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Our Oscar and Spirit Awards Predictions

With Los Angeles abuzz in pre-Oscar festivities, it seems that it's become time to weigh in on this year's awards and to offer a few predictions about who might go home with some hardware.

Saturday afternoon, amidst what is predicted to be a stormy and cold Spirit Awards under the tent in Santa Monica, it seems safe to say that the Documentary Feature award will go to either EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP or RESTREPO.  The history of the Spirit Awards is that, in the documentary category at least, exposure/box office potency = the win. Only twice in the ten years of the Best Documentary award has the winner not been a film with the highest box office take - last year was one of those when ANVIL! topped FOOD, INC.

[Check out our list of all of the Spirit Awards nominees and winners in the documentary categories here.]

With that said, it's hard to imagine that the FIND membership will go with MARWENCOL or SWEETGRASS, which had lower-profile theatrical releases, or to THUNDER SOUL, which is set to be released by Roadside Attractions this fall.

Just by tradition alone, you'd have to pick EXIT as the winner here.  It grossed about three times the amount that RESTREPO did, and it fits in with the pop culture themes that tend to win on Saturday (i.e. previous winners DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS, SOME KIND OF MONSTER, ANVIL!).  A non-pop culture, vérite-style film, which, aside from a sprinkling of interviews with the subjects, RESTREPO is, hasn't won the Documentary award at the Spirits since 2000 (DARK DAYS).

Note: MARWENCOL and SWEETGRASS, along with SUMMER PASTURE, were nominated for the Spirit Awards' grant prize, the Truer Than Fiction Award, which recognizes upcoming nonfiction filmmakers (and which has been won in the past by Bill and Turner Ross (45365), Margaret Brown (THE ORDER OF MYTHS) and Ian Olds & Garrett Scott (OPERATION: DREAMLAND).  For the first time in the Spirit Awards history, this award (along with the other grant prizes for upcoming narrative filmmaker and producer) will not be announced during the Spirit Awards themselves - they were shifted to a brunch event that took place in January.  MARWENCOL was named as this year's winner.

So, if EXIT looks like a straight-away winner at the Spirit Awards, then the question is whether Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz triumph on Sunday afternoon in the Kodak Theatre.

EXIT Again! Spirits Go for Banksy, RESTREPO, THUNDER SOUL & Double Nods for MARWENCOL and SWEETGRASS

The 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominations for February's awards earlier this morning in West Hollywood and once again, Banksy's EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP finds itself amongst the nominees.  Joining EXIT are Academy shortlister RESTREPO, audience favorite THUNDER SOUL as well as Jeff Malmberg's MARWENCOL and Ilisa Barbash & Lucien Castaing-Taylor SWEETGRASS, both of which were also nominated for the Truer Than Fiction grant prize.

The nod for EXIT comes after some confusion of whether the film would even be eligible for the Spirit Awards, which mandates an American provenance for its Documentary Feature nominees.  Even those on the EXIT team initially thought the film would not qualify, but after consideration of the Spirit Award rules - which allows films financed and filmed in America (even if its makers are not US-based) - the film was deemed eligible by Film Independent.

EXIT has now been nominated for three of the 5 major documentary awards (they were reportedly not eligible for the Gothams) - the film will vie Friday for the IDA prize for Best Documentary and it is nominated for six awards at January's Cinema Eye Honors.  The film was shortlisted for the Oscar earlier this month.

The Documentary Feature nomination for Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington's RESTREPO marks renewed momentum for that film, which also finds itself in the Oscar hunt (and has two Cinema Eye nominations).  It's the first year-end recognition for Mark Landsman's fest-favorite THUNDER SOUL, which will be distributed by Roadside Attractions next spring.

The (Post-Holiday) Brief: Silverdocs and LAFF Previews, 86 Films Eligible for Cinema Eye and CONVENTION in NYC

Hard to believe but it's June 1...

The beginning of June is also the end of something, the end of the first half of our documentary year - one that begins with the announcement of the Sundance line-up and the annual gathering of the doc world in Amsterdam.

Six months ago we were just hearing about LAST TRAIN HOME, ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE, THE OATH, RESTREPO, GASLAND, 12th AND DELAWARE, EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP and the rest.  Now, with last week's announcement of the Silverdocs line-up, that six month stretch starts to wrap itself up.

