Documentary Distribution Goes Under Microscope Amid Awards Season

The Oscar race is heating up, but sales of award season hopefuls are not. POV publisher Pat Mullen recently spoke with CBC’s Alexandra Mae Jones about the state of distribution for documentaries that wear their politics on their sleeves. Jones cites Oscar short-listed documentaries like Union, No Other Land, Hollywoodgate, and The Bibi Files as some of the season’s most widely acclaimed films that are struggling to find a home. Although they’re winning awards at festivals around the world, distributors aren’t biting.

“The big streamers — Hulu and Netflix specifically — they were pretty blunt,” Union director Brett Story, told CBC. “They said, ‘We are not doing social issue documentary. We are not doing political films.’” Union offers a vérité exposé about the struggles of workers in Amazon warehouses to unionize amid a corporation with high turnover rates and a shoddy history with labour rights.

It’s curious that distributors aren’t listening. Union recently did gangbusters at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto with two screenings in its “best of 2024” series. No Other Land, meanwhile, has already gone rush  for its February 7 screening at the cinema’s For Viola series, meaning that cinephiles who want to see the film will have to line up around the block with hopes that someone returns a ticket. It was also announced this week at sales agent Cinetic Media would put the film in a run at TIFF Lightbox in Feburary.

Mullen told CBC that there seemed to be a real disconnect between what audiences were telling distributors they wanted to see—telling them in the form of attendance and audience award votes—and what risk-averse distributors and streamers were buying. “We’re seeing a lot more softer titles get distribution, like music documentaries, celebrity bios,” Mullen said. “Not necessarily … films that really take a deep look at issues of today.”

At the same time, Anthony Kaufman at Documentary magazine gets voices from the industry who speculate if some of the no-deals are actually sales strategies. In particular, he cites the ongoing commentary about the lack of distribution for the Palestinian-Norwegian co-production No Other Land, generally considered the Oscar frontrunner at this point, as part of a larger dynamic: that boutique distributors want the film, but can’t secure it without the support of streamers who will give it a home following the film’s theatrical run. Independent distributors generally partner with major streamers, which also speaks to the struggle for Union as such partnerships include Amazon’s Prime Video.

“We were told there were a few distributors interested and they were holding back for a big streaming deal,” one independent distributor told Documentary. “My personal feeling now—especially given the articles I’ve seen—is they are using [the lack of U.S. distribution] as a marketing tool while they hold out for a big payday for awards.”

Because we’re asked frequently enough, here’s why we aren’t distributing and/or streaming NO OTHER LAND via Icarus Films or OVID (well, not yet, to our knowledge…) https://t.co/1OaeR5Ebsy

— Icarus Films (@IcarusFilms) January 15, 2025

Boutique distributor Icarus Films even went so far as to post Documentary’s article on social media to explain why they didn’t have the film in their catalogue even though they offered to buy it.

Notably, most buyers are speaking off the record, which is consistent with the business. People will tell you why they bought something, but generally shy away from explaining why they declined to pick it up for distribution. “It’s solely an economic decision,” another executive told Documentary. “This [No Other Land] is the least inflammatory film on this subject; it’s just that the doc market is impossible now, especially if a film is seen as medicine or political. None of the streamers want these films.”

With the Oscar nominations set to be delivered on January 23, following several delays due to the L.A. wildfires, docs like Union and No Other Land could find a home if they land the nomination—a big fight against deep-pocketed streamers.