[Mark Rabinowitz] AJ Schnack reports on yet another highly-regarded doc getting the shaft due to the irrational, arbitrary and unfair qualifying rules applied to docs. It seems that since it was set to play the New York Film Festival, Ari Folman's "Waltz With Bashir" was unable to qualify before the end of the Oscar®-qualifying period on August 31st because the NYFF's organizers, the Film Society of Lincoln Center told the film's distributors, Sony Pictures Classics that even an "under the radar" run would disqualify it for taking part in the Festival. That's a fair call by the FSLC and one that wouldn't have to be made if the qualifying dates for docs was the same as for fiction films. What's wrong with December 31st for docs, hmmmmmm?

The fact is, these rules are unfair and need to be changed!