Oscar Contenders and other Such Award Nonsense!

The documentary Restrepo is set in an alien world and has a touch of the surreal, but it’s the furthest extreme from escapism. In 2007, directors Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger (the best-selling writer) got themselves embedded with Battle Company’s Second Platoon, the “tip of the spear” in the remote Korengal Valley in Eastern Afghanistan, in makeshift hillside outposts not far from the mountains of Pakistan. Hetherington and Junger shot the film themselves and kept their cameras going during the frequent firefights, although this isn’t what you’d call smooth cinematography: You can feel the fight-or-flight instincts in how their cameras swerve and point at the ground or the sky. Experiencing their terror vicariously, you might wish they were holding weapons instead of cameras.

Best Feature
"Black Swan" by Darren Aronofsky
"Blue Valentine" by Derek Cianfrance
"The Kids Are All Right" by Lisa Cholodenko
"Let Me In" by Matt Reeves
"Winter's Bone" by Debra Granik

Final List of Foreign Language Academy Submissions
by Peter Knegt (October 13, 2010)

The submission list for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards’ foreign-language category has been finalized, with 65 countries having now announced their selections. The selection includes high profile entries on this year’s festival circuit, including Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Biutiful” (Mexico), Xavier Beauvois’s “Of Gods and Men” (France), Apichatpong Weerathesakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Can Recall His Past Lives” (Thailand), Susanne Bier’s “In a Better World” (Denmark) Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” (Canada), and Oliver Schmitz’s “Life, Above All” (South Africa).

2nd or 3rd Week in November: Short List for Documentary Feature

All submissions sent to the Academy will be screened by the Animated Feature Film Award Screening Committee(s). After the screenings, the committee(s) will vote by secret ballot to nominate from 3 to 5 motion pictures for this award. In any year in which 8 to 15 animated features are released in Los Angeles County, a maximum of 3 motion pictures may be nominated. In any year in which 16 or more animated features are submitted and accepted in the category, a maximum of 5 motion pictures may be nominated.

In preparing for the documentary feature film nominations, here is a short list of feature length docs that just might make the 2011 Academy Award cut:
The Tillman Story
Inside Job
Waiting for Superman: I have no interest in seeing such a dreadfully boring film.
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer: I'm debating on whether to see this depressing political flick this Friday 23 November.
Countdown to Zero
Restrepo: I have seen this incredibly moving documentary and I'll be really disappointed if it's passed over.
Tabloid
Freakonomics

Quote:

2nd or 3rd Week in November: Short List for Documentary Feature

Is when the official shortlist of feature length docs gets released by the Academy.

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” Alex Gibney, director (ES Productions LLC)

“Enemies of the People,” Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, directors (Old Street Films)

“Exit through the Gift Shop,” Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)

“Gasland,” Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)

"The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudia Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown."

“Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould,” Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, directors (White Pine Pictures)

“Inside Job,” Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)

“The Lottery,” Madeleine Sackler, director (Great Curve Films)

“Precious Life,” Shlomi Eldar, director (Origami Productions)

“Quest for Honor,” Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, director (Smothers Bruni Productions)

“Restrepo,” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)

“This Way of Life,” Thomas Burstyn, director (Cloud South Films)

“The Tillman Story,” Amir Bar-Lev, director (Passion Pictures/Axis Films)

“Waiting for ‘Superman’”, Davis Guggenheim, director (Electric Kinney Films)
“Waste Land,” Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)

“William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe,” Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, directors (Disturbing the Universe LLC)

"Inside Job," Waiting for 'Superman," "The Tillman Story" and "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer" are among the documentaries nominated for the 22nd annual Producers Guild Awards, the PGA announced on Friday.

Shortlisted doc "Exit Through the Gift Shop," the art-world film directed by graffiti artist Banksy and one of the most celebrated non-fiction films of the year, did not make the list of PGA nominees.