Last year, 169 films were eligible for the best documentary feature Oscar. Not even the most diligent members of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saw anywhere near that many before casting their ballots to determine the shortlist of 15 finalists or the five eventual Oscar nominees. There are just not enough hours in the day.

The goal of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival ‘s Docs to Watch Panel, which has been presented by The Hollywood Reporter and hosted by yours truly since 2014, has always been to highlight 10 of the year’s doc features that are truly outstanding and worthy of attention. And it seems like the doc branch is paying attention: over the past 11 years, 24 docs that were represented on the panel went on to Oscar noms (of a possible

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