Not that we won't hear about the above films for the rest of the year (we will, particularly at awards season), but Silverdocs signals the changing of the guard, the last major, domestic festival gasp for many of the creme of 2010's documentary crop and the first glimpse of a few films that will be stalwarts on the fall festival tour.

And the beginning of June reminds us that the unveiling of the Toronto line-up, when the fall season really begins in earnest, is less than two months away.

Summer is here.

Silverdocs will kick off its 8th edition in just over three weeks, leading with opening night omnibus doc FREAKONOMICS and closing with Amir Bar-Lev's THE TILLMAN STORY, both of which should be of strong interest to the DC-adjacent crowd.  Competition titles include several festival favorites, including Doug Block's THE KIDS GROW UP, Alexandra Codina's MONICA AND DAVID (which won Tribeca), Robin Hessman's MY PERESTROIKA, Julia Bacha's BUDRUS, Yael Hersonski's A FILM UNFINISHED (which won Hot Docs, Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith's PRESUMED GUILTY and Christian Frei's SPACE TOURISTS.

Silverdocs will also share a few competition titles with it's cross-country rival LAFF, which gets the jump this year by opening five days earlier than Silverdocs.  Los Angeles is set to premiere Malcolm Murray's CAMERA, CAMERA and Aaron Schock's CIRCO, both of which will then head to Silver Springs.  The two fests will also offer Davis Guggenheim's WAITING FOR SUPERMAN, the first time we've seen that film screen since it debuted in Park City earlier this year.  They'll also share FREAKONOMICS, TILLMAN, Jeff Malmberg's MARWENCOL, Sam Green's UTOPIA IN FOUR MOVEMENTS, Mads Brügger's THE RED CHAPEL, Alexandre O. Philippe's THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS and others.

If I were headed to Silver Springs this year, I'd certainly want to catch Stephen Kijak's STONES IN EXILE - the 60 minute making-of "Exile on Main Street" doc which made such a splash in Cannes, as well as Francine Cavanaugh and Adams Wood's ON COAL RIVER, which chronicles a community action against Massey Energy prior to that company's coal mine disaster at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.  Plus, there's a terrific line-up of 40+ shorts, including a few of the best shorts we've seen in years - Sergio Oksman's NOTES ON THE OTHER and Vance Malone's THE POODLE TRAINER.

Silverdocs is also gonna fete Frederick Wiseman (although they don't have his latest, BOXING GYM, which was just at Cannes) and will screen Oliver Stone's SOUTH OF THE BORDER, a profile of South American heads of state, which should make some kind of news, one suspects.

We will be covering the Los Angeles Film Fest, which will host large outdoor screenings of the GEORGE LUCAS doc and Mark Landsman's THUNDER SOUL and one of the first (if not the first) post-Sundance screening of Mark Lewis' 3-D doc, CANE TOADS: THE CONQUEST.  LAFF makes its move from Westwood to downtown Los Angeles (HQing itself at the LA Live complex) and while we weren't big fans of this year's LA Live-based Spirit Awards, we're cautiously optimistic about the relocation of the film festival.

Five months into 2010 and the Cinema Eye Honors team (full disclosure: once again I'll be a co-chair for the 2011 event) has announced the 86 films that are already eligible for next year's awards - and most of the above named film titles (save for the recent premieres) are on the list.  I can't get in the business of predicting which way Cinema Eye is going to go (not only that, I'm a relatively poor soothsayer as far as nominations for that event goes), but I'm very excited about that list of films - as well as by a bunch of stuff going on behind the scenes that we will be announcing later this summer.

The Joe Berlinger/CRUDE/Chevron case continues to unfold, as Berlinger's lawyers make their case for overturning the judge's decision (that he must turn over raw footage to Chevron) to an appeals court.  Chevron, for their part, issued a press release this week that, in part, details their arguments related to the Berlinger case:

"The U.S. federal court proceedings in which Chevron seeks hidden evidence of corruption and misconduct captured by filmmaker Joe Berlinger have also centered on evidence of collusion in connection with the (Ecuadorian court appointee Richard) Cabrera’s damages report. Parts of Berlinger’s film CRUDE show plaintiffs’ lawyers Steven Donziger and Pablo Fajardo working with Carlos Beristain, one of the supposedly neutral experts on Cabrera’s team, at a focus group meeting related to Beristain’s supposedly independent health survey Cabrera relies on Beristain’s survey for his assessment of $9.5 billion in damages for excess cancer claims. While, at the direction of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, Berlinger edited the DVD version of Crude to conceal Beristain’s involvement with the lawyers, the unedited scene remains in a recently released internet version of the film. This documentation of collusion supported Chevron’s successful argument to a federal court in New York that other Crude outtakes should be reviewed for further evidence of misconduct. In its recent order, the New York court ruled that the fact that this scene was cut from the final version of the DVD at the direction of plaintiffs’ lawyers is a fact suggestive of an awareness of questionable activity."

