EXCLUSIVE: New developments in the Oscar controversy surrounding Kiss the Future , the Matt Damon – Ben Affleck documentary that the Motion Picture Academy ruled ineligible for awards consideration. As Deadline reported Monday , the Academy denied an appeal from producers Damon, Affleck and Sarah Anthony , who argued the film’s wide release – at 139 AMC cinemas including screens in the qualifying markets of Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta – should make it Oscar eligible. The documentary branch executive committee countered that Kiss the Future only played twice a day in a qualifying market, not three times a day as stipulated under Rule 12 of Oscar guidelines.
After our story posted, observers on social media commented that nothing in the rules said a film had to play on a single screen in a qualifying market; taking all the screens in qualifying markets collectively, Kiss the Future played much more than three times a day. The filmmakers investigated further and agreed with the analysis; on that basis, director Nenad Cicin-Sain wrote to the Academy Monday night stating the documentary should be judged to have properly qualified. “There is no specific rule stating that the required three daily screenings for Academy Award qualification must all occur in the same theater within a qualifying city,” Cicin-Sain wrote to Natalie Wade, the Academy’s Senior Director, Member Relations and Awards Administration.
“The rule emphasizes that the film must.