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.
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:
- complete a commercial showing of at least 7 days in either Los Angeles County, California or the borough of Manhattan, New York before being released to other non-theatrical venues such as DVD or TV; or,
- regardless of any public exhibition or nontheatrical release the film must have won a qualifying award at a competitive film festival, as specified by the Academy; or
- win a Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal award in the Academy’s Student Academy Award Competition.
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.
List of winners and nominees
1940s
- 1941 â€" Churchill's Island â€" National Film Board of Canada
- Adventure in the Bronx
- Bomber
- Christmas Under Fire
- A Letter from Home
- Life of a Thoroughbred
- Norway in Revolt
- A Place to Live
- Russian Soil
- Soldiers of the Sky
- Warclouds in the Pacific
- 1942 â€" At the 15th Academy Awards, 25 films were nominated and four special awards presented in the Documentary category, in recognition of the Allied war in effort in World War II:
- The Battle of Midway â€" United States Navy
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- "A special award to Battle of Midway for the historical value of its achievement in offering a camera record of one of the decisive battles of the world â€" a record unique both for the courage of those who made it under fire, and for its magnificent portrayal of the gallantry of our armed forces in battle."
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- Kokoda Front Line! â€" Australian News & Information Bureau
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- "A special award to Kokoda Front Line! for its effectiveness in portraying, simply yet forcefully, the scene of war in New Guinea and for its moving presentation of the bravery and fortitude of our Australian comrades in arms."
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- Moscow Strikes Back â€" Artkino
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- "A special award to Moscow Strikes Back for its vivid presentation of the heroism of the Russian Army and of the Russian people in the defense of Moscow, and for its achievement in so doing under conditions of extreme difficulty and danger."
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- Prelude to War â€" United States Army Special Services
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- "A special award to Prelude to War for its trenchant conception and authentic and stirring dramatization of the events which forced our nation into the war and of the ideals for which we fight."
- Africa, Prelude to Victory â€" The March of Time
- Combat Report â€" United States Army Signal Corps
- Conquer by the Clock â€" Frederic Ullman, Jr., Producer
- The Grain That Built a Hemisphere â€" Walt Disney, Producer â€" Walt Disney Productions
- Henry Browne, Farmer â€" United States Department of Agriculture
- High over the Borders â€" National Film Board of Canada
- High Stakes in the East â€" The Netherlands Information Bureau
- Inside Fighting China â€" National Film Board of Canada
- It's Everybody's War â€" United States Office of War Information
- Listen to Britain â€" British Ministry of Information
- Little Belgium â€" Belgian Ministry of Information
- Little Isles of Freedom â€" Victor Stoloff and Edgar Loew, Producers
- Mr. Blabbermouth! â€" United States Office of War Information
- Mr. Gardenia Jones â€" United States Office of War Information
- The New Spirit â€" Walt Disney, Producer â€" Walt Disney Productions
- The Price of Victory â€" William H. Pine, Producer
- A Ship Is Born â€" United States Merchant Marine
- Twenty-One Miles â€" British Ministry of Information
- We Refuse to Die â€" William C. Thomas, Producer
- The White Eagle â€" Concanen Films
- Winning Your Wings â€" United States Army Air Forces
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- 1943 â€" December 7th â€" United States Navy
- Children of Mars
- Plan for Destruction
- Swedes in America
- To the People of the United States
- Tomorrow We Fly
- Youth in Crisis
- 1944 â€" With the Marines at Tarawa â€" United States Marine Corps
- Hymn of the Nations
- New Americans
- 1945 â€" Hitler Lives â€" Gordon Hollingshead, Producer
- Library of Congress
- To the Shores of Iwo Jima
- 1946 â€" Seeds of Destiny â€" United States Department of War
- Atomic Power
- Life at the Zoo
- Paramount News Issue#37
- Traffic with the Devil
- 1947 â€" First Steps â€" United Nations Division of Films and Visual Information
- Passport to Nowhere
- School in the Mailbox
- 1948 â€" Toward Independence â€" United States Army
- Heart to Heart
- Operation Vittles
- 1949 â€" (tie):
- A Chance To Live â€" Richard de Rochemont, Producer
- So Much for So Little â€" Edward Selzer, Producer
- 1848
- The Rising Tide
1950s
- 1950 â€" Why Korea? â€" Edmund Reek, Producer
- The Fight: Science Against Cancer
- The Stairs
- 1951 â€" Benjy â€" Made by Fred Zinnemann with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures Corporation for the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital
- One Who Came Back
- The Seeing Eye
- 1952 â€" Neighbours â€" Norman McLaren, Producer â€" National Film Board of Canada
- Devil Take Us
- Epeira Diadema
- Man Alive!
