Ben Affleck, Matt Damon's documentary 'Kiss The Future' ruled 'ineligible'

A new documentary produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon is said to be getting ruled ineligible to compete for Best Documentary at the upcoming Oscars.

The film, Kiss the Future, screened in 139 AMC Theatres cinemas nationwide, including several Oscar-qualifying markets like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Atlanta.

However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences documentary branch claimed that the film played only two times per day throughout the run, and not three times a day which is listed in the Oscar rules.

According to Deadline, Affleck, Damon and fellow producer Sarah Anthony filed an appeal to the Academy, and it was rejected.

Now the film's director, Nenad Cicin-Sain is arguing that the Academy should honor the rules, which technically shouldn't exclude the film.

As per Daily Mail, after the original story ran on Monday, many noted that there was nothing in the rules that stated the film had to play on just one single screen in a qualifying market.

Moreover, Cicin-Sain wrote to the Academy, "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. 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.”

Additionally, the director added, “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.”

Furthermore, as per the publication, Sain stated that the rulebook they were provided with, which the filmmakers claim was for the 96th Oscars, includes no mention of a documentary needing to play in one single location three times a day.

However, the Academy claimed a rule was added for the upcoming 97tth Academy Awards, which stated, “the seven consecutive days of the theatrical release are required to occur in one venue.”

It is worth mentioning that the Academy has yet to indicate why this new rule was added that would narrow, not broaden, the qualification, since most qualifying documentaries get a token one-theater a.k.a. “four wall” release, as per the outlet.