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On April 25, or early in the morning on April 26 here in South Africa, we’ll know who has taken home the Academy Award in each category.

This year, one of those categories is of particular interest to us, because My Octopus Teacher is among the five documentaries in the running to win Best Documentary Feature.

I’ll assume you’ve watched that gem, along with the My Kreepy Teacher parody, by this stage.

To get you in the doccie-watching mood, as we near the big day, we thought we would touch on some of the options you can currently find on Netflix.

Everyone knows about Tiger King, or Making a Murderer, which both feature on CNET’s list (they include series), so we’ve chosen five that may have flown somewhat under the radar.

To begin, there’s Challenger: The Final Flight:

This look at the explosion of NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but it is a well-produced, well-made look back at the tragic events of 1986.

The four-part docuseries came out last September:

Then there’s Who Killed Little Gregory:

Who Killed Little Gregory is a documentary focused on the horrific murder of Grégory Villemin. It’s arguably the best true crime documentary on Netflix. It’s about a murder, and attempts to solve that murder, but it’s also a lesson in media representation and the horrific sexism Grégory’s mother had to face in the wake her own son’s murder.

I watched this when it came out a few years back, and it’s definitely worth making time for:

Next up, Amanda Knox:

A lot of people have forgotten about this documentary but it’s a humdinger. Amanda Knox focuses on the famous murder Knox was accused of. But beyond that, this docu is a great examination of how media reporting can skew a case.

The story had everything that is needed to become tabloid fodder:

Should we focus on something less crime-related? For sure – here’s The Speed Cubers:

If you’re looking for a slightly more uplifting documentary, you could do far worse than The Speed Cubers, a look at the world of competitive Rubik’s… cubers?

As a long-time sufferer of half-finished Rubik’s Cubes, I doff my cap to these folks:

Finally, there’s Icarus, which won the 2018 Best Documentary Feature Oscar:

Icarus starts out as an expose on the impact performance-enhancing drugs have on sports performance, but a sequence of events drags director Bryan Fogel into a web of geopolitics and conspiracies.

To say more would spoil it, but Fogel ultimately has created a documentary that had a very real impact on our perception of sports as a whole.

It’s not just one for sports fans, though, and has enough twists and turns to rival any thriller out there:

Messing with the Russians really can be hazardous to your health.

You can see CNET’s full list here.

[source:cnet]