- 1953 â€" The Alaskan Eskimo â€" Walt Disney, Producer â€" Walt Disney Productions
- The Living City
- Operation Blue Jay
- They Planted a Stone
- The Word
- 1954 â€" Thursday's Children â€" World Wide Pictures and Morse Films
- Jet Carrier
- Rembrandt: A Self-Portrait
- 1955 â€" Men against the Arctic â€" Walt Disney, Producer â€" Walt Disney Productions
- The Battle of Gettysburg
- The Face of Lincoln
- 1956 â€" The True Story of the Civil War â€" Louis Clyde Stoumen, Producer
- Man in Space
- A City Decides
- The Dark Wave
- The House Without a Name
- 1957 â€" none given
- 1958 â€" Ama Girls â€" Ben Sharpsteen, Producer
- Employees Only
- Journey Into Spring
- The Living Stone
- Oeuverture
- 1959 â€" Glass â€" Bert Haanstra, Producer
- Donald in Mathmagic Landâ€" Walt Disney, Producer â€" Walt Disney Productions
- From Generation to Generation
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" â€" animation using living people â€" to create an allegory of war."
1960s
- 1960 â€" Giuseppina â€" James Hill, Producer
- Beyond Silence
- En by ved navn København
- George Grosz' Interregnum
- Universe
- 1961 â€" Project Hope â€" Frank P. Bibas, Producer
- Breaking the Language Barrier
- Cradle of Genius
- Kahl
- L'uomo in grigio
- 1962 â€" Dylan Thomas â€" Jack Howells, Producer
- The John Glenn Story
- The Road to the Wall
- 1963 â€" Chagall â€" Simon Schiffrin, Producer
- The Five Cities of June
- The Spirit of America
- Thirty Million Letters
- To Live Again
- 1964 â€" Nine from Little Rock â€" Charles Guggenheim, Producer
- 140 Days Under the World
- Breaking the Habit
- Children Without
- Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak
- 1965 â€" To Be Alive! â€" Francis Thompson, Producer
- Mural on Our Street
- Nyitany
- Point of View
- Yeats Country
- 1966 â€" A Year Toward Tomorrow â€" Edmond A. Levy, Producer
- Adolescence
- Cowboy
- The Odds Against
- Részletek J.S. Bach Máté passiójából
- 1967 â€" The Redwoods â€" Mark Harris and Trevor Greenwood, Producers
- Monument to the Dream
- A Place to Stand
- See You at the Pillar
- While I Run This Race
- 1968 â€" Why Man Creates â€" Saul Bass, Producer
- The House That Ananda Built
- The Revolving Door
- A Space to Grow
- A Way Out of the Wilderness
- 1969 â€" Czechoslovakia 1968 â€" Denis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco, Producers
- An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer
- Jenny Is a Good Thing
- Leo Beuerman
- The Magic Machines
1970s
- 1970 â€" Interviews with My Lai Veterans â€" Joseph Strick, Producer
- The Gifts
- A Long Way from Nowhere
- Oisin
- Time Is Running Out
- 1971 â€" Sentinels of Silence â€" Manuel Arango and Robert Amram, Producers
- Adventures in Perception
- Art Is...
