Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)

This is a list of movies by year that they received an Oscar.  Also listed are the other nominations for best documentary short subject.

### 1940s

- **1941 - _Churchill's Island*** - National Film Board of Canada
    - _Adventure in the Bronx_
    - _Bomber_
    - _Christmas Under Fire_
    - _A Letter from Home_
    - _Life of a Thoroughbred_
    - _Norway in Revolt_
    - _Soldiers of the Sky_
    - _Warclouds in the Pacific_
- **1942** - At the 15th Academy Awards, 25 movies were nominated and four special awards presented in the Documentary category.  This was in recognition of the Allied war in effort in World War II:
- ***The Battle of Midway*** -- United States Navy
- ***Kokoda Front Line!*** -- Australian News & Information Bureau
- ***Moscow Strikes Back*** -- Artkino
- ***Prelude to War*** -- United States Army Special Services
    - _Africa, Prelude to Victory_ -- The March of Time
    - _Combat Report_ -- United States Army Signal Corps
    - _Conquer by the Clock_ -- Frederic Ullman, Jr., Producer
    - _The Grain That Built a Hemisphere_ -- Walt Disney, Producer -- Walt Disney Productions
    - _Henry Browne, Farmer_ -- United States Department of Agriculture
    - _High over the Borders_ -- National Film Board of Canada
    - _High Stakes in the East_ -- The Netherlands Information Bureau
    - _Inside Fighting China_ -- National Film Board of Canada
    - _It's Everybody's War_ -- United States Office of War Information
    - _Listen to Britain_ -- British Ministry of Information
    - _Little Belgium_ -- Belgian Ministry of Information
    - _Little Isles of Freedom_ -- Victor Stoloff and Edgar Loew, Producers
    - _Mr. Blabbermouth!_—United States Office of War Information
    - _Mr. Gardenia Jones_—United States Office of War Information
    - _The New Spirit_ -- Walt Disney, Producer -- Walt Disney Productions
    - _The Price of Victory_ -- William H. Pine, Producer
    - _A Ship Is Born_ -- United States Merchant Marine
    - _Twenty-One Miles_—British Ministry of Information
    - _We Refuse to Die_ -- William C. Thomas, Producer
    - _White Eagle}_ -- Concanen Films
    - _Winning Your Wings_ -- United States Army Air Force
- **1943 - _December 7th*** - United States Navy
    - _Children of Mars_
    - _Plan for Destruction_
    - _Swedes in America_
    - _To the People of the United States_
    - _Tomorrow We Fly_
    - _Youth in Crisis_
- **1944 - _With the Marines at Tarawa*** - United States Marine Corps
    - _Hymn of the Nations_
    - _New Americans_
- **1945 - _Hitler Lives*** - Gordon Hollingshead, Producer
    - _Library of Congress_
    - _To the Shores of Iwo Jima_
- **1946 - _Seeds of Destiny*** - United States Department of War
    - _Atomic Power_
    - _Life at the Zoo_
    - _Paramount News Issue#37_
    - _Traffic with the Devil_
- **1947 - _First Steps*** - United Nations Division of Films and Visual Information
    - _Passport to Nowhere_
    - _School in the Mailbox_
- **1948 - _Toward Independence*** - United States Army
    - _Heart to Heart_
    - _Operation Vittles_
- **1949** - (tie):
    - ***A Chance To Live*** - Richard de Rochemont, Producer
    - ***So Much for So Little*** - Edward Selzer, Producer
    - _1848_
    - _The Rising Tide_

### 1950s

- **1950 - _Why Korea?*** - Edmund Reek, Producer
    - _The Fight: Science Against Cancer_
    - _The Stairs_
- **1951 - _Benjy*** - Made by Fred Zinnemann with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures Corporation for the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital
    - _One Who Came Back_
    - _The Seeing Eye_
- **1952 - _Neighbours*** - Norman McLaren, Producer - National Film Board of Canada
    - _Devil Take Us_
    - _Epeira Diadema_
    - _Man Alive!_
- **1953 - _The Alaskan Eskimo*** - Walt Disney, Producer - Walt Disney Productions
    - _The Living City_
    - _Operation Blue Jay_
    - _They Planted a Stone_
    - _The Word_
- **1954 - _Thursday's Children*** - World Wide Pictures and Morse Films
    - _Jet Carrier_
    - _Rembrandt: A Self-Portrait_
- **1955 - _Men against the Arctic*** - Walt Disney, Producer - Walt Disney Productions
    - _The Battle of Gettysburg_
    - _The Face of Lincoln_
- **1956 - _The True Story of the Civil War*** - Louis Clyde Stoumen, Producer
    - _Man in Space_
    - _A City Decides_
    - _The Dark Wave_
    - _The House Without a Name_
- **1957** - none given
- **1958 - _Ama Girls*** - Ben Sharpsteen, Producer
    - _Employees Only_
    - _Journey Into Spring_
    - _The Living Stone_
    - _Oeuverture_
- **1959 - _Glass*** - Bert Haanstra, Producer
    - _Donald in Mathmagic Land_
    - _From Generation to Generation_

