The Academy Award for Documentary Feature Film was introduced at the 16th Academy Awards in 1944. The first Oscar went to "Desert Victory".
Through the years winners have included some Disney and Jacques Cousteau nature films.
More recent winners have included "The Cove" and "Searching For Sugar Man".
Who Won Documentary Feature Oscars?
| 2013 Searching For Sugar Man | |
| Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn | |
| Other Nominees: 5 Broken Cameras; The Gatekeepers; How To Survive A Plague; The Invisible War | |
| 2012 Undefeated | |
| Other Nominees: Hell And Back Again; If A Tree Falls; Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory; Pina | |
| 2011 Inside Job | |
| Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs | |
| Other Nominees: Exit Through The Gift Shop; Gasland; Restrepo; Waste Land | |
| 2010 The Cove |    |
| Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens | |
| Other Nominees: Burma VJ; Food Inc; The Most Dangerous Man In America; Which Way Home | |
| 2009 Man On Wire | |
| James Marsh; Simon Chinn | |
| Other Nominees: The Betrayal (Nerakhoon); Encounters At The End Of The World; The Garden; Trouble The Water | |
| 2008 Taxi To The Dark Side |  |
| Alex Gibney; Eva Orner | |
| Other Nominees: No End In Sight; Operation Homecoming:Writing the Wartime Experience; Sicko; War/Dance | |
| 2007 An Inconvenient Truth |  |
| Davis Guggenheim | |
| Other Nominees: Deliver Us From Evil; Iraq In Fragments; Jesus Camp; My Country My Country | |
| 2006 March Of The Penguins |  |
| Luc Jacquet; Yves Darondeau | |
| Other Nominees: Darwin's Nightmare; Enron: The Smartest Guys In the Room; Murderball; Street Fight | |
| 2005 Born Into Brothels |  |
| Ross Kauffman; Zana Briski | |
| Other Nominees: The Story of the Weeping Camel; Super Size Me; Tupac: Resurrection; Twist of Faith | |
| 2004 The Fog of War | |
| Errol Morris; Michael Williams | |
| Other Nominees: Balseros; Capturing the Friedmans; My Architect; The Weather Underground | |
| 2003 Bowling For Columbine |  |
| Michael Moore; Michael Donovan | |
| Other Nominees: Daughter From Danang; Prisoner of Paradise; Spellbound; Winged Migration | |
| 2002 Murder on a Sunday Morning | |
| Jean-Xavier de Lestrade; Denis Poncet | |
| Other Nominees: Children Underground; Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton; Promises Promises; War Photographer | |
| 2001 Into the Arms of Strangers | |
| Mark Jonathan Harris; Deborah Oppenheimer | |
| Other Nominees: Long Night's Journey Into Day; Scottsboro: An American Tragedy; Sound and Fury | |
| 2000 One Day In September | |
| Arthur Cohn; Kevin Macdonald | |
| Other Nominees: Buena Vista Social Club; Genghis Blues; On the Ropes; Speaking In Strings | |
| 1999 The Last Days | |
| James Moll; Ken Lipper | |
| Other Nominees: Dancemaker; The Farm: Angola USA; Lenny Bruce: Swear To Tell the Truth; Regret To Inform | |
| 1998 The Long Way Home | |
| Rabbi Marvin Hier; Richard Trank | |
| Other Nominees: Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life; Colors Straight Up; 4 Little Girls; Waco: The Rules of Engagement | |
| 1997 When We Were Kings | |
| Leon Gast; David Sonenberg | |
| Other Nominees: The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story; Mandela; Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse; Tell the Truth and Run | |
| 1996 Anne Frank Remembered |  |
| Jon Blair | |
| Other Nominees: The Battle Over Citizen Kane; Fiddlefest; Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream; Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern | |
| 1995 Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision | |
| Freida Lee Mock; Terry Sanders | |
| Other Nominees: Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter; D-Day Remembered; Freedom On My Mind; A Great Day In Harlem | |
| 1994 I Am A Promise | |
| Susan Raymond; Alan Raymond | |
| Other Nominees: The Broadcast Tapes of Dr Peter; Children of Fate; For Better or For Worse; The War Room | |
| 1993 The Panama Deception | |
