The long-awaited Short List of feature-length documentaries in consideration for Academy Award nomination was finally released, and here are the lucky 15:
- Client 9:The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (Dir.: Alex Gibney; ES Productions LLC)
- Enemies of the People (Dirs.: Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath; Old Street Films)
- Exit through the Gift Shop (Dir.: Banksy; Paranoid Pictures)
- Gasland (Dir.: Josh Fox; Gasland Productions, LLC)
- Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Dirs.: Michele Hozer, Peter Raymont; White Pine Pictures)
- Inside Job (Dir.: Charles Ferguson; Representational Pictures)
- The Lottery (Dir.: Madeleine Sackler; Great Curve Films)
- Precious Life (Dir.: Shlomi Eldar; Origami Productions)
- Quest for Honor (Dir.: Mary Ann Smothers Bruni; Smothers Bruni Productions)
- Restrepo (Dirs.: Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger; Outpost Films)
- This Way of Life (Dir.: Thomas Burstyn; Cloud South Films)
- The Tillman Story (Dir.: Amir Bar-Lev; Passion Pictures/Axis Films)
- Waiting for ‘Superman' (Dir.: Davis Guggenheim; Electric Kinney Films)
- Waste Land (Dir.: Lucy Walker; Almega Projects)
- William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (Dirs.: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler; Disturbing the Universe LLC)
The final five, along with three to five films from the Documentary Short Subject Short List, will be announced Tuesday, January 25, 2011.
Quest for Honor, This Way of Life and Waste Land all qualified for Academy Award consideration this past summer through IDA's DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase, joining the shorts Killing in the Name (Dir./Prod.: Jed Rothstein; Prods.: Liz Garbus, Rory Kennedy) and Sun Come Up (Dir./Prod.: Jennifer Redfearn; Prod.: Tim Metzger) among the DocuWeeks alums.
The Features List is an interesting array of unintended parings: two films that feature Eliot Spitzer (Client 9 and Inside Job); two films about the state of education in America, both of which feature reform advocate Geoffrey Canada (The Lottery and Waiting for ‘Superman'); two films about the War in Afghanistan (Restrepo and The Tillman Story); and two--well, make that three--films about iconoclastic artists and their distinctive negotiations through their respective arts industries (Exit Through the Gift Shop, Genius Within, Waste Land). Among the omissions: The Oath, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, 12th & Delaware, Marwencol, Sweetgrass, La Danse, Boxing Gym.
The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, and televised live on ABC. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.