Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film facts for kids

This is a list of films that have won or been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film. These awards are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

The year listed for each film is when it was released. The actual awards ceremony happens early the next year. The Academy Film Archive keeps copies of almost all the winning and nominated films. Before the final nominations are announced, fifteen films are chosen for a special shortlist.

How Films Qualify for the Award

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has special rules for short documentary films. A short documentary is a non-fiction movie. It tells a true story in a creative way. This can be about culture, art, history, science, or other topics.

The film can show real events. It can also use re-enactments, old footage, photos, or animation. The main thing is that it must focus on facts, not made-up stories.

Film Length and Release

A short documentary must be 40 minutes long or less. It also needs to be released during a specific time each year. This time usually runs from October of the year before to September of the award year. The film must be released within two years of when it was finished. There are also rules about how the sound and video should be set up.

To be considered for the award, a film must meet one of these requirements:

• It must be shown in a movie theater for at least seven days. This has to happen in Los Angeles County, California or New York City. After that, it can be released on DVD or TV.
• The film must have won a special award at a film festival. The Academy lists which festivals count.
• It must win a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal in the Documentary category of the Academy's Student Academy Award Competition.

For the theater showing, the film must play every day for seven days. People must be able to buy tickets to see it. It also needs to be advertised in a major newspaper in that city. The ads must include the showtimes. Unlike longer documentaries, there's no rule about when the film has to start playing each day.

The film's main language should be English. If not, it needs English subtitles. The film must be a complete, original work. Parts of bigger movies or episodes from TV series cannot be nominated.

How Films Get Nominated

First, a group of experts from the Academy votes. They pick ten films for a first list. Then, they vote again to choose the five official nominees. Finally, all members of the Academy vote for one of these five films to win the Oscar.

Up to two people who worked on the film can be nominated for the award. One of them must be the film's director. One producer can also be nominated. If there are many producers, the Academy decides who was most involved.

Winners and Nominees

Many amazing films have won this award over the years. Here are some of the winners and nominees from the 1940s and the most recent years.

1940s

2020s

People and Studios with Multiple Wins

Individuals with Multiple Wins

Some people have won this award more than once:

3 wins

• Charles Guggenheim

2 wins

• Malcolm Clarke
• Walt Disney
• Bill Guttentag
• Robin Lehman
• Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
• Ben Proudfoot

Studios with Multiple Wins

These film studios have won the award multiple times:

4 wins

• National Film Board of Canada

3 wins

• Walt Disney Productions

Individuals with Multiple Nominations

Many talented people have been nominated for this award more than once:

See also

• Submissions for Best Documentary Short Academy Award
• List of Academy Award–nominated films