The Academy released it’s list of 15 films (out of 124) that made the short list for the best documentary feature. The list is sent out with production companies not the directors, so it’s hard at first look to see how many are directed by women. It turns out that 5 of the 15 have either women directors or co-directors. That’s a decent number.
Here are the women directed films on the short list.
Battle for Brooklyn — directed by Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley and David Beilinson
Buck — directed by Cindy Meehl
The Loving Story — directed by Nancy Buirski
Semper Fi: Always Faithful — directed by Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon
Sing Your Song — directed by Susanne Rostock
There are always complaints about which films are left off. I was not able to find the list of the 124 films that were in consideration, but two that come to mind that are missing In the female directed are- Constance Marks’ Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey and Bobbie Birleffi and Beverly Kopf’s Wish Me Away based on the story of Chely Wright.
What other women directed docs should have made this list?