I read a few sites with commentary on the Oscar documentary short list but I must admit I was waiting to hear what AJ Schnack over at All These Wonderful Things had to say and it turns out it isn’t bad:
Let’s get one thing out of the way. There will be no outraged commentary this year. For one, we’ve tried to swear that kind of thing off after last year’s debacle and our subsequent response. For another, despite the numerous flaws in the Academy’s process (and Lord knows they are legion), it’s not a terrible shortlist this year, despite some high profile omissions.
In fact, the Academy, through no fault of its own, managed to include veterans (Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Steve James & Peter Gilbert, Stacy Peralta) as well as first timers (Ellen Kuras, Jeremiah Zagar) and still found room for the two front-runners (James Marsh’s MAN ON WIRE and Carl Deal & Tia Lessin’s TROUBLE THE WATER). This despite a process that made it ever increasingly simple to qualify for Academy eligibility.
Women filmmakers took yet another hit this year:
Two years ago, women filmmakers dominated the shortlist. This year, just two films (the aforementioned BLESSED IS THE MATCH and PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL) were credited solely to a female filmmaker. Last year, only one film had that distinction. (TROUBLE THE WATER and THE BETRAYAL have one woman sharing credit with a man, although Ellen Kuras gets the primary credit on THE BETRAYAL.) Brown, Burstein and Zenovich are among the filmmakers missing from this year’s list.
