As Oscar's Doc Deadline Arrives, MAN ON WIRE & TROUBLE THE WATER Seen as Frontrunners

Today is the deadline for filmmakers interested in pursuing the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature to turn in their paperwork and supporting materials.  As you may remember, this year films only had to have runs in Los Angeles and New York (as opposed to last year's complicated 14 city-10 state requirement).  It remains to be seen whether the revised rules end up enforcing the Academy's stated goal of nominating true theatrical films.

In discussions over the past several days, two films are seen as frontrunners for the Oscar, with James Marsh's MAN ON WIRE the consensus favorite and Carl Deal & Tia Lessin's TROUBLE THE WATER as potential spoiler.  Other titles frequently mentioned include the never-nominated Werner Herzog, for his ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (which would look to go into an Oscar campaign without a studio backer, now that skilled Oscar maven Mark Urman has departed THINKFilm) and Yung Chang's gorgeous UP THE YANGTZE (update: it seems prossible that UP THE YANGTZE was disqualified based on a Canadian television airing prior to its US launch).

Beyond those four titles (and frankly I wouldn't be surprised if 3 are nominated - with Herzog left out once again), there is little consensus.

Errol Morris' STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE has admirers but he already has an Oscar and the combined cool response from critics and audiences (not to mention the brewhaha over his paying of subjects) may keep him out of the running.  Early word on Larry Charles' RELIGULOUS was pretty bad, but the first reviews (from the film's Oscar qualifying run last month) were rapturous.

Observers are split as to whether the HBO connection helps or hurts Marina Zenovich's ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED (not to mention that Hollywood bios have not traditionally done well in this category) or whether Martin Scorsese might get his first documentary nomination for the year's top grossing nonfiction SHINE A LIGHT (ditto music bios or concert films). 

There are a number of supporters for Margaret Brown's THE ORDER OF MYTHS and a few are championing  Patrick Creadon's I.O.U.S.A.  Darkhorses?  James and Maureen Tusty's THE SINGING REVOLUTION (quietly still doing good box office), Irena Salina's FLOW, Ellen Kuras' THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON) and probably many others.

While I personally wouldn't be surprised to see Nanette Burstein's AMERICAN TEEN in the mix, nearly everyone I talked to dismissed that talk out of hand.

Here's a partial list of 42 films that have qualified for this year's Documentary Oscar (it's not meant to be complete).  We'll add more titles as they become available (update: titles that have been added have a notation and those found to not have qualified - for one reason or another - are struck through):

AMERICAN TEEN
BEAUTIFUL LOSERS
THE BETRAYAL (NERAHKOON)
BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER*
BLESSED IS THE MATCH: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF HANNAH SENESH (add)
THE CHOIR (add)
CHRIS & DON. A LOVE STORY.
DALAI LAMA RENAISSANCE (add)
DEAR ZACHARY: A letter to a son about his father
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
EVERYTHING'S COOL
EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED
FIRE UNDER THE SNOW
FLOW
THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN
FUEL (add)
FULL BATTLE RATTLE
THE GARDEN (add)
GIRLS ROCK!
GLASS: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
GONZO
GUNNIN' FOR THAT #1 SPOT
HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD
I.O.U.S.A.
MADE IN AMERICA
MAN ON WIRE
THE MATADOR
MEMORY BOOKS
OF TIME AND THE CITY
AN OMAR BROADWAY FILM (add)
ONE BAD CAT: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story
OPERATION FILMMAKER
THE ORDER OF MYTHS
PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE
PICASSO & BRAQUE GO TO THE MOVIES (add)
PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL
PROJECT KASHMIR
RELIGULOUS
ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED
SHINE A LIGHT
THE SINGING REVOLUTION
SPIRIT OF THE MARATHON
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
AN UNLIKELY WEAPON
UP THE YANGTZE
VERY YOUNG GIRLS (add)
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?
YODOK STORIES
WAR CHILD
WAR GAMES (add)
THE WRECKING CREW