Oscars release first shortlists for 2021 Academy Awards

Jago News Desk Published: 10 February 2021, 09:33 PM | Updated: 10 February 2021, 09:34 PM
Oscars release first shortlists for 2021 Academy Awards

Shortlists for nine Oscar categories have been unveiled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas), an intermediate stage in the thinning-out of films that have qualified for consideration for the Academy Awards. The categories include best documentary, best international film and best song, as well as best live action and documentary shorts.

The rules for each voting process vary, but in most categories a preliminary vote from industry specialists in each field is employed to create the shortlist and then the final five nominations, with the full membership of the Academy invited to vote on the winner.

The best documentary category sees such high-profile films as Boys State, Crip Camp, Dick Johnson Is Dead and MLK/FBI go forward, along with well-reviewed European productions including Collective (from Romania) and Notturno (from Italy). As expected, the streaming services Netflix and Amazon dominate, scoring three and two entries respectively. However, there was no places for big names such as Frederick Wiseman (City Hall) and and Werner Herzog (Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds), nor for popular Netflix documentaries The Social Dilemma and Disclosure.

The international feature list, which has been slimmed down from 93 candidates put forward by recognised bodies from individual countries, contains most of the films that have made an impact on the much-reduced festival and specialist-release circuit, including Thomas Vinterberg’s alcohol-fuelled yarn Another Round, Srebrenica massacre drama Quo Vadis, Aida? by the Bosnian director Jasmila Žbanić, and Russian veteran Andrei Konchalovsky’s Dear Comrades!, about a Soviet-era strike crackdown.

The best short documentary list includes a film commissioned by the Guardian: Colette, a study of a former French resistance fighter who visits the concentration camp where her brother was murdered, directed by Anthony Giacchino; the BBC adaptation of Julia Donaldson’s The Snail and the Whale makes it into the best short animation list.

The Oscars are due to take place on 25 April at the Dolby theatre in Los Angeles.

Full list of Oscar shortlists so far

Best documentary

All In: The Fight for Democracy

Boys State

Collective

Crip Camp

Dick Johnson Is Dead

Gunda

MLK/FBI

The Mole Agent

My Octopus Teacher

Notturno

The Painter and the Thief

76 Days

Time

The Truffle Hunters

Welcome to Chechnya

Best short documentary

Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa

Call Center Blues

Colette

A Concerto Is a Conversation

Do Not Split

Hunger Ward

Hysterical Girl

A Love Song for Latasha

The Speed Cubers

What Would Sophia Loren Do?

Best international film

Another Round

Better Days

Charlatan

Collective

Dear Comrades!

Hope

I’m No Longer Here

La Llorona

The Man Who Sold His Skin

The Mole Agent

Night of the Kings

Quo Vadis, Aida?

A Sun

Sun Children

Two of Us

Best makeup and hair

Birds of Prey

Emma

The Glorias

Hillbilly Elegy

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

The Little Things

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Mank

One Night in Miami

Pinocchio

Best score

Ammonite

Blizzard of Souls

Da 5 Bloods

The Invisible Man

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

The Life Ahead

The Little Things

Mank

The Midnight Sky

Minari

Mulan

News of the World

Soul

Tenet

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best song

Turntables, All In: The Fight for Democracy

See What You’ve Done, Belly of the Beast

Wuhan Flu, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Húsavík, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Never Break, Giving Voice

Make It Work, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

Fight for You, Judas and the Black Messiah

lo Sì (Seen), The Life Ahead

Rain Song, Minari

Show Me Your Soul, Mr Soul!

Loyal Brave True, Mulan

Free, The One and Only Ivan

Speak Now, One Night in Miami

Green, Sound of Metal

Hear My Voice, The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best animated short

Burrow

Genius Loci

If Anything Happens I Love You

Kapaemahu

Opera

Out

The Snail and the Whale

To Gerard

Traces

Yes-People

Best live-action short

Bittu

Da Yie

Feeling Through

The Human Voice

The Kicksled Choir

The Letter Room

The Present

Two Distant Strangers

The Van

White Eye

Best visual effects

Birds of Prey

Bloodshot

Love and Monsters

Mank

The Midnight Sky

Mulan

The One and Only Ivan

Soul

Tenet

Welcome to Chechnya

Source: The Guardian