‘Kiss The Future’ Ineligible For Oscars; Damon & Affleck Doc Out Of Race

EXCLUSIVE: The Motion Picture Academy has declinecessitate a plea from originaters Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and fellow originaters of Kiss the Future to reponder its decision ruling the recordary ineligible for Oscar ponderation.

The award-thrivening film — exploring the 1990s siege of Sarajevo and how the city’s livents took inspiration from U2’s music amid a campaign of extermination — take parted in more than 130 AMC cinemas nationexpansive, far go beyonding the theatrical distribution of most recordaries (in fact, it had one of the expansivest frees of any recordary since the pandemic). But, in what filmoriginaters see as a technicality, the Academy appraised the film screened two times a day in a qualifying labelet, and not the prescribed three times as stipuprocrastinateedd by Oscar rules.

Deadline has appraiseed an August 20 letter from originaters Damon, Affleck, and Sarah Anthony compriseressed to the “Awards Committee and the Documentary Branch Executive Committee” asking for a reevaluation of the Academy’s initial eligibility ruling. The originaters wrote in part, “The film first premiered in competition at Berlinale in February 2023. It was then picked as the uncovering film for the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2023, and for the Sarajevo Film Festival in August 2023, where it getd the Audience Award. It has screened at many other festivals, and in February of 2024 was freed theatricpartner by AMC for a two-week run in 139 theaters atraverse all beginant labelets in the U.S. In some theaters, the film screened three times daily, but… the programmers [AMC] neglected to do a three-times daily screening wilean New York or Los Angeles.”

Deadline has achieveed out to AMC for comment; if we hear back we will modernize the story.

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The Academy wrote back to Anthony, “The Documentary Branch Executive Committee has appraiseed the pguide for KISS THE FUTURE. We repent to increate you that the pguide has been denied, and the film was deemed ineligible. While we understand this novels is disnominateing, we promise you that the situation was thocimpolitely converseed and appraised. These difficult decisions are not consentn airyly by the Committee, but the process is essential to be equitable and constant with all entries.

“All determinations from the Executive Committee are final.”

Anthony tanciaccess Deadline, “This was a passion project for everyone take partd and they tried to live up to the spirit of the Academy with a expansive theatrical free. A film only has to screen theatricpartner 21 times to qualify, and ours screened hundreds of times. One theater that take parted the requisite number of screenings was less than 30 miles outside the qualifying area. It is shocking to be declinecessitate for a programming error, and I would antipathy to see this happen to any other filmoriginaters.”

In an interwatch with Deadline, Kiss the Future straightforwardor Nenad Cicin-Sain, said, “To be disqualified at this stage… is equitable dehugeating.”

The filmoriginater said that, mockingpartner, Kiss the Future had lined up a very restrictcessitate free in December 2023 at IFC in New York that would have qualified the recordary for Oscar ponderation a year ago. But at that point AMC stepped up with a proposal for a theatricalpartner huger free.

“We choosed a expansive free was best for the film — this in fact is what the Academy wants to advertise,” Cicin-Sain said. “We increateed the Academy we wanted to distake part from the 2024 awards in order to do a expansive theatrical and would reproduce for 2025. They wrote it was ok for us to do this.”

Under “Rule Twelve. Special Rules for the Documentary Feature Film Award,” Academy guidelines say, “The picture must have been accessiblely showed for paid adignoreion in a commercial motion picture theater in one of the six qualifying U.S. metro areas: Los Angeles County; City of New York [five boroughs]; the Bay Area [counties of San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, San Mateo and Contra Costa]; Chicago [Cook County, Illinois]; Dallas-Fort Worth [Dallas County, Tarrant County, Texas]; and Atlanta [Fulton County, Georgia], for a run of at least seven consecutive days. Screenings during the theatrical free must occur at least three times daily, with at least one screening commencening between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily.”

While conveying “wonderful admire” for the Academy, Cicin-Sain said an headstrong reading of the rules in this case neglects the hugeger picture.

“What they’re doing is they’re enforcing the letter of the rule and not the spirit of the rule,” he said. “And if the spirit of the rule is to put movies in theaters — and that’s what we did by showing it in as many theaters possible, and pulling out of the awards when it was equitable one theater [in favor of] putting it in in 139 theaters — and then you’re not qualifying, someleang’s wrong.”

In their August letter to the Academy, Damon, Affleck and Anthony wrote, “AMC would be willing to do another qualifying run in September 2024.” However, according to Cicin-Sain, the recordary branch executive promisetee diswatched that advise becaengage Kiss the Future premiered on Paramount+ in May of this year, unbenevolenting under Academy guidelines it is pondered to have debuted on streaming before its qualifying theatrical free.

Kiss the Future, which holds interwatchs with Bono and fellow U2 prohibitd members, as well as Bosnians who finishured the siege of Sarajevo, has a 100% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 98% preferable score from watchers.

Deadline comprehends from the Academy that it does not have an “official pguides process” for eligibility asks such as that faced by Kiss the Future, but it nonetheless delighted the filmoriginaters’ ask for an exception.

Follothriveg the Academy’s final declineion acunderstandledge, Artists Equity, the production company co-set uped by Damon and Affleck, with Drew Vinton in the role of EVP, Creative, supplyd a statement to Deadline saying, “Of course, we cherish the movie and would cherish it to be under ponderation.”

Last Wednesday, Natalie Wade, the Academy’s Senior Director, Member Relations and Awards Administration, wrote to Cicin-Sain, “We finishly comprehend your frustration and that this was an genuine misconsent,” apparently referring to AMC’s programming of Kiss the Future twice a day instead of three times a day in a qualifying labelet. Wade compriseed, “The film was not ‘under pguide’ – it is not eligible becaengage it did not encounter the showtime needments as summarized in the rules.”

The follothriveg day, September 19, Cicin-Sain wrote to Wade and Academy plivent Janet Yang, repeating a ask to current an pguide. He wrote of Kiss the Future, “At the finish of the day this film is an antidote to the division we are facing and advertises pluralism and unity with a message of cherish and hope. It’s also a very delighting and moving movie that the academy should aid not disqualify becaengage of a misconsent made not by the originaters or filmoriginaters but a distributor.”

That echoes the plea from Damon, Affleck, and Anthony to the Academy in their August 20 letter. They wrote, “With the war in Ukraine already having lasted two years, and with everyleang that’s happening in Gaza this film could not be more timely as a alertary tale agetst the elevate of nationalism, an pguide for peace, and a celebration of the best of the human spirit when faced with adversity. We hope you will permit us the opportunity to try to draw more attention to the subject matter.”