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Q & A: How Willimon Runs Fincher's 'House ...Academy Reveals Best Documentary Shortlist -- 'Invisible War,' 'House I Live In,' 'Sugar Man,' 'The Imposter' & More
The most surprising omissions include Sundance entries "Queen of Versailles," which may have seemed too entertaining, "Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present," Kubrick doc "Room 237," and Amy Berg's "West of Memphis," which may have seemed too familiar after three respected "Paradise Lost" films, the last of which was nominated last year. The branch may also have objected to the degree to which producer PeterJackson, who invested in forensic research in order to solve the crime, inserted himself in the film.
Surprisingly, Ken Burns' well-reviewed New York Film Critics Circle winner "Central Park Five" did not make the cut, nor did Kevin Macdonald's excellent music doc "Marley." The others left out of a dramatically competitive field had won some attention from festivals and doc groups: "Broken Castle," "Jiro Dreams of Sushi," "Kumare," "Women with Cows," "Love Marilyn," "Paul Williams: Still Alive" and "The Movement."
Five films will be chosen by the Academy's Documentary branch members, and the winner will be announced at the Academy Awards on February 24.
The 15 films are:
"Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry," Never Sorry LLC
"Bully," The Bully Project LLC
"Chasing Ice," Exposure
"Detropia," Loki Films
"Ethel," Moxie Firecracker Films
"5 Broken Cameras," Guy DVD Films
"The Gatekeepers," Les Films du Poisson, Dror Moreh Productions, Cinephi
"The House I Live In," Charlotte Street Films, LLC
"How to Survive a Plague," How to Survive a Plague LLC
"The Imposter," Imposter Pictures Ltd.
"The Invisible War," Chain Camera Pictures
"Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God," Jigsaw Productions in association with Wider Film Projects and Below the Radar Films
"Searching for Sugar Man," Red Box Films
"This Is Not a Film," Wide Management
"The Waiting Room," Open’hood, Inc.
6 Comments
Nic | December 5, 2012 5:34 PM
The short its list regularly features films year after year from the same exec producers and producers who have won or been nominated in the past and are members of the doc branch - is a total joke that they get to vote for films they are associated with and no wonder that unfortunately doc Oscars are therefore held with so little regard.
Anne Thompson | December 4, 2012 9:06 PM
That explains it! Loved Jiro Dreams of Sushi. They send me screeners of that AND Kumare.
Doc fan | December 4, 2012 6:15 PM
Women with Cows, Kumare, Broken Castle and The Movement were not submitted for Oscar consideration this year. Jiro Dreams of Sushi was submitted last year (2011).
Carlton | December 4, 2012 2:27 AM
At this point I don't think anyone has much respect for the Oscars ...
Sundance, yes.. NY Film Critics Awards, yes ... Cannes, yes ... Independent Film Awards, yes ...
Oscars ... NO . old hat, contrived, and manipulated... Oscar's had far to many facelifts ;)
Jeff PS | December 3, 2012 9:31 PM
No "Samsara"? It's a downright awesome documentary. Oh well. The only one on the list I've seen is "Bully", which is also very powerful. If you wanna read my "Samsara" review, here you go:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770802/reviews-21
Tom Brueggemann | December 3, 2012 4:46 PM
This raises the possibility that Iran might follow its FL film win with best doc win - not that this is anything similar.