Academy advances 15 doc features, 'Senna,' 'Interrupters' stunningly snubbed
'Pina' makes the cut while Werner Herzog and Errol Morris are ignored yet again
A scene from "Project Nim"
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The documentary branch of the Academy is beginning to get as crazy with it's random snubs as the music branch, I have to say. Today's announcement of 15 eligible contenders for the Best Documentary Feature category revealed outright snubs of two of the most acclaimed hopefuls of the year -- "Senna" and "The Interrupters" -- while perhaps less surprisingly, Werner Herzog got the shaft once again for his best film in years, "Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, a Tale of Life."
Errol Morris was also shafted for "Tabloid" (which is embroiled in a lawsuit threat from subject Joyce McKinney), while other high-profile hopefuls like "Being Elmo: A Pupeteer's Journey" and "Page One: Inside the New York Times" were also ignored.
Interestingly, Wim Wenders's 3D Pina Bausch ode (and German selection for Best Foreign Language Film) "Pina" made the cut. So did "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," which slated a one-week theatrical qualifying run ahead of its HBO premiere expressly for the purposes of being in this discussion.
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Check out the full list of advancing titles below.
"Battle for Brooklyn" (RUMER Inc.)
"Bill Cunningham New York" (First Thought Films)
"Buck" (Cedar Creek Productions)
"Hell and Back Again" (Roast Beef Productions Limited)
"If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" (Marshall Curry Productions, LLC)
"Jane's Journey" (NEOS Film GmbH & Co. KG)
"The Loving Story" (Augusta Films)
"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" (@radical.media)
"Pina" (Neue Road Movies GmbH)
"Project Nim" (Red Box Films)
"Semper Fi: Always Faithful" (Tied to the Tracks Films, Inc.)
"Sing Your Song" (S2BN Belafonte Productions, LLC)
"Undefeated" (Spitfire Pictures)
"Under Fire: Journalists in Combat" (JUF Pictures, Inc.)
"We Were Here" (Weissman Projects, LLC)
Feel free to offer up your predictions of how this will all shake out in the comments section below. We'll finally start charting this category via the Contenders section as of next week's update.
For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupAnita
November 18, 2011 at 6:13PM EST Reply to CommentI'm glad to see Bill Cunningham and Paradise Lost 3, but my jaw literally dropped when I didn't see The Interrupters on the list. I kept scrolling up and down the press release, thinking it was my eyes. What is it with them and Steve James? I haven't seen the film, but is there any chance another branch will pick up the slack like they did with Hoop Dreams?
Glennau
November 18, 2011 at 6:17PM EST Reply to CommentI expect a FYC campaign to get Senna nominated for Best Editing now. But are we aware if Senna was disqualified for lack of original material or did they just not care for it? Hmmm.
Guest Guesto
November 18, 2011 at 6:26PM EST Reply to CommentCan someone please shed some light as to how films ar disqualified from the short list? Is it by some unknown but very real criteria, perceived notion of quality or just because they have to have 15 films no matter what?
And who gets to what on what makes the short list anyway?
Bradley Porter
November 18, 2011 at 6:33PM EST Reply to CommentShame Life in a Day wasn't eligible. I didn't think it would be, what with the YouTube access and the BBC screenings etc, but still... easily one of the best films of the year. Joe Walker's editing surpasses even his work in Shame.
daveylo
November 18, 2011 at 6:42PM EST Reply to CommentCan someone explain how Undefeated got on this list?
Kristopher Tapley It's not the Palin doc, if that's what you're thinking.
November 18, 2011 at 6:45PM ESTdaveylo Kris, Thanks for clarifying that for me. I thought it was the Palin film and that would have been awful.
November 19, 2011 at 12:03AM ESTgeha714
November 18, 2011 at 6:51PM EST Reply to CommentNo Senna nor Interrupters. That kinda sucks.
If there's no more suprises, I expect the race to be between Paradise Lost 3 and Pina, with If a Tree falls as the dark horse.
