Who Won Documentary Feature Oscars?
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.
| 2024 (96th) |
20 Days In Mariupol Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, and Raney Aronson-Rath, producers Other Nominees: Bobi Wine: The People's President; The Eternal Memory; Four Daughters; To Kill A Tiger |
| 2023 (95th) |
Navalny Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, and Shane Boris Other Nominees: All That Breathes; All The Beauty And Bloodshed; Fire Of Love; A House Made Of Splinters |
| 2022 (94th) |
Summer Of Soul Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein Other Nominees: Ascension; Attica; Flee; Writing with Fire |
| 2021 (93rd) |
My Octopus Teacher Pippa Ehrlich, Craig Foster and James Reed Other Nominees: Collective; Crip Camp; The Mole Agent; Time |
| 2020 (92nd) |
American Factory Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert, and Jeff Reichert Other Nominees: The Cave; The Edge Of Democracy; For Sama; Honeyland |
| 2019 (91st) |
Free Solo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill Other Nominees: Hale County This Morning, This Evening; Minding The Gap; Of Fathers And Sons; RBG |
| 2018 (90th) |
Icarus Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan Other Nominees: Abacus: Small Enough to Jail; Faces Places; Last Men in Aleppo; Strong Island |
| 2017 (89th) |
O.J.: Made in America Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow Other Nominees: Fire at Sea; I Am Not Your Negro; Life, Animated; 13th |
| 2016 | Amy | Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees |  |
| 2015 | CitizenFour | Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky |  |
| 2014 | 20 Feet From Stardom | Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen and Caitrin Rogers |  |
| 2013 | Searching For Sugar Man | Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn |  |
| 2012 | Undefeated | TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas |  |
| 2011 | Inside Job | Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs |  |
| 2010 | The Cove | Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens |  |
| 2009 | Man On Wire | James Marsh and Simon Chinn |  |
| 2008 | Taxi To The Dark Side | Alex Gibney and Eva Orner |  |
| 2007 | An Inconvenient Truth | Davis Guggenheim |  |
| 2006 | March Of The Penguins | Luc Jacquet and Yves Darondeau |  |
| 2005 | Born Into Brothels | Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski |  |
| 2004 | The Fog Of War | Errol Morris and Michael Williams |  |
| 2003 | Bowling For Columbine | Michael Moore, Michael Donovan |  |
| 2002 | Murder On A Sunday Morning | Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Denis Poncet |  |
| 2001 | Into The Arms Of Strangers | Mark Jonathan Harris, Deborah Oppenheimer |  |
| 2000 | One Day In September | Arthur Cohn, Kevin Macdonald |  |
| 1999 | The Last Days | James Moll, Ken Lipper |  |
| 1998 | The Long Way Home | Rabbi Marvin Hier, Richard Trank |  |
| 1997 | When We Were Kings | Leon Gast, David Sonenberg |  |
| 1996 | Anne Frank Remembered | Jon Blair |  |
| 1995 | Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision | Freida Lee Mock, Terry Sanders |  |
| 1994 | I Am A Promise | Susan Raymond, Alan Raymond |  |
| 1993 | The Panama Deception | Barbara Trent and David Kasper, Producers |  |
| 1992 | In The Shadow Of The Stars | Allie Light and Irving Saraf, Producers |  |
| 1991 | American Dream | Barbara Kopple and Arthur Cohn, Producers | |
| 1990 | Common Thread: Stories From The Quilt | Robert Epstein and Bill Couturie, Producers | |
| 1989 | Hotel Terminus: The Life And Times Of Klaus Barbie | Marcel Ophuis, Producer | |
| 1988 | The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table | Aviva Slesin, Producer | |
| 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, Producer | |
| TIE | Down And Out In America | Joseph Feury; Milton Justice, Producers | |
| Other Nominees: Chile: Hasta Cuando?; Isaac In America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer; Witness To Apartheid | |||
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| 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 | |