"The Padilla Case": Preselected Among Contenders for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars

December 6, 2023

The list is extensive. A total of 167 documentary feature films will be analyzed by voters from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and they will define, in just a few days, a first cut of 15 documentaries and 15 documentary shorts that continue in the race for the most important award in the film industry.

The Padilla Case, by Cuban filmmaker Pavel Giroud, appears in this first preselection, from which there will be a second round of voting from January 11 to 16, to reduce the 15 semifinalists to five nominees.

This documentary, presented in September 2022 in San Sebastián, winner of several awards including Best Documentary at Miami 2023 and at the Platino awards, is the fifth feature film – fourth as sole director – by the Cuban filmmaker based in Spain.

The proposal shows notable differences with his previous work, such as The Age of the Peseta (2006), The Companion (2015), and another music documentary co-directed with Juan Manuel Villar Betancort Playing Lecuona (2015).

"Giroud has thrown all political prudence aside," some reviews describe, and this has sparked much controversy especially among defenders of the Island's system.

The Padilla Case is constructed exclusively with archival images and sounds – interviews, testimonies, letters, photographs and audio – but the nearly four hours of self-incriminating remarks in which Cuban poet Heberto Padilla (1932-2000) publicly immolated himself on the night of April 27, 1971 holds special significance.

For its part, this long list does not include the most commercially successful non-fiction film of the year, "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," as it is not eligible due to an Academy rule that disqualifies "works that are essentially unfiltered recordings of performances."

Among the 167 non-fiction films are titles such as: "American Symphony," "20 Days in Mariupol," "Still: A Michael J. Fox Film," "The Eternal Memory," "Four Daughters," "Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project," "Kokomo City," "The Mother of All Lies" and "Stamped From the Beginning."