

Posted: Tuesday, December 6, 2016 – 12:15
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 89th Academy Awards®. One hundred forty-five films were originally submitted in the category.
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
“Cameraperson,” Big Mouth Productions
“Command and Control,” American Experience Films/PBS
“The Eagle Huntress,” Stacey Reiss Productions, Kissiki Films and 19340 Productions
“Fire at Sea,” Stemal Entertainment
“Gleason,” Dear Rivers Productions, Exhibit A and IMG Films
“Hooligan Sparrow,” Little Horse Crossing the River
“I Am Not Your Negro,” Velvet Film
“The Ivory Game,” Terra Mater Film Studios and Vulcan Productions
“Life, Animated,” Motto Pictures and A&E IndieFilms
“O.J.: Made in America,” Laylow Films and ESPN Films
“13th,” Forward Movement
“Tower,” Go-Valley
“Weiner,” Edgeline Films
“The Witness,” The Witnesses Film
“Zero Days,” Jigsaw Productions
The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles.
Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.
New York Magazine (David Edelstein)
The New Yorker (Richard Brody)
NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross
Yahoo! Movies
SF Weekly (Marilyn Connolly)
Capital Times/Madison, WI (Rob Thomas)
The Ringer (K. Austin Collins)
amNewYork (Robert Levin)
The Hollywood Reporter (THR Staff)
Vogue (Julia Felsenthal)
The Playlist (Katie Walsh & The Playlist Staff)
Filmmaker Magazine (Paula Bernstein)
Indiewire (Kate Erbland)
The Boston Globe (Peter Keough)
National Post (Chris Knight)
Filmspotting (Adam Kempenaar)
Films etc. (Ted Hicks)
WOR Radio (Joe Neumaier)
*Nominated for 2 BFCA Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards*
*Best Documentary Feature*
*Best First Documentary Feature*
Film synopsis
Kitty Genovese became synonymous with apathy after news that she was stabbed to death on a New York City street while 38 witnesses did nothing.
Forty years later, her brother decides to find the truth. He uncovers a lie that transformed his life, condemned a city and defined an era.
James Solomon’s seamless documentary, “The Witness,” traces the yearslong efforts of Ms. Genovese’s younger brother Bill, who was close to Kitty, to get to the bottom of what actually happened. Read more…
This extraordinary documentary looks at one of the most infamous of all modern crime stories—the 1964 murder, in Queens, of Kitty Genovese, while her screams were reportedly ignored by dozens of neighbors—through the focus of another genre, the personal documentary. Read more…
What constitutes a big film? James Solomon’s stunning documentary was produced on a tiny fraction of a Hollywood spectacular’s budget, and its audience will be small, at least at first. Yet it topples what we’ve come to accept as a pillar of contemporary wisdom, and brings news about human nature in the process. By any sensible measure that’s big indeed. Read more…
Near the conclusion of the astonishing new true-crime documentary The Witness, William Genovese hires a woman to play his sister That sister was Kitty Genovese, and her 1964 murder outside her home in Kew Gardens, Queens, was the moment New York City’s post-war glory faded for good, ushering in a more ominous epoch. Read more…
One of the key accomplishments of this quietly revelatory documentary is that it sees the people in this tragedy as more than just convenient scapegoats or symbols. Read more…
The movie is as gripping as true-crime procedurals “Serial” and “Making a Murderer,” but with more intimacy and heartache. Read more…
The film sheds unexpected light on the myth of the apathetic bystander but doesn’t ignore the shadows that lurk behind all the dead ends. Read more…
NPR’s Scott Simon interviews James Solomon and Bill Genovese on Weekend Edition Saturday. Read more…
Kitty Genovese’s 1964 murder long symbolized urban apathy, but a new film by her brother challenges the long-held belief that nobody tried to help her. Read more…
I thought this film was impeccably done. It was not only a tragedy, but a love story about family who never give up and who mark their lives with the efforts of what they could do to change “it,” if they could change “it.” Read more…
The film’s title takes on a haunting irony once you realize that it refers to Bill, who was not an onlooker to Kitty’s killing, but to the world in which her name was deformed and gained its tragic legend. Read more…
A new documentary revisits Genovese’s 1964 murder and the 38 bystanders who allegedly did nothing to stop it. Critic John Powers says the film is “a useful moral corrective” to the popular narrative. Read more…
The Witness paints a picture of a complicated, magnetic woman tragically cut down in her prime. But the film, as its title suggests, is largely about Kitty’s brother, left behind to bear witness… Read more…
The brother of Kitty Genovese tracks down some of the witnesses to his sister’s infamous death in an attempt to get the whole story of her life. Read more…
"Best Film of 2016"
-The New Yorker
"Best Film of 2016"
"NYT Critics' Pick."
