Oscars to PGA: Every Category Where 'You Can See Everything' Can Compete

By James Calloway

A 100% Rotten Tomatoes score and a record $15 million opening weekend put "You Can See Everything" in unfamiliar territory for a documentary. The question now is eligibility. A24's hybrid, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, sits in a rules gray zone across nearly every major awards body. Gold Derby has read the rulebooks. Here is the category-by-category breakdown.

Where is it eligible at the Oscars?

A24 will submit the film for Best Picture, Gold Derby has confirmed. No documentary has ever been nominated in that category. The film entered the Top 10 of Gold Derby's leaderboards after its Telluride sneak peek.

Best Documentary looks obvious but carries risk. The roughly 700 members of the Documentary Branch control the nomination phase. That branch has a history of excluding populist and celebrity-driven films — "Hoop Dreams" and "Won't You Be My Neighbor" among them.

• Best Director: Fielder and Oppenheim will be entered. The duo ranks No. 9 on the Gold Derby experts leaderboard after the opening weekend.
• Below-the-line: Eligible for all crafts. A24 plans submissions for production design, makeup and hairstyling, sound, and score. Cinematography and editing are described as competitive.
• Acting: Amanda Seyfried qualifies per Academy rules. She is fully credited for reenacting Elizabeth Holmes' unfilmed comments. No actor has ever received a nomination for a documentary role. Fielder and Christopher Abbott, who stands in as Holmes' partner Billy Evans, are billed as reenactors and technically eligible too.

Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 22.

What about the Golden Globes?

The Globes bar unscripted fare from the main categories and offer no documentary category. One path remains: the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award. Globe rules state: "Documentaries are only eligible for the Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award if the production meets the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award criteria set forth in these rules."

Those criteria require $150 million worldwide, with $100 million from the U.S. domestic box office. Only one documentary has ever reached $100 million domestically: Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11." With $15 million banked in weekend one, the film could get there. Globe nominations arrive Dec. 7.

How do the Critics Choice rules treat it?

The CCA has already nominated the film at its separate Documentary Awards in five categories: Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Music Score.

For the main Critics Choice film awards, the documentary remains eligible in all categories. "CCA policy is that eligibility and/or participation in any of our awards events or celebrations have no effect on eligibility and/or participation for any of our other awards events or celebrations," the organization told Gold Derby. Expect entries in Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and the crafts. Nominations land Dec. 4.

The CCA's Actor Awards are closed, however. Those awards require scripted films, and the rules state documentaries are ineligible. The filmmakers can petition for Seyfried's performance. The Awards Committee makes the final call.

What is the status at BAFTA and the guilds?

BAFTA's position is unclear. The rules do not specifically preclude a submission, but U.K. voters may resist this American story.

The WGA has a documentary category, but the film has no official screenplay. It is ineligible there.

The PGA offers two doors: Documentary Film and Theatrical Feature Film. Nominations come Jan. 6 for docs and Jan. 7 for features.

Which groups force a single-category choice?

Two organizations impose picking one lane. SAG-AFTRA allows eligibility in Documentary Motion Picture and in the Theatrical Motion Picture Award, with nominations Dec. 8 for docs and Jan. 8 for theatrical.

The Critics Choice Documentary Awards side permits only the documentary route: "All Documentary Feature Films and Documentary Series Episodes must be submitted in the Documentary Award category." Those nominations arrive Jan. 12.

One final body states: "Please don't submit the same title in more than one category." Filmmakers must choose between documentary and theatrical feature drama there. Nominations are announced Jan. 14.

The race now hinges on two numbers: 700 Documentary Branch voters and a $100 million domestic target. Both will decide whether precedent breaks or holds.