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As usual, the five nominees in the fiercely competitive Best Documentary Oscar category are comprised of high-profile hits and festival award-winners with the right combination of accessibility, artful filmmaking, and gravitas. However, this year’s race was marked by outside factors that included #OscarsSoWhite and the election of President Donald Trump. (Of note: Filmmakers of color directed four of the five nominated feature documentaries.)

Here’s how the documentary race shakes out:

“O.J.: Made in America” (Ezra Edelman, Espn, May 20)

Scoring great reviews at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival was Ezra Edelman’s five-part movie “O.J.: Made in America,” an exhaustive, eye-opening examination of O.J. Simpson and race relations in Los Angeles from the ’60s through the Trial of the Century and beyond.

The movie swept through awards groups: it won three Cinema Eye Honors awards, took home the Ida for Best Feature, the Gotham, the National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics,...

As usual, the five nominees in the fiercely competitive Best Documentary Oscar category are comprised of high-profile hits and festival award-winners with the right combination of accessibility, artful filmmaking, and gravitas. However, this year’s race was marked by outside factors that included #OscarsSoWhite and the election of President Donald Trump. (Of note: Filmmakers of color directed four of the five nominated feature documentaries.)

Here’s how the documentary race shakes out:

“O.J.: Made in America” (Ezra Edelman, Espn, May 20)

Scoring great reviews at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival was Ezra Edelman’s five-part movie “O.J.: Made in America,” an exhaustive, eye-opening examination of O.J. Simpson and race relations in Los Angeles from the ’60s through the Trial of the Century and beyond.

The movie swept through awards groups: it won three Cinema Eye Honors awards, took home the Ida for Best Feature, the Gotham, the National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics,...

Unsurprising surprises dominated this morning’s Producers Guild of America documentary nominees. While the PGA’s feature nominees often align with Oscar contenders, that’s often untrue for the documentaries. In 2014, the PGA nominated “The Green Prince,” “Life Itself,” “Merchants of Doubt,” “Virunga, and “Particle Fever;” only “Virunga made the final Oscar five. (The winner was Laura Poitras’ “Citizenfour.)

Last year, the PGA did select eventual Oscar nominees “Amy” (which won the Oscar) and “The Look of Silence,” but also chose “The Hunting Ground” and “Meru,” both of which made the Oscar shortlist of 15; PGA selection”Something Better to Come” didn’t even make that cut.

Today, the committee of some 30 or more PGA documentary producers nominated two anticipated films in Roger Ross Williams’ “Life, Animated” (The Orchard/A & E) and Ezra Edelman’s “O.J.: Made in America” (Espn Films). Both were much-lauded Sundance hits and made the Doc NYC Shortlist.

Unsurprising surprises dominated this morning’s Producers Guild of America documentary nominees. While the PGA’s feature nominees often align with Oscar contenders, that’s often untrue for the documentaries. In 2014, the PGA nominated “The Green Prince,” “Life Itself,” “Merchants of Doubt,” “Virunga, and “Particle Fever;” only “Virunga made the final Oscar five. (The winner was Laura Poitras’ “Citizenfour.)

Last year, the PGA did select eventual Oscar nominees “Amy” (which won the Oscar) and “The Look of Silence,” but also chose “The Hunting Ground” and “Meru,” both of which made the Oscar shortlist of 15; PGA selection”Something Better to Come” didn’t even make that cut.

Today, the committee of 30 PGA documentary producers nominated two anticipated films in Roger Ross Williams’ “Life, Animated” (The Orchard/A & E) and Ezra Edelman’s “O.J.: Made in America” (Espn Films). Both were much-lauded Sundance hits and made the Doc NYC Shortlist.

However, the...

Many are called, few are chosen: The number of high-quality, awards-worthy documentaries seems to grow every year, but there’s still only 15 slots on the Oscar documentary shortlist. That will be announced December 5; the final five will be revealed on nominations morning, January 24. This year, 145 features were submitted.

This is the white-knuckle portion of the final campaign stretch, as documentary filmmakers and distributors hope their movies make it onto documentary branch voters’ viewing piles before they file their final grades. Those with the advantage are high-profile established hits and festival award-winners with the right combination of engaging accessibility, artful filmmaking, and gravitas.

So what’s looking like a strong bet? It’s a diverse list in more ways than one. Here are my picks for the Top 15, which are not listed in order of likelihood.

See more ‘Amanda Knox’: Why It Took Five Years to Unravel the Story of...

Many are called, few are chosen: The number of high-quality, awards-worthy documentaries seems to grow every year, but there’s still only 15 slots on the Oscar documentary shortlist. That will be announced December 5; the final five will be revealed on nominations morning, January 24. This year, 145 features were submitted.

This is the white-knuckle portion of the final campaign stretch, as documentary filmmakers and distributors hope their movies make it onto documentary branch voters’ viewing piles before they file their final grades. Those with the advantage are high-profile established hits and festival award-winners with the right combination of engaging accessibility, artful filmmaking, and gravitas.

So what’s looking like a strong bet? It’s a diverse list in more ways than one. Here are my picks for the Top 15, which are not listed in order of likelihood.

See more ‘Amanda Knox’: Why It Took Five Years to Unravel the Story of...

Owen Suskind, the star of “Life, Animated,” is one of the more fascinating and endearing documentary subjects you will come across. Owen, who is autistic, was unable to speak as a child until he and his family discovered an unique way to communicate by immersing themselves in the world of classic Disney animated films. It’s a story that was captured in a book written by Owen’s father Ron, who is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

When director Roger Ross Williams met the Suskinds he was instantly drawn to the family, but he wasn’t interested in making a documentary that looked backwards and retold their amazing story. Williams wanted to find a way to use the tools of cinema to bring the audience into Owen’s world and allow viewers to relate to him on a very human and emotional level. IndieWire recently interviewed Williams about this process of...