Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature

The **Academy Award for Documentary Feature** is one of the most important awards for documentary movies.

### 1940s

In 1942, there was one Documentary category and four winners.
- 1942
    - _The Battle of Midway_
    - _Kokoda Front Line!_
    - _Moscow Strikes Back_
    - _Prelude to War_
From 1943 there were two separate documentary categories (features and short films)
- 1943 - ***Desert Victory***
    - _Baptism of Fire_
    - _The Battle of Russia_
    - _Report from the Aleutians_
    - _War Department Report_
- 1944 - ***The Fighting Lady***
    - _Resisting Enemy Interrogation_
- 1945 - ***The True Glory***
    - _The Last Bomb_
- 1946 - none given
- 1947 - ***Design for Death***
    - _Journey Into Medicine_
    - _The World Is Rich_
- 1948 - ***The Secret Land***
    - _The Quiet One_
- 1949 - ***Daybreak in Udi***
    - _Kenji Comes Home_

### 1950s

- 1950 - ***The Titan: Story of Michelangelo***
    - _With These Hands_
- 1951 - ***Kon-Tiki***
    - _I Was a Communist for the FBI_
- 1952 - ***The Sea Around Us***
    - _The Hoaxters_
    - _Navajo_
- 1953 - ***The Living Desert***
    - _The Conquest of Everest_
    - _A Queen Is Crowned_
- 1954 - ***The Vanishing Prairie***
    - _The Stratford Adventure_
- 1955 - ***Helen Keller in Her Story*** (also known as _The Unconquered_)
    - _Crèvecoeur_
- 1956 - ***The Silent World***
    - _Where Mountains Float_ ()
    - _The Naked Eye_
- 1957 - ***Albert Schweitzer***
    - _On the Bowery_
    - _Torero_
- 1958 - ***White Wilderness***
    - _Antarctic Crossing_
    - _The Hidden World_
    - _Psychiatric Nursing_
- 1959 - ***Serengeti Shall Not Die***
    - _The Race for Space_
    - _From Generation to Generation_

### 1960s

- 1960 - ***The Horse with the Flying Tail***
    - _Rebel in Paradise_
- 1961 - ***Sky Above and Mud Beneath***, directed by Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau
    - _La grande olimpiade_, directed by Romolo Marcellini
- 1962 - ***Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler***
    - _Alvorada_
- 1963 - ***Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World***
    - _Le Maillon et la chaîne_
    - _The Yanks Are Coming_
- 1964 - ***World Without Sun***
    - _14-18_
    - _Alleman_
    - _The Finest Hours_
    - _Four Days in November_
- 1965 - ***The Eleanor Roosevelt Story***
    - _The Battle of the Bulge... The Brave Rifles_
    - _The Forth Road Bridge_
    - _Let My People Go: The Story of Israel_
    - _Mourir à Madrid_
- 1966 - ***The War Game***
    - _The Face of a Genius_
    - _Helicopter Canada_
    - _The Really Big Family_
    - _Le Volcan interdit_
- 1967 - ***The Anderson Platoon***
    - _Festival_
    - _Harvest_
    - _A King's Story_
    - _A Time for Burning_
- 1968 - ***Journey into Self***
    - _Note: At the 41st Awards ceremony on April 14, 1969, Young Americans was announced as the winner of the Documentary Feature Oscar. On May 7, 1969, it was revealed that the film had played in October 1967, which rendered it ineligible for a 1968 Award. The first runner-up, Journey Into Self, was awarded the statuette on May 8, 1969._
    - _A Few Notes on Our Food Problem_
    - _Legendary Champions_
    - _Other Voices_
- 1969 - ***Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life***
    - _Before the Mountain Was Moved_
    - _In the Year of the Pig_
    - _Olimpiada en México_
    - _The Wolf Men_