- The New York Times
"LA Times Critics' Pick."
– Los Angeles Times
"Riveting...a big film."
- The Wall Street Journal
"The movie is as gripping as true-crime procedurals “Serial” and “Making a Murderer,” but with more intimacy and heartache."
- The Washington Post
"Extraordinary…The movie’s one reenactment—an ingenious experiment in forensics and social science—unites drama, journalism, and first-hand experience in a masterstroke of pure cinema.”
- The New Yorker
"Astonishing new true-crime documentary...unspeakably compelling."
- Newsweek
“[A] powerful movie…its greatest triumph is that for a brief time it resurrects Kitty Genovese, and lets us see her as a person.”
- RogerEbert.com
“The Witness paints a picture of a complicated, magnetic woman tragically cut down in her prime…the truth is remarkable.”
- Vogue
“A remarkably intimate attempt to reach clarity and catharsis in the Genovese saga…a physical journey through history and myth.” (A-)
- Entertainment Weekly
"The 20 Best Documentaries of 2016 So Far."
- The Playlist
"Fascinating!"
- The Guardian
“Concretely personal…highlights a human desire to reconstruct old memories, and the flawed narratives we tell ourselves in order to live with it all.”
- The Economist
“As deeply moving as it is enlightening.”
– The Hollywood Reporter
“A multi-layered nonfiction work about myth, self-deception and reclaiming life from death.”
– Variety
"'The Witness,'...feels like essential viewing at this particular moment."
– Los Angeles Times
"Urgent and important...unnerving as anything you'll find on screen this season."
– Indiewire
"Engrossing...reveals that history got this wrong."
– CNN
"A careful inquiry into the tricks memory plays, and into how ambiguous events get reshaped into narratives that fit individual and collective needs."
– NPR
"The Witness takes a heartaching deep dive into a story we already thought we knew."
– The Daily Beast
"Fascinating. Eye-opening."
– NY1
"Powerful and moving, not just another true crime serial."
– Newsday (4 out of 4 stars)
"Chilling."
– Christian Science Monitor
“Reminiscent of Chinatown.”
– VICE
“[An] engrossing new documentary.”
– Yahoo
“Over 50 years later, Kitty Genovese’s story is more revelatory than ever.”
– Gawker
“Liable to foster extensive studies on the ramifications of traumatic loss and the need to understand otherwise senseless acts.”
– CBS News.com
"I'm not giving everything away because I want people to see The Witness. I thought that it was very, very impactful, very emotional, very illuminating."
- Sirius XM POTUS Politics
"Powerful and significant...one of the most satisfying documentaries released this year"
– San Francisco Examiner
"Seek out this potentially life altering film"
– Forbes
"The best documentary I've seen this year"
– Rob Thomas, The Capital-Times
"The Witness is required viewing...the movie’s climactic final moments, results in one of the most disturbing, cathartic, primal sequences I’ve ever seen on film"
– Joyce's Choices (Joyce Kulhawik)
“A gripping, painfully personal, deeply humane documentary.”
– Brooklyn Magazine
"What begins as a riveting deep dive into a cultural flashpoint becomes... [an] always fascinating realization that ‘it’s hard to let go when you can never know the whole truth.’”
