The IDA held it's annual reception celebrating the 2008 Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short Wednesday night at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. Perhaps not surprisingly, the self-described "almost" 800 lb. gorilla in the room was Oscar winner (for BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE) and nominee this year (for SICKO), Michael Moore.
Moore, who was MIA at last year's IDA Awards gala (where he was to receive a career achievement honor) took to the stage last, after the year's other nominees had taken their turn at the podium, and built on themes that he had proposed in the speech read by his sister at the awards in December, namely that he had made it his new year's resolution to do something about the poor distribution situation for nonfiction films in the US.
Stating that he was tired of reading gloom and doom forecasts of the death of documentaries at the box office, Moore stated that he was going to be sitting down with the heads of major theatre exhibition chains to propose a business model, which he said he has already worked out, wherein he will try to convince megaplexes to devote one of their screens to documentaries or convince theatres to convert their worst night of the week, Mondays, to "Doc Night in America". Moore said that he was lining up other filmmakers and studio figures who would "volunteer" to help in this effort, which Moore said would include help with promotion.
Moore's call to arms came at the end of a lengthy speech - by far the longest of the night (not that it seemed that anyone in the crowd minded) - that began with detailed and effusive praise for the work of his co-nominees Charles Ferguson (NO END IN SIGHT), Alex Gibney (TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE), Richard E. Robbins (OPERATION HOMECOMING) and Sean Fine & Andrea Nix-Fine (WAR/DANCE), the only absentees amongst the quintet.
Prior to Moore's speech, both Ferguson and Gibney issued strong statements on the Iraq war and torture, respectively, but it was the speech by Robbins, which may have been the most emotional of the evening.
Robbins (seen above with fellow nominee Eva Orner, producer of TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE), whose film is based on the writings of Iraq war soldiers, has in the past attempted to steer clear of the debate over the war itself, proposing that "talking about the politics of was avoids having to talk about the human implications". This stance has been applauded by some and derided by others, note particularly a fiery discussion with Women Make Movies' Debra Zimmerman at IDFA last November.
But tonight, Robbins said that the fact that these soldiers were willing to fight and die for their country meant that the rest of us had better be vigilant and must pay attention to the actions of our country, particularly in deciding when and under what circumstances to deploy troops. Michael Moore later reiterated the point, imploring the audience to see Robbins film (which he noted was the only one of the five not to get larger distribution) and saying that it was crucial to hear what the soldiers are saying about their experiences in Iraq.
Robbins also took time to recognize not just his fellow nominees but all the great work that he had seen at festivals during the year and thanked the community at large for making him feel welcome within the nonfiction family, saying that his previous profession - television news - was not quite as warm and fuzzy.
Most of the nominees gave thanks to the IDA, deservedly so - whatever complaints I may have with the IDA's award process does not take away from the work the organization does on so many fronts, including, as noted tonight, working to bring in insurers who will work with filmmakers under fair use provisions. And each of the documentary shorts nominees took time to mention HBO Documentary Films - it was a varitable HBO lovefest, reminding again how petty it is of the Academy to consistently refuse to make Sheila Nevins a member of the documentary branch.
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