I knew this day would come, and it is with a sense of both excitement and sadness. By the end of my long deployment, I will have earned the most difficult and significant achievement of my life – Surface Warfare Officer Qualification, and finally perform the mission that my ship and I have been training toward for over a year. On the other hand, I must sacrifice the time and effort I have placed into a site that has grown so much in such a short time.
As our Editor himself would agree, what makes me value Awards Circuit is the staff – all the different backgrounds and perspectives on film from all walks of life. To proudly welcome Nicole and Tiff into our family, I will be assisting Clay in integrating them into the staff top tens dating all the way back to 2000 before my departure. After that, for operational security purposes, you will not be hearing from me for a while. But I will not be gone forever! One of my shipmates advised me a long time ago not to let the Navy become my sole identity, and I will hold to that. Come late 2013/early 2014, I will be back to resuming my full staff writer duties. Read more on Oscars 2013: Will Win/Should Win (Hamer)…
Categories: Article Tags: Amour, Argo, awards season, Beasts of the Southern Wild, divisive films, great performances, Holy Motors, How to Survive a Plague, Lincoln, Looper, Magic Mike, oscar predictions, Robert Hamer, Tabu, The Turin Horse, Will Win/Should Win
The 2011 Oscar winners for Best Documentary Feature Film, “Undefeated” – (L-R) Rich Middlemas, T.J. Martin, and Daniel Lindsay.
In a strong and impressive year for movies, 2012 has not only given us the most compelling Oscar race in years, but in terms of documentary filmmaking, one of the most richly rewarding years the genre has ever seen. As many proclaim this to be a new Golden Age for documentaries, with more and more of them finding theaters each year, the incredible rise to prominence of the documentary feature film has given much more renewed scrutiny to Oscar’s nomination process.
New rules implemented for 2012, which forced a film to not only play New York or Los Angeles for at least one 7-day stretch but to also have a review written in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, was intended to make the process easier. However, savvy film and PR agents found a soft spot in the rules and the 2012 documentary season fell into loophole madness. The loophole is a rather obvious one – the PR reps, festival programmers, and theater managers of participating theaters simply booked documentaries for a minimum of one week’s time, invited reviewers from the New York and Los Angeles Times to write and publish reviews. Essentially, they qualified the film.
Famously, Documentary Branch chairman and Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore took to Twitter on more than one occasion during the voting cycle, bashing the process he helped implement and bemoaning the fact that nearly one hundred screeners arrived on approximately the same day, with just a few weeks left in the voting. When he tweeted the final 15 films which made Oscar’s shortlist, he praised the process and heralded the selections. Controversy, politics, and egos aside, these five Best Documentary nominees are unquestionably worthy and important films; the kind which haunt you long after the credits start rolling and/or the television is turned off.
The 2012 Nominees are:
- 5 Broken Cameras – Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi
- The Gatekeepers – Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky, Estelle Fialon
- How To Survive A Plague – David France, Howard Gertler
- The Invisible War – Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering
- Searching For Sugar Man – Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Documentary Feature…
How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, and 5 Broken Cameras have all been nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, and are now getting a second run courtesy of the Lincoln Center in New York City. The films will run for one additional week starting Friday, January 18th, so this provides a good chance for those near the theater to cross three more films off your list before Oscar night.
Read more on Three Oscar Nominated Docs Returning to The Lincoln Center…
The Directors Guild of America has nominated filmmakers Kirby Dick (The Invisible War), Malik Bendjelloul (Searching for Sugar Man), Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles), David France (How to Survive a Plague), and Alison Klayman (Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry) for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries. The winners will be announced at the 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013.
Read more on The DGA Nominates Five Documentary Directors…
2011 Best Documentary Feature winners TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas (L-R) for “Undefeated”.
One of the Academy Award categories that draws the most interest from my corner of the world is the Best Documentary Feature prize. Saddled with a fair amount of controversies throughout the last couple of decades or so, the Best Documentary Feature Film Oscar has succeeded in raising eyebrows and/or validating public sentiment in recent years. Reports have surfaced that 126 films have met the Academy’s eligibility rules this year; rules that have created their own unique brand of controversy.
