All these wonderful things

The IDA Reveals Winners in 7 Categories: Yes to ANVIL, but THE COVE Gets Nothing

Tonight, the IDA announced winners in seven categories for this Friday's IDA Awards (must admit that I don't understand the logic in this, but...) and the headline is that Oscar snubbed ANVIL will walk off with at least one award but Oscar frontrunner THE COVE has been shut out.

While the IDA is keeping secret the winners in its Best Documentary and Best Short Documentary categories, they have pulled back the curtain on their other winners, spotlighting that ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL, which is also nominated in the Feature category, will take home the 3-year old Music Documentary prize, besting such films as the Oscar shortlisted SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION and IT MIGHT GET LOUD.

THE COVE, which is not in the running for Best Feature Doc, was only nominated for the Pare Lorentz Award, given to the the film that best deals with the environment, justice for all and/or the illumination of pressing social problems - and in what has to be considered a surprise, Irene Taylor Brodsky's Oscar nominated short film THE FINAL INCH not only was named the winner over THE COVE, but also over feature nominees FOOD, INC. and MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN.  Three years ago, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH picked up this prize en route to the Oscars.

Amongst films on the Oscar shortlist, only one was named a winner today - Mai Iskander's GARBAGE DREAMS picked up the new IDA Humanitas Award, given to a film that strives to unify the human family "by exploring the stories of human beings who are different in culture, race, lifestyle, political loyalties and religious beliefs in order to break down the wall of ignorance and fear that separates us". 

Stanley Nelson's WOUNDED KNEE picked up the ABCNews VideoSource Award, for best use of stock footage (all these years and I still can't manage to write that without laughing).  Other nominees included the Oscar shortlisted MUGABE, VALENTINO and SERGIO, although I'm not really sure that there's a direct path from the Best Use of Stock Footage prize to the Kodak Theater.

Finally, POV will receive the Continuing Series Award, based on three submitted "episodes", one of which was Yung Chang's award-winning UP THE YANGTZE.

Full list of winners and remaining nominees after the jump.

FOOD, INC. Wins the Gotham Award for Best Documentary

Moments ago, Robert Kenner's FOOD, INC. took the Best Documentary prize at the Gotham Awards in New York, besting TYSON, GOOD HAIR, PARADISE and MY NEIGHBOR, MY KILLER.

Magnolia's Eamonn Bowles accepted the award on behalf of Kenner, who wasn't at the ceremony.

For our look at FOOD, INC.'s run for the Documentary Feature Oscar, check out our earlier post.

One thing that we noted in two posts earlier today that bares repeating - no documentary has won the Gotham Award and gone on to win the Oscar.

The Horse Race Chapter One: FOOD, INC.'s Moment of Truth

With all the attention in the coming months focused on the campaigns for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar (and if you don't think its a bit of an obsession in our community then you haven't been paying attention as folks keep blowing tens of thousands of dollars on Oscar qualifying runs), we figured we'd launch a new item where we'd check in on occasion to see what's happening in the Oscar Horse Race...

This week, the story is all about Robert Kenner's FOOD, INC. 

The film, which we believe is the current frontrunner for the Oscar, is poised to have what could amount to a major week that could solidify its position in the race.  By next weekend, the film may have two important wins under its belt: a Gotham Award tonight for Best Documentary and an IDA Award on Friday night in the same category.

Its current, top competition in the Oscar race - THE COVE - isn't nominated for either award.

It may also end the week with a nomination for Best Documentary at the Spirit Awards, when those nods are announced early tomorrow.  That would put FOOD, INC. in the same position as MAN ON WIRE last year - the only film to be nominated for the top prize at the Gothams, IDA, Spirits and Cinema Eye.

In addition to its awards prowess, FOOD, INC. has something else going for it.  Of the fifteen films on the shortlist, it's the box office champ, by far.  The runners-up, EVERY LITTLE STEP and VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR, have less than half of FOOD, INC.'s $4.4 million take.  Oscar tradition in the post-Columbine era says that the films that win Best Documentary are either the highest grossing films on the shortlist (BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, INCONVENIENT TRUTH, MAN ON WIRE) or they are films in the midst of high-profile theatrical releases (FOG OF WAR, BORN INTO BROTHELS, TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE).

The Monday Brief: Sundance! Spirits! IDA! Gothams! Is This the Biggest Week of the Year?

The Monday Brief is back and just in time - as a month full of European mega-fests comes to a close (and VIDEOCRACY takes Sheffield, TRASH HUMPERS shocks Copenhagen and LAST TRAIN HOME conquers Amsterdam) and what may just be the biggest week of the year...

The Gothams kick off the award season in New York tonight as high profile docs FOOD, INC., GOOD HAIR and TYSON take on underdogs MY NEIGHBOR, MY KILLER and PARADISE.  In addition to those, festival favorite OCTOBER COUNTRY is up as the sole nonfiction title in the Films Not Yet Playing at a Theater Near You category. 

