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Waltz With Bashir, one of the most buzzed-about documentaries of the year, doesn't have a chance of winning the Oscar for Best Documentary. The assertion has nothing to do with the film's politics, its surreal blend of narrative and documentation, or its being animated. Instead, the film doesn't qualify for contention because of a controversial decision made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that requires documentaries to have a one-week qualifying run in New York by August 31st for Oscar consideration. Executives and festival veterans are crying foul and calling for the Academy to revise the rule.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "The Academy's goal -- as it has tinkered with its rules for documentary eligibility -- has been to encourage theatrical exhibition of docs with awards hopes." Under the old rules, films had be screened for one week in either Los Angeles or New York, while also securing 14 three-day bookings in at least 10 other states. This year, films are required to screen in both cities by August 31st. While this may not seem to be a hot button issue, it creates a problem with distributors who don't want to expose their film to the New York media until they begin their formal rollouts. Such a situation occurred when ThinkFilm/HBO Docs unsuccessfully tried to sneak Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired into NYC in March only to see major reviewers descend upon the film.

Another complication exists: "If a film opens in New York for a qualifying run during the first half of the year, then the prestigious New York Film Festival, which insists on screening New York premieres, won't program it." The New York Film Festival, which runs in late September, is currently screening Waltz With Bashir. Ironically, while Waltz won't be eligible, Stacy Peralta's Made in America can be considered because the filmmakers paid for a qualifying run, despite the film lacking any distribution.

Michael Apted, executive committee chair of the Academy's documentary branch, "explained that the New York requirement was part of an effort to simplify the qualifying process by reducing the number of cities involved." He claims the committee is under a lot of pressure from film festivals to make changes to the rules, but the most important thing for him is to watch every film properly.

The decision also eliminates the possibility for Waltz to become the first film to be nominated for both Best Foreign-Language Film and Best Documentary.