'You Can See Everything' Chases Oscar History No Documentary Has Made

Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's "You Can See Everything" has grossed nearly $80 million at the domestic box office through its fourth weekend, and awards pundits now predict it will become the first documentary feature ever nominated for best picture. The Academy's own statistics explain why that would be unprecedented: across 98 ceremonies, feature documentaries have earned just 33 nominations outside their own category. Three won.

A24 opened the film in theaters Oct. 16 after a surprise world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in September. The studio is campaigning in 11 categories, including best picture, director, supporting actress and documentary feature. Its awards site originally listed the film in production design, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, sound and original score. An updated version has dropped production design, costume design, makeup and hairstyling, and sound. As Variety reported, Seyfried's performance is eligible for the Oscars and Critics Choice but not for BAFTA, SAG or the Golden Globes.

What does history say about its chances?

No documentary has ever been nominated for best picture or best director. The closest call came at the inaugural Oscars, when Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's "Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness" (1927), shot on location in Siam by the future makers of "King Kong," was nominated for unique and artistic picture.

Joseph T. Rucker and Willard Van Der Veer won cinematography for "With Byrd at the South Pole" (1930), the first documentary to win an Oscar — more than a decade before the Academy created a documentary category in 1942. Features and shorts competed together until the split in 1944.

The writing branch noticed nonfiction twice, and never again. Robert and Frances Flaherty's story for "Louisiana Story" (1948) and Sidney Meyers' story and screenplay for "The Quiet One" (1949), about Donald Peters, a 10-year-old Black boy from Harlem, remain the only two documentaries ever nominated for writing.

Which doors stayed open?

• Cinematography: The last documentary nominated was Virgil E. Miller's work on "Navajo" (1952); nothing since 1953.
• Sound: Closed since 1971.
• Film editing: Only Michael Wadleigh's "Woodstock" (1970), with Thelira Schoonmaker among its three nominations, and Steve James' "Hoop Dreams" (1994), whose documentary-category snub forced a rethink of branch voting. Nothing since 1995.
• Score: The last recognition was Gerald Fried's work on "Birds Do It, Bees Do It" (1975), more than 50 years ago. The Beatles' "Let It Be" (1970) won original song score, the era's lone score winner.

Original song is the modern side door. Twelve documentaries have earned song nominations, from "Mondo Cane" (1963) to "Viva Verdi!" (2025). Melissa Etheridge's "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006) is the only winning documentary song; Guggenheim's climate film remains the only documentary feature winner to win an Oscar in another category. Ten of the 12 song nominees came from films the documentary branch itself passed over.

International feature produced the most recent crossover runs — "Honeyland" (2019), "Collective" (2020) and "Flee" (2021), still tied with "Woodstock" for the most nominations ever by a documentary. None of the three won anything, and four ceremonies have passed without another documentary in the international lineup.

What does this change for "You Can See Everything"?

Best picture is decided by the full voting membership of more than 10,000 industry professionals, not the 719-member Documentary Branch. That cuts both ways: a film the branch might snub, as it once did "Hoop Dreams," can still find support among actors, executives and craftspeople. The film has already swept the Critics Choice Documentary Awards, winning all five categories in which it was nominated. Variety's latest predictions give it three nominations — best picture, supporting actress for Seyfried and film editing — with documentary feature notably absent.

The documentary shortlist arrives Dec. 15 after preliminary branch voting Dec. 7–11; nominations follow Jan. 21. Even one crossover nomination would rewrite the Oscar record books for A24 — and, at last, treat a documentary as a film.