Stuff worth reading: 11/4/08 director Jeff Deutchman talks to indieWIRE about the collaborative filmmaking behind his doc (it screens at NYC's Stranger Than Fiction on June 15), which includes contributions from Margaret Brown and Henry Joost.  There are reports that Warner Bros. plans to turn Jody Lambert's festival hit OF ALL THE THINGS into a narrative feature, with Steve Carrell being chased to play Lambert's songwriting dad, Dennis.  indieWIRE has the scoop on the weekend indie box office and doc wise, the story continues to be EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP - now at $2M and still climbing.

Finally, point of personal privilege: CONVENTION, the film I made at the 2008 DNC with fellow filmmakers Steven Bognar, Daniel Junge, Laura Poitras, Julia Reichert, Paul Taylor, Nathan Truesdell and David Wilson (as well as producers Britta Erickson, Shirley Moyers and Jenny Chikes), opens this Friday at the IFC Center and a number of us will be on hand all weekend to toast the theatrical premiere and take your questions.  A couple press pieces to note:  indieWIRE re-runs their article from last summer with Brian Brooks quizzing yours truly on the making of the film.  NY Magazine nicely calls the film "wonderfully counterintuitive...a generous portrait of the true face of modern democracy—if Robert Altman made documentaries, this is what they might look like."  Previously, Variety's Eddie Cockrell said it was "a bipartisan, upbeat celebration of democracy's delicate membrane and can-do spirit".  There's some other raves out there, but we'll spare the piling on (you can also find a negative review or two of the "nothing newsworthy happens" variety, which one might argue is beside the point, but one might also be biased).

Hope you can come out this weekend to the IFC Center - say hello.

Tribeca 2010: MONICA & DAVID and THE ARBOR Take Top Doc Jury Prizes

Although it continues through this weekend, the Tribeca Film Festival held its awards gala on Thursday night with top honors in the World Documentary category going to Alexandra Codina's MONICA & DAVID.  The jury - comprised of top documentary filmmakers Marshall Curry, Margaret Brown, Jessica Alba and Whoopi Goldberg (among others) also presented Best New Documentary Filmmaker to Clio Barnard for THE ARBOR. Both films' directors received a $25,000 cash prize.

MONICA & DAVID, the story of two adults with Downs syndrome, heads next to Hot Docs where it will play next week.  NOW Toronto already has a preview, calling it "one of the most humane and emotionally rich films you'll see this year".  Prior to Tribeca, indieWIRE had some questions for director Codina.

Lots of folks have been talking about THE ARBOR and its mix of fiction/nonfiction in telling the story of playwright Andrea Dunbar.  Writing at The National, David D'Arcy describes:

"In THE ARBOR, named for a grim housing estate in Bradford, England, where the playwright Andrea Dunbar (1961-90) lived with her daughter Lorraine, the director Clio Barnard blends fiction and non-fiction in the story of a troubled family. Actors lip-synch testimony about Dunbar, who rose to success as an author but couldn’t rise above her surroundings and addiction."

More about THE ARBOR in a future post.

The New York Documentary Competition prize went to C. Scott Willis' THE WOODMANS, which tells the story of a tragedy in a family of artists.

Spirit Awards 2009 in Photos

Per usual, it was a nice afternoon in Santa Monica yesterday, enjoying both the Spirit Awards and the IFC Afterparty.  As evening approached, we noted that for such a big deal event, it always feel pretty homey.  Maybe it's the tent.

In any case, good to see lots of folks from the indie film community in attendance and congrats to James Marsh, Simon Chinn and Margaret Brown on their wins in the documentary categories.

Marsh accepts the Best Documentary Feature award for MAN ON WIRE as producer Chinn looks on.  Subject Philippe Petit was the subject of a good part of host Steve Coogan's monologue, who quipped at one point that the only thing that would have made MAN ON WIRE better would be if Petit had fallen.  More indie, said the host.

Margaret Brown displays her Truer Than Fiction prize in the press tent.  She won for her film ORDER OF MYTHS, which was also nominated for Best Doc Feature.

