“A total of 201 documentary features, 86 international features and 35 animated features are eligible for Oscar recognition this season in the best documentary feature, best international feature and best animated feature categories, respectively, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Friday. The only time more documentaries were deemed eligible — 238 —”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
The only time more documentaries were deemed eligible — 238 — was the year in which the pandemic led to an extension of the period of eligibility from 12 to 14 months (Jan. 1, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021) and docs that did not play in theaters were considered.
This year’s list of eligible documentary features includes titles that have dominated at the doc community’s precursor awards, including Netflix’s The Perfect Neighbor and Apocalypse in the TropicsApple’s Come See Me in the Good Light and Neon’s Orwell: 2+2=5. It also includes two acclaimed films made by celebrities about their famous parents, HBO’s My Mom Jayne and Apple’s Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lostwhich were directed by Mariska Hargitay and Ben Stillerrespectively. And there are several titles related to recent turmoil in the Middle East, including Hemdale/Metallux’s Torn: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on New York City Streets and the self-distributed Coexistence, My Ass!, Holding Liat and Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk.
The most glaring omission from the list: The Eyes of Ghanaa documentary directed by the two-time Oscar-winning documentarian Ben Proudfootwhich is still seeking distribution. THR has confirmed that a late decision was made to hold the film for the next awards season. Other high-profile docs that were expected to be on the list, but are not, either because they were not submitted or because they failed to meet the eligibility requirements, include A24’s Marc by SofiaOscar winner Sofia Coppola‘s portrait of Marc Jacobsand Oscar winner Questlove‘s Hulu movie Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius).
The list of eligible international features includes five widely praised films that are being distributed in the US by Parasite backer Neon, and could conceivably all earn nominations: Norway’s Sentimental ValueBrazil’s The Secret AgentSouth Korea’s No Other ChoiceSpain’s Sirāt and France’s It Was Just an Accident. It Was Just an Accidentwhich won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, was directed by Jafar Panahia filmmaker from Iran, but does not reflect well on the country; as a result, Iran submitted the much lower-profile Cause of Death: Unknownwhile France submitted It Was Just an Accidenton the basis that much of the film’s financing was French.
Other countries that made interesting submissions include Japan (GKIDS’s Kokuhoa film about kabuki performers, which is now the highest-grossing non-animated film in that country’s history); Iraq (Sony Classics’ The President’s Cake won two prizes at Cannes); Belgium (Music Box’s Young Mothers could bring the brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne the first Oscar noms of their distinguished careers); and Taiwan (Netflix’s Left-Handed Girlwhich was co-written by Anora Oscar winner Sean Baker).
Meanwhile, at least three countries submitted acclaimed documentaries for best international feature consideration: Ukraine (PBS’s 2000 Meters to Andriivkaa doc about a Ukrainian platoon’s fight to retake a city from Russian invaders, which was directed by Mstyslav Chernovwho won the best doc feature Oscar two years ago); North Macedonia (Nat Geo’s The Tale of Silyanfrom Tamara Kotevskawhose 2019 film Honeyland was nominated for best international feature and doc feature Oscars); and Denmark (Mr. Nobody Againsta film about Vladimir Putin‘s propaganda efforts, which is still seeking US distribution).
And the list of animated features includes giant blockbusters like Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaibi Infinity Catlewhich is now the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time and the highest-grossing international film in the US of all time, as well as the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2025; streaming hits like Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunterswhich is now that streamer’s most watched film ever; acclaimed indies like Neon’s Arcoa French-language critics’ darling that counts Natalie Portman among its producers; and highly-anticipated upcoming titles like Disney’s Zootopia 2.
Among the animated films that were expected to contend, but are not on the list of eligible titles, either because they were not submitted or because they failed to meet the eligibility requirements, are A24’s Ne Zha 2Sony’s Paddington in Peru and Paramount’s The Smurfs.
The documentary feature and international feature categories are winnowed down to shortlists before nominations, while the animated feature category goes straight to nominations. Shortlist voting will span Dec. 8-12, 2025, and the announcement of the shortlists will come on Dec. 16. Nominations voting in all categories will span Jan. 12-16, 2026, and the announcement of the nominations will come on Jan. 22, 2026.
A full list of eligible animated, documentary and international features follows.
Eligible animated features
Thirty-five features are eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 98th Academy Awards. Some of the films have not yet had their required qualifying release and must fulfill that requirement and comply with all the category’s other qualifying rules to advance in the voting process.
To determine the five nominees, members of the Animation Branch are automatically eligible to vote in the category. Academy members outside of the Animation Branch are invited to opt in to participate and must meet a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category. Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture. Animated features that have been submitted in the International Feature Film category as their country’s official selection are also eligible in the category.