- The Numbers Start with the River
- Somebody Waiting
- 1972 â€" This Tiny World â€" Charles Huguenot van der Linden and Martina Huguenot van der Linden, Producers
- Hundertwassers Regentag
- K-Z
- Selling Out
- The Tide of Traffic
- 1973 â€" Princeton: A Search for Answers â€" Julian Krainin and DeWitt L. Sage, Jr., Producers
- Background
- Christo's Valley Curtain
- Four Stones for Kanemitsu
- Paisti ag obair
- 1974 â€" Don't â€" Robin Lehman, Producer
- City Out of Wilderness
- Exploratorium
- John Muir's High Sierra
- Naked Yoga
- 1975 â€" The End of the Game â€" Claire Wilbur and Robin Lehman, Producers
- Arthur and Lillie
- Millions of Years Ahead of Man
- Probes in Space
- Whistling Smith
- 1976 â€" Number Our Days â€" Lynne Littman and Barbara Myerhoff, Producers
- American Shoeshine
- Blackwood
- The End of the Road
- Universe
- 1977 â€" Gravity Is My Enemy â€" John C. Joseph and Jan Stussy, Producers
- Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country
- First Edition
- Of Time, Tombs and Treasures
- The Shetland Experience
- 1978 â€" The Flight of the Gossamer Condor â€" Jacqueline Phillips Shedd and Ben Shedd, Producers
- The Divided Trail: A Native American Odyssey
- An Encounter with Faces â€" Vidhu Vinod Chopra and K. K. Kapil
- Goodnight Miss Ann
- Squires of San Quentin
- 1979 â€" Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist â€" Saul J. Turell, Producer
- Dae
- Koryo Celadon
- Nails
- Remember Me
1980s
- 1980 â€" Karl Hess: Toward Liberty â€" Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue, Producer
- Don't Mess with Bill
- The Eruption of Mount St. Helens!
- It's the Same World
- Luther Metke at 94
- 1981 â€" Close Harmony â€" Nigel Noble, Producer
- Americas in Transition
- Journey for Survival
- See What I Say
- Urge to Build
- 1982 â€" If You Love This Planet â€" Edward Le Lorrain and Terre Nash, Producers â€" National Film Board of Canada
- Gods of Metal
- The Klan: A Legacy of Hate in America
- To Live or Let Die
- Traveling Hopefully
- 1983 â€" Flamenco at 5:15 â€" Cynthia Scott and Adam Symansky, Producers â€" National Film Board of Canada
- Ihr zent frei
- In the Nuclear Shadow: What Can the Children Tell Us?
- Sewing Woman
- Spaces: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph
- 1984 â€" The Stone Carvers â€" Marjorie Hunt and Paul Wagner, Producers
- The Children of Soong Ching Ling
- Code Gray: Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing
- The Garden of Eden
- Vospominaniye o Pavlovske
- 1985 â€" Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements â€" David Goodman, Producer
- The Courage to Care
- Keats and His Nightingale: A Blind Date
- Making Overtures: The Story of a Community Orchestra
- The Wizard of the Strings
- 1986 â€" Women â€" for America, for the World â€" Vivienne Verdon-Roe, Producer
- Sam
- Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse
- The Master of Disaster
- Debonair Dancers
- 1987 â€" Young at Heart â€" Sue Marx and Pamela Conn, Producers
- Frances Steloff: Memoirs of a Bookseller
- In the Wee Wee Hours...
