Australian Production Company Songbird Studios’ ‘Porcelain War’ Nominated for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film – Feature documentary Porcelain War was today announced amongst the five nominees for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards®.
Produced by Australian production company Songbird Studios in association with Imaginary Lane, the film sees three remarkable artists who, amidst the chaos and destruction of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, choose to stay behind and defend their culture and country. Armed with their art, their cameras, and, for the first time in their lives, their guns, they defiantly find inspiration and beauty.
Co-directed by U.S.-based Brendan Bellomo and Ukraine-based Slava Leontyev, the production was led out of Songbird’s Sydney office and saw an international team of filmmakers and artists across Ukraine, America, Australia, Poland and India collaborate on the project.
The film has been embraced by festivals and audiences around the world since its global premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary, making Songbird Studios the first ever Australian production company to win the award.
Porcelain War has screened at over one hundred festivals around the world, including the Sydney Film Festival, and has won over 50 awards. It is the only documentary feature nominated at the Oscars to have also received nominations from all three major U.S. guilds; the Producers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America and the American Society of Cinematographers.
This week has also seen Songbird Studios awarded a prestigious duPont-Columbia Award forPorcelain War. At home, the film has also been recognised with a nomination at the 2025 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards.
Porcelain War is produced by an all-female producing team, a rare feat for a film about war, which includes Australian Camilla Mazzaferro from Songbird Studios and U.S. based Aniela Sidorska, Paula DuPré Pesmen and Olivia Ahnemann.
Mazzaferro says,
“We are truly humbled to receive this recognition from the Academy. It has been an honour to support Slava, Anya and Andrey as they fight to preserve their culture and bravely share their story of resilience and hope. It’s an extraordinary achievement for an independent documentary and a testament to the perseverance and dedication of an exceptional team of filmmakers who have worked tirelessly to bring this story to audiences around the world.”
Established just over two years ago, Songbird Studios is an Australian-born independent production company founded by filmmakers Al Hicks, Camilla Mazzaferro, Luke Mazzaferro and Rob Galluzzo. They produce creatively ambitious films and series, spanning both documentary and scripted, with a focus on extraordinary human stories and the most iconic figures in music, sports, and popular culture.
Their work has been recognised with honours including the Sundance U.S Documentary Grand Jury Prize, the Grammy Award® for Best Music Film, the Critics Choice Documentary Award, an Academy Awards® Nomination, an AACTA Award, the Tribeca Audience Award, the African-American Film Critics Award and the Cinema Eye Audience Award. Their films have premiered at some of the world’s most lauded film festivals including Sundance, Telluride, Toronto, Berlinale, Tribeca, SXSW, Doc NYC, Sydney and Melbourne.
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Australian Production Company Songbird Studios’ ‘Porcelain War’ Nominated for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film