“All Operators Are Currently Unavailable”
“Arco”
“The Bad Guys 2”
“Black Butterflies”
“Boys Go to Jupiter”
“Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc”
“ChaO”
“Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing”
“David”
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle”
“Dog Man”
“Dog of God”
“Dragon Heart – Adventures Beyond This World”
“Ellio”
“Endless Cookie”
“Fixed”
“Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie”
“In Your Dreams”
“KPop Demon Hunters”
“The Legend of Hei 2”
“Light of the World”
“Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”
“Lost in Starlight”
“A Magnificent Life”
“Mahavatar Narsimha”
“Night of the Zoopocalypse”
“Olivia & Las Nubes”
“100 Meters”
“Out of the Nest”
“Scarlet” “Slide”
“The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants”
“Stitch Head”
“The Twits”
“Zootopia 2”
Eligible documentary features
Two hundred and one features are eligible for consideration in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 98th Academy Awards. Some of the films have not yet had their required qualifying release and must fulfill that requirement and comply with all the category’s other qualifying rules to advance in the voting process.Documentary features that have won a qualifying film festival award or have been submitted in the International Feature Film category as their country’s official selection are also eligible in the category. Films submitted in the Documentary Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture. Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees. The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
“Abby’s List, A Documentary”
“Ada – My Mother the Architect”
“Afternoons of Solitude”
“The Age of Disclosure”
“Ai Weiwei’s Turandot”
“The Alabama Solution”
“All God’s Children”
“The Altar Boy, the Priest and the Gardener”
“Always”
“Amakki”
“American Sons”
“Among Neighbors”
“animal.”
“Antidote”
“Apocalypse in the Tropics”
“Architecton”
“Are We Good?”
“Art for Everybody”
“Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse”
“The Art Whisperer”
“Artfully United”
“Assembly”
“BTS ARMY: Forever We Are Young”
“Becoming Led Zeppelin”
“Being Eddie”
“Below the Clouds”
“Benita”
“Between the Mountain and the Sky”
“Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue”
“Billy Idol Should Be Dead””BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions”
“Blum: Masters of Their Own Destiny”
“Bodyguard of Lies”
“Brothers after War”
“Can’t Look Away: The Case against Social Media”
“Caterpillar”
“Champions of the Golden Valley”
“Checkpoint Zoo”
“Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie”
“Child of Dust”
“Chronicles of Disney”
“Coexistence, My Ass!”
“Come See Me in the Good Light”
“Complicated”
“Cover Up”
“Cracking the Code: Phil Sharp and the Biotech Revolution”
“Cutting through Rocks”
“Dalit Subbaiah”
“The Dating Game”
“Deaf President Now!”
“Democracy Noir”
“Diane Warren: Relentless”
“Dog Warriors”
“Drop Dead City”
“The Duel We Missed”
“El Canto de las Manos”
” Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire”
“The Encampments”
“Endless Cookie”
“Europe’s New Faces”
“Facing War”
“Fatherless No More”
“Fiume o Morte!”
“Folktales”
“Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea”
“For the Living”
“14 Short Films about Opera”
“From Island to Island”
“Ghost Boy”
“Girl Climber”
“Go to the People”
“Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus””Grand Theft Hamlet”
“Heaven. Poste Restente”
“Heightened Scrutiny”
“Holding Liat”
“I Know Catherine, the Log Lady”
“I, Poppy”
“I Was Born This Way”
“If You Tell Anyone”
“I’m Not Everything I Want to Be”
“I’m Only Blind”
“Imago”
“In Limbo”
“In Waves and War”
“In Whose Name?”
“Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958 -1989”
“It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley”
“Janis Ian: Breaking Silence”
“The King of Color”
“The Last Class”
“The Last Holocaust Secret”
“The Last Philadelphia”
“The Last Twins”
“Li Cham (I Died)”
“The Librarians”
“Life After”
“Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story”
“Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story”
“Love + War”
“Mahamantra – The Great Chant”
“The Man Who Saves the World?”
“A Man with Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole”
“Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore”
“Meanwhile”
“Men of War”
“Mighty Indeed”
“Mr. Nobody against Putin”
“Mistress Dispeller”
“Monk in Pieces”
“My Armenian Phantoms”
“My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay”
“My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow”
“Natchez””The New Yorker at 100”
“Night in West Texas”
“1985: Heroes among Ruins – The Triumph of the People”
“Norita”
“Of Mud and Blood”
“One to One: John and Yoko”
“Orwell 2+2=5”
“Our Time Will Come”
“Out of Plain Sight”
“Paint Me a Road Out of Here”
“Paparazzi”
“The Parish of Bishop John”
“Pavements”
“The Perfect Neighbor”
“The Pool”
“Predators”
“Prime Minister”
“The Prince of Nanawa”
“Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk”
“Rebel with a Clause”
“Remaining Native”
“Riefenstahl”
“Rise Up! 14 Short Films about Alliance for Positive Change”
“River of Grass”
“The Road between Us: The Ultimate Rescue”
“The Rose: Come Back to Me”
“Row of Life”
“Sanatorium”
“A Savage Art”
“Schindler Space Architect”
“Secret Mall Apartment”
“Seeds”
“Selena and Los Dinos”
“Sensory Overload”
“76 Days Adrift”
“Shari & Lamb Chop”
“The Shepherd and the Bear”
“Shoot the People”
“Shuffle”
“The Six Billion Dollar Man”
“67 Bombs to Enid”
“Slumlord Millionaire””Songs from the Hole”
“Soul of a Nation”
“Speak.”
