The directors of 10 of the year’s top documentary features — Becoming Cousteau, The First Wave, Flee, Found, Francesco, Julia, Procession, The Rescue, Summer of Soul and The Velvet Underground — gathered at the Savannah Film Festival earlier this season to record the eighth annual Docs to Watch Panel, which, as always, was presented by The Hollywood Reporter and moderated by yours truly.
Now, with voting underway to determine the best documentary feature Oscar, THR is pleased to share the full conversation with these talented filmmakers about the inspirations for, challenges making and impact of their documentaries:
- On behalf of Discovery+’s Francesco, a portrait of the life and impact of Pope Francis, an Oscar nominee for 2015’s Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, Evgeny Afineevsky
- On behalf of Sony Classics’ Julia, a profile of the culinary and TV pioneer Julia Child, which she co-directed with Betsy West, an Oscar nominee for 2018’s RBG, Julie Cohen
- On behalf of Nat Geo’s Becoming Cousteau, an exploration of the life of the trailblazing undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, an Oscar nominee for 1998’s The Farm: Angola, USA and 2015’s What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus
- On behalf of Netflix’s Procession, a depiction of the effects of drama therapy on six survivors of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, Robert Greene
- On behalf of Apple’s The Velvet Underground, a look at the titular band and the era from which it emerged, an Oscar nominee for 2002’s Far from Heaven, Todd Haynes
- On behalf of Neon’s The First Wave, a view from inside a New York hospital of the terrifying first months of the COVID pandemic, an Oscar nominee for 2015’s Cartel Land, Matthew Heineman
- On behalf of Netflix’s Found, a chronicle of three girls’ journey from America, where they were raised, to China, where they were born and put up for adoption due to the one-child policy, Amanda Lipitz
- On behalf of Neon and Participant’s Flee, a story of how an Afghan refugee persevered through trauma and tragedy en route to a better life, Jonas Poher Rasmussen
- On behalf of Searchlight’s Summer of Soul, a presentation of long-buried footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival with context about why this “Black Woodstock” was so important, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
- And on behalf of NatGeo’s The Rescue, a look at the remarkable effort undertaken to save a group of boys from a flooding Thai cave in 2018, which she co-directed with Jimmy Chin, an Oscar winner for 2019’s Free Solo, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Over the seven prior years of this panel, the Docs to Watch Panel has hosted the filmmakers of 14 of the 35 eventual best documentary feature Oscar nominees — Finding Vivian Maier in 2014; Amy, Cartel Land, What Happened, Miss Simone? and Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom in 2015; O.J.: Made in America and Life, Animated in 2016; Icarus and Strong Island in 2017; Free Solo and RBG in 2018; American Factory and The Cave in 2019; and Crip Camp and Time in 2020 — five of which went on to win the Oscar in their respective years: Amy, O.J.: Made in America, Icarus, Free Solo and American Factory.
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