As usual, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ makes a shortlist of doc films, leaves many popular titles out in the cold, has weird rules that take out many quality films from the competition (Waltz with Bashir and Up the Yangtze) and brings attention to titles that I haven’t a clue where they come from. But what may be different from last year’s debacle is that some of these docs have critical clout and we should find some resemblance to the second year edition of counter-Oscar documentary awards also known as the Cinema Eye awards.
Among the list, I feel the films that have the best chances are the recently released Pray the Devil Back to Hell and The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), the extremely popular Man on Wire, Academy Award winner Errol Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure and Sundance winner Trouble the Water.
Here is the shortlist of 15, and I’ve included a link to AJ Schnack’s (the creator behind the Cinema Eye Awards) blog about docs who’ll give an in-depth look into the list of non-fiction 15.
At the Death House Door
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh
Encounters at the End of the World
Fuel
The Garden
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
I.O.U.S.A.
In a Dream
Made in America
Man on Wire
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Standard Operating Procedure
They Killed Sister Dorothy
Trouble the Water
