Best Documentary Feature
Photo depicts Oscar® winners from 2019-2023. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP; Chris Pizzello/AP; Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Gender
Women received 28% of the 598 nominations for Best Documentary Feature.* There were 28 years when no women were nominated for this award. The first woman was nominated in 1949 (Janice Loeb, The Quiet One) with the first win in 1956 (Nancy Hamilton, The Unconquered). Women were 20% of all winners for this award, securing 27 Oscars® to men’s 106. Women of color represented 5% of all nominees. The first woman of color was nominated in 1982 (Teté Vasconcellos) while the first win for a woman of color was in 1995 (Frida Lee Mock). Four women of color have won the Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature: Frida Lee Mock (1995), Zana Briski (2005), Audrey Marrs (2011), and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (2019).
28%
OF 599 NOMINEES WERE WOMEN
5%
OF NOMINEES WERE WOMEN OF COLOR
20%
OF WINNERS WERE WOMEN
Race & Ethnicity
Of the 598 nominees for Best Documentary Feature, 12% were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group and 88% were white.* Since 1943, there have been 49 years when no underrepresented nominees have appeared in this category. The first underrepresented nominee was named in 1958 (Manuel Barbachano Ponce). The majority of underrepresented nominees– 94%– were only nominated once. In comparison, 90% of white nominees have only been nominated once in this category. There have been 11 people of color who have won an Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature. This is 8% of all winners. The first was in 1995 (Frida Lee Mock). Of the Best Documentary Feature winners, 4 were Asian, 1 was Black/African American, and 6 were multiracial/multiethnic.
12%
Of 598 NOMINEES WERE PEOPLE OF COLOR
8%
Of WINNERS WERE PEOPLE OF COLOR
94%
Of UR NOMINEES RECIEVED ONE NOMINATION
