30, 1995.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607213731/http://www.current.org/people/peop423h.html |date=June 7, 2007 }}</ref> Roger Ebert, who had declared it to be the best 1994 movie of any kind, looked into its failure to receive a nomination: "We learned, through very reliable sources, that the members of the committee had a system. They carried little flashlights. When one gave up on a film, he waved a light on the screen. When a majority of flashlights had voted, the film was switched off. ''Hoop Dreams'' was stopped after 15 minutes."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/the-great-american-documentary|title=The great American documentary – Roger Ebert's Journal – Roger Ebert|first=Roger|last=Ebert|website=www.rogerebert.com|date=14 December 2012 }}</ref>

The Academy's executive director, Bruce Davis, took the unprecedented step of asking accounting firm [[Price Waterhouse]] to turn over the complete results of that year's voting, in which members of the committee had rated each of the 63 eligible documentaries on a scale of six to ten. "What I found," said Davis, "is that a small group of members gave zeros (actually low scores) to every single film except the five they wanted to see nominated. And they gave tens to those five, which completely skewed the voting. There was one film that received more scores of ten than any other, but it wasn't nominated. It also got zeros (low scores) from those few voters, and that was enough to push it to sixth place."<ref>Pond, Steve, ''The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards'', pg. 74, Faber and Faber, 2005</ref>

In 2000, Arthur Cohn, the producer of the winning ''One Day in September'' boasted "I won this without showing it in a single theater!" Cohn had hit upon the tactic of showing his Oscar entries at invitation-only screenings, and to as few other people as possible. Oscar bylaws at the time required voters to have seen all five nominated documentaries; by limiting his audience, Cohn shrank the voting pool and improved his odds. Following protests by many documentarians, the nominating system was subsequently changed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/one-day-in-september-2001|title=One Day In September Movie Review (2001) – Roger Ebert|first=Roger|last=Ebert|website=www.rogerebert.com}}</ref>

''Hoop Dreams'' director [[Steve James (producer)|Steve James]] said "With so few people looking at any given film, it only takes one to dislike a film, and its chances for making the shortlist are diminished greatly. So they've got to do something, I think, to make the process more sane for deciding the shortlist."<ref name="indiewire.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/article/michael-moore-best-documentary-oscar-will-be-chosen-by-the-full-academy|title=Michael Moore: Best Documentary Oscar Will Be Chosen By the Full Academy – IndieWire|first=Indiewire|last=Team|website=www.indiewire.com|date=9 January 2012}}</ref> Among other rule changes taking effect in 2013,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.craveonline.com/film/articles/639099-the-other-oscars-best-documentary-feature#/slide/1|title=The OTHER Oscars: Best Documentary Feature – |website=CraveOnline|date=31 January 2014}}</ref> the academy began requiring a documentary to have been reviewed by either ''The New York Times'' or ''Los Angeles Times'', and be commercially released for at least one week in both of those cities. Advocating the rule change, Michael Moore said "When people get the award for best documentary and they go on stage and thank the Academy, it's not really the Academy, is it? It's 5% of the Academy."<ref name="indiewire.com" />

The awards process has also been criticized for emphasizing a documentary's subject matter over its style or quality. In 2009, ''Entertainment Weekly''{{'s}} Owen Gleiberman wrote about the documentary branch members' penchant for choosing "movies that the selection committee deemed good because they're good for you... a kind of self-defeating aesthetic of granola documentary correctness."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/2009/11/20/oscar-documentary-scandal/|title=Oscar documentary scandal: The real reason that too many good movies got left out|date=20 November 2009|website=ew.com}}</ref>

In 2014, following the announcement of the shortlist of eligible feature documentary nominees, [[Sony Pictures Classics]] co-president Tom Bernard publicly criticized Academy documentary voters after they excluded SPC's ''[[Red Army (film)|Red Army]]'' from the shortlist. "It's a sign of some really old people in the documentary area of the Academy. There's a lot of people who are really up in their years. It's shocking to me that that film (''Red Army'') didn't get in," Bernard said.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sony-classics-tom-bernard-slams-754619|title=Sony Classics' Tom Bernard Slams Oscar Voters for Snubbing Russian Hockey Doc 'Red Army'|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en}}</ref> Additionally, in his reporting of the Oscar documentary shortlist exclusions that year, ''The Hollywood Reporter''{{'s}} Scott Feinberg reacted to ''Red Army''{{'s}} omission: "...no matter which 15 titles the doc branch selected, plenty of other great ones would be left on the outside. That is the case, most egregiously, with [[Gabe Polsky]]'s ''Red Army'' (Sony Classics), a masterful look at the role of sports in society and [[Russian-American relations]]".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-doc-shortlist-a-brutal-753358|title=Oscar Doc Shortlist: A Brutal Year to Have to Select Just 15 Finalists|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=2017-11-27|language=en}}</ref> (''[[Icarus (2017 film)|Icarus]]'', another documentary related to sports and Russian-American relations, later won the Oscar.)

