Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone Documentaries Make Oscars Shortlist
The searing Amy Winehouse documentary Amy, the Nina Simone film What Happened, Miss Simone? and the Scientology-examining Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief were among the 15 films named to the shortlist for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar at the upcoming 86th Academy Awards. The five finalists will be announced alongside the rest of the Oscar nominees on January 14th.
Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next, He Named Me Malala and The Act of Killing‘s companion film The Look of Silence were also among those placed on the shortlist by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Collider reports. Noticeably absent from the shortlist: Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, which accrued rave reviews on the film festival circuit ahead of its HBO premiere.
Despite Winehouse’s family announcing they “disassociated” themselves from the documentary in the weeks before the film’s release, the Asif Kapadia-directed film earned the applause of both fans and critics alike, scoring a 96 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes as well as a three-and-a-half star review from Rolling Stone. Kapadia previously won a BAFTA for Best Documentary for his 2010 film Senna about race car driver Ayrton Senna.
The 86th Academy Awards take place February 28th.