Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film
The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Special Awards to Kukan and Target for Tonight. They have since been bestowed competitively each year, with the exception of 1946. Copies of every winning film are held by the Academy Film Archive.
Winners and nominees
Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year. In practice, due to the limited nature of documentary distribution, a film may be released in different years in different venues, sometimes years after production is complete.1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
| Year | Film | Nominees |
| 1980 | From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China | Murray Lerner |
| 1980 | Agee | Ross Spears |
| 1980 | The Day After Trinity | Jon H. Else |
| 1980 | Front Line | David Bradbury |
| 1980 | The Yellow Star: The Persecution of the Jews in Europe 1933-45 | Bengt von zur Mühlen and Arthur Cohn |
| 1981 | Genocide | Arnold Schwartzman and Rabbi Marvin Hier |
| 1981 | Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey | Suzanne Bauman, Paul Neshamkin and Jim Burroughs |
| 1981 | Brooklyn Bridge | Ken Burns |
| 1981 | Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott | Mary Benjamin, Susanne Simpson and Boyd Estus |
| 1981 | El Salvador: Another Vietnam | Glenn Silber and Tete Vasconcellos |
| 1982 | Just Another Missing Kid | John Zaritsky |
| 1982 | After the Axe | Sturla Gunnarsson and Steve Lucas |
| 1982 | Ben's Mill | John Karol and Michel Chalufour |
| 1982 | In Our Water | Meg Switzgable |
| 1982 | A Portrait of Giselle | Joseph Wishy |
| 1983 | He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' | Emile Ardolino |
| 1983 | Children of Darkness | Richard Kotuk and Ara Chekmayan |
| 1983 | First Contact | Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson |
| 1983 | The Profession of Arms | Michael Bryans and Tina Viljoen |
| 1983 | Seeing Red | James Klein and Julia Reichert |
| 1984 | The Times of Harvey Milk | Rob Epstein and Richard Schmiechen |
| 1984 | High Schools | Charles Guggenheim and Nancy Sloss |
| 1984 | In the Name of the People | Alex W. Drehsler and Frank Christopher |
| 1984 | Marlene | Karel Dirka and Zev Braun |
| 1984 | Streetwise | Cheryl McCall |
| 1985 | Broken Rainbow | Maria Florio and Victoria Mudd |
| 1985 | Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo | Susana Blaustein Muñoz and Lourdes Portillo |
| 1985 | Soldiers in Hiding | Japhet Asher |
| 1985 | The Statue of Liberty | Ken Burns and Buddy Squires |
| 1985 | Unfinished Business | Steven Okazaki |
| 1986 | Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got | Brigitte Berman |
| 1986 | Down and Out in America | Joseph Feury and Milton Justice |
| 1986 | Chile: Hasta Cuando? | David Bradbury |
| 1986 | Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer | Kirk Simon and Amram Nowak |
| 1986 | Witness to Apartheid | |
| 1987 | The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table | Aviva Slesin |
| 1987 | Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years/Bridge to Freedom 1965 | Callie Crossley and James A. DeVinney |
| 1987 | Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima | John Junkerman and John W. Dower |
| 1987 | Radio Bikini | Robert Stone |
| 1987 | A Stitch for Time | Barbara Herbich and Cyril Christo |
| 1988 | Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie | Marcel Ophüls |
| 1988 | The Cry of Reason – Beyers Naudé: An Afrikaner Speaks Out | Robert Bilheimer and Ronald Mix |
| 1988 | Let's Get Lost | Bruce Weber and Nan Bush |
| 1988 | Promises to Keep | Ginny Durrin |
| 1988 | Who Killed Vincent Chin? | Renee Tajima-Peña and Christine Choy |
| 1989 | Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt | Rob Epstein and Bill Couturié |
| 1989 | Adam Clayton Powell | Richard Kilberg and Yvonne Smith |
| 1989 | Crack USA: County Under Siege | Vince DiPersio and William Guttentag |
| 1989 | For All Mankind | Al Reinert and Betsy Broyles Breier |
| 1989 | Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren | Judith Leonard and |
1990s
| Year | Film | Nominees |
| 1990 | American Dream | Barbara Kopple and Arthur Cohn |
| 1990 | Berkeley in the Sixties | Mark Kitchell |
| 1990 | Building Bombs | Mark Mori and Susan Robinson |
| 1990 | Forever Activists: Stories from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade | Judith Montell |
| 1990 | Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey | Robert Hillmann and Eugene Corr |
| 1991 | In the Shadow of the Stars | Allie Light and Irving Saraf |
| 1991 | Death on the Job | Vince DiPersio and William Guttentag |
| 1991 | Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House | Alan Raymond and Susan Raymond |
| 1991 | The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945 | Hava Kohav Beller |
| 1991 | Wild by Law | Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey |
| 1992 | The Panama Deception | Barbara Trent and David Kasper |
| 1992 | Changing Our Minds: The Story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker | David Haugland |
| 1992 | Fires of Kuwait | Sally Dundas |
| 1992 | Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II | Bill Miles and Nina Rosenblum |
| 1992 | Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann | and Roma Baran |
| 1993 | I Am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School | Susan Raymond and Alan Raymond |
| 1993 | The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter | David Paperny and Arthur Ginsberg |
| 1993 | Children of Fate | Susan Todd and Andrew Young |
| 1993 | For Better or For Worse | David Collier and Betsy Thompson |
| 1993 | The War Room | D. A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus |
| 1994 | Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision | Freida Lee Mock and Terry Sanders |
| 1994 | Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter | Deborah Hoffmann |
| 1994 | D-Day Remembered | Charles Guggenheim |
| 1994 | Freedom on My Mind | Connie Field and Marilyn Mulford |
| 1994 | A Great Day in Harlem | Jean Bach |
| 1995 | Anne Frank Remembered | Jon Blair |
| 1995 | The Battle Over Citizen Kane | Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein |
| 1995 | Small Wonders | Allan Miller and Walter Scheuer |
| 1995 | Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream | Michael Tollin and Fredric Golding |
| 1995 | Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern | Jeanne Jordan and Steven Ascher |
| 1996 | When We Were Kings | Leon Gast and David Sonenberg |
| 1996 | The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story | Susan W. Dryfoos |
| 1996 | Mandela | and Angus Gibson |
| 1996 | Suzanne Farrell: Elusive Muse | Anne Belle and |
| 1996 | Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press | |
| 1997 | The Long Way Home | Marvin Hier and Richard Trank |
| 1997 | 4 Little Girls | Spike Lee and Sam Pollard |
| 1997 | Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life | Michael Paxton |
| 1997 | Colors Straight Up | Michèle Ohayon and Julia Schachter |
| 1997 | Waco: The Rules of Engagement | Dan Gifford and William Gazecki |
| 1998 | The Last Days | James Moll and Kenneth Lipper |
| 1998 | Dancemaker | Matthew Diamond and Jerry Kupfer |
| 1998 | The Farm: Angola, USA | Jonathan Stack and Liz Garbus |
| 1998 | Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth | Robert B. Weide |
| 1998 | Regret to Inform | Barbara Sonneborn and |
| 1999 | One Day in September | Arthur Cohn and Kevin Macdonald |
| 1999 | Buena Vista Social Club | Wim Wenders and |
| 1999 | Genghis Blues | Roko Belic and Adrian Belic |
| 1999 | On the Ropes | Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen |
| 1999 | Speaking in Strings | Paola di Florio and Lilibet Foster |