**Note:** A press release by AMPAS in 2005 says that "Documentary Short Subject winners _Benjy_ (1951) and _Neighbours_ (1952) are among a group of films that not only competed, but won Academy Awards in what were clearly inappropriate categories.  _Benjy_, directed by Fred Zinnemann and narrated by Henry Fonda, is the fictional tale of a crippled boy.  The film was used as a fundraiser for the Los Angeles Orthopedic Hospital.  ... Norman McLaren's _Neighbours_, which today would compete in the Animated Short category, used "pixilation" – animation using living people - to create an allegory of war."

### 1960s

- **1960 - _Giuseppina*** - James Hill, Producer
    - _Beyond Silence_
    - _En by ved navn København_
    - _George Grosz' Interregnum_
    - _Universe_
- **1961 - _Project Hope*** - Frank P. Bibas, Producer
    - _Breaking the Language Barrier_
    - _Cradle of Genius_
    - _Kahl_
    - _L'uomo in grigio_
- **1962 - _Dylan Thomas*** - Jack Howells, Producer
    - _The John Glenn Story_
    - _The Road to the Wall_
- **1963 - _Chagall*** - Simon Schiffrin, Producer
    - _The Five Cities of June_
    - _The Spirit of America_
    - _Thirty Million Letters_
    - _To Live Again_
- **1964  - _Nine from Little Rock*** - Charles Guggenheim, Producer
    - _140 Days Under the World_
    - _Breaking the Habit_
    - _Children Without_
    - _Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak_
- **1965 - _To Be Alive!*** - Francis Thompson, Producer
    - _Mural on Our Street_
    - _Nyitany_
    - _Point of View_
    - _Yeats Country_
- **1966 - _A Year Toward Tomorrow*** - Edmond A. Levy, Producer
    - _Adolescence_
    - _Cowboy_
    - _The Odds Against_
    - _Részletek J.S. Bach Máté passiójából_
- **1967 - _The Redwoods*** - Mark Harris and Trevor Greenwood, Producers
    - _Monument to the Dream_
    - _A Place to Stand_
    - _See You at the Pillar_
    - _While I Run This Race_
- **1968 - _Why Man Creates*** - Saul Bass, Producer
    - _The House That Ananda Built_
    - _The Revolving Door_
    - _A Space to Grow_
    - _A Way Out of the Wilderness_
- **1969 - _Czechoslovakia 1968*** - Denis Sanders and Robert M. Fresco, Producers
    - _An Impression of John Steinbeck: Writer_
    - _Jenny Is a Good Thing_
    - _Leo Beuerman_
    - _The Magic Machines_