Andrej
November 18, 2011 at 7:03PM EST Reply to CommentNo Senna. No good. :(
I'll put my hopes behind Pina, I guess. Man, is this a bummer...
Pad Britt
November 18, 2011 at 7:06PM EST Reply to CommentI'm shocked by some of the omissions, but in this category (like a lot of other categories this year) was so open that I was expecting a few surprises anyways. Maybe this is a sign that the rest of the season can come with so many twists and turns!
AndrewM679
November 18, 2011 at 7:14PM EST Reply to CommentWhy did the Sarah Palin doc make it in over all those? Really shocked The Interrupters didn't make the cut, as it seems "important" enough, as well as a make up for not nominating Hoop Dreams.
Tough to put down a list now, but here's what I think:
1. Project Nim (will probably win)
2. Bill Cunnigham New York
3. If a Tree Falls
4. Paradise Lost 3
5. Hell and Back Again
AndrewM679 Just read that it wasn't the Palin doc, so I retract that first sentence.
November 18, 2011 at 7:14PM ESTAndrewM679 Pina also has a good chance.
November 18, 2011 at 7:15PM ESTAmir
November 18, 2011 at 7:55PM EST Reply to CommentProject NIM has to be the front-runner now with Pina right behind. But it's a shame Senna didn't make it. I think the academy's biggest mistake since Grizzly Man in this category.
Gustavo
November 18, 2011 at 7:58PM EST Reply to CommentApparently Herzog is not good enough for them. Laughable.
JP
November 18, 2011 at 8:01PM EST Reply to CommentVery few times I've seen such a weird list as this. No Senna, no Werner Herzog, no Page One, no Errol Morris
Shawn
November 18, 2011 at 9:09PM EST Reply to CommentThe snubs are shocking, particularly "The Interrupters" and "Into the Abyss." I can see why "Tabloid" is generally underrated and problematical for some, but not these other films.
My favorite documentary of the year may be Garbus' "Bobby Fischer against the World." I don't know why there wasn't more interest in that film. Maybe it's a chess thing.
Danny
November 18, 2011 at 9:56PM EST Reply to CommentSpeaking of Herzog, was "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" ineligible, or eligible last year, but didn't get nominated then? Anyone know?
Kristopher Tapley Eligible last year.
November 19, 2011 at 2:36PM ESTBill_the_Bear Thanks, Kris! I didn't realize that "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" had been eligible last year. It's by far the best documentary I've seen this year.
November 20, 2011 at 9:07AM ESTThe snub of "Senna" is really maddening! I wonder if it was because it's made up entirely of vintage footage?
John-Paul
November 18, 2011 at 10:38PM EST Reply to CommentMaybe this is just wishful thinking, but I think Paradise Lost 3 may have a shot at winning this, even if only as an acknowledgment of the entire trilogy and its impact on the real life case.
MJS
November 18, 2011 at 11:42PM EST Reply to CommentThe snubs in this lineup are SCANDALOUS. This is worse than the Foreign film shortlist that snubbed 4 Months and Persepolis leading to major (if still incomplete) reform in that category, I hope this leads to similar reforms in this one.
red_wine
November 19, 2011 at 7:16AM EST Reply to CommentI am kind of shocked at the exclusion of Errol Moris's Tabloid which for me is one of the best films of the year. WTF??
b
November 19, 2011 at 10:25AM EST Reply to CommentSo happy Bill Cunningham New York made it. Saw it in Oct 2010, and I still can't stop raving about it! It's not ground-breaking, but it's rare in how humble, beautiful and passionate it's subject is. I felt happy and inspired from start-to-finish.
msd Absolutely. It may not be considered important enough in its subject matter to make the final cut but BCNY has been my most joyous experience in the cinema this year.
November 21, 2011 at 5:33AM ESTPablo (Col)
November 19, 2011 at 11:03PM EST Reply to CommentEvery year with those military inspired docs. Makes me sick really. Poor Mr Herzog.
bef Indeed. Every year has at least two military dramas. Well, seems to, I haven't checked year by year.
