Best Documentary - The Long List Is Here
Monday, October 26, 2015 at 11:30AM 
AMPAS has narrowed the Best Documentary Feature competition. If not by much. The long list from which they'll choose 15 or so finalists which will then become 5 nominees in January has arrived. It's double the size of what the Foreign committees have to get through each year but there's more members voting. The seventeen titles in bold we've already reviewed so click away to your docu-loving delight, won't you?
Which films are you rooting for or eager to see?
A-C
Above and Beyond. All Things Must Pass, Amy, The Armor of Light, Ballet 422, Batkid Begins, Becoming Bulletproof, Being Evel, Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery, Best of Enemies, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Bolshoi Babylon, Brand: A Second Coming, A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story, Call Me Lucky, Cartel Land, Censored Voices, Champs, CodeGirl, Coming Home
D-F
Dark Horse, Deli Man, Dior and I, The Diplomat, (Dis)Honesty – The Truth about Lies, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll, Dreamcatcher, dream/killer, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, Eating Happiness, Every Last Child, Evidence of Harm, Farewell to Hollywood, Finders Keepers, The Forecaster, Frame by Frame
G-J
Gardeners of Eden, A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile, Godspeed: The Story of Page Jones, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, He Named Me Malala, Heart of a Dog, Hitchcock/Truffaut, How to Change the World, Human, The Hunting Ground, I Am Chris Farley, In Jackson Heights, In My Father’s House, India’s Daughter, Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words, Iraqi Odyssey, Iris, Janis: Little Girl Blue
K-N
Karski & the Lords of Humanity, Killing Them Safely, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, Lambert & Stamp, A Lego Brickumentary, Listen to Me Marlon, Live from New York!, The Look of Silence, Meet the Patels, Meru, The Mind of Mark DeFriest, Misery Loves Comedy, Monkey Kingdom, A Murder in the Park, My Italian Secret, My Voice, My Life, 1971
O-R
Of Men and War, One Cut, One Life, Only the Dead See the End of War, The Outrageous Sophie Tucker, Peace Officer, The Pearl Button, Pink & Blue: Colors of Hereditary Cancer, Poached, Polyfaces, The Prime Ministers: Soldiers and Peacemakers, Prophet’s Prey, Racing Extinction, The Resurrection of Jake the Snake, Ride the Thunder – A Vietnam War Story of Victory & Betrayal, Rosenwald, The Russian Woodpecker
S
Searching for Home: Coming Back from War, Seeds of Time, Sembene!, The Seven Five, Seymour: An Introduction, Sherpa, A Sinner in Mecca, Something Better to Come, Song from the Forest, Song of Lahore, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans, Stray Dog, Sunshine Superman, Sweet Micky for President
T-Z
Tab Hunter Confidential, The Tainted Veil, Tap World, (T)error, Thao’s Library, Those Who Feel the Fire Burning, 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets, The Touch of an Angel, TransFatty Lives, The True Cost, Twinsters, Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists, The Wanted 18 (also on the Foreign Submissions List), We Are Many, We Come as Friends, We Were Not Just…Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism, Welcome to Leith, What Happened, Miss Simone?, What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy, Where to Invade Next, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, and The Wolfpack
Noticeable Absences
Where is Silvered Water: Syrian Self-Portrait? When it wasn't on the long list last year we assumed it had arrived too late and would be there this year. Perhaps we'll see them next year -- it's difficult to understand the eligibility with Oscar's doc branch - but missing are: the Nora Ephron doc Everything is Copy, the Orry-Kelly costume design doc Women He's Undressed,
Reader Comments (13)
Peace officer
I've seen 10 of the pre-selected and hope to see at least 5 more by the end of the year.
I doubt any movie of any kind will surpass The Look Of Silence in importance and excellence. With The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer created the most relevant pieces of filmmaking in the last 20 years, give or take Margaret and the work of Charlie Kauffman and Gaspar Noe. I mean that in the sense that not only was Oppenheimer able to craft two very distinct pieces in their technical and emotional aspects and pushed the art in its form, he also did something that ignited change, or attempted change. There is too much focus on entertainment for we live in a society that encourages hedonism, but to me, there is nothing like an experience that is transformative, authentic and original.
