Must-See 2021 Oscar-Nominated Films (And Where to Watch Them)

The 93rd edition of the Academy Awards is getting closer and closer, and it has certainly been a long wait for this awards season affected by the current pandemic.

However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will maintain an in-perseon ceremony at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on April 25, with some updates. It will be the first face-to-face awards ceremony since the pandemic started and we hope that the Hollywood glamour we long for will return. With the Oscars just days away, check out all the must-watch films that are up for nominations this year.

This docmentary revolves around a summer camp near Woodstock, New York, for disabled adolescents where a revolution emerges that transforms their lives and promotes an emblematic movement that sows a new path towards equality in the 1970s. Crip Camp is produced by Barack and Michelle Obama and has a nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film.

The Midnight Sky is a sci-fi film based on the novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton in which the protagonist Augustine (George Clooney), a lonely scientist in the Arctic, tries to contact a spaceship attempting to return to Earth in a time when the planet is no longer habitable for humanity. This project is nominated for Best Visual Effects.

An emotional Chilean documentary directed by Maite Alberdi, the film depicts life in a nursing home with brutal honesty. The movie presents an 83-year-old widower on an undercover mission that leads him to infiltrate a home for the elderly in order to see the conditions in which they live. The documentary is made as a beautiful account of their lives that in the end leaves a feeling similar to fiction. The film is the only representative of Latin America in this edition of the Oscars and is nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film.

The feature film directed by Aaron Sorkin revolves around a peaceful protest that turned to a violent confrontation with the police. The Best Picture nominee offers a glimpse of a historic trial in the United States against opposition groups from the Vietnam War in 1968.

The organizers of the protest formed a peculiar group that included Abbie Hoffman, played by Sacha Baron Cohen, nominated for Best Actor, who faced a charge of conspiracy to incite a riot, which resulted in one of the most notorious trials of the story. In total, The Trial of the Chiaco 7 has six nominations including Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Original Song for "Hear My Voice."

Written by and starring Will Ferrell alongside Rachel McAdams  Pierce Brosnan, and Demi Lovato, this comedy follows the story of two Icelandic singers who dream of participating in Eurovision, the famous international music competition. The film has a nomination for Best Original Song for "Husavik."

Pieces of a Woman is a powerful drama that revolves around a Boston couple, Sean (Shia LaBeouf) and Martha, played by Vanesa Kirby, who has a Best Actress nomination. The story explores the consequences of a failed pregnancy and the subsequent loss. Kirby's performance shows the struggle to overcome the pain of the loss and the complications that it brings with her partner and mother.

An ex-marine and Yale student receives a call that takes him back to his hometown in Ohio, where he encounters a family crisis and must reflect on three dysfunctional generations and his own future. Starring Amy Adams and Best Supporting Actress nominee Glenn Close, this incredible film also has a nomination for Best Makeup and Hair.

Set in 1927, the film narrates the tense situation during a recording session in which differences arise between the so-called Mother of Blues, Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), and her band as they record a new record in a Chicago studio. Trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman), who wants more prominence on the music scene and brings a more contemporary twist to the group, finds himself in a struggle of power and will when it comes to musical decisions.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom gives us a brilliant performance by both actors and considering that it is the last of Boseman, nominated for Best Actor, it is essential to see it this awards season. With rhythm and elegance worthy of a blues ballad, the film has five nominations including Best Actress, Best Production Design, Best Costume, and Best Makeup and Hair .

This film marks the great return of Sophia Loren to the screen. With the Italian coast as the stage, the actress plays a Holocaust survivor who takes in Momo, a resentful street boy who has stolen from her. The two, lonely by nature, form an inseparable and moving bond. The film has a nomination for Best Original Song "Lo sì," by Laura Pausini.

A drama set in 1930s Hollywood, Mank presents a view from the cynical and acid gaze of legendary screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he writes Citizen Kane for Orson Wells, an actor and playwright about to make his film directorial debut .

Directed by David Fincher, nominated for Best Director, the film is based on a script written by his late father, making it a very dear project for him. It stars Gary Oldman, nominated for Best Actor, and Amanda Seyfried, nominated for Best Supporting Actress. It also has seven other nominations including Best Film, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Costume, Best Makeup and Hair, Best Soundtrack, and Best Sound .