Here's a piece of trivia - in the five years that the Gothams have awarded a Best Documentary prize, the winning film has never gone on to win the Oscar, which is pretty good news if you're betting on THE COVE in March.

For the first time, the Gothams will be streaming live here, starting at 8 PM eastern tonight.

Then early tomorrow - probably before some Gotham revelers have gone to bed - Film Independent will announced nominations for its Spirit Awards.  Worth watching - will FOOD, INC. sweep the major doc award nominations prior to the Oscars?  Will the Spirits act (consciously or no) as a corrective on some of Oscar's snubs (I'm looking at you ANVIL, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC and SEPTEMBER ISSUE)? 

Also worth watching are the nominations in the Truer Than Fiction category, which recognize films and filmmakers who have not yet received the attention they deserve.

Then, on Wednesday, the dam will fully break as the Sundance Film Festival announces its competition films for 2010.  Here's what we know already - after what many agreed was a lackluster 2009 festival, next year's Sundance is shaping up (on paper at least) to be a barn-burner for docs.  At least three films from Oscar nominated filmmakers are on tap, along with 2 new films from folks who took Sundance by storm with their previous features, plus a veteran Sundance filmmaker is back as producer on a debut feature.

And that's not even including LAST TRAIN HOME, the IDFA-champ that everyone and their mother expects to show in Park City (along with 2 or 3 or more titles from the just-wrapped European doc circuit).

By the way, if you haven't checked it out yet, gander at the newly re-designed Sundance fest website, which leads off with a retro graphic manifesto:

"REBEL.  This is the renewed rebellion.  This is the re-charged fight against the establishment of the expected.  This is the rebirth of the battle for brave new ideas.  This is Sundance, reminded.  And this is your call to join us."

That's a whole lot of "re" words. 

And what does it say, exactly, that John Cooper's first year at the helm begins with the declaration that Sundance needed a rebirth and a re-charge?  (Although, again, after last year, you won't get much argument from these's parts.)  Slogans aside, the week's first peak at this year's line-up will give our first clues as to whether there's a true revolution (a "re" word they didn't use) afoot.

IT MIGHT GET LOUD Nets Four Golden Satellite Nominations

The Golden Satellite Awards - the barely comprehensible spinoff of the Golden Globes - has announced their nominations for 2009, and the big surprise (if one can said to be surprised by what goes on at the Golden Satellite Awards) is that Davis Guggenheim's IT MIGHT GET LOUD has received 4 nominations, sweeping through the technical categories of Cinematography, Film Editing and Sound in addition to its nod for Best Motion Picture, Documentary.

In addition to LOUD, the six-deep field nominated for the Documentary category includes Oscar shortlisters THE BEACHES OF AGNES, THE COVE, EVERY LITTLE STEP, VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR and Oscar snubbed THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE.  

IDFA 2009: LAST TRAIN HOME Takes Top Prize, Special Jury to Oscar Shortlister DANGEROUS MAN

A few hours ago, the folks at IDFA announced this year's prize winners and the winner of the festivals top prize, Best Feature Length Documentary, went to Lixin Fan's much buzzed-about LAST TRAIN HOME.  Just a few days ago, Eugene Hernandez heralded that the film was the "one film to watch" from IDFA this year, and quoted one insider as saying the film joins "the canon of great docs".  The film is expected to be announced next week as bound for Park City in January.

As described by Hernandez, "(T)he film is an exceptional observational documentary that charts a dramatic Chinese journey affecting just one family but representing the challenges facing a changing nation and a troubled world."  Fan previously worked on the award-winning UP THE YANGTZE and that film's production team at Montreal's EyeSteelFilm came aboard LAST TRAIN HOME.

Hernandez' rave captured what had been a building groundswell of enthusiasm at the festival:

"Stunningly photographed and expertly constructed, “Last Train Home” features the work of a filmmaker who has immersed himself in the lives of his subjects - the Zhangs - to explore the story of their fractured family. Many moments in this intimate movie are incredibly striking and ultimately so symbolic of a much broader situation. The drama of the Zhang’s personal story - and their specific struggle to simply get back home for a few days in 2006 - is so poignant that at times the film feels like it must have been scripted for a group of incredibly talented unknown actors."

Other finalists for the Feature-Length award included Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath's ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE (UK/Cambodia) and John Appel's THE TRAIN, a Dutch film that picked up the festival's first Dutch Documentary prize.

Oscar Narrows Features to 15: First Thoughts on Snubs and Frontrunners

About an hour ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this year's Documentary Feature Shortlist.  The 15 films that made the cut are:

THE BEACHES OF AGNES
Directed by Agnes Varda

BURMA VJ
Directed by Anders Østergaard

THE COVE
Directed by Louie Psihoyos

EVERY LITTLE STEP
Directed by James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo

FACING ALI
Directed by Pete McCormack

FOOD, INC.
Directed by Robert Kenner

GARBAGE DREAMS
Directed by Mai Iskander

LIVING IN EMERGENCY: STORIES OF DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS
Directed by Mark N. Hopkins

THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS
Directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith

MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN
Directed by Andrew Thompson and Lucy Bailey

SERGIO
Directed by Greg Barker

SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION
Directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman

UNDER OUR SKIN
Directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson

VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR
Directed by Matt Tyrnauer

WHICH WAY HOME
Directed by Rebecca Cammisa

First reactions after the jump...