In 2017, following the win of the eight-hour ''O.J.: Made in America'' in this category, the Academy announced that multi-part and limited series would be ineligible for the award in the future, even if they are not broadcast after their Oscar-qualifying release (as was ''O.J.: Made in America'').<ref>{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2017/film/news/oscars-new-rules-documentary-oj-made-in-america-barred-1202026406/ |title=Oscars: New Rules Bar Multi-Part Documentaries Like 'O.J.: Made in America' |first=Dave |last=McNary |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=2017-04-07 |access-date=2017-05-30}}</ref>

Various other acclaimed documentaries have not been nominated such as:<ref>{{cite web |last=Oliver |first=Lyttelton |date=18 February 2014 |title=Great Documentariees That Weren't Nominated for an Oscar |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2014/02/10-great-documentaries-that-werent-nominated-for-an-oscar-88933/ |website=[[IndieWire]]}}</ref><ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-16-ca-2766-story.html Oscars Have No Hidden 'Agenda' to Thwart Popular Documentaries – Los Angeles Times]</ref>

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*''[[Dont Look Back]]'' (1967)
*''[[Salesman (1969 film)|Salesman]]'' (1969)
*''[[Gimme Shelter (1970 film)|Gimme Shelter]]'' (1970)
*''[[Grey Gardens]]'' (1975)
*''[[Gates of Heaven]]'' (1978)
*''[[Stop Making Sense]]'' (1984)
*''[[Shoah (film)|Shoah]]'' (1985)
*''[[The Thin Blue Line (1988 film)|The Thin Blue Line]]'' (1988) 
*''[[Roger & Me]]'' (1989) 
*''[[Paris Is Burning (film)|Paris Is Burning]]'' (1990)
*''[[Crumb (film)|Crumb]]'' (1994)
*''[[Hoop Dreams]]'' (1994)
*''[[The Celluloid Closet (film)|The Celluloid Closet]]'' (1995)
*''[[American Movie]]'' (1999)
*''[[Fahrenheit 9/11]]'' (2004)
*''[[Grizzly Man]]'' (2005)
*''[[Stories We Tell]]'' (2013)
*''[[Blackfish (film)|Blackfish]]'' (2013)
*''[[Life Itself (2014 film)|Life Itself]]'' (2014)
*''[[Red Army (film)|Red Army]]'' (2014)
*''[[Going Clear (film)|Going Clear]]'' (2015)
*''[[Cameraperson]]'' (2016)
*''[[Quest (2017 film)|Quest]]'' (2017)
*''[[Jane (2017 film)|Jane]]'' (2017)
*''[[Won't You Be My Neighbor? (film)|Won't You Be My Neighbor?]]'' (2018)
*''[[They Shall Not Grow Old]]'' (2018)
*''[[Apollo 11 (2019 film)|Apollo 11]]'' (2019)
*''[[Boys State (film)|Boys State]]'' (2020)
{{div col end}}

== Documentaries with wins or nominations in other categories ==
Though [[Academy Awards|Academy]] rules do not expressly preclude documentaries from being nominated in other competitive categories,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility|title=Rules & Eligibility|date=2014-07-28|website=Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|language=en|access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref> documentaries are typically considered ineligible for nominations in categories that presume the work is fictitious, including [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Production Design]], [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Best Costume Design]], and acting. To date, no documentaries have been nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-a-best-picture-nom-a-documentary-why-not-950984|title=Oscars: A Best Picture Nom for a Documentary? Why Not?|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=2 December 2016|language=en|access-date=2020-02-02}}</ref> or [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]].  ''[[The Quiet One (film)|The Quiet One]]'' was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Story and Screenplay]].

No documentary feature has yet been nominated for Best Picture, although ''[[Chang (film)|Chang]]'' was nominated in the "Unique and Artistic Production" category at the 1927/28 awards.

At the [[3rd Academy Awards]], prior to the introduction of a documentary category, ''[[With Byrd at the South Pole]]'' won the award for [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]], becoming the first documentary both to be nominated for and win an Oscar.<ref name="AFI 1930">{{cite web |title=With Byrd at the South Pole (1930) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/13385 |website=catalog.afi.com |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=27 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/54972/With-Byrd-at-the-South-Pole-The-Story-of-Little-America/details|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616030642/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/54972/With-Byrd-at-the-South-Pole-The-Story-of-Little-America/details|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-06-16|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=2008|title=Movie Reviews}}</ref> 1952's ''[[Navajo (film)|Navajo]]'' would become the first film nominated for both Best Documentary and Best Cinematography.