| Barbara Trent; David Kasper | |
| Other Nominees: 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 | |
| 1992 In the Shadow of the Stars | |
| Allie Light; Irving Saraf | |
| Other Nominees: Death on the Job; Doing Time: Life Inside The Big House; The Restless Conscience; Wild By Law | |
| 1991 American Dream |  |
| Barbara Kopple; Arthur Cohn | |
| Other Nominees: Berkeley in the Sixties; Building Bombs; Forever Activists: Stories From the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade; Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey | |
| 1990 Common Thread: Stories From the Quilt ("Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt") | |
| Robert Epstein; Bill Couturie | |
| Other Nominees: Adam Clayton Powell; Crack USA: County Under Siege; For All Mankind; Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren | |
| 1989 Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie | |
| Marcel Ophuls | |
| Other Nominees: The Cry of Reason - Beyers Naude: An Afrikaner Speaks Out; Let's Get Lost; Promises To Keep; Who Killed Vincent Chin? | |
| 1988 The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table | |
| Aviva Slesin | |
| Other Nominees: Eyes On the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years/Bridge To Freedom 1965; Hellfire: A Journey From Hiroshima; Radio Bikini; A Stitch For Time | |
| 1987 Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got | |
| Brigitte Berman | |
| Other Nominees: Chile: Hasta Cuando?; Isaac In America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer; Witness To Apartheid | |
| 1987 Down And Out In America ("Down and Out In America") | |
| Joseph Feury; Milton Justice | |
| Other Nominees: Chile: Hasta Cuando?; Isaac In America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer; Witness To Apartheid | |
| 1986 Broken Rainbow | |
| Maria Florio; Victoria Mudd | |
| Other Nominees: Las Madres-The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo; Soldiers In Hiding; The Statue of Liberty; Unfinished Business | |
| 1985 The Times Of Harvey Milk | |
| Robert Epstein; Richard Schmiechen | |
| Other Nominees: High Schools; In The Name Of The People; Marlene; Streetwise | |
| 1984 He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' | |
| Emile Ardolino | |
| Other Nominees: Children Of Darkness; First Contact; The Profession Of Arms; Seeing Red | |
| 1983 Just Another Missing Kid | |
| John Zaritsky | |
| Other Nominees: After The Axe; Ben's Mill; In Our Water; A Portrait Of Giselle | |
| 1982 Genocide | |
| Arnold Schwartzman; Rabbi Marvin Hier | |
| Other Nominees: Against Wind And Tide: A Cuban Odyssey; Brooklyn Bridge; Eight Minutes To Midnight: A Portrait of Dr Helen Caldicott; El Salvador: Another Vietnam | |
| 1981 From Mao To Mozart: Isaac Stern In China | |
| Murray Lerner | |
| Other Nominees: Agee; The Day After Trinity; Front Line; The Yellow Star | |
| 1980 Best Boy | |
| Ira Wohl | |
| Other Nominees: Generation On The Wind; Going The Distance; The Killing Ground; The War At Home | |
| 1979 Scared Straight! | |
| Arnold Shapiro | |
| Other Nominees: The Lovers' Wind; Mysterious Castles Of Clay; Raoni; With Babies And Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade | |
| 1978 Who Are The DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? | |
| John Korty; Dan McCann; Warren L Lockhart | |
| Other Nominees: The Children of Theatre Street; High Grass Circus; Homage To Chagall - The Colours Of Love; Union Maids | |
| 1977 Harlan County U.S.A. | |
| Barbara Kopple | |
| Other Nominees: Hollywood On Trial; Off The Edge; People Of The Wind; Volcano: An Inquiry Into The Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry | |
| 1976 The Man Who Skied Down Everest | |
| FR Crawley; James Hager; Dale Hartleben | |
| Other Nominees: The California Reich; Fighting For Our Lives; The Incredible Machine; The Other Half Of The Sky: A China Memoir | |
| 1975 Hearts And Minds | |
| Peter Davis; Bert Schneider | |