### 1970s

- 1970 - ***Woodstock***
    - _Erinnerungen an die Zukunft_ (Released in English language version under title "Chariots of the Gods?")
    - _Jack Johnson_
    - _King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis_
    - _Say Goodbye_
- 1971 - ***The Hellstrom Chronicle***
    - _Alaska Wilderness Lake_
    - _Le chagrin et la pitié_
    - _On Any Sunday_
    - _Ra_
- 1972 - ***Marjoe***
    - _Bij de beesten af_
    - _Malcolm X_
    - _Manson_
    - _The Silent Revolution_
- 1973 - ***The Great American Cowboy***
    - _Always a New Beginning_
    - _Journey to the Outer Limits_
    - _Schlacht um Berlin_
    - _Walls of Fire_
- 1974 - ***Hearts and Minds***
    - _Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman_
    - _The Challenge... A Tribute to Modern Art_
    - _The 81st Blow_
    - _The Wild and the Brave_
- 1975 - ***The Man Who Skied Down Everest***
    - _The California Reich_
    - _Fighting for Our Lives_
    - _The Incredible Machine_
    - _The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir_
- 1976 - ***Harlan County, USA***
    - _Hollywood on Trial_
    - _Off the Edge_
    - _People of the Wind_
    - _Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry_
- 1977 - ***Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?***
    - _The Children of Theatre Street_
    - _High Grass Circus_
    - _Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love_
    - _Union Maids_
- 1978 - ***Scared Straight!***
    - _Mysterious Castles of Clay_
    - _Raoni_
    - _Le vent des amoureux_
    - _With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade_
- 1979 - ***Best Boy***
    - _Generation on the Wind_
    - _Going the Distance_
    - _The Killing Ground_
    - _The War at Home_

### 1980s

- ***1980 From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China*** directed by Murray Lerner
    - _Agee_
    - _The Day After Trinity_
    - _Front Line_
    - _The Yellow Star – The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45_
- ***1981 Genocide*** directed by Arnold Schwartzman
    - _Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey_
    - _Brooklyn Bridge_
    - _Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott_
    - _El Salvador: Another Vietnam_
- ***1982 Just Another Missing Kid*** directed by John Zaritsky
    - _A Portrait of Giselle_
    - _After the Axe_
    - _Ben's Mill_
    - _In Our Water_
- ***1983 He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin***' directed by Emile Ardolino
    - _Children of Darkness_
    - _First Contact_
    - _The Profession of Arms_
    - _Seeing Red_
- ***1984 The Times of Harvey Milk*** directed by Rob Epstein and Richard Schmiechen
    - _High Schools_
    - _In the Name of the People_
    - _Marlene_
    - _Streetwise_
- ***1985 Broken Rainbow*** directed by Maria Florio and Victoria Mudd
    - _The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo_
    - _Soldiers in Hiding_
    - _The Statue of Liberty_
    - _Unfinished Business_
- ***1986 - (tie): Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got*** and  ***Down and Out in America***
    - _Chile: Hasta Cuando?_
    - _Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer_
    - _Witness to Apartheid_
- ***1987 The Ten-Year Lunch***
    - _Eyes on the Prize_
    - _Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima_
    - _Radio Bikini_
    - _A Stitch for Time_
- ***1988  Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie***
    - _The Cry of Reason: Beyers Naude – An Afrikaner Speaks Out_
    - _Let's Get Lost_
    - _Promises to Keep_
    - _Who Killed Vincent Chin?_
- ***1989 Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt***
    - _Adam Clayton Powell_
    - _Crack USA: County Under Siege_
    - _For All Mankind_
    - _Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren_

### 1990s

- ***1990 American Dream*** directed by Barbara Kopple
    - _Berkeley in the Sixties_
    - _Building Bombs_
    - _Forever Activists: Stories from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade_
    - _Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey_
- ***1991 In the Shadow of the Stars*** directed by Allie Light and Irving Saraf
    - _Death on the Job_
    - _Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House_
    - _The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945_
    - _Wild by Law_
- ***1992 The Panama Deception*** directed by Barbara Trent and David Kasper
    - _Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker_
    - _Fires of Kuwait_
    - _Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II_
    - _Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann_
- ***1993 I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School*** directed by Susan Raymond
    - _The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter_
    - _Children of Fate_
    - _For Better or For Worse_
    - _The War Room_
- ***1994 Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision*** directed by Freida Lee Mock
    - _Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter_
    - _D-Day Remembered_
    - _Freedom on My Mind_
    - _A Great Day in Harlem_
- ***1995 Anne Frank Remembered*** directed by Jon Blair
    - _The Battle Over Citizen Kane_
    - _Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream_
    - _Small Wonders_
    - _Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern_
- ***1996 When We Were Kings*** directed by Leon Gast
    - _The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story_
    - _Mandela_
    - _Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse_
    - _Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press_
- ***1997 The Long Way Home*** directed by Mark Jonathan Harris
    - _Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life_
    - _Colors Straight Up_
    - _4 Little Girls_
    - _Waco: The Rules of Engagement_
- ***1998 The Last Days*** directed by James Moll
    - _Dancemaker_
    - _The Farm: Angola, U.S.A._
    - _Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth_
    - _Regret to Inform_
- ***1999 One Day in September*** by Kevin MacDonald
    - _Buena Vista Social Club_
    - _Genghis Blues_
    - _On the Ropes_
    - _Speaking in Strings_

