Welcome back to another Oscar season!

I’m Matt Brennan, editor in chief of The Envelope, and each Wednesday from now until Jan. 7, I’ll be sending you a (digital) editor’s letter with some highlights from our Phase I issues.

Our first issue of the 2025-2026 campaign features stories on documentaries, films about the Palestinian experience and “Marty Supreme’s” Odessa A’zion.

A Deeper Dive: Documentaries

I won’t pretend to be Nostradamus when it comes to Hollywood’s top awards — my Gold Derby Emmys ballot didn’t even crack the top 1,000 — but most anyone who ran into me at this year’s Sundance Film Festival heard at least one bold prediction that turned out to be correct: 2025 has been a sterling year for documentaries.

With journalists under attack in the U.S., Ukraine, Gaza and bey

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