Joining us for the third year in a row, Variety’s Senior Awards Editor Clayton Davis breaks down this year’s Oscar races for Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short and offers his predictions for who will be victorious at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10th. With the feature doc category taking on a very international flavor this year, what does Clayton think of how the process unfolded from the shortlist to the nominations? How might Netflix’s late acquisition of “To Kill a Tiger” affect the outcome? In what is considered a very tight race, what might tip the balance?
With his encyclopedic knowledge of the Oscars (you’ll even catch a reference to “How Green Was My Valley” in the pod) and his finger-on-the-pulse of the overall Awards season, Clayton takes us through each of the nominees and gives you his unique insights into the process.
Also, be sure to catch our “Top Docs” interviews with all of the Oscar-nominated directors in the documentary feature and shorts categories.
Clayton Davis is Variety’s Senior Awards Editor. He is also one of the hosts of the "Variety Awards Circuit Podcast" and the video web series, "The Take." He's been an awards, film and television analyst and critic for more than 15 years and has co-hosted the Oscars Pre-Show on ABC. Clayton is also co-founder and president of the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association and is a board member of the Critics Choice Association.
The Presenting Sponsor of "Top Docs" is Netflix.
Follow:
@ByClaytonDavis on Instagram and twitter
@topdocspod on Instagram and twitter
Oscar Nominees:
Features:
20 Days in Mariupol
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
Shorts:
The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
The Last Repair Shop
Island In Between
Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma)
Other recent documentaries discussed:
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
American Symphony
Beyond Utopia
Apolonia, Apolonia
Dick Johnson is Dead
Every Body
Little Richard: I am Everything
Flea
Oscar Shortlist Breakdown with Anne Thompson
”Fiddler‘s Journey to the Big Screen” with Daniel Raim
”President” with Camilla Nielsson
Anatomy of a Scene: ”Try Harder!”
”The Rescue” with Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin
”My Name is Pauli Murray” with Julie Cohen & Betsy West
”Try Harder!” with Debbie Lum
Anatomy of a Scene from ”Rebel Hearts” with Pedro Kos
”Flee” with Jonas Poher Rasmussen
”Procession” with Robert Greene
”The First Wave” with Matthew Heineman
”A Cop Movie” with Alonso Ruizpalacios
”Faya Dayi” with Jessica Beshir
”Simple as Water” with Megan Mylan
”Storm Lake” with Beth Levison
”Attica” with Stanley Nelson
”Allen v. Farrow” with Amy Ziering & Kirby Dick
”Rebel Hearts” with Pedro Kos
”The Bee Gees” with Mark Monroe
”Dick Johnson is Dead” with Kirsten (KJ) Johnson
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