– Flavorwire
June 2016
New York, NY IFC Center
New York, NY Film Society of Lincoln Center
Sag Harbor, NY Sag Harbor Cinemas
Queens, NY Kew Gardens Cinema
Claremont, CA Laemmle Claremont 5
Columbus, OH Gateway Film Center
Houston, TX 14 Pews
Irvine, CA Edwards University Town Center 6
Pasadena, CA Laemmle Playhouse 7
Santa Fe, NM The Screen
Santa Monica, CA Laemmle Monica Film Center
Toronto, Canada Bloor Hot Docs Cinema
Winston-Salem, NC Aperture Cinema
Albuquerque, NM United Artists Ridge 8
Austin, TX Regal Cinemas Arbor 8 at Great Hills
Charlotte, NC Regal Cinemas Ballantyne Village 5
Floral Park, NY North Shore Towers Cinema
Huntington, NY Cinema Arts Centre
Knoxville, TN Regal Cinemas Downtown West 8
Pelham, NY Pelham Picture House
Portland, OR Regal Cinemas Fox Tower 10
San Diego, CA Angelika Film Center Carmel Mountain
July 2016
Santa Rosa, CASummerfield Cinema
Calgary, Canada Globe Cinema
Pleasantville, NY Jacob Burns Film Center
Sedona, AZ Harkins Theatres Shea 14
Washington, DC Angelika Pop Up
Des Moines, IA Fleur Cinema & Cafe
Rehoboth Beach, DE Cinema Art Theater
Port Jefferson, NY Port Jefferson Documentary Film Series
Lincoln, NE Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center
Lowell, MA Luna Theater
Vancouver, Canada Rio Theatre
Sedona, AZ Mary D. Fisher Theatre
Gainesville, FL Hippodrome Cinema
Victoria, Canada The Vic Theatre
Utica, NY Munson Cinema
Chicago, IL Gene Siskel Film Center
Portsmouth, NH The Music Hall
August 2016
Arlington, MA The Regent Theater
Lake Worth, FL Lake Worth Playhouse
Raleigh-Durham, NC The Carolina Theater
Tallahassee, FL Tallahassee Film Society at All Saints Cinema
Asheville, NC Grail Moviehouse
San Francisco, CA Roxie Theater
Tuscon, AZ The Loft
Chatham, NY Crandell Theatre
Nevada City, CA Nevada Theatre
Georgetown, SC Strand Cinema
Winchester, GA Alamo Drafthouse
September 2016
New Orleans, LA Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center
Hartford, CT Real Art Ways
Cleveland, OH Cinematheque at the Cleveland Institute of Art
Los Angeles, CA International Documentary Association
Chicago, IL Gene Siskel Film Center
Edmonton, Canada Metro Cinema
Bantam, CT Bantam Cinema
November 2016
Patchogue, NY The Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center
December 2016
New York, NY IFC Film Center
Los Angeles, CA Laemmle Monica Film Center
Los Angeles, CA Laemmle Music Hall
Pasadena, CA Laemmle Playhouse 7
Huntington, NY Cinema Arts Center
January 2017
New York, NY IFC Film Center
Los Angeles, CA Laemmle Monica Film Center
Pasadena, CA Laemmle Playhouse 7
New York, NY Museum of the City of New York (with the Maysles Documentary Center)
Nationwide Independent Lens, PBS
May 2016
New York, NY Stranger Than Fiction
April 2016
Dallas, TX USA Film Festival
Atlanta, GA Atlanta Film Festival Nominated, Jury Award Best Documentary Feature
Madison, WI Wisconsin Film Festival
Sarasota, FL Sarasota Film Festival Nominated for Best Documentary, Runner-up Audience Award for Best Documentary
Hong Kong Hong Kong International Film Festival Nominated, Golden Firebird Award Best Documentary Feature
New York, NY New America Foundation Podcast
March 2016
Boulder, CO Boulder International Film Festival Winner, Best Documentary
Feb 2016
Missoula, MT Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
January 2016
Palm Springs, CA Palm Springs International Film Festival Best of Fest
October 2015
New York, NY New York Film Festival World Premiere
Eleven years in the making, THE WITNESS is James Solomon’s directorial debut.
As a screenwriter, Solomon is drawn to stories we think we know. Most recently, he wrote the feature film, The Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford. More…
Eleven years in the making, THE WITNESS is James Solomon’s directorial debut.
As a screenwriter, Solomon is drawn to stories we think we know. Most recently, he wrote the feature film, The Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford.
The legal thriller about the Lincoln assassination starred James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, and Tom Wilkinson. Solomon’s original screenplay received the Humanitas Prize.
Previously, Solomon was a lead writer and Executive Producer of ESPN’s critically acclaimed eight-hour mini-series, The Bronx is Burning, starring John Turturro and Oliver Platt, which, like The Witness, is about a seminal moment in New York City history.
Solomon began as a writer on several television series including Sidney Lumet’s 100 Centre Street and the Emmy Award-winning The Practice. He graduated from Harvard College and was a directing fellow at the American Film Institute before assisting directors on two Oscar-nominated films: Barry Levinson’s Avalon and Arne Glimcher’s The Mambo Kings.
Prior to working in film and television, he was a journalist based in Asia and Australia.
Solomon grew up and lives in New York City.
Bill was 16 years old at the time of his sister Kitty’s murder. Their parents, Vincent and Rachel Genovese, had five children (in order): Kitty, Vincent, Susan, Bill and Frank. Though 12 years younger, Bill and Kitty were very close. More…
Bill was 16 years old at the time of his sister Kitty’s murder. Their parents, Vincent and Rachel Genovese, had five children (in order): Kitty, Vincent, Susan, Bill and Frank. Though 12 years younger, Bill and Kitty were very close. A self-described “amateur ethologist,” Bill was until his retirement the COO to various mental health and educational organizations. He and his wife, Dale, have three children and four grandchildren.
