November 18, 2009

The shortlist for Documentary Feature hits, and many Docs are left in the dust!

The press release can be found here, but these are the 15 finalists:

  • “The Beaches of Agnes,” Agnès Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)
  • “Burma VJ,” Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)
  • “The Cove,” Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)
  • “Every Little Step,” James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)
  • “Facing Ali,” Pete McCormack, director (Network Films Inc.)
  • “Food, Inc.,” Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films)
  • “Garbage Dreams,” Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films, Inc.)
  • “Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders,” Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures LLC)
  • “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers,” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors (Kovno Communications)
  • “Mugabe and the White African,” Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey, directors (Arturi Films Limited)
  • “Sergio,” Greg Barker, director (Passion Pictures and Silverbridge Productions)
  • “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, directors (Freedom Song Productions)
  • “Under Our Skin,” Andy Abrahams Wilson, director (Open Eye Pictures)
  • “Valentino The Last Emperor,” Matt Tyrnauer, director (Acolyte Films)
  • “Which Way Home,” Rebecca Cammisa, director (Mr. Mudd)
-Thoughts on the exclusions of things like Capitalism: A Love Story, Tyson, It Might Get Loud, Earth, and Anvil, among others?

12 comments:

  1. it's a very disappointing list, but that's just me...

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  2. That left off some hot ones. I'm shocked by the Michael Moore diss. Maybe his criticisms were too close to home.

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  3. indeed...perhaps he didn't campaign for it and only went for Best Picture, like with Fahrenheit 9/11, but I doubt it...

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  4. Well, that shoots down most of my predictions. Starting from scratch it seems.

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  5. damn shame...especially about Anvil and Tyson.

    Haven't seen Capitalism yet, but I'm sure it deserved to be in the running too.

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  6. I completely agree that the non-inclusion of "Capitalism: A Love Story" was a huge misnomer on the Academy's part.

    Quite honestly, I haven't seen any other documentaries this year, but the one film on this list I've heard about the most is "The Cove". If I had to guess which doc took home the gold this year, I'd say the award will be going to that film.

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  7. Not too upset about Capitalism actually, I thought it was good but definitely not great.

    I am enthralled that The Beaches of Agnes is in still.

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  8. Tyson deserves to be in there without a doubt. It's one of the best documentaries I've seen in quite a while, and certainly had good enough reviews to make the top 15. Ridiculous.

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  9. I am dissapointed that Capitalism didn't make the cut, but also that Fuel was left off as well as The September Issue. This seems to be year with many, many popular, widely-released documentaries, many of which were ommitted from this list. I am glad Food Inc and The Cove made the cut, though...

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  10. Too bad that Big River Man didn't make the cut :(

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  11. let's hope this isn't the start of a disappointing trend...

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