****** Links to 4 of the 5 nominees below ******
An eligible documentary film is defined as a theatrically released nonfiction motion picture dealing creatively with cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, economic or other subjects. It may be photographed in actual occurrence, or may employ partial reenactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not on fiction.
Documentary Short Subject - motion pictures with a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.
**********
Eligibility:
To be eligible for 84th Academy Awards consideration, a documentary short subject must complete a seven-day commercial run in a theater in, either, Los Angeles County or the Borough of Manhattan, during the eligibility period: January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011, (with the onetime inclusion of the period from September 1 to December 31, 2010).
The qualifying run must take place within two years of the motion picture’s completion date. The picture must be submitted in the same Awards year in which it first qualifies. Documentaries submitted for the 84th Academy Awards in any category will not be eligible for consideration in subsequent Awards years in any category.
The picture must be exhibited using 16mm, 35mm or 70mm film, or in a 24- or 48-frame progressive scan format with a minimum projector resolution of 2048 by 1080 pixels. And sound file formats suitable for exhibition in commercial Digital Cinema sites.
Screenings in the qualifying run must occur at least once daily and begin between noon and 10 p.m. The motion picture must be exhibited for paid admission, and must be advertised during its run in a major newspaper: The New York Times, Time Out New York or The Village Voice (New York); Los Angeles Times or LA Weekly (Los Angeles). Advertisements must have minimum dimensions of one inch by two inches and must include the theater, film title and the dates and screening times of the qualifying exhibition. Advertising must begin no later than the first day of the qualifying run.
Works that are essentially promotional or instructional are not eligible, nor are works that are essentially unfiltered records of performances.
Only individual documentary works are eligible. This excludes from consideration:
- episodes extracted from a larger series,
- segments taken from a single “composite” program,
- alternate versions of ineligible works, and
- documentary short subjects created from materials substantially taken from or cut down from completed, publicly exhibited feature-length documentaries.
The significant dialogue or narration must be in English, or the entry must have English-language subtitles.
Films that, in any version, receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release will not be eligible for Academy Awards. (This includes broadcast and cable television as well as home video marketing and Internet transmission, with the exception of password-protected Internet screenings for press review or film festival submission.) Up to ten percent of the running time of a film is allowed to be shown in a nontheatrical medium prior to the film’s theatrical release.
**********
Voting Procedures:
Documentaries will be viewed by Documentary Branch members, who will use an averaged score system to produce an eight-picture shortlist. Three to five nominees will then be chosen by a second round of balloting, using the averaged score system.
In addition to the 30 DVDs required for the first round of balloting, filmmakers whose entries are voted onto the shortlist must submit another 50 DVDs, without trailers or other extraneous material, capable of playing on Region 1/NTSC DVD players, by 5 p.m. PT on Monday, October 17, 2011.
The creators of the shortlisted documentaries must submit either two 35mm or 70mm film prints (16mm is not acceptable) or two DCP versions of the documentary by 5 p.m. PT on Monday, October 17, 2011. Following the nominations screenings, one copy of the work shall become the property of the Academy Film Archive.
Final voting shall be restricted to active and life Academy members who have viewed all of the nominated documentaries in a theatrical setting. Viewing nominated works on “screeners” will not qualify a member for a ballot in the category, with the exception of those Documentary Branch members who have participated in the nominations selection process.
**********
Nominations:
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
- This is the 2nd nomination for Gail, who also made ‘Daughter from Danang’ in 2003. This is Robin’s 1st nomination.
- Won the Ashland Independent Film Festival.
God Is the Bigger Elvis – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
- 1st nomination for both Rebecca and Julie
God Is the Bigger Elvis is a documentary film about actress Dolores Hart, who abandoned her successful career at the age of 23 to become a Benedictine nun.
Incident in New Baghdad – James Spione
- 1st nomination.
Incident in New Baghdad is a 2011 short documentary film about the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike.
Saving Face – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- 2nd nomination. Daniel and Sharmeen also made ‘The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner’ in 2009.
Saving Face is a 2011 documentary film about acid attacks on women and follows a London-based Pakistani plastic surgeon as he journeys to Pakistan to perform reconstructive surgery on survivors of acid violence.
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
- This is Lucy’s 2nd nomination, however last year she was nominated in the Documentary Feature category for ‘Waste Land’. This is Kira’s first nomination.
- Won the Sundance Film Festival.
The film follows survivors of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami as they prepare for the beginning of cherry blossom season.
**********
Oscar Trends:
Like the other short film categories, I am going to stick with the films that have already found success on the Film Festival circuit. So, I’m going to give the edge to the films with the longest names: The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement and The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom.
**********
Prediction:
- Winner: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
- Runner-Up: The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
- Wild Card: Saving Face – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- Unlikely: Incident in New Baghdad – James Spione
- No Chance in Hell: God Is the Bigger Elvis – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
Click HERE for a full list of my Oscar predictions.
No comments:
Post a Comment