Friday, November 19, 2010 at 10:04AM 2011 Oscars Best Documentary Shortlist Revealed
According to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences press release, 15 feature length documentary films have been chosen to go through the voting process for the 83rd Academy Awards. The 15 were chosen out of 101 films.
My personal favorite, Exit through the Gift Shop was chosen as one out of the 15 but given that the award usually goes to films with a "moral cause", I'm not sure if it'll make the final cut. Others on the list that are crowd favorites and more likely to be included in the top five nominees are Inside Job (financial system meltdown), Waiting for Superman (US education system) and Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer.
The five nominees will be announced in January. The 15 on the shortlist are as follows:
* Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Alex Gibney, director (ES Productions LLC)
* Enemies of the People, Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, directors (Old Street Films)
* Exit through the Gift Shop, Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)
* Gasland, Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)
* Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, directors (White Pine Pictures)
* Inside Job, Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)
* The Lottery, Madeleine Sackler, director (Great Curve Films)
* Precious Life, Shlomi Eldar, director (Origami Productions)
* Quest for Honor, Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, director (Smothers Bruni Productions)
* Restrepo, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)
* This Way of Life, Thomas Burstyn, director (Cloud South Films)
* The Tillman Story, Amir Bar-Lev, director (Passion Pictures/Axis Films)
* Waiting for ‘Superman’, Davis Guggenheim, director (Electric Kinney Films)
* Waste Land, Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)
* William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, directors (Disturbing the Universe LLC)
Which ones would you pick? Use the comment form below.
Reader Comments (5)
180° South is missing. This documentary is great for not being about a topic we all over discuss like most of those on the above list.
Where is Best Worst Movie - Troll 2 Documentary?
I personally think that "Exit Through The Gift Shop" has a very strong cause-related message. Just like "My Architect" (2003 Nominee), it is very telling of art in the 21st century. Ethnographically, sociologically it is a valuable film in documenting the commercialization of street art in the last ten years. If anything keeps it out of the Oscars, it will be the controversy over it's authenticity. Oh well, Banksy made a film just as effective in its message as any painting he's ever done.
Genius Within was surprisingly good! I hope it makes the cut!
Why is "Buck the Film" not on the Best Documentary list???