Films About Billie Eilish, The Velvet Underground & More Shortlisted for Documentary Feature Oscar

Films about Billie Eilish and The Velvet Underground and the acclaimed Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) are on the shortlist of 15 films vying for the Oscar for documentary feature.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released shortlists in 10 categories on Tuesday (Dec. 21). Members of the documentary branch voted to determine the shortlist for documentary feature, which was drawn from 138 eligible films. They will vote again to determine the five nominees in the category, which will be announced on Feb. 8. All Academy voters will vote to determine the winner, which will be announced at the 94th annual Academy Awards on March 27.

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R.J. Cutler wrote and directed Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Bleary, which tells the story of the teen phenom’s life on the road, on stage and at home, while creating her blockbuster debut album.

Todd Haynes wrote and directed The Velvet Underground, about the legendary underground New York rock band. This would be the first nomination for Haynes, 60, who has directed such acclaimed features as Far From Heaven and Carol.

Questlove, 50, made his film directorial debut with Summer of Soul, about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which featured performances by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Fifth Dimension, Sly and The Family Stone, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples, B.B. King, and many other top artists of the era.

Summer of Soul won both the U.S. grand jury prize and the audience award for documentary at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The film is also nominated for a Grammy for best music film.

Eilish is also nominated in that Grammy category, but with a different film: Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles.

Eilish got more good news from the motion picture academy on Tuesday. “No Time to Die,” which she and her brother and collaborator Finneas co-wrote for the James Bond film of the same name, is shortlisted for best original song.

Brian Wilson got mixed results in the shortlists. Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road was passed over for the documentary feature shortlist, but a song from the doc, “Right Where I Belong,” is shortlisted for best original song.

Other music docs that were passed over for the shortlist for documentary feature include Ennio (about film composer Ennio Morricone), The Jesus Music (about the rise of the contemporary Christian music genre), Fire Music (about the free jazz movement of the 1960s and ’70s), Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres (about one of the top writers and editors for Rolling Stone from shortly after the magazine’s inception in 1967 until 1981), The Sparks Brothers (about Russell and Ron Mael who comprise Sparks) and Tina (about the indomitable Tina Turner).

Also passed over in the shortlist: Dave Chapelle Live in Real Life and Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, about the performer who in 1977 became the just the third person ever – and the first Latina — to complete the EGOT.

The shortlisted films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

Ascension
Attica
Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry
Faya Dayi
The First Wave
Flee
In the Same Breath
Julia
President
Procession
The Rescue
Simple as Water
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
The Velvet Underground
Writing with Fire

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