Oscar's Docs: The First Twenty Years of Academy Award-Winning Documentaries - 1941-1960 | Academy Events Calendar

Oscar's Docs, a comprehensive screening series of every short subject and feature to win the Oscar for documentary filmmaking, from the inception of the category in 1941 through 1960, will conclude for this year on December 5th. Offering a unique opportunity to observe the historical impact and development of the theatrical documentary, the retrospective features the best available prints of these films, many of which are newly struck or restored editions from the documentary collection of the Academy Film Archive.

The Academy's Documentary Categories did not begin until the 14th Awards in 1941. But the Academy did recognize non-fiction films (many by notable filmmakers) prior to that, in the Short Subject categories. A 1935 winner, Ivor Montagu’s WINGS OVER MT. EVEREST, showed the first airplane flight over the world’s tallest peak. Fred Zinnemann’s THAT MOTHER MIGHT LIVE, a winner in 1938, dramatized the medical advances made by a noted Hungarian physician. But these films weren’t considered by many to be “documentaries,” a term which then connoted more serious accounts of contemporary issues and events. Read the complete essay.

Glass (1959) - 8 min. - Bert Haanstra, one of the Netherlands’ most respected filmmakers, directed this short film looking at the process of glassblowing.

Serengeti Shall Not Die (1959) - 85 min. - This feature length look at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania raised worldwide awareness of the need for wildlife conservation and helped preserve the park for future generations.

Giuseppina (1960) - 29 min. - This short about the daughter of a gas station owner in an Italian village was the first sponsored film (by British Petroleum) to win an Academy Award.

The Horse with the Flying Tail (1960) - 48 min. - This Disney documentary feature tells the story of the show jumper Nautical.

Oscar's Docs will return in the fall of 2006 beginning with the films of 1961 and continue into the films of the 1970s.