The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have named 15 films that made the short-list in the Documentary Feature category for the 81st Academy Awards, whittling the number down from a record 94 that had originally qualified. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on the shortlist. The Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, and the awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
The Fifteen films are:
“At the Death House Door, directed by Peter Gilbert and Steve James
“The Betrayal” (Nerakhoon), directed by Ellen Kuras
“Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh“, directed by Roberta Grossman
“Encounters at the End of the World“, directed by Werner Herzog
“Fuel“, directed by Josh Tickell
“The Garden“, directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy
“Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts“, directed by Scott Hicks
“I.O.U.S.A.“, directed by Patrick Creadon
“In a Dream“, directed by Jeremiah Zagar
“Made in America“, directed by Stacy Peralta
“Man on Wire“, directed by James Marsh
“Pray the Devil Back to Hell“, directed by Gini Reticker
“Standard Operating Procedure“, directed by Errol Morris
“They Killed Sister Dorothy“, directed by Daniel Junge
“Trouble the Water“, directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin
December 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm |
I don’t understand the IOUSA pick. The film can hardly be considered a documentary (”objective art”) after realizing that the film follows around a group of thinkers with a very explicit, and politically out-of-the-mainstream, agenda that states we should ignore current economic realities and balance our budget, no matter how painful it may be. What’s more, the film completely ignores the possibility of health care reform as a real solution to the budget deficit problem. And instead, focuses completely on the doomsday and dooms-myth scenario that staunch libertarians often cite. The problem is that these projections rely completely on skyrocketing health care costs (see the link above). The movie is high on effects, narrow in its scope, and low on open-minded discussion of the problem.
If you ask a surgeon about a headache, you might just end up with a brain-ectomy.