With guilds and organizations plucking eclectic titles from this year”s notable documentaries for their awards ceremonies, the nonfiction race remains competitive and mysterious. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday afternoon that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 87th Oscars. There aren”t too many surprises in the bunch, but that won”t help those looking for early locks either.
Of the list, Laura Poitras' “CITIZENFOUR,” Steve James' “Life Itself,” Orlando von Einsiedel's “Virunga,” and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders' “The Salt of the Earth” have popped up consistently across the IDA Awards, Cinema Eye Awards, PGA Awards, Gotham Awards, and Independent Spirit Awards. If anything could be considered a snub, it”s Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard”s Nick Cave documentary “20,000 Days on Earth” and Gabe Polsky”s “Red Army,” a festival favorite.
134 films were originally submitted in the category. See the 15-film list below:
“Art and Craft”
“The Case Against 8”
“Citizen Koch”
“CITIZENFOUR”
“Finding Vivian Maier”
“The Internet”s Own Boy”
“Jodorowsky”s Dune”
“Keep On Keepin” On”
“The Kill Team”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“Life Itself”
“The Overnighters”
“The Salt of the Earth”
“Tales of the Grim Sleeper”
“Virunga”
The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015