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The One Film Academy Voters Should Watch

The troubling arc of Meg Smaker’s “Jihad Rehab,” from Sundance sensation to swift cancellation, represents an alarming trend for all filmmakers. But there’s a way to make amends this week.

Director Meg Smaker
Director Meg Smaker attends the "UnRedacted" photocall during the 18th Zurich Film Festival. Photo: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images/ZFF
Matthew Belloni
December 12, 2022

We talk a lot in this space about the waning influence of the Oscars, but one area where the Academy still really matters is in the documentary space, where the winners, nominations and even the annual 15-film shortlist, for which voting begins tomorrow, can seriously elevate a topic and filmmaker. That’s why it’s so disheartening to see a non-fiction director essentially blackballed by her own community, and why it matters that the 600 member doc branch actually take a look at her film before picking their favorites.