| Other Nominees: Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman; The Challenge?A Tribute To Modern Art; The 81st Blow; The Wild And The Brave | |
| 1974 The Great American Cowboy | |
| Kieth Merrill | |
| Other Nominees: Always A New Beginning; Battle of Berlin; Journey To The Outer Limits; Walls Of Fire | |
| 1973 Marjoe | |
| Howard Smith; Sarah Kernochan | |
| Other Nominees: Ape and Super Ape; Malcolm X; Manson; The Silent Revolution | |
| 1972 The Hellstrom Chronicle | |
| Walon Green | |
| Other Nominees: Alaska Wilderness Lake; On Any Sunday; The RA Expeditions; The Sorrow and the Pity | |
| 1971 Woodstock | |
| Bob Maurice | |
| Other Nominees: Chariots of the Gods; Jack Johnson; King: A Filmed Record?Montgomery to Memphis; Say Goodbye | |
| 1970 Arthur Rubinstein - The Love of Life | |
| Bernard Chevry | |
| Other Nominees: Before the Mountain Was Moved; In the Year of the Pig; The Olympics in Mexico; The Wolf Men | |
| 1969 Journey Into Self | |
| Bill McGaw | |
| Other Nominees: A Few Notes on Our Food Problem; The Legendary Champions; Other Voices; Young Americans | |
| 1968 The Anderson Platoon | |
| Pierre Schoendoerffer | |
| Other Nominees: Festival; Harvest; A King's Story; A Time For Burning | |
| 1967 The War Game | |
| Peter Watkins | |
| Other Nominees: The Face of Genius; Helicopter Canada; Le Volcan Interdit; The Really Big Family | |
| 1966 The Eleanor Roosevelt Story | |
| Sidney Glazier | |
| Other Nominees: The Battle of the Bulge-The Brave Rifles; The Forth Road Bridge; Let My People Go; To Die In Madrid | |
| 1965 Jacques-Yves Cousteau's World Without Sun | |
| Jacques Cousteau | |
| Other Nominees: The Finest Hours; Four Days In November; The Human Dutch; Over There 1914-18 | |
| 1964 Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World | |
| Robert Hughes | |
| Other Nominees: Le Maillon et la Chaine; The Yanks Are Coming | |
| 1963 Black Fox | |
| Louis Clyde Stoumen | |
| Other Nominees: Alvorada - Brazil's Changing Face | |
| 1962 Le Ciel et la Boue | |
| Arthur Cohn; Rene Lafuite | |
| Other Nominees: La Grande Olimpiade | |
| 1961 The Horse With The Flying Tail | |
| Larry Lansburgh | |
| Other Nominees: Rebel In Paradise | |
| 1960 Serengeti Shall Not Die | |
| Bernhard Grzimek | |
| Other Nominees: The Race For Space | |
| 1959 White Wilderness | |
| Ben Sharpsteen | |
| Other Nominees: Antarctic Crossing; The Hidden World; Psychiatric Nursing | |
| 1958 Albert Schweitzer | |
| Jerome Hill | |
| Other Nominees: On the Bowery; Torero! | |
| 1957 The Silent World | |
| Jacques Cousteau | |
| Other Nominees: The Naked Eye; Where Mountains Float | |
| 1956 Helen Keller In Her Story | |
| Nancy Hamilton | |
| Other Nominees: Heartbreak Ridge | |
| 1955 The Vanishing Prairie | |
| Walt Disney | |
| Other Nominees: The Stratford Adventure | |
| 1954 The Living Desert | |
| Walt Disney | |
| Other Nominees: The Conquest of Everest; A Queen Is Crowned | |
| 1953 The Sea Around Us | |
| Irwin Allen | |
| Other Nominees: The Hoaxters; Navajo | |
| 1952 Kon-Tiki | |
| Olle Nordemar | |
| Other Nominees: I Was A Communist for the FBI | |
| 1951 The Titan: Story of Michelangelo | |
| Robert Snyder | |
| Other Nominees: With These Hands | |
| 1950 Daybreak In Udi | |
| Crown Film Unit | |
| Other Nominees: Kenji Comes Home | |
| 1949 The Secret Land | |
| Orville O Dull | |
| Other Nominees: The Quiet One | |
| 1948 Design for Death | |
| Sid Rogell; Theron Warth; Richard O Fleischer | |
| Other Nominees: Journey into Medicine; The World Is Rich | |
| 1947 NONE | |
| 1946 The True Glory | |
| Governments of Great Britain and the United States | |
| Other Nominees: The Last Bomb | |
| 1945 The Fighting Lady |  |
| United States Navy | |
| Other Nominees: Resisting Enemy Interrogation | |
| 1944 Desert Victory | |
| British Ministry of Information | |
| Other Nominees: Baptism of Fire; The Battle of Russia; Report from the Aleutians; War Department Report | |
Every attempt is made to insure the accuracy of the above information, however accuracy is not guaranteed.