Doc Feature nominees Yung Chang and Mila Aung-Thwin, director and producer of UP THE YANGTZE.

Doc nominees - also up for an Oscar this afternoon - Thavisouk Phrasavath and Ellen Kuras, nominated for THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON).

Doug Jones of the Los Angeles Film Festival, with Truer Than Fiction nominee Darius Marder.  Marder's film, LOOT, took the Grand Jury Prize at LAFF, was picked up by HBO and screens next week at True/False.

HBO's Sara Bernstein with filmmakers Morgan Spurlock and Ondi Timoner at the IFC Afterparty.  Bernstein will be at the Oscars this afternoon - supporting the entire slate of Documentary Short nominees, which all will have a home at HBO (along with Doc Feature Oscar nominee TROUBLE THE WATER).

Lynn Shelton, director of MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE (and the Sundance smash HUMPDAY) received the Someone To Watch Award.

1000th Post - Spirit Awards Nominee Reception

A brief note tonight...

A terrific evening in Santa Monica celebrating this year's Spirit Awards nominees.  Arriving tonight and seeing the white tent set up on the beach, preparing for Saturday's festivities was a kind of in-your-face confirmation that this week's award season was in full bloom. 

Inside the reception, a reminder of what a fine job Film Independent does in recognizing those who are working with limited means - not just on the doc side, but fine folks like Lynn Shelton, Barry Jenkins, Sean Baker, et al.

So, here's to all of this year's nominees, including those up for Best Documentary Feature:

From left: Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath (THE BETRAYAL), Yung Chang (UP THE YANGTZE) and Margaret Brown (THE ORDER OF MYTHS). 

Truer Than Fiction nominee Darius Marder (LOOT) introduces James Marsh (MAN ON WIRE) as nominees Michael Simmonds (DP on CHOP SHOP and ORDER OF MYTHS), and Margaret Brown look on.

A final note before we hit the sack.  This is our 1000th post on the blog.  That kind of blows our minds.   We had no idea when this began that such a thing was possible, much less likely. 

Our continued thanks for your encouragement. 

Awards Week Launches With IDA's Salute to Oscar Nominees

As Matt Dentler put it so nicely over on his blog, this week in Los Angeles "feels like Mardi Gras for Hollywood and Indiewood, the long Super Bowl weekend of events and screenings and parties and awards."

Last night was the kickoff for five days of celebratory gatherings, as the IDA hosted its annual Oscar Nominee Reception at the Motion Picture Academy.  A few observations:  Lily Tomlin was a terrific host.  It was clear that she's a admirer of documentaries and documentary filmmakers and considers herself part of the extended community.  She was funny and charming, perhaps only outdone by MAN ON WIRE subject Phillipe Petit, who inspired the only thing that came close to a standing ovation from the assembled crowd.

The crowd itself was younger than I'd ever seen at an IDA event, prompting me to wonder if the youth contigent had been "bused in".  New IDA Executive Director Michael Lumpkin confirmed some of this in his short introductory speech, noting that students of the IDA's Docs Rock program were in attendance.  No matter the origin, the vastly lowered average age of attendees gave the whole evening a energy boost.

Also in attendance, for the first time that I can remember (but maybe I wasn't paying attention in the past) was nearly the entire Sundance programming team, bravely stepping out in public in the face of nonstop questions about the surprising departure of Geoffrey Gilmore for Tribeca.

A highlight for me of the night was IDA President Eddie Schmidt's acknowledgement of Spirit Award nominees Margaret Brown (ORDER OF MYTHS) and Yung Chang (UP THE YANGTZE), as well as Foreign Language Oscar nominee Ari Folman (WALTZ WITH BASHIR).  While I'd love to for the IDA to find a way to incorporate the Spirit Award nominees into the program as a whole, making the event a celebration of all the nonfiction nominees of this weekend, Schmidt's tip of the hat was a nice first step.

Amongst the nominees, particularly the shorts filmmakers, there was a chorus of thanks to HBO, reminding of their annual, strong support of short nonfiction (they are also the future home of nominated film TROUBLE THE WATER and Spirit Award nominee LOOT).  Not lost, however, was Eddie Schmidt's dig at HBO filmmaker-in-residence Alexandra Pelosi, whom he criticized for her recent New York Times comments that documentaries "are boring".  Although Schmidt didn't name Pelosi, he did encourage the audience to look on google to see who he was talking about.