### 1970s

- **1970 - _Interviews with My Lai Veterans*** - Joseph Strick, Producer
    - _The Gifts_
    - _A Long Way from Nowhere_
    - _Oisin_
    - _Time Is Running Out_
- **1971 - _Sentinels of Silence*** - Manuel Arango and Robert Amram, Producers
    - _Adventures in Perception_
    - _Art Is..._
    - _The Numbers Start with the River_
    - _Somebody Waiting_
- **1972 - _This Tiny World*** - Charles Huguenot van der Linden and Martina Huguenot van der Linden, Producers
    - _Hundertwassers Regentag_
    - _K-Z_
    - _Selling Out_
    - _The Tide of Traffic_
- **1973 - _Princeton: A Search for Answers*** - Julian Krainin and DeWitt L. Sage, Jr., Producers
    - _Background_
    - _Christo's Valley Curtain_
    - _Four Stones for Kanemitsu_
    - _Paisti ag obair_
- **1974 - _Don't*** - Robin Lehman, Producer
    - _City Out of Wilderness_
    - _Exploratorium_
    - _John Muir's High Sierra_
    - _Naked Yoga_
- **1975 - _The End of the Game*** - Claire Wilbur and Robin Lehman, Producers
    - _Arthur and Lillie_
    - _Millions of Years Ahead of Man_
    - _Probes in Space_
    - _Whistling Smith_
- **1976 - _Number Our Days*** - Lynne Littman and Barbara Myerhoff, Producers
    - _American Shoeshine_
    - _Blackwood_
    - _The End of the Road_
    - _Universe_
- **1977 - _Gravity Is My Enemy*** - John C. Joseph and Jan Stussy, Producers
    - _Agueda Martinez: Our People, Our Country_
    - _First Edition_
    - _Of Time, Tombs and Treasures_
    - _The Shetland Experience_
- **1978 - _The Flight of the Gossamer Condor*** - Jacqueline Phillips Shedd and Ben Shedd, Producers
    - _The Divided Trail: A Native American Odyssey_
    - _An Encounter with Faces_
    - _Goodnight Miss Ann_
    - _Squires of San Quentin_
- **1979 - _Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist*** - Saul J. Turell, Producer
    - _Dae_
    - _Koryo Celadon_
    - _Nails_
    - _Remember Me_

### 1980s

- **1980 - _Karl Hess: Toward Liberty*** - Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue, Producer
    - _Don't Mess with Bill_
    - _The Eruption of Mount St. Helens!_
    - _It's the Same World_
    - _Luther Metke at 94_
- **1981 - _Close Harmony*** - Nigel Noble, Producer
    - _Americas in Transition_
    - _Journey for Survival_
    - _See What I Say_
    - _Urge to Build_
- **1982 - _If You Love This Planet*** - Edward Le Lorrain and Terre Nash, Producers - National Film Board of Canada
    - _Gods of Metal_
    - _The Klan: A Legacy of Hate in America_
    - _To Live or Let Die_
    - _Traveling Hopefully_
- **1983 - _Flamenco at 5:15*** - Cynthia Scott and Adam Symansky, Producers - National Film Board of Canada
    - _Ihr zent frei_
    - _In the Nuclear Shadow: What Can the Children Tell Us?_
    - _Sewing Woman_
    - _Spaces: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph_
- **1984 - _The Stone Carvers*** - Marjorie Hunt and Paul Wagner, Producers
    - _The Children of Soong Ching Ling_
    - _Code Gray: Ethical Dilemmas in Nursing_
    - _The Garden of Eden_
    - _Vospominaniye o Pavlovske_
- **1985 - _Witness to War: Dr. Charlie Clements*** - David Goodman, Producer
    - _The Courage to Care_
    - _Keats and His Nightingale: A Blind Date_
    - _Making Overtures: The Story of a Community Orchestra_
    - _The Wizard of the Strings_
- **1986 - _Women – for America, for the World*** - Vivienne Verdon-Roe, Producer
    - _Sam_
    - _Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse_
    - _The Master of Disaster_
    - _Debonair Dancers_
- **1987 - _Young at Heart*** - Sue Marx and Pamela Conn, Producers
    - _Frances Steloff: Memoirs of a Bookseller_
    - _In the Wee Wee Hours..._
    - _Language Says It All_
    - _Silver Into Gold_
- **1988 - _You Don't Have to Die*** - William Guttentag and Malcolm Clarke, Producers
    - _Gang Cops_
    - _Family Gathering_
    - _The Children's Storefront_
    - _Portrait of Imogen_
- **1989 - _The Johnstown Flood*** - Charles Guggenheim, Producer
    - _Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open 6 to 9_
    - _Yad Vashem: Preserving the Past to Ensure the Future_

### 1990s

- **1990 - _Days of Waiting*** - Steven Okazaki, Producer
    - _Rose Kennedy: A Life to Remember_
    - _Chimps: So Like Us_
    - _Burning Down Tomorrow_
    - _Journey Into Life: The World of the Unborn_

- **1991 - _Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and Our Environment*** - Debra Chasnoff, Producer
    - _A Little Vicious_
    - _The Mark of the Maker_
    - _Birdnesters of Thailand_
    - _Memorial: Letters from American Soldiers_

- **1992 - _Educating Peter*** - Thomas C. Goodwin (posthumous win) and Gerardine Wurzburg
    - _When Abortion Was Illegal: Untold Stories_ - Dorothy Fadiman
    - _At the Edge of Conquest: The Journey of Chief Wai-Wai_ - Geoffrey O'Connor
    - _Beyond Imagining: Margaret Anderson and the 'Little Review** - Wendy L. Weinberg
    - _The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein_ - Richard Elson & Sally Bochner

