Oscar Predictions 2024: Who will win the Best Documentary Feature Film?

A still from Ukrainian documentary '20 Days In Mariupol', nominated for Best Documentary Feature Oscars.

The American magazine Variety says 20 Days in Mariupol is “too important to ignore” and we agree that it might bag the Best Documentary Feature Film Award at the 96th Academy Awards to take place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, LA, on March 10, to be aired at 7 pm on ABC (at 4 am on March 11 in India).

Last year, the poisoning of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent domestic foe Alexei Navalny was the topic of Daniel Roher’s documentary Navalny, which began filming after he came out of a coma and continued until his January 2021 arrest. The film won the audience award at Sundance Film Festival and went on to win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, beating India’s All That Breathes by Shaunak Sen, among the nominees. A year later, last month, in a tragic turn of events, Navalny died in the Arctic prison. In that context, and with the Directors Guild of America Award, Sundance World Cinema Documentary Competition award, and BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award in hand, 20 Days in Mariupol, directed by Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, and produced by Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath, is “too important to ignore.” The film was selected as the Ukrainian submission for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, but was not nominated in this category; the film was, however, nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Award.

The film, which can be watched on Prime Video, tells the story of the 20 days Chernov spent with his colleagues in besieged Mariupol after Russia began its invasion of his country. Chernov compiled footage that he collected in Mariupol together with the team from Frontline and the Associated Press (AP). An AP team of Ukrainian journalists — the only international reporters who remained in the city as Russian forces closed in — trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more. The prospects for an end of Russia’s war on Ukraine remain bleak.

Also in the running for the said award is Canadian director of Indian origin Nisha Pahuja’s To Kill a Tiger, and produced by Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim, which marks a remarkable run for India-related documentary films at the Academy Awards in recent years. More documentaries from and on India have earned Academy nominations than Indian feature films. In 2022, Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Writing With Fire became the first Indian documentary feature to get an Oscar nomination. It was followed by Sen’s All That Breathes in 2023. To Kill a Tiger is the story of how an impoverished famer in Jharkhand fights for justice for his 13-year-old daughter who was gang-raped. The film can be watched on Netflix.

ALSO READ: Oscars 2024: The ‘India story’ continues to dazzle Oscars’ documentary category

The other nominees include Bobi Wine: The People’s President directed by Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek is a National Geographic feature on the Ugandan opposition leader, former member of parliament, activist and superstar musician, who risks his life to fight Yoweri Museveni’s regime.

The Eternal Memory (La Memoria Infinita) by Maite Alberdi is a documentary of a couple on Augusto Góngora, who died last year, a prominent journalist who was once a brave chronicler of Chile’s military dictatorship but grappled with a fading mind owing to Alzheimer’s and how his young wife cares for him in his dimming years.

The Arabic-language Tunisian film Four Daughters, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania and produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha, is the true story of the teenage sisters Ghofrane and Rahma Chikhaoui who joined IS (Islamic State) and a family torn apart. It explores a disturbing history of radicalisation and generational trauma. This film is our second-best option for the said award.