Nominated for Best Animated Film, Over the Moon is built around the story of the Chinese goddess of the Moon, Chang'e, and results in a very colorful musical adventure that follows Fei Fei, a girl who, inspired by the memory of her mother, builds a rocket to prove that the goddess of the Moon really exists. The extrememly colorful imagery and honor of Asian culture makes it a key choice for family entertainment that anyone can enjoy.

In this documentary by filmmaker Craig Foster we see how the director establishes an unexpected friendship with an octopus that inhabits the magical underwater world of the kelp forest near his hometown of Cape Town, South Africa. For almost a decade, Foster was in retirement trying to connect with his roots by diving daily, and that was how he met the octopus that would become his teacher, showing him the mysteries of the aquatic world. The film was captured over eight years and has earned a nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film.

The Western follows the story of Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), who is dedicated to traveling from city to city reading the news after the end of the American Civil War. When he meets an orphaned girl raised by the Kiowa tribe, he decides to give her a home. The film received four Academy Award nominations: Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound.

The emotional short film, nominated for Best Animated Short, tells the story of a married couple trying to deal with the emotional void caused by the death of their daughter who was killed in a shooting at her school. The short has positioned itself in the list of most viewed titles on the platform, moving everyone with a fictional 12-minute story full of real emotion.

Based on the hit novel of the same name, The White Tiger chronicles the rise of a poor villager to a successful businessman in modern India. Filled with dark humor, the comical story of ambitious chauffeur Balram Halwai, who starts working for a married couple just arrived from the United States, has been nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film, nominated for Best Documentary Short, chronicles the last moments of Latasha Harlins, whose death was a catalyst for the 1992 California protests and calls for justice for Black Americans. Directed by Sophia Nahli Allison, the film includes stories and memories from her best friend and cousin.

Directed by Spike Lee, Da 5 Bloods takes us through the story of five African American veterans who return to Vietnam decades after the war in search of the remains of their leader and a treasure they hid. Together they face natural and human obstacles and realize the ravages caused by the immorality of the Vietnam War and exalt the importance of African American soldiers. The war drama is nominated for Best Score.

It took 14 years for Sacha Baron Cohen to reprise his role as the fourth best journalist from Kazakhstan. This time, he returns to the United States with a diplomatic mission and is joined by his daughter, played by Maria Bakalova, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The comedy, filmed almost in secret due to the iconic and renowned character Borat, is directed by Jason Woliner. It also has a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Sound of Metal chronicles the moment when the drummer of a metal band, Ruben, played by Best Actor nominee Riz Ahmed, discovers that he is going deaf. Ruben must adapt to his condition, and must choose between his new normal and his previous life. The drama has garnered six nominations including Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound.

Directed by Garret Bradley, this documentary tells an intimate love story filmed over two decades. Centered on Fox Rich, entrepreneur, writer, and mother of six who has spent the last 21 years of her life fighting for her husband, who is serving a 60-year sentence for a crime they both committed, to get his freedom. Rich and her children do everything possible to make their story known to the media, declaring how hard it has been growing up without their father through home videos, resulting in a documentary where there is hope of getting back together. The film is nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film.

The film revolves around Cassius Clay's victory over Sonny Liston in 1964, when the boxer meets several African-American icons including the activist leader Malcom X, the singer Sam Cooke, played by Leslie Odom Jr., nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and the athlete Jim Brown.

At that meeting, they exchange views on segregation in the American South and their roles in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. This fictional account of what might have been on that epic night in Miami, directed by the up-and-coming Regina King, garnered nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Song for "Speak Now."

A naval film set in 1942 during the early days of the United States' involvement in World War II, the story revolves around an international convoy of 37 Allied ships, led by Commander Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks), crossing the North Atlantic while being pursued by German submarines. The film, in addition to starring Hanks, has a script written by himself and received a nomination for Best Sound.

A beautiful film with an important message about the protection of nature and female empowerment comes to the streaming platform thanks to Cartoon Saloon, a small Irish animation studio. The Best Animated Film nominee is inspired by Irish mythology and folklore and is a beautiful animation masterpiece.