From this list of fifteen films, five will be selected by all voting members of the Academy's Documentaries Branch for actual nomination for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar.
For 2012, the selection committee chose the fifteen films on the shortlist from 124 films that met the Academy's requirements for Oscars eligibility.
The documentaries nominations -- five from this features shortlist, and five from the documentary shorts shortlist -- will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 AM PST in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network.
The 2012 Documentaries Shortlist
- Battle for Brooklyn - Directors: Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley
- Bill Cunningham New York - Director: Richard Press
- Buck - Director: Cindy Meehl
- Hell and Back Again - Director: Darfang Dennis
- If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front - Director: Marshall Curry
- Jane's Journey - Director: Lorenz Knauer
- The Loving Story - Director: Nancy Buirski
- Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory - Directors: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
- Pina - Director: Wim Wenders
- Project Nim - Director: James Marsh
- Semper Fi: Always Faithful - Directors: Tony Hardmon and Rachel Libert
- Sing Your Song - Director: Susanne Rostock
- Undefeated - Directors: Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin
- Under Fire: Journalists in Combat - Director: Martyn Burke
- We Were Here - Directors: David Weissman and Bill Weber
