Documentary Feature Oscar Nominees Announced. Yawn.
Posted by Jay C on January 22nd, 2008
Filed under: News
Well here it is. The 2008 Academy Award nominees for best documentary feature have been announced and boy am I not surprised. In fact, I’m completely indifferent. Scratch that, I’m annoyed. What an uninspired selection. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the films on the list. In fact, it wouldn’t be fair to do so seeing as I’ve only seen one of the five selections. (Sicko) I just can’t believe how predictable this list is:
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance
Wow. 3 out of 5 films deal with the Iraq war, 1 deals with children in the Ugandan war, and 1 is a Michael Moore film. How much more uninspired can the academy get? How is it that with such a great year for documentary film making, the academy STILL can’t bring themselves to nominate films that simply deal with great story telling, inspiring characters and exquisite film making? I know AJ Schnack has been talking about this for some while now on his personal blog, and I haven’t really felt the urge to chime in until now. Again, I have nothing against the nominated films or their filmmakers, but come on academy! There are so many films that you let slip through your fingers that deserved a nod! THREE Iraq documentaries???? Are you trying to prove Seinfeld right? You couldn’t have at least thrown in the abortion film to balance things out?
I don’t want people to think I’m suggesting the academy should mix things up for the sake of mixing things up. Not in the least. I just truly believe that they dropped the ball on this one. Academy, you’ve fucked up in the past and you certainly fucked up this year. Proof yet again that your voters seem to think that nothing can beat a documentary with a political message.
Look at your choices for best picture of the year. There Will Be Blood, Juno, No Country for Old Men, Atonement and Michael Clayton. An alright mix of some great films. Some people are surprised (and delighted) to see Juno getting a nod. So what made you decide to include Juno on your list anyways? What are you looking for in your fiction that you’re ignoring in your non-fiction? Where was Redacted? Where was In the Valley of Elah? Why is it you feel the need to honour THREE Iraq films in the non-fiction category, but are inspired enough to nominate Juno or No Country for Old Men in the best picture category? How does your documentary viewing experience differ from your fiction viewing experience? Where is your non-fiction Juno? Where’s The King of Kong? Where’s Crazy Love? Where’s Zoo? Where’s Billy the Kid? Where’s My Kid Could Paint That?
I want a non-fiction Juno. I want some acknowledgment for MY favourite films of the year. I want the academy to open their minds and start looking at documentaries as films, not 20/20 or Dateline segments. I may be speaking for myself here, but to me, the story of an awkward teen’s first love can be as powerful and moving as the story of a soldier’s first tour of duty in the middle east. If this isn’t true, than how did Juno possibly beat out Redacted for best picture?
Trip on 
January 22nd, 2008 13:20
“I want some acknowledgment for MY favourite films of the year.”
Is it really worth it to look at the oscars for acknowledgement that your opinion is in fact valid? The academy pretty much always gets it wrong in every category. You may remember they did not even nominated ‘Lady in the water’ :P.
You should just be happy that this tendency makes Standard Operating Procedure a shoo-in next year!
January 22nd, 2008 15:46
Of these, I have only seen Sicko and No End In Sight (both wonderful, important films that I think everyone should see), but I agree. All this does is perpetuate the notion held by those who aren’t (yet) into docs that they are only statement films about serious or tragic subjects.
If people were aware of the diversity that exists in documentary film, that they can be funny or visually innovative, they might not be as obscure as they tend to be.
January 22nd, 2008 17:44
How about you actually see all the films and decide based on their quality of filmmaking, as opposed to the predictabililty of the topics? radical idea, I know, but there it is. By condemning the selection based on the topics, you are making the same fault that you blame the Academy for making.
That said, it is an Academy. Academies have always been, and will continue to be, and are largely supposed to be, conservative in their selections. It is rather silly to be shocked by such tendencies. It is true and unfortunate that the Academy will always pick statement films about serious topics (that is, unless they are about Hollywood or other inspiring stories related to the arts.)
And that said, Operation Homecoming, for one, is a rather atypical and visually innovative documentary. Maybe you all should see it?
best regards…
January 22nd, 2008 20:13
I agree 100%
I’m pissed that The King of Kong didn’t get nominated.
The Academy needs to get their heads out of their asses and, as you put it, look at documentaries as more than Dateline segments.
January 22nd, 2008 22:32
Adam- My comment had nothing to do with how good the nominees were. Like I said, the two I saw were excellent. Believe me, as a fan of documentary film, I will see the remaining films as soon as I can (there are very few docs I haven’t liked) . Two are on my Netflix queue. I’m sure they are great films. You say it’s silly to be shocked. Where in my comment do I express shock? I’m not shocked. I never was shocked. The academy acted the way it typically does.
Truth be told, I think the practice of awarding art like this and declaring one particular film “the best” is the really silly thing. Silly and fairly arbitrary. The Oscars, as far as I’m concerned is about one thing - promoting film and celebrity. I guess my point is as long as it’s arbitrary and the goal is to promote, why not broaden the horizons a little more to attract a wider audience - an audience that might be interested in docs with, say, lighter subject matter.
January 22nd, 2008 22:44
Taxi to the Dark Side Movie Poster…
So far this is my favorite poster of 2008. The Dark Knight poster is pretty hot but this has so much more meaning. It has a great colors and texture that give the posted some feel. I think the shadow of the detained person that makes up part of the US…
January 23rd, 2008 13:18
Look at it this way - they didn’t nominate a Holocaust film.
There are some years they get it right - like when they nominated and awarded “Born into Brothels” with the Oscar.
January 23rd, 2008 21:51
Hi Chris,
I agree, the whole notion of awards & bests is rather ridiculous, except for raising business, which is why the Academy Awards exist to begin with.