- **1993 - _Defending Our Lives*** - Margaret Lazarus, Renner Wunderlich
    - _Chicks in White Satin_
    - _Blood Ties: The Life and Work of Sally Mann_

- **1994 - _A Time for Justice*** - Charles Guggenheim
    - _89 mm od Europy_
    - _Blues Highway_
    - _School of the Americas Assassins_
    - _Straight from the Heart_

- **1995 - _One Survivor Remembers*** - Kary Antholis
    - _Jim Dine: A Self-Portrait on the Walls_
    - _The Shadow of Hate_
    - _The Living Sea_
    - _Never Give Up: The 20th Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper_

- **1996 - _Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien*** - Jessica Yu director, producer, writer and editor
    - _Cosmic Voyage_
    - _Special Effects: Anything Can Happen_
    - _The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage_
    - _An Essay on Matisse_

- **1997 - _A Story of Healing*** - Donna Dewey,  Carol Pasternak
    - _Alaska: Spirit of the Wild_
    - _Amazon_
    - _Family Video Diaries: Daughter of the Bride_
    - _Still Kicking: The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies_

- **1998 - _The Personals: Improvisations on Romance in the Golden Years***  - Keiko Ibi
    - _A Place in the Land_
    - _Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square_ - National Film Board of Canada

- **1999 - _King Gimp*** - Susan Hannah Hadary, William A. Whiteford
    - _Eyewitness_
    - _The Wildest Show in the South: The Angola Prison Rodeo_

### 2000s

- **2000 - _Big Mama*** - Tracy Seretean
    - _Curtain Call_
    - _Dolphins_
    - _On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom_
    - _The Man on Lincoln's Nose_

- **2001 - _Thoth*** - Sarah Kernochan and Lynn Appelle
    - _Artists and Orphans: A True Drama_
    - _Sing!_

- **2002 - _Twin Towers*** - Bill Guttentag, Robert David Port, directors
    - _The Collector of Bedford Street_ - Welcome Change Productions - Alice Elliott producer and director
    - _Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks_ - Tell the Truth Pictures - Robert Hudson producer - Robert Houston director
    - _Why Can't We Be a Family Again?_ - Roger Weisberg, Murray Nossel directors

- **2003 - _Chernobyl Heart*** - Maryann DeLeo
    - _Asylum_ - Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker
    - _Ferry Tales_ - Katja Esson

- **2004 - _Mighty Times: The Children's March*** – Robert Houston and Robert Hudson
    - _Autism Is a World_ – Gerardine Wurzburg
    - _The Children of Leningradsky_ – Hanna Polak and Andrzej Celinski
    - _Hardwood_ – Hubert Davis and Erin Faith Young
    - _Sister Rose's Passion_ – Oren Jacoby and Steve Kalafer

- **2005 - _A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin***
    - _The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club_
    - _God Sleeps in Rwanda_
    - _The Mushroom Club_

- **2006 - _The Blood of Yingzhou District***
    - _Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story_
    - _Recycled Life_
    - _Rehearsing a Dream_

- **2007 - _Freeheld***
    - _La Corona_
    - _Salim Baba_
    - _Sari's Mother_

- **2008 - _Smile Pinki***
    - _The Conscience of Nhem En_
    - _The Final Inch_
    - _The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306_

- **2009 - _Music by Prudence***
    - _China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province_
    - _The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner_
    - _The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant_
    - _Rabbit à la Berlin_

### 2010s

- **2010 - _Strangers No More*** – Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
    - _Killing in the Name_ – Jed Rothstein
    - _Poster Girl_ – Sara Nesson
    - _Sun Come Up_ – Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
    - _The Warriors of Qiugang_ – Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon
- _'2011 - _Saving Face*** – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
    - _The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement_ – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
    - _God Is the Bigger Elvis_ – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
    - _Incident in New Baghdad_ – James Spione
    - _The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom_ – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

## Infobox (award)

- **name**: Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject)
- **presenter**: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
- **country**: United States
- **year**: 14th Academy Awards, 1941
- **holder label**: Most recent winner
- **holder**: Alice Doyard
 Anthony Giacchino
 _Colette (2020 film), Colette_ (93rd Academy Awards, 2020)