12 Hugely Iconic Movies That Shockingly Didn't Win A Single Academy Award

7. City Of God (2002)

Nominated For: Best Director; Best Adapted Screenplay: Best Cinematography; Best Film Editing. IMDB Ranking: #21 Rotten Tomatoes: 90% I don't think it's too bold a claim to call City of God the best South American film ever. The crime drama, directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, was like a Brazilian Bugsy Malone - but with real guns, and without the tacked-on dance numbers. So, in other words, it was nothing like Bugsy Malone. But still, building the story around the lives of children in the world of organised crime in Rio de Janeiro was a stroke of genius from the writers (including, of course, the novel by Paulo Lins on which the film was based) and excellent translated onto screen by the production team. It ranked third in Film4's list of '50 Films to See Before You Die' and was named as the 7th best non-English film ever by Empire in 2010. There is some confusion surrounding its appearance at the Academy Awards, as it was originally chosen as a nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2003, but as this would have made it ineligible for the other categories the following year, in the end it did not compete. Unfortunately, this move didn't pay off, as it failed to win in any of its four categories in 2004.