Looking Ahead to the Best Documentary Winner at the 2027 Oscars

Zachary Roberts Published 04/11/2026

You Can See Everything for Best Documentary

Best Documentary is a category that most casual moviegoers aren’t familiar with at the Oscars, but that might change this year. Documentaries rarely break into the mainstream, though You Can See Everything has done more than that. Plenty of people are even calling it the movie of the year and it has a chance to earn the first-ever Best Picture nomination for a documentary. Some are even saying it should win the award over The Odyssey, La Bola Negra, and other favorites.

So, does that mean You Can See Everything is also favored to win Best Documentary?

Best Documentary favorite at Oscars

Currently, You Can See Everything is not the most likely movie to be nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars. That honor likely goes to NAZA. Now, the movie prediction market for this is not about which one will win, but rather how likely it is that a certain documentary will get a nomination.

And for now, NAZA has an impressive 96% chance of earning a nomination. That’s by far the best mark. You Can See Everything, which is honestly a surprise second place, is sitting at 79%. Once Upon a Time in Harlem is at 74%, and American Doctor is at 64%. Those are the early candidates.

Photo via Polymarket

The favorite, though, according to a different prediction market on Polymarket, is You Can See Everything. It’s not close — right now, it has a 63% chance of winning. NAZA is at 24%, and everything else is at 4% or lower. It’s a two-horse race, and You Can See Everything appears to be pulling away out front.

Why the discrepancy?

If You Can See Everything is the most likely to win the award, why isn’t it the most likely to get a nomination, too? This is a fascinating discrepancy, and there’s no simple answer. You Can See Everything kind of transcends the documentary genre and takes creative routes along the way. It sometimes functions as a documentary and other times veers into biopic territory.

The categories at the Oscars are never that strict, and there are always some cases of “category fraud,” so it’s unlikely that You Can See Everything would be deemed ineligible. But perhaps A24 decides to campaign it more for Best Picture than Best Documentary; that’s certainly plausible.

☑️ My View

If You Can See Everything is nominated for Best Documentary, which is likely, it should absolutely win. We’re talking about whether or not it can win Best Picture. This is rare and unprecedented for a documentary, but to me, not winning Best Documentary would be a crime against film.

It simply is that good and people are not exaggerating in calling it the best documentary of all time. It transcends the genre in a way that is unrepeatable, and it just has to be rewarded for everything it is doing for the medium. I’m not yet on board with it winning Best Picture, but Best Documentary shouldn’t even be a question.

Cover image via IMDb

Zachary Roberts

About Zachary Roberts

Zachary Roberts is an avid gamer and writer that loves to merge those things. He’s been featured on VideoGamer, ComicBook, New Leaf, Esports.net, and Sportskeeda as well as the On SI network of Sports Illustrated and Sporting News.

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