- Language Says It All
- Silver Into Gold
- 1988 â€" You Don't Have to Die â€" William Guttentag and Malcolm Clarke, Producers
- Gang Cops
- Family Gathering
- The Children's Storefront
- Portrait of Imogen
- 1989 â€" The Johnstown Flood â€" Charles Guggenheim, Producer
- Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open 6 to 9
- Yad Vashem: Preserving the Past to Ensure the Future
1990s
- 1990 â€" Days of Waiting â€" Steven Okazaki, Producer
- Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember
- Chimps: So Like Us
- Burning Down Tomorrow
- Journey Into Life: The World of the Unborn
- 1991 â€" Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment â€" Debra Chasnoff, Producer
- A Little Vicious
- The Mark of the Maker
- Birdnesters of Thailand
- Memorial: Letters from American Soldiers
- 1992 â€" Educating Peter â€" Thomas C. Goodwin (posthumous win) and Gerardine Wurzburg
- When Abortion Was Illegal: Untold Stories â€" Dorothy Fadiman
- At the Edge of Conquest: The Journey of Chief Wai-Wai â€" Geoffrey O'Connor
- Beyond Imagining: Margaret Anderson and the 'Little Review' â€" Wendy L. Weinberg
- The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein â€" Richard Elson & Sally Bochner
- 1993 â€" Defending Our Lives â€" Margaret Lazarus, Renner Wunderlich
- Chicks in White Satin
- Blood Ties: The Life and Work of Sally Mann
- 1994 â€" A Time for Justice â€" Charles Guggenheim
- 89 mm od Europy
- Blues Highway
- School of the Americas Assassins
- Straight from the Heart
- 1995 â€" One Survivor Remembers â€" Kary Antholis
- Jim Dine: A Self-Portrait on the Walls
- The Shadow of Hate
- The Living Sea
- Never Give Up: The 20th Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper
- 1996 â€" Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien â€" Jessica Yu director, producer, writer and editor
- Cosmic Voyage
- Special Effects: Anything Can Happen
- The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage
- An Essay on Matisse
- 1997 â€" A Story of Healing â€" Donna Dewey, Carol Pasternak
- Alaska: Spirit of the Wild
- Amazon
- Family Video Diaries: Daughter of the Bride
- Still Kicking: The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies
- 1998 â€" The Personals: Improvisations on Romance in the Golden Years â€" Keiko Ibi
- A Place in the Land
- Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square â€" National Film Board of Canada
- 1999 â€" King Gimp â€" Susan Hannah Hadary, William A. Whiteford
- Eyewitness
- The Wildest Show in the South: The Angola Prison Rodeo
2000s
- 2000 â€" Big Mama â€" Tracy Seretean
- Curtain Call
- Dolphins
- On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom
- The Man on Lincoln's Nose
- 2001 â€" Thoth â€" Sarah Kernochan and Lynn Appelle
- Artists and Orphans: A True Drama
- Sing!
- 2002 â€" Twin Towers â€" Bill Guttentag, Robert David Port, directors
- The Collector of Bedford Street â€" Welcome Change Productions â€" Alice Elliott producer and director
- Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks â€" Tell the Truth Pictures â€" Robert Hudson producer â€" Robert Houston director
- Why Can't We Be a Family Again? â€" Roger Weisberg, Murray Nossel directors
- 2003 â€" Chernobyl Heart â€" Maryann DeLeo
- Asylum â€" Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker
- Ferry Tales â€" Katja Esson
- 2004 â€" Mighty Times: The Children's March â€" Robert Houston and Robert Hudson
- Autism Is a World â€" Gerardine Wurzburg
- The Children of Leningradsky â€" Hanna Polak and Andrzej Celinski
- Hardwood â€" Hubert Davis and Erin Faith Young
- Sister Rose's Passion â€" Oren Jacoby and Steve Kalafer
- 2005 â€" A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin
- The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club
- God Sleeps in Rwanda
- The Mushroom Club
- 2006 â€" The Blood of Yingzhou District
- Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story
- Recycled Life
- Rehearsing a Dream
- 2007 â€" Freeheld
- La Corona
- Salim Baba
- Sari's Mother
- 2008 â€" Smile Pinki
- The Conscience of Nhem En
- The Final Inch
- The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306
- 2009 â€" Music by Prudence
- China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
- The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
- The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
- Rabbit à la Berlin
2010s
References
