New Developments In Matt Damon, Ben Affleck Doc Oscar Controversy

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 (read it here).

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 play at least three times a day over a consecutive seven-day period in one of the qualifying U.S. metro areas. These cities include Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

“KISS THE FUTURE played in all those markets for two weeks and far exceeded the minimum requirement of screenings per day (more than 3 times a day).”

Cicin-Sain continued in his email to Wade, “The rulebook you provided specifies that a film must play **three times daily** in a qualifying city, but it **does not explicitly state** that these screenings must all occur in the *same theater* within the qualifying city… Can you please provide where it says ‘3 times a day in the same theater?’”

The dispute may come down to which rulebook applies. Under the rules for the 96^th Academy Awards (governing documentaries released in 2023), no mention is made of a documentary needing to play in a single location three times a day. Kiss the Future filmmakers say this is the rulebook the Academy pointed them to, and the one that came up for them in internet searches. Sources with the Academy, however, say a rule was added for the 97^th Academy Awards (governing documentaries released in 2024) that states, “The seven consecutive days of the theatrical release are required to occur in one venue.”

There is no indication from the Academy why it would introduce such a narrow parameter for the 97^th Oscars. And the existence or non-existence of that rule does not speak to the filmmakers’ larger argument — that if the Academy’s goal is to get people to watch films in theaters, Kiss the Future more than met the mark. Most qualifying documentaries only receive a token “four wall” release, but KTF got what amounts to a wide release for a nonfiction film.

“What they’re doing is they’re enforcing the letter of the rule and not the spirit of the rule,” Cicin-Sain told Deadline Monday. “And if the spirit of the rule is to put movies in theaters — and that’s what we did by exhibiting it in as many theaters possible… and then you’re not qualifying, something’s wrong.”

Kiss the Future, which tells the storiy of the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s and how U2’s music helped inspire the city’s beleaguered residents, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2023 and held its U.S. premiere at Tribeca Festival. It was nominated for the Cinema for Peace Award and won the Audience Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Cicin-Sain, in an interview with Deadline on Tuesday, said he’s been heartened by the response to the story of Kiss the Future’s effort to preserve its shot at Oscar recognition.

“Just tremendous support,” he said, “just tremendous support from so many people in the industry and the general public.”