I've seen 8 so far, and my 2 favorites are Alex Gibney's 2 documentaries - Going Clear and Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine (which is a terrific companion piece to the Boyle/Sorkin film). I am rooting hard for an Oscar nomination for Going Clear; in addition to being a great, sometimes shocking documentary that should lead to an investigation into the Church of Scientology's tax-exempt status, it was brave of Gibney to take on Scientology when he knew what bullies they are (they've gone on the warpath against him).
"What Happened, Miss Simone?" is one of my favorite films of the year. I know the doc branch rarely rewards straight up historical portraits of a single character, but the story put together here tells more than just Nina's roller coaster life. It's a story of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, touching on marriage, domestic abuse and mental illness. The filmmakers had access to SImone's incredibly frank diary, too. It's one I'm rooting for to stay on the narrowing lists.
Glad to see The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution on the longlist. I really hope it makes it. It's incredible.
I've seen only about half a dozen but Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock 'n' Roll would make it in any year
Glad to see Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck and The Wolfpack included.
I don't think the US release was particularly wide, but one which shouldn't be overlooked is A Gay Girl in Damascus: The Amina Profile.
Women He's Undressed is uneligible? Sorry to hear that. Sounds dreamy. I loved Jose's piece.
The documentary category isn't like the foreign film category where filmmakers just submit titles though. It's based on release (which is why Debra Granik's STRAY DOG is here this year and not last year). I mean, they do have to submit, but they have to have proven they got a release in cinemas for whatever arbitrary ruling system they have for this category. Those films just mustn't have had qualifying runs.
I was thinking about this category a lot recently, and wondering what on Earth they're gonna go with. The biggest doc of the year - AMY - just doesn't quite seem like it's their thing. If it's nominated I have no doubt it'll win, but I'm not sure it will be nominated. Films of that sort that never been nominated before and I'm not sure if Amy Winehouse is in their demograph of performers to be interesting in. Likewise MONTAGE OF HECK, which I like much more than AMY, but is even less likely despite being high profile. Other buzzed titles like THE WOLFPACK and FINDERS KEEPERS and HE NAMED ME MALALA just don't seem to be in their demo, again, or in the case of the latter not critically well received enough. THE LOOK OF SILENCE hasn't had the same amount of buzz as THE ACT OF KILLING. GOING CLEAR too much of a risky proposition for the Oscars in general? Michael Moore seems inessential now. FIlmmakers like Albert Maylses and Fred Wiseman have never really been their thing and IRIS is likely too small scale to register. Every film just seems to have a mark against it and there have't been enough hits (commercially or critically) to warrant their stronger consideration. SHERPA, which I would be looking at quite strongly, only got a qualification run and this category has mostly been movies that got proper releases. Is THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER too odd? HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT too film-based (they rarely go for docs about movies)? Is JANIS: LITTLE GIRL BLUE going to be overlooked because of MISS SIMONE? Or vice versa? is THE PEARL BUTTON too foreign?
Right now the only two I am quite certain on are WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE and CARTEL LAND. Everything else seems up for grabs. I wouldn't be surprised either way if THE LOOK OF SILENCE made it, and as of right now I'm quietly predicting it, but not confidently. I'd also bet on BEST OF ENEMIES as I think they will respond to both the subject matter and the subjects. I'd also go with WINTER FIRE because Netflix have done well in this category two years in a row (THE SQUARE and VIRUNGA) and they have two in the race this year (WINTER FIRE and MISS SIMONE) and I have no doubt they'll campaign both quite well and the Ukrainian one would be a slice of importance alongside the more traditional bio of MISS SIMONE.
So, yes, my predicted five at this stage are WHAT HAPPENED MISS SIMONE, CARTEL LAND, THE BEST OF ENEMIES, THE LOOK OF SILENCE and WINTER FIRE: UKRAINE'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM with SHERPA as a spoiler.
'Amy' for the win.
Did 'Women he's Undressed' get a run in Noth America? If not, that's a real shame. That film is an absolute delight. The clip of Jane Fonda talking about how she wanted to motorboat Marilyn Monroe's breasts should be played all of the time, everywhere.
There are quite a few scientologists in the Academy. Can you see John Travolta or Tom Cruise voting for Going Clear?
I think if Going Clear gets nominated there will be a huge outcry from some Academy members.
bette -- i hope it does just for the excitement of it all