Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s documentary Kiss The Future, which focuses on the 1990 Siege of Sarajevo, has been disqualified from the Oscar race following a screening issue. Despite showing in 139 theaters for two weeks, the film was ruled ineligible because theaters in New York and Los Angeles only screened it twice daily. The Academy denied an appeal to reverse the decision.
I really feel like the Oscars sometimes undermine themselves. Having Affleck and Damon competing for Best Documentary would draw in casual viewers who typically wouldn’t be interested, which could have been a great way to increase engagement. Given the ongoing decline in viewership, this could have provided a much-needed boost for the show.
Is there anything stopping them from re-releasing it under the Academy’s rules? Or once it was out, is it completely finished?
AMC proposed to do that, but the Academy turned it down because the film has already premiered on a streaming service (Paramount+) since then. It’s over.
This seems to highlight the conflict between the spirit of the rules and the strict interpretation of them. Given the current state of the theatrical market, perhaps there should be more flexibility, especially for a category like Documentary that has a hard time attracting viewers.
In the past five years, I’ve only seen two documentaries in theaters: Fire of Love (2022) and Apollo 11 (2019). It feels like just getting a documentary shown in more than five theaters is a significant accomplishment these days.
The Oscars have lost a lot of their relevance, and one major reason for that is the foolish “must cater to film critics” rules.