November 19, 2011 at 11:54PM ESTRui
November 20, 2011 at 7:01AM EST Reply to CommentQUESTION OF THE DAY: Why was Senna movie snubbed from the Oscar list? Was because of the Academy stupidity or the Academy incompetency? Probably both...
msd Deemed ineligible because it only used previously existing footage? I don't know for sure but that's definitely ruled out some good docos in previous years.
November 21, 2011 at 5:16AM ESTGlennAU
November 20, 2011 at 6:58PM EST Reply to CommentI'm disappointed most of all for "Dragonslayer", but hoping "Pina" and "Bill Cunningham" can come through with nominations.
TellItLikeItIs
November 21, 2011 at 10:55AM EST Reply to CommentSays "Tabloid" Star Joyce McKinney -- who considers herself victimized by the film: "Hurray--maybe its Karma for Errol Morris for what he did to devastate me and my innocent family with that counterfeit Joyce McKinney story. Now if there's anyone out there who wants to do a feature film with the REAL Joyce McKinney story, you'll wIn a REAL Oscar for Best Picture!" {Hint: Kirsten Dunst, award winning actress at Canne for "Best Actress" has already called Joyce personally and asked to buy the rights to Joyce's story (with an eye to playing Joyce in the FEATURE version of her cult rescue story). But after her nightmare with Errol Morris doing the Mormon sourced TABLOID version of her famous story, she's treading waters cautiously...and although Kirsten told Joyce: "It's the role of a lifetime. I'll hire an A list screenwriter!" Joyce responded "Well only if I work closely WITH him on the script to make sure the facts are done right this time". Word on the street is that Morris is getting what he deserved for abusing Joyce so badly by pretending to be "doing a TV series on Paparazzi" as a ruse to get footage on press besieged Joyce, for while Morris interviewed Joyce for a NON EXISTENT TV series, his producer MARK LIPSON ransacked her luggage and STOLE her photograph album, family home movies, two film treatments she'd written on the two internationally famous events in her life {her love affair/cult rescue saga with her fiance --a Mormon missionary; and a historic 2008 dog cloning}, AND a valuable memorabilia collection documenting her famous love story which Penthouse magazine had offered her two million for --AND she turned it down because she didn't' think "a mag with naked girls" was the proper forum for a serious CULT RESCUE story with a message about the Mormons --the cult who vows to take over the US government and establish a New World Order with their leaders at the helm, after infiltrating the FBI and CIA...a serious topic which Morris turned into a silly sex comedy then tried to slip it in as a "documentary". Using the footage he shot of Joyce (after they had her sign a dummy "Showtime contract") Morris then altered her video interview by editing out anything which proved her innocence, and then stamping across her face libelous wording like "BARKING MAD" and "KIDNAPPER" over her face. They took a stolen photo of Joyce in her MISS USA pageant swimsuit, super-imposed a cartoon-head on Joyce's body and rammed a giant hypodermic needle into her vaginal area like a male penis as if it were a sedative to calm down her sex drive. Morris also quickly flashes by pictures of sex ads out of newspapers so quickly that the audience can not tell the brunette women in the ads are NOT Joyce--in order to falsely portray Joyce (who was raised in a devout Christian family) as a prostitute....Looks like ol Errol is headed to pay millions damages to the former Miss Wyoming USA....who says she has suffered extreme emotional agony over the libelous defamatory material in the Morris' celluloid catastrophe. "I deal with depression every day to think that people are paying money to see that horrid film, or that they think that it represents me or my story. It is a counterfeit Joyce McKinney story that is defamatory beyond words, " Joyce thinks Morris hyped the film up with PR teams to give the film publicity at her expense, downgrading her reputation and resurrecting an old libelous tabloid story that was false in the first place, which caused her severe agony 35 years ago. Joyce muses sadly: "My former fiance put it best when he said that Morris bringing all this up again was "like scraping a scab off an old wound" for both of us. It brought back a lot of pain for both me and my innocent family, especially my mother. If Errol Morris was going to do a film