Similar to the anticipation surrounding changes to the Best Original Song category this year, which now mandates five nominees, people both in and around the Oscar season have expressed next to no real idea whether these changes are going to make the nominees more commercial, less commercial, or ultimately have no impact whatsoever on the final nominees.
Read more on Waiting on the Documentary Shortlist……
Categories: Article Tags: Best Documentary Feature, Brooklyn Castle, Bully, Camp 14, Central Park Five, chasing ice, Detropia, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel, Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, Ethel, Far Out Isn't Enough, First Position, Garbage In The Garden Of Eden, Head Games, How to Survive a Plague, Iceberg Slim: Portrait Of A Pimp, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, love, Love Marilyn, Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present, Marley, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, No Place On Earth, Paul Williams Still Alive, Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, Samsara, Searching for Sugar Man, State 194, The Act Of Killing, The Ambassador, The Gatekeepers, The House I Live, the house i live in, The Imposter, The Invisible War, The Law In These Parts, The Queen of Versailles, This Is Not a Film, West of Memphis, Women With Cows, You've Been Trumped
 The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers announced today the nominees for the Gotham Independent Film Awards. Moonrise Kingdom and The Master picked up nominations for Best Feature, along with The Loneliest Planet, Jack Black starring Bernie and Ava DuVernay’s well-regarded Middle of Nowhere. Other Oscar hopefuls were among the nominees including Silver Linings Playbook in Best Ensemble and Beasts of the Southern Wild, which picked up 2 nominations in Breakthrough Director and Actor. In addition to the regular awards actress Marion Cotillard, actor/writer Matt Damon, director David O. Russell and producer Jeff Skoll are to receive award tributes.See the full list after the jump! Read more on 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards nominees led by “Beasts” and “Moonrise”…
Categories: News, Precursors Tags: Ava DuVernay, award shows, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Bernie, Cinema of the United States, David O. Russell, Detropia, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Gotham Awards, Gotham Independent Film Awards, How to Survive a Plague, Independent Feature Project, Independent films, Jeff Skoll, Jeffrey Skoll, Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present, Marion Cotillard, Mark Duplass, Matt Damon, Middle of Nowhere, Moonrise Kingdom, news, Paul Thomas Anderson, Room 237, Safety Not Guaranteed, Silver Linings Playbook, the Gotham Independent Film Awards, The Loneliest Planet, The Master, The Waiting Room, Wes Anderson, Your Sister's Sister
 With a catchy title suggesting a somewhat tongue in cheek horror film more so than a deadly serious documentary, there’s actually plenty scary about what’s contained in ‘How to Survive a Plague’…namely how those with AIDS used to be treated in the United States of America. Filled with pure emotion and terrifyingly real sense of desperation that had to have been felt at the time, this is a very good documentary that focuses in on the history and impact of the AIDS crisis in America and how a small group of activists were instrumental in getting medication into the world that saved countless lives. Mainly comprised of archival footage from numerous protests, group meetings, and other clips that had to have been previously unseen for the most part (with a little bit of talking head interviews thrown in for good measure), this isn’t your standard documentary, though it’s definitely a compelling watch. Obviously this is rather depressing subject matter, but it’s handled in a very solid way, which is important since this needs to work more than just in terms of making one cry. Tears are certainly a possibility for audience members who see this little flick when it opens on Friday, but its primary goal is to inspire people to act against social injustice. Director David France (a journalist who’s a first time filmmaker) is definitely successful in that way, leading you to connect the dots to current social issues if one is so inclined (or the Occupy Wall Street movement, for that matter), though if you don’t there won’t be anything lost on you in terms of how you feel about this movie. Regardless, this is a well made and important documentary to have in the world and I’m glad it’s getting a release.
Read more on How to Survive a Plague (***)…
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