Melissa Jacobson is the head of development for Five More Minutes Productions. In addition, she oversaw research for the film, The Conspirator, and the ESPN limited series, The Bronx is Burning. Previously, she was co-founder of a More…
Melissa Jacobson is the head of development for Five More Minutes Productions. In addition, she oversaw research for the film, The Conspirator, and the ESPN limited series, The Bronx is Burning. Previously, she was co-founder of a stock footage research company, Alternative Images, and Acquisitions Specialist at Getty Images / The Image Bank. This is her first documentary.
Gabriel Rhodes is both an editor and a filmmaker. His theatrical documentary credits include The Tillman Story, Without Shepherds, 1971 and most recently, Newtown. His work has premiered at prestigious festivals such as Sundance and Cannes and has More…
Gabriel Rhodes is both an editor and a filmmaker. His theatrical documentary credits include The Tillman Story, Without Shepherds, 1971 and most recently, Newtown. His work has premiered at prestigious festivals such as Sundance and Cannes and has been broadcast on Sundance Channel, A&E, Animal Planet, CNN, PBS and on the NPR radio show This American Life. In 2011, two of his edited films (The Tillman Story & Quest for Honor) were shortlisted for the Academy Awards. He was a fellow at the 2015 Sundance Documentary Edit & Story Lab and was awarded a fellowship from the New York State Council for the Arts in 2004. He received his Master’s Degree in Documentary Film from Stanford University in 2000.
Russell Greene is a film editor and director based in Brooklyn, NY. His feature film credits include Famous Nathan, Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League’s New York, Hungry is the Tiger, and 2B. More…
Russell Greene is a film editor and director based in Brooklyn, NY. His feature film credits include Famous Nathan, Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League’s New York, Hungry is the Tiger, and 2B. His edited films have appeared in top US and International festivals including Venice, New York, SXSW, Tribeca, IDFA, Edinburgh, and Los Angeles.
In addition to feature films, Russell has edited and directed numerous short films, commercials, web series and branded content films. They include the award-winning short film Easy Street and the acclaimed web series Made HERE about New York performing artists.
His assistant editor credits include the Academy Award-nominated Nerakhoon: The Betrayal and the Sundance award-winning Patti Smith: Dream of Life.
A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the American Film Institute, Trish Govoni has collaborated with acclaimed directors ranging from Joe Berlinger (Iconoclasts) to the iconic experimental filmmaker Godfrey Reggio (Visitors). More…
A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the American Film Institute, Trish Govoni has collaborated with acclaimed directors ranging from Joe Berlinger (Iconoclasts) to the iconic experimental filmmaker Godfrey Reggio (Visitors).
In addition to Visitors, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, Govoni’s documentary credits include The Wrecking Crew, the story of LA studio musicians; Operation Fine Girl, about the atrocities committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone; and; Pretty Old, which looks at the 30th anniversary of the Ms. Senior Sweetheart Pageant.
Her television credits include Iconoclasts for the Sundance Channel; National Geographic Explorer, Inside The DEA, directed by Tony Gerber, and numerous concerts on VH1 for artists including Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Dave Mathews, and Tom Waits. Other narrative work includes projects with directors Dito Montiel, Trudie Styler and Carol Leifer.
Nathan Halpern is a Brooklyn-based composer, recently named as one of Indiewire’s “Composers to Watch” for 2015. His film scores include Rich Hill, winner of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. More…
Nathan Halpern is a Brooklyn-based composer, recently named as one of Indiewire’s “Composers to Watch” for 2015. His film scores include Rich Hill, winner of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. He is also known for his original score for Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present (HBO Films), winner of the Emmy Award for Best Arts and Cultural Programming, the George Foster Peabody Award, The Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, and numerous additional festival awards.
Other recent film credits include The PBS documentary films Poisoner’s Handbook (currently nominated for an Emmy) and Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace, winner of the 2014 South by Southwest Grand Jury Prize. In 2013, he scored Robert Redford’s All The President’s Men Revisited (Discovery), which was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. That same year, Halpern was commissioned to create “1913,” a sound/music installation at New York City’s Lexington Armory, commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the first International Exhibition of Modern Art. Halpern made his film-scoring debut in 2011 with Renee (ESPN Films / 30 for 30).
Moth Collective is a multi-award winning animation studio formed by Daniel Chester, Dave Prosser and Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits. Established in 2010, the trio met at the Royal College of Art where they shared a collective passion for all More…
Moth Collective is a multi-award winning animation studio formed by Daniel Chester, Dave Prosser and Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits. Established in 2010, the trio met at the Royal College of Art where they shared a collective passion for all things drawn. Moth’s animations made its feature debut in Maidentrip, which won the Audience Visions Award at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival. Moth is acclaimed for its sensitive and thought provoking hand-drawn work with an emphasis on design and story.