''[[Woodstock (film)|Woodstock]]'' was the first documentary to be nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Editing|Best Film Editing]]<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1971 1971|Oscars.org]</ref> while ''[[Hoop Dreams]]'' was the second (although it was, controversially, not nominated for Best Documentary Feature).<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1995 1995|Oscars.org]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sfNs2NZSlA Forrest Gump Wins Film Editing: 1995 Oscars]</ref> ''Woodstock'' is also the only documentary to receive a nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm4NalNc-vw&t=636s The Opening of the Academy Awards in 1971 – Oscars on YouTube]</ref>

''[[Honeyland]]'' became the first documentary to be nominated for both [[Academy Award for Best International Feature Film|Best International Feature Film]] and Best Documentary Feature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2020/01/oscars-2020-honeyland-international-documentary-north-macedonia.html|title=A Documentary About Beekeepers Just Made Oscar History|last=Martinelli|first=Marissa|date=2020-01-13|website=Slate Magazine|language=en|access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref> The following year, ''[[Collective (2019 film)|Collective]]'' would accomplish the same double nomination.<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2021 2021|Oscars.org]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kptJmLPcKBg "Another Round" Wins Best International Film|93rd Oscars]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T9f3RKLU5w "My Octopus Teacher" Wins Best Documentary Feature|93rd Oscars]</ref> Prior to this, ''[[Waltz with Bashir]]'' became the first documentary and first animated film nominated for Best International Feature Film, although it was not nominated for Best Documentary Feature.<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2009 2009|Oscars.org]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pRF9T3D6Bo "Departures" Wins Foreign Language Film: 2009 Oscars]</ref>  The Danish-language animated documentary ''[[Flee (film)|Flee]]'' was later nominated for Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Animated Feature, the first film to accomplish this feat.

Nine documentaries have received nominations for [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]]: ''[[Mondo Cane]]'' (for [[Riz Ortolani]] and [[Nino Oliviero]]'s "[[More (Theme from Mondo Cane)|More]]"),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/08022/851177-331.stm|title=80th Annual Academy Awards Oscar Quiz|website=old.post-gazette.com|access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref> ''[[An Inconvenient Truth]]'' (for [[Melissa Etheridge]]'s "[[I Need to Wake Up]]", the only nominee from a documentary to win),<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2007 2007|Oscars.org]</ref> ''[[Chasing Ice]]'' (for [[J. Ralph]]'s "Before My Time"), ''[[Racing Extinction]]'' (for Ralph and [[Anhoni]]'s "[[Manta Ray (song)|Manta Ray]]"), ''[[Jim: The James Foley Story]]'' (for Ralph and [[Sting (musician)|Sting]]'s "[[The Empty Chair (song)|The Empty Chair]]"), ''[[Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me]]'' (for [[Glen Campbell]] and [[Julian Raymond]]'s "[[I'm Not Gonna Miss You]]"), ''[[The Hunting Ground]]'' (for [[Lady Gaga]] and [[Diane Warren]]'s "[[Til It Happens to You|Til It Happens To You]]"), ''[[RBG (film)|RBG]]'' (for Warren's "I'll Fight")<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2019|title=The 91st Academy Awards {{!}} 2019|website=Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=15 April 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref> and ''[[American Symphony (film)|''American Symphony'']]'' (for Batiste's "It Never Went Away").

Documentaries nominated for their scores include ''[[This is Cinerama]]'', ''[[White Wilderness (film)|White Wilderness]]'' (which also won for Documentary Feature<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1959 1959|Oscars.org]</ref>), ''[[Let It Be (1970 film)|Let It Be]]'', and ''[[Birds Do It, Bees Do It]]''.

Five documentary filmmakers have received [[Academy Honorary Award|honorary Oscars]]: [[Pete Smith (film producer)|Pete Smith]], [[William L. Hendricks]], [[D. A. Pennebaker]], [[Frederick Wiseman]], and [[Agnès Varda]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goldderby.com/article/2018/honorary-oscar-winners-full-list-academy-award-history/|title=Honorary Oscars: Full list of 132 winners from Charlie Chaplin to Cicely Tyson|last=Sheehan|first=Paul|date=2018-09-06|website=GoldDerby|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-02}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[BAFTA Award for Best Documentary]]
* [[Producers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Motion Picture]]
* [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Documentaries]]
* [[Critics' Choice Documentary Awards]]
* [[International Documentary Association|IDA Documentary Awards]]
* [[National Board of Review Award for Best Documentary Film]]
* [[Cinema Eye Honors|Cinema Eye Honors Awards]]
* [[List of Academy Award–nominated films]]
* [[Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{reflist|40em}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.oscars.org/ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences official site]

{{Academy Awards}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Award For Best Documentary (Feature)}}
[[Category:Academy Awards|Documentary Feature]]
[[Category:American documentary film awards]]
[[Category:Lists of documentary films]]
[[Category:Awards established in 1942]]