### 2000s

- **2000: _Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport*** – Mark Jonathan Harris and Deborah Oppenheimer
    - _Legacy_ – Tod Lending
    - _Long Night's Journey into Day_ – Deborah Hoffmann and Frances Reid
    - _Scottsboro: An American Tragedy_ – Daniel Anker and Barak Goodman
    - _Sound and Fury_ – Josh Aronson and Roger Weisberg
- **2001: _Murder on a Sunday Morning (Un coupable idéal)*** – Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and Denis Poncet
    - _Children Underground_ – Edet Belzberg
    - _LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton_ – Deborah Dickson and Susan Frömke
    - _Promises_ – B.Z. Goldberg and Justine Shapiro
    - _War Photographer_ – Christian Frei
- **2002: _Bowling for Columbine*** – Michael Moore and Michael Donovan
    - _Daughter from Danang_ – Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco
    - _Prisoner of Paradise_ – Malcolm Clarke and Stuart Sender
    - _Spellbound_ – Jeffrey Blitz and Sean Welch
    - _Winged Migration (Le peuple migrateur)_ – Jacques Perrin
- **2003: _The Fog of War*** – Errol Morris and Michael Williams
    - _Balseros_ – Carlos Bosch and Josep Maria Domenech
    - _Capturing the Friedmans_ – Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling
    - _My Architect_ – Nathaniel Kahn and Susan R. Behr
    - _The Weather Underground_ – Sam Green and Bill Siegel
- **2004: _Born into Brothels*** – Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski
    - _The Story of the Weeping Camel (Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel)_ – Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni
    - _Super Size Me_ – Morgan Spurlock
    - _Tupac: Resurrection_ – Karolyn Ali and Lauren Lazin
    - _Twist of Faith_ – Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt
- **2005: _March of the Penguins (La marche de l'empereur)*** – Luc Jacquet
    - _Darwin's Nightmare_ – Hubert Sauper
    - _Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room_ – Alex Gibney and Jason Kliot
    - _Murderball_ – Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro
    - _Street Fight_ – Marshall Curry
- **2006: _An Inconvenient Truth*** – Davis Guggenheim
    - _Deliver Us from Evil_ – Amy Berg and Frank Donner and Matthew Cooke
    - _Iraq in Fragments_ – James Longley and Yahya Sinno
    - _Jesus Camp_ – Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
    - _My Country, My Country_ – Jocelyn Glatzer and Laura Poitras
- **2007: _Taxi to the Dark Side*** – Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
    - _No End in Sight_ – Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
    - _Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience_ – Richard Robbins
    - _Sicko_ – Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
    - _War/Dance_ – Sean Fine and Andrea Nix
- **2008: _Man on Wire*** – Simon Chinn and James Marsh
    - _The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)_ – Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
    - _Encounters at the End of the World_ – Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
    - _The Garden_ – Scott Hamilton Kennedy
    - _Trouble the Water_ – Carl Deal and Tia Lessin
- **2009**: ***The Cove*** – **Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens**
    - _Burma VJ_ – Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
    - _Food, Inc._ – Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
    - _The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers_ – Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
    - _Which Way Home_ – Rebecca Cammisa

### 2010s

- **2010**: ***Inside Job*** – Charles H. Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
    - _Exit Through the Gift Shop_ – Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
    - _Gasland_ – Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
    - _Restrepo_ – Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
    - _Waste Land_ – Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
- **2011**: ***Undefeated**_ – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas
    - _Hell and Back Again_ – Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
    - _If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front_ – Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
    - _Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory_ – Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
    - _Pina_ – Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel

## Other websites

- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences official site

## Infobox (award)

- **name**: Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
- **presenter**: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
- **country**: United States
- **year**: 15th Academy Awards, 1942
- **holder label**: Most recent winner
- **holder**: Pippa Ehrlich
 James Reed
 Craig Foster (filmmaker), Craig Foster
 _My Octopus Teacher_ (93rd Academy Awards, 2020)