The documentary features remaining in contention for an Oscar nomination have been whittled down from 169 to a shortlist of a mere 15, a brutal culling that has inevitably left many filmmakers disappointed, and a select few in celebratory mode. What were the harshest snubs? That question comes up…

Black Box Diaries, Queendom and Instruments of a Beating Heart are among the films that got good news Tuesday, earning places on the coveted Oscar shortlists – Diaries and Queendom for Documentary Feature and Instruments for Documentary Short. At the 40th IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles a few…

In the past 10 days, the documentary No Other Land has surged to Oscar frontrunner status after racking up an impressive array of awards: top honors from the Gotham Awards, critics groups in Los Angeles and New York, the IDA Awards, the European Film Awards, and an award from the National Board of Review…

At the IDA Documentary Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday night, Japanese journalist-turned-director Shiori Itō will receive the Emerging Filmmaker Award, recognizing the incredible reception for her directorial debut Black Box Diaries. It's the deeply personal story of Itō's attempt to seek justice and…

Filmmaker Jeff Zimbalist went to great lengths, and even greater heights, to make his latest documentary, Skywalkers: A Love Story. The Oscar-contending Netflix film tells the story of Angela Nikolau and Ivan "Vanya" Beerkus, a young Russian couple who bonded over their mutual desire to scale the…

Martha Stewart continues to hammer away at filmmaker R.J. Cutler over his documentary about the Queen of Hearths. She appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week, floating the idea that Netflix should do a "second version" of Martha that would, presumably, correct what she sees as…

In February 1961, a remarkable outburst took place at the United Nations in New York – jazz artists Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, writer Maya Angelou and others crashed the Security Council to protest the assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. That little-remembered demonstration…

Nostalgia tends to tint our view of the past a rose-colored hue, casting a glow over intense conflict and deep angst, as if those sentiments weren't fundamental to the experience of people alive in earlier times. In the case of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the rose-colored (granny) glasses might be…

In 10 short years, SFFILM's Doc Stories has established itself as one of the premiere documentary festivals in North America, perfectly timed on the calendar to showcase work with Oscar ambitions. This year, its lineup included The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, from director Benjamin Ree, Robinson…

The hosts of Deadline's Doc Talk and ElectionLine podcasts are getting together for an unprecedented crossover episode. Think Law & Order: SVU meets Law & Order: Organized Crime; Angel meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural meets Scooby-Doo (Zoinks! — that really happened). Doc Talk's John…

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is generally credited (or faulted, depending on your perspective) for orchestrating President Joe Biden's exit from the 2024 presidential race. But there was someone equally if not more responsible for that titanic political development: James Carville. The veteran…

Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has become a hero to Democrats for turning on Donald Trump, but it's come at great personal and political cost. In a new interview for Deadline's Doc Talk podcast, Kinzinger reveals he, his wife, and their toddler have become the target of constant death…