Oscar Documentary Shortlists Go Serious and International

Fifteen documentary features and fifteen short docs advance in the shortlists in this year’s Oscar race. This year’s Oscar shortlists released today by the Academy reflect a discerning level of taste by the documentary branch as well as the membership’s increasingly international scope. Many of the presumed frontrunners are on the list, including Come See Me in the Good Light, The Perfect Neighbor, Cover-up, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, and Apocalypse in the Tropics. So too are dark horses like Mistress Dispeller, Coexistence My Ass, Folktakes, Seeds, and My Undersirable Friends: Part 1: Last Air in Moscow, which have built a following through the festival circuit. This year’s list again reflects a shift away from celebrity profiles and softer titles that are saturating the market, as voters favour harder social issues docs and topics that take more time to find a home.

While the docs reflect serious topics, several of them effectively use humour to do so, including Come See Me in the Good Light and Coexistence, My Ass.

The big omission here is The Tale of Silyan, which pundits expected to be a double threat as a documentary and as North Macedonia’s submission for Best International Feature. The doc by Tamara Kotevska missed out in both after the filmmaker’s Honeyland made history as a double nominee. This year, no documentary made the fifteen film shortlist for Best International Feature, although Tunisia’s The Voice of Hind Rajab falls into hybrid terrain with its dramatic recreation of events using a real audio tape. Also notably missing the cut for docs were Raoul Peck’s Orwell: 2+2=5, which was an early critical favourite, and Mariska Hargitay’s My Mom Jayne, which built considerable momentum over the summer for her consideration of her mother Jayne Mansfield and the secrets she left behind.

Come See Me in the Good Light was the only shortlisted doc to land on a second shortlist. It scored a citation in the original song category for “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” by Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlile, and Andrea Gibson. Diane Warren: Relentless, about the titular composer and reigning Susan Lucci of the Oscars, also scored two citations, landing on the shortlists for Best Score and Best Song (for “Dear Me”), although it didn’t make the cut on the documentary front. If Warren scores another song nomination, it will represent her seventeenth nomination. She received an honorary Oscar in 2023.

On the Canadian front, Alison McAlpine’s perfectly a strangeness landed on the short doc shortlist, Amber Fares scored a citation for Coexistence, My Ass!. The NFB short The Girl Who Cried Pearls also landed in the animated shorts shortlist.

Nominations voting begins on Monday, January 12, 2026, and concludes on Friday, January 16, 2026.

Today’s Oscar shortlists are as follows:

 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 98th Academy Awards. Two hundred one films were eligible in the category. Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“The Alabama Solution”
“Apocalypse in the Tropics”
“Coexistence, My Ass!”
“Come See Me in the Good Light”
“Cover-Up”
“Cutting through Rocks”
“Folktales”
“Holding Liat”
“Mr. Nobody against Putin”
“Mistress Dispeller”
“My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 – Last Air in Moscow”
“The Perfect Neighbor”
“Seeds”
“2000 Meters to Andriivka”
“Yanuni”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Short Film category for the 98th Academy Awards. One hundred seventeen films qualified in the category. Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“All the Empty Rooms”
“All the Walls Came Down”
“Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”
“Bad Hostage”
“Cashing Out”
“Chasing Time”
“Children No More: “Were and Are Gone””
“Classroom 4”
“The Devil Is Busy”
“Heartbeat”
“Last Days on Lake Trinity”
“On Healing Land, Birds Perch”
“Perfectly a Strangeness”
“Rovina’s Choice”
“We Were the Scenery”

 

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Fifteen films will advance in the Animated Short Film category for the 98th Academy Awards. One hundred thirteen films qualified in the category. Academy members from the Animation Branch and Short Films Branch were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.