“Stans”
“Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere”
“Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost”
“Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter”
“Story of My Village”
“Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror”
“The Stringer”
“Suburban Fury”
“Sudan, Remember Us”
“Supercar Saints”
“Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted”
“The Tale of Silyan”
“Thank You Very Much”
“There Was, There Was Not”
“Third Act”
“This Ordinary Thing”
“Through the Fire (The Eaton Fire: The Aftermath)”
“Torn: The Israel-Palestine Poster War on New York City Streets”
“Trade Secret”
“Trains”
“Twin Towers: Legacy”
“2000 Meters to Andriivka”
“Unbanked”
“UnBroken”
“Under the Flags, the Sun”
“Unseen Innocence”
“Viktor”
“Viva Verdi!”
“WTO/99”
“Walk with Me”
“Walls – Akinni Inuk”
“We Were Here – The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe”
“Welded Together”
“The White House Effect”
“Who in the Hell Is Regina Jones?”
“Wisdom of Happiness”
“The Wolves Always Come at Night”
“Worth the Fight”
“Writing Hawa”
Eligible international features
Eighty-six countries or regions have submitted films that are eligible for consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 98th Academy Awards.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track.
Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must meet a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category. The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
Albania, “Luna Park”
Argentina, “Belén”
Armenia, “My Armenian Phantoms”
Australia, “The Wolves Always Come at Night”
Austria, “Peacock”
Azerbaijan, “Taghiyev: Oil”
Bangladesh, “A House Named Shahana”
Belgium, “Young Mothers”
Bhutan, “I, the Song”
Bolivia, “The Southern House”
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Blum: Masters of Their Own Destiny”
Brazil, “The Secret Agent”
Bulgaria, “Tarika”
Canada, “The Things You Kill”
Chile, “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”
China, “Dead to Rights”
Colombia, “A Poet”
Costa Rica, “The Altar Boy, the Priest and the Gardener”
Croatia, “Fiume o Morte!”
Czech Republic, “I’m Not Everything I Want to Be”
Denmark, “Mr. Nobody against Putin”
Dominican Republic, “Pepe”
Ecuador, “Chuzalongo”
Egypt, “Happy Birthday”
Estonia, “Rolling Papers”
Finland, “100 Liters of Gold”
France, “It Was Just an Accident” Georgia, “Panopticon”
Germany, “Sound of Falling”
Greece, “Arcadia”
Greenland, “Walls – Akinni Inuk”
Haiti, “Kidnapping Inc.”
Hong Kong, “The Last Dance”
Hungary, “Orphan”
Iceland, “The Love That Remains”
India, “Homebound”
Indonesia, “Sore: A Wife from the Future”
Iran, “Cause of Death: Unknown”
Iraq, “The President’s Cake”
Ireland, “Sanatorium”
Israel, “The Sea”
Italy, “Familia”
Japan, “Kokuho”
Jordan, “All That’s Left of You”
Kyrgyzstan, “Black Red Yellow”
Latvia, “Dog of God”
Lebanon, “A Sad and Beautiful World”
Lithuania, “The Southern Chronicles”
Luxembourg, “Breathing Underwater”
Madagascar, “Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story”
Malaysia, “Pavane for an Infant”
Mexico, “We Shall Not Be Moved”
Mongolia, “Silent City Driver”
Montenegro, “The Tower of Strength”
Morocco, “Calle Malaga”
Nepal, “Anjila”
Netherlands, “Reedland”
North Macedonia, “The Tale of Silyan”
Norway, “Sentimental Value”
Palestine, “Palestine 36”
Panama, “Beloved Tropic”
Paraguay, “Under the Flags, the Sun”
Peru, “Kinra”
Philippines, “Magellan”
Poland, “Franz”
Portugal, “Banzo”
Romania, “Traffic”
Saudi Arabia, “Hijra”
Serbia, “Sun Never Again” Singapore, “Stranger Eyes”
Slovakia, “Father”
Slovenia, “Little Trouble Girls”
South Africa, “The Heart Is a Muscle”
South Korea, “No Other Choice”
Spain, “Sirât”
Sweden, “Eagles of the Republic”
Switzerland, “Late Shift”
Taiwan, “Left-Handed Girl”
Tunisia, “The Voice of Hind Rajab”
Turkey, “One of Those Days When Hemme Dies”
Uganda, “Kimote”
Ukraine, “2000 Meters to Andriivka”
United Kingdom, “My Father’s Shadow”
Uruguay, “Don’t You Let Me Go”
Venezuela, “Alí Primera”
Vietnam, “Red Rain”