Gearing up for the 92nd Academy Awards this Sunday? The nominees for best Documentary feature and short subject this year were nothing short of incredible. We’ve put together the guide below to show you how you can watch each one before Hollywood’s biggest night!
Documentary (Feature)
American Factory
Directed by: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert
Film Synopsis:
In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned GM plant and hires 2,000 blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
Available on:
- Netflix
The Cave
Directed by: Feras Fayyad, Kirstine Barfod and Sigrid Dyekjær
Film Synopsis:
In war-torn Syria, a dedicated team of female doctors tirelessly treat casualties in an underground hospital while battling systemic sexism.
Available on:
- Google Play
- Vudu
- Hulu
The Edge of Democracy
Directed by: Petra Costa, Joanna Natasegara, Shane Boris and Tiago Pavan
Film Synopsis:
A cautionary tale about one of the most dramatic periods in Brazilian history and the polarizing rise and fall of the country’s leaders.
Available on:
- Netflix
For Sama
Directed by: Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts
Film Synopsis:
During the five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria, Waad al-Kateab falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama.
Available on:
- Amazon Prime
- Google Play
- Vudu
Honeyland
Directed by: Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska and Atanas Georgiev
Film Synopsis:
Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient beekeeping traditions. When an unruly family moves in next door, what at first seems like a balm for her solitude becomes a source of tension as they, too, want to practice beekeeping.
Available on:
- Amazon Prime
- Youtube
- Vudu
- Google Play
- Hulu
Documentary (Short Subject)
In The Absence
Directed by: Yi Seung-Jun and Gary Byung-Seok Kam
Film Synopsis:
When the MV Sewol ferry sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014, over three hundred people lost their lives, most of them schoolchildren. Years later, the victims’ families and survivors are still demanding justice from national authorities.
Available on:
- YouTube
Learning to Skateboard In A Warzone (If You’re A Girl)
Directed by: Carol Dysinger and Elena Andreicheva
Film Synopsis:
Over the course of 15 years, a class of young girls from disadvantaged neighborhoods in war-torn Kabul, learn to read and write, and grow together in confidence through the joy of skateboarding.
Available on:
- Hulu
- Sling TV
- Fobo TV
- Philo
- AETV
Life Overtakes Me
Directed by: John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson
Film Synopsis:
Hundreds of refugee children in Sweden who have fled with their families from extreme trauma in their home countries have become afflicted with Resignation Syndrome. Facing deportation, they withdraw from the world into a coma-like state, as if frozen, for months or even years.
Available on:
- Netflix
St. Louis Superman
Directed by: Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan
Film Synopsis:
Bruce Franks Jr., a leading Ferguson activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives, must overcome both personal trauma and political obstacles to pass a bill critical to his community.
Available on MTV Documentary Films soon
Walk Run Cha-Cha
Directed by: Laura Nix and Colette Sandstedt
Film Synopsis:
Chipaul and Millie Cao reunited in 1980s Los Angeles after being separated by the Vietnam War. Forty years later, they become ballroom dancers to reconnect again and make up for lost time.
Available on:
- The New York Times website