In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Autokar”
“Butterfly”
“Cardboard”
“Éiru”
“Forevergreen”
“The Girl Who Cried Pearls”
“Hurikán”
“I Died in Irpin”
“The Night Boots”
“Playing God”
“The Quinta’s Ghost”
“Retirement Plan”
“The Shyness of Trees”
“Snow Bear”
“The Three Sisters”

CASTING
Ten films will advance in the Casting category for the 98th Academy Awards. Members of the Casting Directors Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees. Academy members will be invited to view excerpts from the shortlisted films and pre-recorded interviews with their casting directors on Friday, January 9, 2026, in Los Angeles and London, and in New York on Saturday, January 10, 2026.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle after Another”
“The Secret Agent”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Sirât”
“Weapons”
“Wicked: For Good”

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sixteen films will advance in the Cinematography category for the 98th Academy Awards. Members of the Cinematographers Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees. Per the awards rules for the 98th Academy Awards, the preliminary round of voting will determine a shortlist of between 10 and 20 films.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Ballad of a Small Player”
“Bugonia”
“Die My Love”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“Nouvelle Vague”
“One Battle after Another”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Sirât”
“Song Sung Blue”
“Sound of Falling”
“Train Dreams”
“Wicked: For Good”

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Fifteen films will advance to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category for the 98th Academy Awards. Films from 86 countries or regions were eligible in the category.

Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.

In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Argentina, “Belén”
Brazil, “The Secret Agent”
France, “It Was Just an Accident”
Germany, “Sound of Falling”
India, “Homebound”
Iraq, “The President’s Cake”
Japan, “Kokuho”
Jordan, “All That’s Left of You”
Norway, “Sentimental Value”
Palestine, “Palestine 36”
South Korea, “No Other Choice”
Spain, “Sirât”
Switzerland, “Late Shift”
Taiwan, “Left-Handed Girl”
Tunisia, “The Voice of Hind Rajab”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Fifteen films will advance in the Live Action Short Film category for the 98th Academy Awards. Two hundred seven films qualified in the category. Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.

In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Ado”
“Amarela”
“Beyond Silence”
“The Boy with White Skin”
“Butcher’s Stain”
“Butterfly on a Wheel”
“Dad’s Not Home”
“Extremist”
“A Friend of Dorothy”
“Jane Austen’s Period Drama”
“Pantyhose”
“The Pearl Comb”
“Rock, Paper, Scissors”
“The Singers”
“Two People Exchanging Saliva”

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Ten films will advance in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 98th Academy Awards. Members of the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees. Academy members will be invited to view excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 10, 2026.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“The Alto Knights”
“Frankenstein”
“Kokuho”
“Marty Supreme”
“Nuremberg”
“One Battle after Another”
“Sinners”
“The Smashing Machine”
“The Ugly Stepsister”
“Wicked: For Good”

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Twenty scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 98th Academy Awards. One hundred thirty-two scores were eligible in the category. Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The scores, listed in alphabetical order by film title, are:

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“Bugonia”
“Captain America: Brave New World”
“Diane Warren: Relentless”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Hedda”
“A House of Dynamite”
“Jay Kelly”
“Marty Supreme”
“Nuremberg”
“One Battle after Another”
“Sinners”
“Sirât”
“Train Dreams”
“Tron: Ares”
“Truth and Treason”
“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery”
“Wicked: For Good”

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
Fifteen songs will advance in the Original Song category for the 98th Academy Awards. Sixty-five songs were eligible in the category. Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:

“As Alive As You Need Me To Be” from “Tron: Ares”
“Dear Me” from “Diane Warren: Relentless”
“Dream As One” from “Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“Drive” from “F1”
“Dying To Live” from “Billy Idol Should Be Dead”
“The Girl In The Bubble” from “Wicked: For Good”
“Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters”
“Highest 2 Lowest” from “Highest 2 Lowest”
“I Lied To You” from “Sinners”
“Last Time (I Seen The Sun)” from “Sinners”
“No Place Like Home” from “Wicked: For Good”
“Our Love” from “The Ballad of Wallis Island”
“Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” from “Come See Me in the Good Light”
“Sweet Dreams Of Joy” from “Viva Verdi!”
“Train Dreams” from “Train Dreams”

SOUND
Ten films will advance in the Sound category for the 98th Academy Awards. All eligible members of the Sound Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees. Academy members will be invited to view excerpts from each of the shortlisted films beginning Saturday, January 10, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay area, London and New York, followed by Los Angeles on Sunday, January 11, 2026.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”
“One Battle after Another”
“Sinners”
“Sirât”
“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”
“Superman”
“Wicked: For Good”

VISUAL EFFECTS
Ten films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 98th Academy Awards. The Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist. Academy members will be invited to view excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 10, 2026. Visual Effects Branch members will vote to determine the nominees.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“The Electric State”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Jurassic World Rebirth”
“The Lost Bus”
“Sinners”
“Superman”
“Tron: Ares”
“Wicked: For Good”

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