on me, why couldn't he just have done the truthful version [a cult rescue saga and love story] rather than the Mormon sourced tabloid version?" Answer: Morris had a distributor out of Mormon controlled UTAH. (Was Mormon money behind the film? Or was Morris trying to create a new genre of film: The "Porno Doc?") Joyce was humiliated by seeing her head super- imposed on other women's naked bodies and being depicted as a "whore" as Morris lecherous tabloid reporters (one who had never even met her) called her on film in "Tabloid". Joyce said that both she and her fiance were virgins in the famous "love cottage" as Morris called it, and that their love was tender, passionate and profound, and that Mormon missionary Kirk told her that their love would last past death into the eternities. He said "Remember that no matter what happens, be strong I will always love you. Be strong for our love." "The story behind the thousands of headlines, has never ben told", commented Joyce, and Errol Morris CERTAINLY didn't tell it in "Tabloid". She was extremely distressed and upset by the oral slander in interviews he did saying she was an over-sexed hussy who kidnapped and raped a 300 pound 6'5" Mormon. Joyce says " In reality it was a cult rescue and our situation in England was much more like that in the film Ticket to Heaven, and I'm seeking an honest producer and director for a writing package that will help me portray that vital Truth." (Takers anyone?) And who would get the Oscar winning role to play her? Well Joyce's picks are former Ex- Mormon Katie Heigl who many say is a dead ringer for Joyce at age 24 when she first met Kirk in UTAH where she was teaching at a college while completing her PhD. Second picks? AlIce Eve (who starred in "She's out of My League") , Amanda Seyfried (who charmed us all in "Mama Mia"), and the ultra talented Kirsten Dunst who blew everyone away with her portrayal of the depressed sister in Melancholia. "I'm more interested in he screenplay being written FACTUALLY than in finding an actress to play me. Just mostly someone who has a background on Mormon brainwashing, would be all I ask," said Joyce. Joyce is busy penning her memoirs and drawing up an outline. She did her doctoral studies in Theatre and Film and Creative Writing, and is now busy penning her memoirs, with an outline for the screenplay in the works. Publishers and major studios have already called her but she would consider an indie who would have her best interests at heart, which is exposing the Mormon sourced press hoax which actually railed in the press for 35 years --propagated The Mormon PR machine and their spin doctors. Meantime, with attorney STEAVE TIDRICK of Oakland, Joyce is busy working on gathering hundreds of press article slandering her where Morris being interviewed would say she "Went to England with a kidnap kit: chloroform guns, and police issued handcuffs" which was a malicious LIE, says Joyce. "And it was MORMON sourced, given to the press. Why didn't Errol go to England and get court records, as he promised before I gave him the 'Showtime Interview?' WIth court records, he would have heard Kirk himself say I 'never used any chloroform on him'. Nor did I ever 'hold a gun to his head to force him to have sex with me' as Errol inferred in his film which makes me appear falsely as a raving loony--intentionally!" Joyce also points out that the Mormons-- in collusion with corrupt coppers in league with CASH PAYING TABLOIDS -- HACKED an intimate private phone conversation in 1977 which proved that she didn't 'kidnap or rape' her fiance, as in the transcript he tells her that that yarn was the cover up story that the Mormons PR teams being brought in, were giving to the press who were just typing it up and blabbing it out". (Morris had access to that vital transcript---a key element in her story, but failed to use it!) And the working title of her script? "PRESS HOAX: The Stolen Honor of Joyce McKinney". And that cottage love scene which puzzled Errol Morris so--because he couldn't quite figure out what went on? "Well..." says Joyce "lets just say that scene of our three days in the 'love cottage' as ol Errol called it, is quite passionate and a cross between Kirsten and Robert's love scenes in 'Breaking Dawn' and Dana and Paul's love scenes in 'Exit to Eden' ". Put out the fire folks! There's more to come in the Joyce McKinney story...
GlennAU
November 22, 2011 at 9:37PM EST Reply to CommentHoly crap!