I’m really late with this news but better late than never!
Last week, the Academy’s Documentary Branch announced the 15 semi-finalists for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar! Five of the films below will be nominated. This has been a brilliant year for documentaries, as you can tell from looking at the titles below!
I’m especially happy to see that The Witness — which can currently be seen on Netflix — made the shortlist.
Not making the list? Leonardo DiCaprio’s Before The Flood. If nothing else, this means that we no longer have to worry about sitting through another rambling, if well-intentioned, Leo lecture.
(Or maybe not. Leo is also involved with The Ivory Game, which is on the shortlist.)
Anyway, here are the 15 semi-finalists!
“Cameraperson,” Big Mouth Productions
“Command and Control,” American Experience Films/PBS
“The Eagle Huntress,” Stacey Reiss Productions, Kissiki Films and 19340 Productions
“Fire at Sea,” Stemal Entertainment
“Gleason,” Dear Rivers Productions, Exhibit A and IMG Films
“Hooligan Sparrow,” Little Horse Crossing the River
“I Am Not Your Negro,” Velvet Film
“The Ivory Game,” Terra Mater Film Studios and Vulcan Productions
“Life, Animated,” Motto Pictures and A&E IndieFilms
“O.J.: Made in America,” Laylow Films and ESPN Films
“13th,” Forward Movement
“Tower,” Go-Valley “Weiner,” Edgeline Films
“The Witness,” The Witnesses Film
“Zero Days,” Jigsaw Productions
Last Friday, the American Film Institute announced their picks for the 10 best films of 2016! The AFI is considered to be one of the more reliable of the Oscar precursors so we’ll have to wait and see what this list means for potential dark horse nominees like Hacksaw Ridge and Zootopia.
Here’s the list!
(Important to note: The AFI list is in alphabetical order.)
Here’s what won at the International Documentary Association Awards! This has been a really good year for documentaries, as is evident from the list below!
Best Feature Award
“O.J.: Made in America”
Director: Ezra Edelman
Producers: Deirdre Fenton, Libby Geist, Nina Krstic, Erin Leyden, Tamara Rosenberg, Connor Schell and Caroline Waterlow
Best Short Award
“The White Helmets”
Director: Orlando von Einsiedel
Producer: Joanna Natasegara
Best Curated Series Award
“DR2 Dokumania”
Executive Producer: Mette Hoffmann Meyer
Best Limited Series Award
“Making a Murderer”
Executive Producers: Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi
Best Episodic Series Award
“Last Chance U”
Executive Producers: Joe LaBracio, Dawn Ostroff, Lucas Smith, James Stern and Greg Whiteley
Best Short Form Series Award
“Field of Vision”
Executive Producers: Charlotte Cook, Laura Poitras and AJ Schnack
David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award
“4.1 Miles”
Director: Daphne Matziaraki (UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism)
ABC News VideoSource Award
“13TH”
Director: Ava DuVernay
Pare Lorentz Award
“Starless Dreams”
Director: Mehrdad Oskouei
Best Cinematography
“Fire at Sea”
Cinematography by: Gianfranco Rosi
Best Editing
“Cameraperson”
Edited by: Nels Bangerter
Best Writing
“I Am Not Your Negro”
James Baldwin material compiled and edited by Raoul Peck
Best Music
“The Bad Kids”
Original Score by: Jacaszek
Damien Chazelle – LA LA LAND Barry Jenkins – MOONLIGHT (Winner)
Kenneth Lonergan – MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Jeff Nichols – LOVING
Denis Villeneuve – ARRIVAL
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck – MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Joel Edgerton – LOVING
Ryan Gosling – LA LA LAND
Tom Hanks – SULLY Denzel Washington – FENCES (Winner)
BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams – ARRIVAL
Annette Bening – 20th CENTURY WOMEN Isabelle Huppert – ELLE (Winner)
Ruth Negga – LOVING
Natalie Portman – JACKIE
Viola Davis – FENCES (Winner)
Greta Gerwig – 20th CENTURY WOMEN
Lily Gladstone – CERTAIN WOMEN
Naomie Harris – MOONLIGHT
Michelle Williams – MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
ARRIVAL – Eric Heisserer (Winner)
ELLE – David Birke
THE HANDMAIDEN – Park Chan-wook and Jeong Seo-Gyeong
FENCES – August Wilson
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS – Tom Ford
The New York Film Critics Online named their picks for the best of 2016 earlier today! The big winner was Moonlight (which, hopefully, I will get a chance to see tomorrow.)
