This year's Documentary Feature nominees (from left, producer Elise Pearlstein, FOOD, INC., director Louie Psihoyos, THE COVE, co-director Rick Goldsmith, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA, co-director Judith Ehrlich, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA, producer Lise Lense-Møller, BURMA VJ, director Anders Østergaard, BURMA VJ, director Rebecca Cammisa, WHICH WAY HOME and director Robert Kenner, FOOD, INC. Photo credit: Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.
This year's Documentary Short nominees (from left, co-director Steven Bognar, THE LAST TRUCK, director Roger Ross Williams, MUSIC BY PRUDENCE, producer Henry Ansbacher, THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF GOVERNOR BOOTH GARDNER, co-director Julia Reichert, THE LAST TRUCK, producer Anna Wydra, RABBIT A LA BERLIN, director Barnet Konopka, RABBIT A LA BERLIN, co-director Matthew O'Neill, CHINA'S UNNATURAL DISASTER, co-director Jon Alpert, CHINA'S UNNATURAL DISASTER, director Daniel Junge, THE LAST CAMPAIGN OF GOVERNOR BOOTH GARDNER. Photo
credit:Matt Petit / ©A.M.P.A.S.
A nice evening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills last night as this year's documentary Oscar nominees gathered for a new event hosted by the Academy called Docs! Similar to the events the Academy has long hosted for the Foreign Language and Animation nominees, Docs! took the place of the IDA's annual salute that took place in the same venue - the Academy Theatre on Wilshire Blvd. - and on the same evening - Wednesday before the Oscars.
While the event had a similar feel, there were some nice, new touches: a smaller pre-reception for the nominees and their guests (and a small number of press) along with a panel format hosted by two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple, who made clear that her bubbly Cinema Eye appearances were no fluke. Someone give her a show!
Kopple (far left) hosts the feature nominees, including THE COVE co-producer Fisher Stevens (fifth from left). Photo credit: Darren Decker / ©A.M.P.A.S.
Much of the talk during the evening fell, quite naturally, to this year's potential winners, with many trying to read the tea leaves from the various Oscar screenings that have been held during the past several weeks. While most expected THE COVE to win the feature award, there was a surprising amount of buzz for the Daniel Ellsberg doc, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA. Noting a potential generational (and political) bias amongst the Academy's notably older screening audiences, some watchers suggested that more than a few votes might be headed toward that film as a kind of recognition for Ellsberg himself. Indeed, as films were announced prior to their clips being shown, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN got the loudest applause. Later, Ellsberg himself received the evening's only standing ovation, when he was prompted to stand by host Barbara Kopple.
One Oscar watcher noted that this year the vote may be particularly low in the documentary feature category as HBO held back on screenings of WHICH WAY HOME until late in the Oscar season. Voters are not allowed to vote in the category unless they've seen all five films.
Also the topic of conversation was the surprising fade of FOOD, INC., which seemed to sit out most of the shortlist-to-nomination period. While no one suggested FOOD, INC.'s completely out-of-the-game, comparisons were made to UP IN THE AIR in the feature category in how a once-perceived frontrunner stumbled as the season went on.
In the shorts category, I heard that there's been a great Academy response to THE LAST TRUCK, with RABBIT A LA BERLIN a somewhat surprising runner-up in terms of buzz. But the shorts category is notably difficult to call, since viewers watch all five films at once. In watching their clips last night, where all of the short candidates appeared to be exceptionally high quality, it appeared that any could prevail. But if one is to judge by the reaction to the clips alone (which is an unreliable but sometimes correct predictor), the strongest applause by far was reserved for MUSIC BY PRUDENCE.
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