The silly comment was a more general notion rather than anything you said in particular. Sorry for the curt tone.
The Academy doesn’t really know how to treat docs (and foreign films are even worse). But those aren’t the cash machines that the industry is worried about promoting. Silly of them, because they could make a decent number of millions if they put more attention into it.
A friend of mine suggested yesterday that the Academy should have two doc categories, one for the serious investigative stuff, and one for the “lighter” or personal works. The Academy really has no idea what to do with personal and experimental non-fiction. It’ll never happen, but it’s a nice idea. I actually think the Indie Pix Cinema Eye Awards is a decent response, if we can get people to learn about them.. But even those will become predictable, like the Spirit Awards. And those also don’t have a place for films like “Trick or Drink” - more experimental & personal work.
That all said, “March of the Penguins” was pretty light and it won an Oscar. So did that Norman Corwin short which was up against several more serious (and IMHO better) films. But that’s people based on the topic, not the filmmaking, and that’s always the problem with doc voting.
And that all said, I actually think the 5 nominees this year are quite good, and the main reason people are bored by them are… the topics. True, it would be nice to see “Manda Bala” in there.
January 24th, 2008 00:50
Hey Adam,
Thanks for your reply and sorry to Jay for hijacking your comments section.
I probably shouldn’t expect the Academy to be responsible for promoting docs anyway. Like you say, that is not really where their interests lie, at least not financially. It is a shame, though. After discovering and watching a ton of docs the last few years, I’ve come to find them generally more compelling than dramatic features. I think others might, too, if they had more exposure to them. On a positive note, it does seem like documentaries continue to become more and more commercially viable.
As far as adding more awards, I’m conflicted. On the one hand, the concept seems, as you say, ridiculous. But if more awards means more exposure which in turn means more financing and distribution of good docs, then it’s a good thing.
By the way, if you are the same Adam Hyman who co-produced Operation Homecoming, congratulations! I have it at the top of my Netflix list and look forward to seeing it soon. Everything I’ve read about it has been extremely positive.
January 24th, 2008 11:32
Chris:
“sorry to Jay for hijacking your comments section.”
That’s what they’re for! I encourage hijacking! Wait, that sounds terrible.
Hey Adam,
I also congratulate you on your success with Operation Homecoming.
I realize how unfair it is to respond to a list of films in which I’ve only seen 1 out of the 5. Hopefully I clarified the fact that I’m not intending to slam the nominees or their work. I think my response, oddly enough, comes from all of the attention Juno is getting. It just reminds me that there’s a lighter side to the Academy, and it would be great if they could use that line of thinking with docs as well. As you mentioned, there have been some great ‘lighter’ films nominated (and winning) in the past. However, this year, for me at least, felt exceptionally great in terms of broadening the scope of documentary film making, and it’s unfortunate those films weren’t recognized. Although after your description of Operation Homecoming, I may eat my words.
Having said all of that, I do hope to catch the rest of the nominated films once they’re made available to me in my small, Southern Ontario town, and for what it’s worth, I still congratulate all of the nominees.
January 24th, 2008 15:57
As little action as there usually is on this thedocumentaryblog.com, you certainly get some high-profile commenters! Or some dedicated impersonators.
January 24th, 2008 23:54
Hi,
Yes, I’m the same one who co-produced Operation Homecoming. Hope you all like it when you see it. I should have stated my conflict of interest in my first post.
Hey, I also run Los Angeles Filmforum, http://www.lafilmforum.org
We’ll be screening a good music doc called “Imagine the Sound,” by Ron Mann, a reissue of his film from 1981, on February 10. Come if you can.
This year was very good for docs. I am still looking forward to seeing “Nanking,” because I am intrigued by the use of performance of first-person accounts. “Manda Bala” of course, was exceptional.
January 25th, 2008 08:19
From your other comments on the site, you may sound obsessed with Los Angeles, but the fact that you left comments on here, makes me root for you at the Oscars.
Internet movie fans are an easy bunch to manipulate I guess. All you have to do is refer to us, and we will love you.
I thought the best documentary I saw last year was ‘Forever’ but that could technically be 2006, and in lieu of that, I would say Helvetica. But I have not seen any of the nominees. The only american documentary I can remember having a bona-fide theatrical release here is Sicko - other than that documentaries are related to the annual film festival CPH:DOX.
January 25th, 2008 08:20
*relegated
January 26th, 2008 22:03
I haven’t seen ‘Forever” or “Helvetica.” What are they about?
January 27th, 2008 07:37
Forever is about a famous funeral in Paris, and in particular the people who visit graves of people like Chopin who have been dead for hundreds of years. It is a study in what art means to people.
Helvetica is about graphic design, and in particular the font Helvetica.
There is a review on this site for Helvetica, and if you go to FilmJunk.com and do a search for CPH:DOX I wrote up an article of the films I saw there this year, including these two great films.
February 19th, 2008 12:52
Gotta agree with JC on this one. It is so lame and boring that all the docs are Iraq war films. Totally predictable and it makes me wonder if the academy even bothered to look at other docs that don’t jive with the political message they want to send out.
Admittedly though, I haven’t seen any of these films (except Sicko - which was aggravatingly repetitive, manipulative and redundant).
I’m anxious for the DVD release of “Lake of Fire” as I’ve heard it’s amazing - and King of Kong probably should have been in here if for no other reason than to shake things up a bit (ala Juno) and for its pure entertainment value.
I HAVE seen Helvetica, however, and would say I’d be upset if it were up for best doc. It’s a neat idea for subject matter and I enjoyed it for the most part. But again, maybe a third of the film are image montages of how, where and the frequency of which the Helvetica font is used in society. That got a bit tedious after a while.