If one is to try to guage Sunday's winners from the audience reaction in the theater, you'd have to give the enthusiasm edge to MAN ON WIRE, perhaps narrowly over TROUBLE THE WATER, which certainly had strong support in the Beverly Hills auditorium.  Of the clips themselves, the audience laughed uproariously at the scene from Werner Herzog's (who was not in attendance) ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD.  The audience also had a huge response (gasping, oohs and ahs) to the still photographs of Petit walking on the wire between the Twin Towers, prompting some of us to wonder whether there were really that many folks in the audience who hadn't seen that film yet.

Tonight, the Spirit Awards nominees gather in Santa Monica for their kickoff celebration.  More on that event tomorrow.

Here are pictures from last night's gala at the Motion Picture Academy (lots more after the break):

From left, TROUBLE THE WATER co-cinematographer PJ Raval, Oscar nominated director/producers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin and co-producer Amir Bar-Lev.

Oscar nominated filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy (THE GARDEN).

Pencils Down. Time to Turn in Your Oscar Ballots...

Oscar ballots are due tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5 PM west coast time.  If you're still mulling over your choice in the documentary feature category (or you just want to bone up on the nominees for filling out your own Oscar pool), here's a round-up of our interviews with this year's Oscar nominees:

THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON)

Director Ellen Kuras

Ellen Kuras writes about the two decades of equipment used in the making of the film

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Director Werner Herzog

THE GARDEN

Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy

MAN ON WIRE

Director James Marsh

Open Letter from Producer Simon Chinn

TROUBLE THE WATER

Director/Producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

And while the Spirit Awards ballot deadline has already passed, you can check out coverage of these nominees:

LOOT (nominated for Truer Than Fiction)

Director Darius Marder

ORDER OF MYTHS (nominated for Best Documentary and Truer Than Fiction)

Director Margaret Brown

Margaret Brown's Indie Film Tour Diary

UP THE YANGTZE (nominated for Best Documentary)

Director Yung Chang

The Nominations for the 2009 Cinema Eye Honors Announced

In Park City this afternoon, at the Queer Lounge on Main Street, the nominations were announced for the 2nd Annual Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking.  Video of the Nominations Announcement will be posted shortly.

Ari Folman’s acclaimed animated film, WALTZ WITH BASHIR, received a record-setting 7 nominations, including nods for Director, Producer, Editor, Music, Animation, International Film and the top prize, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking.  In addition, Ari Folman leads all nominees with four individual nominations.

Guy Maddin’s MY WINNIPEG received six total nominations, while James Marsh’s MAN ON WIRE had five.  Margaret Brown’s THE ORDER OF MYTHS, which received four nominations, and Marina Zenovich’s ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED are also in contention for the top award.

Of the five films nominated for the top prize, only one – MAN ON WIRE – is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Feature Documentary.

Legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, whose ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD received four nominations, joins Margaret Brown, Ari Folman, Guy Maddin and James Marsh in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Direction.  Margaret Brown becomes the first woman to be nominated for the directing prize. 

Brown, Maddin, Marsh, UP THE YANGTZE’s director Yung Chang and MY WINNPEG’s producer/ cinematographer Jody Shapiro each received three individual nominations.

Among distributors, Magnolia Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics and Zeitgeist Films each earned 8 nominations for their films.  Discovery’s now-defunct theatrical film unit got 9 nominations for MAN ON WIRE and ENCOUNTERS, tops for a production company or television network.

Ceremonies for the 2009 Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking will be held in New York City on March 29, 2009.  Thom Powers, Documentary Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival, and yours truly are co-chairs of the 2009 Cinema Eye Honors.  Indiepix is the primary sponsor and production partner for the awards.

Full nominations, including other titles nominated in each category, can be found in subsequent posts.

Cinema Eye: Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking

THE NOMINEES

MAN ON WIRE
Directed by James Marsh
Produced by Simon Chinn

MY WINNIPEG
Directed by Guy Maddin
Produced by Jody Shapiro and Phyllis Laing

THE ORDER OF MYTHS
Directed by Margaret Brown
Produced by Margaret Brown and Sara Alize Cross

ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED
Directed by Marina Zenovich
Produced by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Lila Yacoub and Marina Zenovich

WALTZ WITH BASHIR
Directed by Ari Folman
Produced by Ari Folman, Serge Lalou, Gerhard Meixner, Yael Nahlieli and Roman Paul