Previewing the Academy's Documentary Feature Shortlist

Update: The list is out.  Go here for the 15 films that made Oscar's cut and for our reactions.

Rumor has it that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is due to announce its Documentary Feature shortly (perhaps as early as later today).  Given that, there've been a bunch of conversations of late as to what may be on the list of (traditionally) 15 films that will campaign for the next 2 months in hopes of a golden ticket to the Kodak Theatre.

When I was asked this weekend, I suggested that I thought FOOD, INC. was the current frontrunner for the Oscar.  It seems to have the right combination of box office success, good production values and has a political theme that has not been over-recognized previously.

It's also the only film to have scored nominations in the top category at the Cinema Eye Honors, the Gothams and the IDA Documentary Awards.

Others suggested that THE COVE - which led nominees at Cinema Eye but was relegated to the Pare Lorentz Award at the IDAs - was the top pick for Oscar if it were to receive a nomination.

It would be a shock if either film failed to make the Academy's shortlist.

Other favorites in the hunt - BURMA VJ, THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE and THE BEACHES OF AGNES.

In a conversation last month with Anne Thompson, I noted MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN and THE WAY WE GET BY as sleepers to watch for the shortlist.  Since then, both were nominated for Cinema Eye Honors and MUGABE led the IDA Documentary nods with three nominations.

I will be interested to see whether the Academy shortlists Ondi Timoner's much talked about WE LIVE IN PUBLIC and whether vet Joe Berlinger finally gets some Academy love for CRUDE.  Also curious to see how many of this year's successful pop culture films (SEPTEMBER, VALENTINO, EVERY LITTLE STEP, ANVIL!, GOOD HAIR, IT MIGHT GET LOUD) are able to make the shortlist (usually its 2-3 maximum).

There's a lot of talk of a nomination for James Toback's TYSON, but its not often that docu branch folks tip their hat to narrative filmmakers who come over to make the occasional nonfiction piece.

And what of Michael Moore?  Would it really be a surprise to see him left off the shortlist?  Or to see him nominated?

Other names that wouldn't surprise: DEFAMATION, BIG RIVER MAN, UNMISTAKEN CHILD, THOSE WHO REMAIN, ROUGH AUNTIES, OF TIME IN THE CITY, SERGIO, RACING DREAMS, OUTRAGE and NO IMPACT MAN, amongst others.

Stay tuned...

Cinema Eye Nominees: THE COVE, BURMA VJ, OCTOBER COUNTRY, FOOD INC. & LOOT Amongst the Best of 2009

The Cinema Eye nominees have been announced and for the past week, my co-chairs Esther Robinson & Rachel Rosen, my partner in crime Nathan Truesdell and our amazing website team of Ryan Nelson and Ben Chlapek (Columbia, Missouri - community - in the house).  Also thanks to our sponsors - Indiepix, HBO Documentary Films and everyone here at Sheffield Doc/Fest.

I'd report the nominees here, but I'd rather you go to the website, search out all of this year's nominees and check out what we've been doing this past week as well as Ben's awesome illustrations for this year's films.

Congratulations to all of this year's most excellent nominees.  Looking forward to celebrating with you this January 15, 2010 at the Times Center in NYC.

AFGHAN STAR, BURMA VJ, YES MEN, THRILLA IN MANILLA Amonsgt Winners at UK's Grierson Documentary Awards

It was a lovely night on the south bank of the Thames in London as the Grierson Trust handed out its annual British Documentary Awards.  The big winners were Havana Marking, who received the Best International Documentary on a Contemporary Subject for AFGHAN STAR, and Anders Østergaard, who won Best Cinema Documentary for BURMA VJ.

Marking missed the ceremonies as she was in Kabul making an AFGHAN STAR follow-up piece for HBO.  STAR is the UK's foreign language film entry for this year's Oscars.

In an evening that was marked by pessimistic perceptions of the current state of documentary in the United Kindgom - "the art form is thriving but budgets are smaller" and "we're at a turning point, full commissions have disappeared" and "doc strands are not being made anymore" - there was still a positive vibe at the BFI Southbank as this year's British Documentary Awards were handed out.

BURMA VJ's win was one of the first times that Oscar winner MAN ON WIRE - another of the nominees for Best Cinema Documentary - saw a loss.  John Dower, who won earlier in the night for Best Historical Documentary for THRILLER IN MANILLA admitted as much when he noted that "we've been the bridesmaid so many times that it's nice to be the bride."  THRILLER had come in second to MAN ON WIRE last year at BritDoc.