Best Picture: Moonlight Best Director: Barry Jenkins – Moonlight Best Actor: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea Best Actress: Isabelle Huppert – Elle Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali – Moonlight Best Supporting Actress: Viola Davis – Fences Breakthrough Performer: Ruth Negga – Loving Best Screenplay:Moonlight Best Cinematography: Moonlight Best Use of Music:La La Land Debut Director: Robert Eggers, The Witch Best Foreign Language Film: The Handmaiden Best Documentary: 13TH Best Animated Film: Kubo and the Two Strings
Oh wow! I’ve been kind of busy for the last few days so I missed a lot of precursor awards! I’m going to try to get caught up on them tonight (especially since the Golden Globe nominations are due to be announced on Monday morning).
Let’s start out with the Toronto Film Critics Association! They announced their picks for the best of 2016 earlier today. It’s another victory for Moonlight!
Best Picture: Moonlight Best Director: Maren Ade, Toni Erdmann Best Actor: Adam Driver, Paterson Best Actress: Sandra Hüller, Toni Erdmann Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight Best Supporting Actress: Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea Best Screenplay: Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea Best Animated Feature: Zootopia Best Documentary: Cameraperson Best First Feature:The Witch Best Foreign Language Film: Toni Erdmann Technicolor Clyde Gilmour Award: Alanis Obomsawin
There’s been many a voice out in the virtual world that has been disappointed with the first half of The Walking Dead in it’s seventh season. It had a season premiere that was nihilistic and emotionally-draining. The follow-up episodes have been a mixed bag with some calling the 4th episode one of the worst of the season.
Tonight saw the mid-season finale as the chess pieces that had been moving since that season premiere starts to take form. Yet, for all the doom and gloom of lower ratings and subpar episodes the show continues to be the most-watched show on cable. Part of that could be due to many viewers so fully invested in the show that they have hope the series will right itself and have a better second-half. The other part seems to come from the very people who have been proclaiming that the show has worn out it’s welcome yet continue to watch as a sort of schadenfreude. They want to see the show crash and burn and wait for the moment when it loses everyone.
Well, tonight probably won’t be it since it finally tied together the first-half of the season and got Rick to stop moping around and get thangs done. It also saw the reuniting of the show’s bromance as Daryl and Rick finally reunited in the end.
Which brings us to the latest “Song of the Day” courtesy of R&B stalwarts Peaches & Herb and their biggest hit, “Reunited.”
Reunited
I was a fool to ever leave your side Me minus you is such a lonely ride The breakup we had Has made me lonesome and sad I realize I love you ’cause I want you bad, hey, hey
I spent the evening with the radio Regret the moment that I let you go Our quarrel was such A way of learning so much I know now that I love you ’cause I need your touch, hey, hey
Reunited and it feels so good Reunited ’cause we understood There’s one perfect fit And, sugar, this one is it We both are so excited ‘Cause we’re reunited, hey, hey
I sat here staring at the same old wall Came back to life just when I got your call I wished I could climb Right through the telephone line And give you what you want so you will still be mine, hey, hey
I can’t go cheating, honey, I can’t play I found it very hard to stay away As we reminisce On precious moments like this I’m glad we’re back together, ’cause I missed your kiss, hey, hey
Reunited and it feels so good Reunited ’cause we understood There’s one perfect fit And, sugar, this one is it We both are so excited ‘Cause we’re reunited, hey, hey
Yeah, yeah, yeah Baby
Oh, lover, lover, this is solid love And you’re exactly what I’m dreaming of All through the day And all through the night I’ll give you all the love I have with all my might, hey, hey
Reunited and it feels so good Reunited ’cause we understood There’s one perfect fit And, sugar, this one is it We both are so excited ‘Cause we’re reunited, hey, hey
Ooh, listen baby I won’t ever make you cry I won’t let one day go by Without holding you Without kissing you Without loving you Reunited
You’re my everything Only you know how to free All the love there is in me I wanna let you know I won’t let you go I wanna let you know I won’t let you go Reunited
Ooh, feels so good
Reunited and it feels so good Reunited ’cause we understood There’s one perfect fit And, sugar, this one is it We both are so excited ‘Cause we’re reunited, hey, hey
Through the Shattered Lens 