..Gary Dretzka
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Doug Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Kris Tapley

September 23, 2005

A Look At The Doc Race

The documentary portion of the Academy (AMPAS) is evolving. If you look back at the last decade, you'll see that up until a rule change for the 2002 awards season, being the rare popular documentary was a clear disadvantage in making it into the final five. In the last three Oscar seasons that has turned a bit, and in each of those seasons, three of the five final nominees have been popular docs and in each case (except for Fahrenheit 9/11, which chose to stay out of the race) the highest grossing doc of the year has made the nominations list.

Last year was a bit different than the years before, as both The Story of the Weeping Camel and Tupac: Resurrection were Oscar nomination surprises - in the case of the former because of questions of whether it was actually a doc and in the latter because it seemed like a very commercial, very corporate enterprise.

But as IDA put out their list of IDA Award nominees, causing a Hollywood Reporter round-up and a sounding off of others, it seemed time to look at the bigger picture.

As Gregg Kilday points out, the IDA nominations are a rather unstable indicator of likely Oscar status. However, he did miss one thing. Last year's Oscar nominee Tupac: Resurrection was actually an IDA nominee… but the year before, not last year. So two nominees in last year's finals (the other being Born Into Brothels) were IDA nominees. And the year before, three of the five eventual Oscar nominees were first IDA nominated (Balseros, The Weather Underground and Capturing The Friedmans).

This year's group of a dozen IDA nominees will likely kick 2 or 3 titles into Oscar contention as well:

• The Boys of Baraka
• Cowboy del Amor
• Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
• Favela Rising
• The Last Campaign
• The Last Cowboy
• Mad Hot Ballroom
• Mission Accomplished
• Murderball
• Our Brand is Crisis
• Street Fight
• Why We Fight

Of course, three of these titles (Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, Mad Hot Ballroom, and Murderball) are very high-profile to start with. Why We Fight will apparently be disqualified for Oscar because of pre-theatrical TV showings.

Also, the IDA's doc qualifying series, formerly InFact, now DocWeek, ended up with four of the slots in the 12-film "short list." The list from this year's DocWeek is:

• The Last Campaign
• Ballets Russes
• Touch The Sound
• The Real Dirt On Farmer John
• I Like Killing Flies
• Darwin's Nightmare
• Lost Children
• Occupation: Dreamland
• Protocols Of Zion
• 39 Pounds Of Love
• Who Gets To Call It Art?
• Family Portrait
• God Sleeps In Rwanda
• Positively Naked
• Frozen Angels

If you had to pick from this list, the most obvious choices would be Ballet Russes, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, Darwin's Nightmare, and Protocols of Zion, based on buzz from the festival circuit. But it is also worth noting that only The Last Campaign made the IDA Nominees list after qualifying in DocWeek (as Born Into Brothels did last year). And Street Fight has the doc credibility of Rory Kennedy and Liz Garbus going for it.

So beyond IDA, what is in play?

Kilday points out the popular docs March of The Penguins and The Aristocrats. Jeff Wells adds Rize to the list. But both have left out a barrel full of interesting monkeys. It is possible that one or two of these is actually not qualified. Researching the doc qualification process is virtually impossible with even releasing studios not always sure whether they've qualified.

At the top of the list are (in alphabetical order):

• The Devil & Daniel Johnston
• Grizzly Man
• Gunner Palace
• Reel Paradise
• The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (which outgrossed both Grizzly Man and Murderball)

Also:

• 6 Years Of Alcohol
• Wall
• William Eggleston In The Real World
• Writer Of O
• Year of the Yao

• The Last Mogul (perhaps a Canadian TV DQ)
• McLibel (perhaps a UK TV DQ)
• Unknown White Male (perhaps a UK TV DQ)

Of course, I'm sure that I missed some title or another in all of this. Smoke-filled rooms still blur my vision.

Just keep in mind, the committee brings it down to 12, then the next round brings it to 5 and then it truly becomes a popularity contest.

- by David Poland