For documentaries at Sundance, Oscar nominations (and wins) often follow

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PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The Sundance Film Festival welcomed back three Oscar-winning documentary filmmakers to help kick off the annual independent film showcase in Park City, Utah.

On Thursday night at The Ray Theater, “20 Days in Mariupol” filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, who won the Oscar last year, debuted his latest dispatch from Ukraine, “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a harrowing journey to the front lines of a 2023 counteroffensive. A few hours later, at the Eccles, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who won an Oscar for “Summer of Soul” in 2022, unveiled his Sly Stone portrait, “SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genuis).” Earlier, “One Day in September” filmmaker Kevin MacDonald also showcased his film “One to One: John & Yoko,” which debuted last year at the Venice Film Festival and will get an IMAX release on April 11 before hitting Max later this year.

Some critics reflected that “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a joint production between The Associated Press and PBS Frontline, was even more powerful than “20 Days in Mariupol.” “SLY LIVES!” (on Hulu Feb. 13) was called “sublime” and “illuminating” in its examination of an underappreciated, shapeshifting genius.

“I’ve been coming here since 2000 and I thought the coolest thing you could do would be to DJ an after party,” Thompson said before the screening. “I never dreamt this for my future, so this is really humbling.”

It was a full-circle end to a day that began with a slate of documentary Oscar nominations all connected to the Sundance Institute in some way. Some were supported by the Institute, some debuted at the festival as recently as last year.

“Black Box Diaries,” in which a Japanese filmmaker investigates her own sexual assault, had its premiere in Park City last year and was supported by the Institute’s doc film program. “No Other Land,” made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, was also supported by the film fund. “Porcelain War,” about Ukrainian artists in wartime, debuted at the festival in 2024, where it won the grand jury prize. “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” about the assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba in 1961, also launched last year and won a special jury prize. And, finally, “Sugarcane,” a 2024 festival premiere investing abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school, was supported by a Sundance grant.

“It’s really special,” said Basil Tsiokos, a Sundance senior programmer. “It does speak to what Sundance brings to the artistic community and to the support that we show to artists out there.”

On Friday night, “Sugarcane” filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie are also being given an award at the Institute’s fundraising gala. Newly anointed Oscar nominees James Mangold and Cynthia Erivo are also being honored.

It’s not lost on those who program for the festival and run the artists programs how crucial that initial support can be for someone trying to make a documentary.

“The funding landscape is challenging, particularly in the nonfiction space,” Tsiokos said. “Getting early support from the artists programs, from the documentary feature programs is sort of a stamp of approval, of encouragement that helps other funders come in later on to take a seed of an idea and bring it into fruition.”

The Oscars and Sundance have long been connected, especially in the documentary space. For the past 25 years, there has been at least one Sundance movie every year that goes on to get an Oscar nomination. Some that have won the statuette include “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Man on Wire,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” “20 Feet From Stardom,” “Icarus,” “American Factory” and “Navalny.”

“We just provide a space for the films,” Tsiokos said. “The films are from the artists. They’re the ones with the vision to make these films possible. We provide them a platform to be able to meet their audiences. That’s quite an important role that we take very seriously.”

This year, the festival has about 40 feature documentaries premiering across sections on everything from Marlee Matlin and Selena Quintanilla, to one about Nairobi women transforming a formerly whites-only library into a cultural hub, to another on Florida’s stand-your-ground laws. While it’s difficult to project what might be in the Oscar race next year, Tsiokos has observed one trend that might help audiences pick and choose.

“The influence of the international voters is growing. In the last couple of years especially, most of the nominees for the Oscar race tend to be international titles,” Tsiokos said. “I would tell people to make sure to check out the World Cinema Documentary Competition. There are some real gems.”

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