Animated, foreign-language, feature-length documentary. These are all separate categories for the Academy Awards, but they also together describe Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir, a film that has received tons of praise and Oscar buzz since premiering at Cannes last May. With such a rare combination and transcendence of genres, Waltz could possibly have been the first film to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best Foreign Language Film. Unfortunately, soon after being announced as Israel’s submission to the foreign category, Folman’s film fell out of contention for the documentary prize after its distributor, Sony Pictures Classics, had to choose between having a qualifying theatrical release and taking part in the New York Film Festival.
But even if Waltz had been deemed technically eligible for the doc category, would the nominating committee have given it much of a chance? According to the Academy’s Documentary Feature rules, the film “may employ partial re-enactment … animation … or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not fiction.” Waltz could possibly fall under this guideline, yet the word “partial” is key. Does “mostly” constitute as ‘partial”? It will be interesting to see if another mostly animated documentary, Brett Morgen’s Chicago 10, is deemed ineligible or if it makes the committee’s shortlist of 15 semi-finalists.
Now, left with two categories to be considered for, Waltz will probably only garner one nomination. Here’s why Sony would be foolish not to concentrate on a push for the Animated Feature category:
